Hunting Range

[Atlatlista]

So, for the research I do in studying the origins of human hunting, range is an important thing to consider.  Since everyone on this forum is an archer using primitive gear, I thought I'd ask you guys to fill out an informal questionnaire for me on some of your successful hunts.  So, anybody who wants to participate is welcome, and you can respond as many times as you'd like, but what I'd like to know is:

Date of Hunt:
Species of animal killed:
Approximate live weight of animal (or exact, if known):
Distance to animal when shot was taken:
How that distance was measured:
Distance the animal ran after the shot:
Type of bow utilized (draw weight, design, fps if you've got it, etc)  (I'll accept atlatl data too if anybody has that):
Type of arrow/broadhead:
Tree stand or ground blind or other method of ambush:

So, like I said, anybody who wants to participate is welcome.  I think you guys are a treasure trove of information on primitive hunting that hasn't really been tapped by the anthropological community, so I'd be happy to learn from you.

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

I've got a bunch of info I'd share with you. want it on here or somewhere else?

[Atlatlista]

I've got a bunch of info I'd share with you. want it on here or somewhere else?

Here if you like, or pm me and I'll send you my email address. I appreciate the help!  I'm going to cross-compare modern American primitive bow armed hunters with extant ethnographic studies of hunter-gatherers to see if we serve as a suitable analogue.

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

oct 2006-
FL whitetail doe
approx 90lbs
10 yards paced
40 yard recovery
50+ pound osage selfbow, oak arrow, steel broadhead. Pass (fletchings still inside)  through double lung shot
off the ground, spot and stalk

oct 2007
FL whitetail spike
approx 100lbs
9 yards paced
30 yard recovery
50+ lbs osage bow, oak arrow and metal broadhead. Heart shot
12' high in tree

Sept 08
MT whitetail doe
approx 90 lbs
14yards paced
0 yard recover neck spine shot with a body follow up
60+ pound hornbeam bow, rivercane arrow and hammered trade point
high grass ground blind

Sept 08
MT Mule deer doe
Approx 130 lbs
35yards paced
100yard recovery
60+ pound hornbeam bow, cane arrow, hammered trade point. total pass through heart artery shot
on ground, spot and stalk

oct 08
FL 8 point Whitetail
Approx 120lbs
9 yards paced
40 yard recovery
50 pound Elm bow, cane arrow and trade point. Double lung pass through with arrow still in deer
12' in a tree

oct 09
MT Mule deer doe
approx 120lbs
15yards running shot.  paced
300 yard recovery
55# osage bow, cane arrow and hammered trade point. Total pass through liver shot
on ground by 2 man brush push/ambush

Sept 11 2010
MT mule deer button buck.
approx 60 lbs
7 yard running shot
80 yard recovery
60# osage bow, cane arrow, hammered trade point total pass through. 1 lung,liver and artery
on ground by 2 man brush push/ambush

Nov 21 2010
MT Whitetail 8 pt
approx 170lbs
11 yard shot
60 yard recovery
60# osage bow, cane arrow with hardwood foreshaft, 80 grain Texas chert stone point. Double lung and top of heart pass through with arrow still in deer
On the ground, no blind

9/5/2011
MT mule deer button buck
approx 60 lbs
18 yard shot paced
50 yard recovery
54# osage bow, cane arrow, 70 grain chert stone point Total pass through
10' in tree

11/ 2011
MT mule deer buck
Approx 190lbs
12 yard shot paced
800 yard recovery  (bad shot on my part)
54# osage bow cane arrow and 90gr stone point.
10' in tree

12/3/ 2011
FL whitetail spike
aprox 120 lbs
9 yards paced
30 yard recovery
54# osage bow, cane arrow and 90 gr stone point collapsed diaphram and artery cut
12' in tree

6/12
FL pig
approx 35lbs
15 yard shot 100 yard recovery
50# ash bow, 600gr privet arrow and 40gr stone point. heavy quartering away shot up through entrails into 1 lung and liver
on ground spot and stalk

[Danzn Bar]

Wow

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

9/ 12
FL doe
approx 80lbs
7 yards paced
40 yard recovery
50+ pound hackberry bow, 540gr cane arrow and 95 grain stone point. total pass through, double lung
12' in tree

Nov/ 2012
FL doe approx 90lbs
8 yards paced
180 yard recovery
50+ pound hackberry bow, 490 cane arrow and 75 gr stone point.  full penetration. Point poked out opposite side of ribs
        1 lung and liver
12' in tree

feb 2013
FL boar approx 125 lbs
14yard shot paced
45 yard recovery
56# dogwood bow, bamboo arrow 580gr including 90 grain chert point. full penetration through 1 inch thick cartilage shield, double lung and lodged into opposite shoulder
10' in tree

oct 5th 2013
FL Boar
approx 150lbs
15 yards paced
30-40 yard recovery.
56# 156fps osage bow, cane arrow 525 gr including an 85 Agatized coral point. back artery shot and liver quartering away about 18" of penetration through ribs and loins
on ground spot and stalk

