Category Archives: Big Game Hunting

Articles about Big Game Hunting.

Broadheads: Fixed vs Mechanical;Vanes vs Feathers; Straight vs Helical

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Long ago I made a decision to stick with fixed blade broadheads. In large part because I was a traditionalist at heart and a kinship to the past. But lets take a peek at broadheads today, vanes vs feathers  and straight, offset or helical fletch.

Stone – Can break- Razor sharp Needs skill to make, use, and sharpen (knapp).

Steel Zwickey 2 blade below-  Needs to be  sharpened.  Very Strong and proven. not always perfectly centered. Needs Larger feather or vane in offset. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/nsearch/?q=zwickey+broadheads

Zwickey Eskimo 2 Edge 11/32 Broadheads

Trocar Tip Muzzy 3 Blade – Razor Sharp – Perfectly aligned Ferrule

Comes with practice blades.

My favorite for deer and Africa Plains Game.

Muzzy Bowhunting 3 Blade Archery Arrow Broadhead 100 or 125 Grain - 6 Pack

Muzzy One – All one piece

 

G5  Montec Nice Look. Resharpenable

G5 Montec Broadhead

I just love how the triangular shaped flint and/or steel looked.

 

In today’s society there is a lot of salesmanship that sells the latest and greatest. That is ok, and that is how most of us moved from recurve/longbow to the Compound Bow. Accuracy with sights and Power! The 2014 study below suggests accuracy between the two fixed vs mechanical is statistically insignificant and both need some level of compound tuning for broadhead fixed or mechanical vs fieldpoint. Below is the popular Rage Hypodermic  Mechanical Broadhead

Hypodermic Open

The mechanical allows you to;

Use vanes that are smaller, straight or slightly offset due to less steerage from the head

Reduce arrow planing since the ferrule and exposed blades are lower profile.

More forgiving in an untuned bow.

Provide a wider entrance and exit wound.

But why would you not tune your broadheads? Salesmanship does come in to play.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2014/11/broadhead-test-fixed-blades-vs-mechanicals/

Yes the entry wound from a mechanical is gaping and can leave a great blood trail. Visually from the exterior the wound is stunning. But death comes from hemorrhage inside. I think with a powerful bow the mechanical that opens properly will create more vital tissue damage than perhaps a fixed blade.

Yet the fixed blade head is a failsafe head, always for the most style, “Cut-on-Contact.

How much damage does one need to humanely kill a deer? The fixed blade head has been doing it for thousands of years. The  bottom line is that both have advantages and disadvantages and, ceteris paribus, both kill humanly. It is a  shooters choice! Lower poundage to say 40 pounds may risk a  mechanical not opening. In that case a fixed blade broadhead is perhaps a better choice.

From a practice standpoint with your broadhead, I believe it is essential to prove in your broadhead at game distances. Today’s mechanical is very costly to give one up for practice. I like a  strong ferrule and both practice blades and hunt blades with the purchase.

Vanes vs Feathers

Feathers are traditional, vanes are plastic and are not as affected by rain and wetness of the forest.  Vane below. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/arrows/arrow-components/vanes.html?p=2

Bohning Blazer Vanes (Fred Bear Signature Series)

Today synthetic vanes are winning for non traditional archery meaning longbow and recurve traditional shooters still prefer feathers but compound bow hunters and shooters are big on small synthetic vanes.

Consistent arrow spines and concentricity in aluminum and carbon are for all intent, near to ideal today. Some vanes today are already attached to a sleeve that can be slipped on the arrow and heat shrunk right then. Like this Bohning Tiger Blazer QuickFletch from Midway USA.

https://www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=arrow+vanes&userItemsPerPage=48 

Bohning Tiger Blazer QuikFletch Arrow Vanes White Tiger Pack of 6

 

Traditional Turkey Feather 5 inch Helical Fletch

Elong 30" Archery Carbon Arrows Wood Camo Shaft Spine 600 Recurve Bows Turkey Feather Arrow

Size and Fletch/Vane offset and helical style are often Traditional vs Compound. Helical fletch is used to spin the arrow with a broadhead that is often not true to the shafts centerline, like a Bear Razorhead with a glue ferrule or a Stone point. Thus the arrow will not plane as much.  Click the words below to read this interesting series of articles…

http://archeryreport.com/2011/07/helical-straight-fletch-accuracy-repeatability/

 

Helical vs. Straight - back view

Along with all of the above don’t forget to calculate your FOC Front of Center balance point.

https://www.goldtip.com/Resources/Calculators/FOC-Calculator.aspx

 

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

Rifles: Want to improve your field hunting accuracy?