Nov 5 2013
Ohio 8 point
approx 150lbs
11 yards paced
350 yard recovery (not a perfect shot)
56# 156fps 540 grain cane arrow including 106 grain chert point. pass through with arrow still inside
on ground, no blind

Nov 2013
FL doe
approx 70 lbs
9 yards paced
60 yard recovery
56# 156 fps osage bow, 540 grain cane arrow (same arrow as above with different point) 100gr FL chert point, Pass through double lung
12' in tree

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

enough info to keep ya busy a while.     hope you find it of use- Ryan

[Atlatlista]

Wow!  Thank you for taking the time to type this up for me.  This is an absolutely fascinating record, and exactly what I was looking for.  I'm really impressed not only with your recording skills, but your hunting skills as well.  I'm curious though about the 800 yard recovery animal.  What happened that made the recovery so long?  How long did it take you to find it?  How in the world did you track it for nearly a kilometer?

[crooketarrow]

   I can't remmber all of that so I'll generalize it some.
 
  All whitetail bucks 2, black bears, Number of doe's I never kept track of. But over 15.
 
39 Bucks with a selfbow.

  Taken with bows anywhere from 52#'s to 75#'s. All kinds of wood used. But OSAGE and HICKORY for the most part.
 
  ZICKEYS, KNAPPER (STONE)HEADS, HOMEMADE TRADE POINT'S.

  Anywhere from 120 #'s to 214 #'s. Bears went 167#s and 190#'s.

  Longest shot with a selfbow has been 18 yards. Closest was 4 yards. But most was 10 to 15 yards.

  Recover was anywhere from on the spot (4 spine shots) to 5oo, 600 yards. Mosty with in 100 yards. A 13 or 14 with in sight.

  Shot distance's and recovering distance's  were messured my me. GUESSING

  Tree stands (95 % of the time)  from 1974 to 2006 when I had 2 strokes made me a total ground hunter. I love it never go back in the tree's.
 
 Probely 80% CALLED.

  7 Losses.

[killir duck]

well I've been bow hunting for five years now and so far have only shot a cow elk it was a 55 yard shot (I practice daily out to 80 yards) ranged with a rangefinder after the shot she walk-trotted about 25 yards stopped, looked over her shoulder and fell right there, she left a blood trail a blind man could follow, I used a 64# tri-lam r/d longbow 580 gn. cane arrows with 155 gn tusker single bevel broadheads, aprox. 600# live weight, shot out of a treestand,   Duck

[Atlatlista]

well I've been bow hunting for five years now and so far have only shot a cow elk it was a 55 yard shot (I practice daily out to 80 yards) ranged with a rangefinder after the shot she walk-trotted about 25 yards stopped, looked over her shoulder and fell right there, she left a blood trail a blind man could follow, I used a 64# tri-lam r/d longbow 580 gn. cane arrows with 155 gn tusker single bevel broadheads, aprox. 600# live weight, shot out of a treestand,   Duck

55?  That's pretty intensely long range for hunting.  Does it affect your penetration any?  I mean, clearly it's still lethal, but at what difference does your performance really start to taper off?

[killir duck]

i got a complete pass through, you have to have a razor sharp broadhead i don't mean just kinda sorta sharp i mean poppin hair off your arm sharp, that and properly tuned equipment and heavy arrows also proper arrow place is hugely important, and yes that is stretching it  i wouldn't shoot at any animal past 60 yards and evan then everything has to be absolutely perfect.

P.S. the bow is 64#@28" i draw 30" so that's about 68-70#

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

thanks,   the 800y recovery was an odd case on how I got there,   I was hunting during a snow storm that was just finishing up. The trail to the tree I was hunting was very steep and rock a required a hand to scale the rocks. When I hunt I always have my leather finger tab on my hand.  By using my hand to help get up the rocks, I got the leather wet in the snow. I kept it in my pocket most of the evening to keep my fingers warm.. By doing so, I also kept it wet.  I saw a couple does coming along the trail and pulled my hand from my pocket  and placed in on the string. 15 or so minutes passed before the does, and buck following them, came into range.  Apparently during this time the leather had actually froze around the string. So when I drew and released I got a horrible release and the fingertab was nearly ripped clear off my hand.  This not only changed the arrow's course but robbed a lot of energy from the arrow. The arrow hit low under the liver in the front of the gut.   By this time the snow had ceased and there was a fresh blanket on the ground.  I followed the fresh tracks in the snow the next morning up and down hills. The hit obviously did not do very much damage at all but it was enough to finally turn the buck septic and bring him down.  To be honest it was a rugged situation that I don't like to brag about much, that is why I didnt give much info.  This is how you DO NOT want bow hunting to go..  Luckily with the snow I was able to track  him cleanly until he bedded a few times and got up and wandered and I eventually found him.  As the crow flies he was about 500 yards from hill top to hill top from where I shot him, but he went down hill, uphill and in a circling direction not to mention back and forth on top of the hill many times over.  I figured 800y was a pretty realistic range that he actually traveled.  800yards in open MT country for an injured Muley buck, actually seems much less distance than say 400y in the eastern woodlands.