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Experienced and successful hunters will tell you, It is not the accuracy at the bench rest that ultimately brings home the wild game.  It is how you and your rifle work together in the field and forest.

Are you training for a field match or to shoot at a game animal.

Photo above, I took this South African SCI Gold Medal Kudu with a Ruger M77 with VX III Leupold scope with .338 Win mag and 250 grain Nosler Partition bullets.  My training paid off, big time! I practiced in the field, off-hand, and could fire and keep 4 rapid shots on a pie plate at 80 yards. Of course plains game was often at 200 plus yards and may be out to 300 and 400. Your Professional Hunter – PH will tell you if your up for the shot or get you closer. Most opt for closer, say 200-250 yards.

It is very often the case that you will only get one shot.

Make it count!

First, bullseye targets do not move, but wild game does! Yes it sounds intuitive but it is often overlooked. Over the years I believe, the key to shooting accurately in the field is to know when your trigger will break and what clothes/jackets you will wear for hunting so that you will know in advance if you need to adjust “length of pull” to prevent snags. And finally to “understand” the felt recoil of your rifle.  That  comes with shooting and practicing in field conditions at the distances you expect to shoot. Are you using a tripod, bipod, shooting sticks or your backpack to use as a rest? If so, then practice with it. So many variables, right? 

Length of Pull -The top of your list should be length of pull (LOP), trigger break in pounds, and having an adequate recoil pad and cheek weld.  Most rifle hunters today use a scope, If the scope is too high then your cheek weld will float around and so will your shots. Typical LOP for a rifle is around 13.25 to 13.75 inches. Again, what clothing jacket are you wearing? 

Triggers today are often adjustable in the 2.5 to 6 pound range. Most experienced  hunter like a trigger at around three to four pounds. Having too light a trigger with cold fingers can cause you to not feel the trigger very well and result in accidental discharges. Conversely, a heavy trigger can cause you to miss game that is moving, by not knowing when the trigger will break. How to determine what is right for you… takes some shooting awareness when you “think” the trigger will break and fire but doesn’t. The closer you and your trigger agree is where you want to set your trigger. Keep in  mind that you are hunting, not target shooting. Many gun-shops will often have a trigger scale to test the break point of your trigger. I own a digital scale and use it regularly. 

Recoil Pads today on newer rifles are better than a decade or two ago. Most can reduce felt recoil by half. Older rifles often need harder rubber pads replaced. Why? Less recoil translates directly to improved accuracy. Shooting a .375 H&H with a state of the art recoil pad is like shooting a 30-06 or .270. Shooting smarter not harder! 

Cheek weld for scopes is vital and often overlooked. If your cheek does not make solid contact with the comb of your rifle then your eye is floating as it looks through a scope.  At 50 yard that may still work for you but at over 100 yards it can mean a clean miss. There are many devices out there as add-on’s for bringing your cheek higher and allow ideal eye alignment with your scope. 

These variables are just a few of the vital aspects of good accuracy. Then comes breathing, trigger squeeze and understanding recoil. 

Even the best game shots stay the best because they practice. 

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2020

Lancaster County Pennsylvania Flintlock From A Kit

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Why make an authentic Lancaster County Pennsylvania Rifle from a kit? The word Kit, some would infer, that it is a cheap knock off, and easy to put together. Nothing could be further from the truth as it pertains to authentic Pennsylvania Flintlock Rifles.  Today’s kits are made of the finest woods, finest  barrels  and as accurate as all get out! Really!! To my eye, the Lancaster County Rifles from original makers such as Jacob Dickert and Isaac Haines among others are a thing of functional beauty. I built my rifle from a Jim Chambers Ltd Lancaster Rifle Kit with Tiger Maple stock, Siler Lock, 44 inch Rice Swamp Barrel. The kit looks like this… Granted the stock looks like it is ready for parts to be dropped in but its not. The stock is roughed out and the brass is sand cast with cast  marks.  Every part must be inlayed or chiseled into the stock.

A good  kit will cost only around $1000 dollars like mine. But you will need an array of hand tools and carving chisels and sand paper that can run in $200 dollars or so. I know that is a lot of money but they don’t come cheap.

Below is the Jim Chambers Lancaster Kit I used for  my build.

Rifle Kits Include All This

 

I am a student of history, In particular the American Revolution and the Pennsylvania Rifle was a key part of winning the Revolution because it had a rifled barrel and longer range. The Pennsylvania rifle, some know as the Kentucky Rifle was not as easy to load as the smooth bore Brown Bess musket (or French made Charleville).  Bess had accuracy good to 50 yards but not much more.  The Pennsylvania rifle earned its keep on the frontier for accurately dispatching wild game and as a sniper rifle at long distances to 200 or more yards in the hands of a Marksman.

Men like General Daniel Morgan and Morgan’s Rifleman were hired for their skill as woodsman and crack shots at long ranges. One such hero under Morgan was Tim Murphy who during the battle of Saratoga took out a horse riding British General beyond 200 yards, some say 300 yards.

The patch box on the stock was often made of wood however upscale Lancaster Pennsylvania models were lavishly embellished with brass and often a signature of its maker. My patch box below.

But if you want to purchase an authentic Pennsylvania rifle (not the kit) the cost can be  significant. Often prices are in the $3000 to $5000 range. The art work is spectacular! See the brass patch-box below from this John Bivins Style Flintlock. http://www.custommuzzleloaders.com/bivins.html 

 

I think the hardest part of making a Pennsylvania Flintlock rifle given that the barrel and lock is roughed-in already , is carving the stock and in-letting the barrel into the stock. Today’s kits have roughed-in the stock too so that this major hurdle is lessened to a great degree.  If you are not good with your hands though, I do not recommend building from a kit.  Trust me,  it is not easy and it is fraught with danger of major errors using chisels to inlet the stock for barrel and trigger assembly.  But if you are good with your hands,then this rifle can be your signature work to pass on.

My Jacob Dickert brass patchbox below was  purchased with the daisy elsewhere. I spent hours just to cut, drill and chisel to inlay the patchbox flush with the wood, create the spring door lid.

I liked my finish inlay work so much that I hired a  master engraver to copy Dickert’s design seen far below for the box and lock side plate.

 

Below is my first ever novice attempt at carving a double Rococo C scroll as Dickert would have done, before staining. I was very happy with it!

Below is the Dickert Floral I also carved at the Tang.

Watch the Sparks Fly from this Flintlock below. My slow motion clip displays the spark power to ignite the charge in the pan.

To make your build easier, better kits come with a DVD and take you step by step though the process. I  needed  the DVD, It was excellent.

Well, 3 years ago the Lancaster Kit below with tiger maple cost 950.00  The master engraving on the  box and side plate cost me $300 more.

It took me more than 100 hours to carve, cut, and fit and stain,  perhaps nearer to 150 hours. Thank God it shoots really well after all that effort!

Yesterday I took  my rifle to the range and shot close range, to 25 yards. It was  fun. See below. Shot  number 1 Upper Hit clipped the dead center box. Shot number 2 lower right was nearly in the same spot. Shot number 3 was a off to the right a bit but I think that was me and not the rifle. I use 70 grains FFG powder and there is very little recoil. I was very pleased with the accuracy check. Good for hunting squirrels, rabbits and hares!

My Jacob Dickert Lancaster Pennsylvania Flintlock  shoots flat to 75 yards and drops a few inches at 100 yards and 16 inches at 150 yards with 90 grains of FFG powder. For deer, I will stay within the 75 yards.

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved.

Medicine in the Woods

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I was on my New Hampshire deer stand when all of a sudden my throat felt dry. I had to cough! Thinking the nearby deer would spook, I  often carry slices of granny smith apples to keep saliva flowing. But I didn’t carry any with me. What to do? I foraged near my stand and found some American teaberry leaves to chew. There were a few minty berries to eat as well. The mint soothed my cough and soon was back to the hunt. New Hampshire woods are full of these plants and berries. You just have to look on the forest floor.  Check out the video below.

 

Foraging skills can provide a wealth of plants and fungi that have significant medicinal value. I suggest this as you chase the whitetail deer. Check out NH Magazine below.

Off The Grid – Conifer Tea for Vitamin C.

https://www.offgridweb.com/survival/jacques-cartier-conifer-tea-vitamin-c/

Spruce tree needles are also a source of vitamin c. So do some wild plant homework and you will become more of a part of Nature!

If you are willing to do some research into Mushrooms and Fungi here in the Northeast US you will find a medicine chest that can aid in healing wounds such as birch bark, to cancer prevention. One such prolific mushroom is called Turkey Tail. You probably have some in your back yard.

There are many more New Hampshire mushrooms and fungi that are not only edible but highly medicinal. I have purchased a book entitled Mushrooms of the Northeastern United State for my winter reading.

Good Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

BOG Death Grip Tripod for Rifle, Shotgun and Crossbow

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Shooting 375 Ruger at 150 yards

Shooting Excalibur Crossbow

Features of BOG Death Grip Clamping Tripod:

  • Tilt adjustment lever controls up to 25 degrees of cant forwards and back and…
  • Maximum height: 72 inches, minimum height: 7 inches.
  • No-slip lever locks provide faster locking and release.
  • Non-marring rubber jaw insert protects the firearm and the quick-adjust clamping lever secures…
  • Model comes with aluminum legs or carbon fiber legs

I have used this for my Newfoundland moose hunt and for shooting crossbow for target or in a blind. It is a hands free tool so it can hold your gun or crossbow at the ready and reduce movement especially in a blind when deer or turkey are right there in front of you. Cost is $150 for aluminum and $250 for carbon fiber. It is a life long investment like a good scope.

Good Hunting!

 

26 Nosler for Moose?

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Some of my readers are looking for info on 26 Nosler for Moose.

The 26 Nosler (6.5 mm) is ideally suited as a long range rifle/cartridge combo that is more geared to Elk, large deer, and most African Plains game.

YES, it is a capable North American moose and African Eland Cartridge but not the quote “best”, ceteris paribus, in my estimation, meaning, good, better, best. 

Most moose are taken within 300 yards and often less than 100 yards. Truth is, 300 yards is short range for the 26 Nosler on elk and deer. 

The reason to own a 26 Nosler is that you are going to do a lot of hunting at ranges from 200 to 800 yards after your moose hunt for game such as elk and deer or on an African Plains game Safari. The 26 Nosler is not a target rifle, it is a serious long range hunting cartridge/rifle. 

 The 6.5 caliber has exceptional Sectional Density (greater than .28 and up to .299), thus great penetration, especially the 140 -142  grain in a Nosler AccuBond bullet or the Long Range version of the AB.

It is NOT about “bullet speed” for moose however.

Killing moose is about shot placement.

If you own a 26 Nosler and can practice to 300, 400, 500 or more yards with a solid field rest such as the Bog Death Grip® tri-pod or Caldwell® Field Pod, then go for it. 

However, if you can shoot “accurately” with a larger bore and a well constructed bullet with excellent Sectional Density then, I believe, you are better off. Moose don’t fall “often” at a killing shot and can run over 100 yards or more, maybe into a pond or down a hill in the wrong direction. I don’t favor field dressing a moose in a pond. Try to anchor him right then! Keep shooting till he’s down. 

Larger bores and recoil aside, my go-to’s for a regular every year moose caliber would be a 30-06, 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160 grain bullets, 300 Win. Mag., both with 180 grain Nosler AB, .338 Win Mag with 225 grain Nosler AB and the 375’s in 260 to 300 grain. The 30-06 will limit your distance shots to say 150 yards or so. The .270 Winchester can, like the 26 Nosler and other 6.5’s, do the job but I like larger calibers that can reach 200 to 300 yards with 2000 to 3000 ft-lbs delivered. The rest of my list are good to 300 yards or more.

If big bears are also on the menu, or if you are on their menu, then I would opt for the .338 and .375 with good shot placement. 

It is rare to kill moose at ranges over 300 yards.

Additionally, strong wind is a long range shot Achilles heel in the field, often 20 mph or more on a mountain thus windage will be a huge factor at those distant shots.

Recommended Reading below:

https://www.chuckhawks.com/want_better_sd.htm

My recent moose hunt.

I took a young 850 lb Newfoundland bull moose at 100 yards this past October with a .375 Ruger and Nosler 300 grain AccuBond traveling at 2500 fps. 

Every day in our Newfoundland hunt was a challenge. The wind was blowing 20 to 40  mph everyday and wind chill was in the minus column. If you did not have a fleece or knit face mask, then you didn’t have a face!

300 grain Nosler AccuBond

300 grain Nosler AccuBond recovered from moose retained 231 grains, 77% of its original weight.

The bull was coming to a cow call, and was taken as it eagerly trotted toward me in a near whiteout snow squall(snow was blowing sideways) with 30 mph wind. I waited till the bull neared 100 yards.  The bull veered to provide a quartering shot. I had already set up my BOG Death Grip tripod for sitting. At the shot, the bull stood for a few seconds, he looked bewildered,  wondering what had just happened, and fell stone dead. The 300 grain bullet entered the shoulder (nicked the lower edge of the scapula bone on entry), double lung shot delivering 3500 ft-lbs and settled on the skin of the far side after blowing through a rib bone (the bullet mushroomed to more than 3/4 inch). No exit wound. I never felt the recoil and my face was numb as if at my dentist from the cold anyway.

Great eating! The meat froze quickly.

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2020

 

 

Rifle Recoil vs Felt Recoil: Shoot Smarter Not Harder

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Some of my readers wish to know what the recoil is for a given rifle and bullet weight.  A great question! Perhaps they may word it differently, like “how much am I going to get beat-up by that rifles recoil?

Below is a website which shows up under NH Rifleman’s Menu for calculating recoil. In order for it to work you need to know the rifle weight in pounds, bullet weight in grains, speed in fps of the bullet and the amount of powder used in grains. Enter these quantities and your result is shown. 

http://www.shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php

That said, for many years there have been screw-on permanent or temporary recoil pads on the market which can cut the felt recoil in half or more.

I shoot a 375 Ruger at 9.5 pounds and a 300 grain bullet and say 55  grains of powder. Recoil for this 375 Ruger is around 38 ft-lbs. but with a recoil pad designed to cut felt recoil in half, the felt recoil is like 19 pounds, more like the .270 Winchester.

I can shoot my 375 in a T-Shirt off hand. However, if I am bench resting, I recommend a strap on shoulder pad too if I am shooting several rounds.

So don’t let published recoil stop you from shooting bigger, more powerful rifles.

Shoot smarter not harder!

© 2020

Excalibur Matrix Crossbow Sound Deadening System and Air Brake Dissipator Bars Review

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My Excalibur Matrix Grizzly Crossbow is a bare bones model for just under $500. It shoots arrow/bolts at 300 fps measured and very accurate. But it is louder (a high pitch like bang sound), measured with my sound meter at 102 Dba (a loud shout) at the bow.

In the woods, I believed it is truly a foreign noise and will surely spook game (not like a tree limb cracking for sure).

Accordingly, I contacted Excalibur and purchased their Sound Deadening System which consists of string stars, RAVS rubber limb dampeners, overmolded rubber stirrup and air brake limb dissipator to decrease the sound and get rid of the high frequency bang sound. Cost $130. I was also concerned that I would lose arrow speed but didn’t.

Before adding these devices I measured arrow speed at 300 fps and 102 Dba at the bow.

After adding these devices I measured arrow speed still at 300 fps and 98 Dba at the bow. Still loud but the high frequency bang noise was softened significantly.

I would have liked the sound level to be lower still, however,  it is what it is.

Adding these devices shifted my point of impact by 4 inches to the left at 20 yards and made scope adjustments to compensate. The installation, reading the detailed instructions, disassembling the bow limbs to add the air brakes, adding the string and limb dampeners took me a few hours.

Was it worth that effort?

Not really significant. Getting rid of that high frequency (almost metalic) bang sound was the best part.

The truth is that game, particularly whitetail deer will hear sound levels to spook at perhaps 70 Dba (the sound of a vacuum cleaner) or even much lower. My recurve bow at 45 lbs makes a sound level of 89 Dba without string silencers.  The recurve Dba cut the noise in half from the crossbow but still loud enough for deer to hear and maybe spook (jump the string). Was it worth the $130 dollars and reduced sound and time to assemble?

I believe It wont change the mind of a deer.

So the answer is no, but I likely knew that going into this review.

The valuable part for me is that arrow speed was maintained.

Even though my 45 pound recurve is quieter, its much slower arrow speed will allow a spooked deer more milliseconds to spook and drop to avoid the arrow, where my 300 fps crossbow at 20 yards will only be off by a quarter of an inch. On a 40 yard deer with 300 fps arrow, it will drop 5 inches. With a 256 fps bow the arrow will be off by 10 or more inches at 40 yards. Avoid these longer shots!

For further reading you can read my recent article on “Jumping the String” and the great work done by Dr. Grant Woods and his www.growingdeer.com team.

Bowhunter Arrow/Bolt Speed vs Whitetail Deer Drop- Updated

The bottom line is that arrow speed is vital and sound is less important given that many deer will react to drop at the sound of a recurve, compound or crossbow. Assume the deer will drop and aim at the lower 1/3 of the deer thus still  making a double lung hit. Here’s hoping we make better shot evaluations.

Good Hunting!

 

Bowhunter Arrow/Bolt Speed vs Whitetail Deer Drop- Updated

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We learn something new every year!  This past October 2019, a young bowhunter was video’d at Dr. Grant Woods proving grounds. UPDATE: Also a second video that provides drop data at 20, 30 and 40 yards.

https://www.growingdeer.tv/videos/category/all-videos/#/the-best-hunt-weve-ever-videoed-about-deer-reacting-to-a-shot

The analysis of the video shared some insights to help me understand some key facts.

Fact #1 No matter what you do as the bow or crossbow is shot, a deer will hear the thwap sound of bow/crossbow and string before the arrow arrives.

Fact #2 Deer don’t always jump the string but a louder foreign sound increases that risk dramatically. UPDATE: Dr. Woods says assume all whitetail deer will drop at the shot!

Fact#3 If the deer is “on alert”, your chances of a solid double lung kill shot go down go down the further away the deer is.

Fact #4 Deer with a head down, can drop its body faster than gravity because it uses its head and neck to lever its chest downward. UPDATE: And drop its body even lower.

Fact #5 Deer with head up, when the shot is taken, can’t use its head and neck to lever the body thus can only drop at the speed of gravity, 32 fps² .

Fact#6 Aiming at the lower 1/3 of the chest (heart shot) , instead of center chest is the best advice for deer within 30 yards.

Fact#7 Shots beyond 30 yards even with a fast 300 fps bow are lower percentage success shots if the deer drops. UPDATE: Deer can drop 5 inches or more at 40 yards

Fact#8 Deer drop when startled and it need not be a bow or arrow noise that causes them to drop and turn away from the noise.

Fact#9 Only take high percentage shots for consistent harvests.

Another article to chew on below.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2019/9/19/deer-trust-their-ears/

Good Hunting!

Arrow Hit Where On The Deer?

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So you shot at a deer with Bow/Crossbow. It all happened so fast and you are not sure if the hit was in the vitals or in the gut. Here is an indicator wrap or a wipe (if you dislike the wrap) to tell you the kind of hit that was made. Wipe the arrow and it changes color. This helps you plan for a recovery of game, to follow now or wait hours or overnight before following up. I like the idea and I will likely buy the wipe type indicator for this fall.

https://www.gutcheckindicators.com/shop-now

We all want to recover and eat the game we hunt, here is a tool that can help.

Good Hunting!