Everyone's bow/arrow setups this year. SHOW EM OFF!!!

[Dylan Sluis]

I know there has been threads like this in the past. But I always think it's cool to see everybody's setups going into the hunting season. Post pics of your bow/arrow/broadheads or you can just tell us as well. It's good to get everyone talking and answering questions to help everyone get ready for the season. At this point most people's setups are finalized for the year. So what is your

- Bow/DL/Poundage
- Arrow/Weight/FOC/Broadhead/FPS
- Vane Setup/lighted nocks
- Why you chose that broadhead/s and or if you've used it in the past
- What type of hunting you will be doing and for what animals

Basically just tell us any information you have about your setup

I will get this thing started with my setup for this year

- Hoyt Torrex 72lbs 29in DL
- Easton Axis 5mm 515 grains with a 14% FOC
- Am running a 4 fletch of AAE Airazr Pro's with about 3 degrees left helical, a onestringer wrap and a Halo lighted nock
- Shooting the G5 deadmeat for the first time. I like the design of this head and how it is a mechanical that still penetrates well. I like a 3 blade design so I figured I would give it a shot this year.
- I will be hunting whitetails this year in northern MN so that is why I am shooting a heavier arrow as my shots will be pretty much no longer than 40



I'm excited to see all of these setups!!

 

[Bump79]

No recent bow pics but here's my arrow setup for elk. Element Archery Storm 250 with Nexxus Ti Outsert. Terra Firma Gladius 3b single bevel 125 grain head. Custom Bowtique Wrap. 505 grains moving 282 fps at launch.


Whitetail setup is similar - 445 grain Element Storm 300 with 100 grain Contact VBS 100 with large bleeder. 3 Fletch Q2i Zeon on a white wrap. Orange nock. 294 fps.

 

[WCB]

-Bowtech Prodigy, 27.5", @ 70lbs (classic setting)
-GT Hunter Pro ,384gr, who cares FOC, @ 290ish fps
-Blazer vane 3 Fletch 3deg rt, standard nock
-100gr Slick Trick standards and 100gr Rocket Steelheads (will pay for more)
-Both just plain work have killed a lot of animals with them
-I'll be going after Moose, Elk, Deer, possibly Black Bear

I have a second Prodigy set up for late season at 65lbs in comfort setting on the cams. Ill use same arrows and heads. Probably 280ish fps. This will be used again late season deer hunting sitting in cold ass blind with no heater. Lighter poundage and draw cycle smoother.

 

[Dylan Sluis]

View attachment 750179

That second broadhead you are using for whitetail looks really cool. Never seen them before

 

[Bump79]

That second broadhead you are using for whitetail looks really cool. Never seen them before

Yeah it's a Contact Archery VBS. Used to be Method Archery before that. It's a good one! Can't wait to run one through a whitetail. It's 1-1/4" by 1-1/8"

 

[JK47]

Alpha X 30 82/29.25
Arrows are Victory RIP SS. 27.75 cut to cut. 50 grain Iron Will HIT’s and 25 grain impact collars with a 100 grain head. AAE vanes 2 degree right offset. IP nocks. 535 grains total arrow weight going 285 fps.

Haven’t nailed down a BH yet. I had some serving separations and had to get restrung last week. So…I get to retune now. What a treat…. I have some QAD Exodus heads, G5 Strykers, Deadmeats and Grim Reaper 1 3/8”. I may have one of each in the quiver.

 

[Dylan Sluis]

View attachment 750687Alpha X 30 82/29.25
Arrows are Victory RIP SS. 27.75 cut to cut. 50 grain Iron Will HIT’s and 25 grain impact collars with a 100 grain head. AAE vanes 2 degree right offset. IP nocks. 535 grains total arrow weight going 285 fps.

Haven’t nailed down a BH yet. I had some serving separations and had to get restrung last week. So…I get to retune now. What a treat…. I have some QAD Exodus heads, G5 Strykers, Deadmeats and Grim Reaper 1 3/8”. I may have one of each in the quiver.

That is an awesome looking setup!

 

[Jaker_cc]

Same ol Hoyt RX-1 ultra that I got the day they came out. 88lbs at 31.75”

Black eagle spartan 200 spine with a 100gr kudu broadhead. Total arrow weight is 545gr at about 296fps. Sticking with the kudu broadheads for elk, shooting 1.75” sevrs for whitetail. My setup is a hammer and I built it specifically for elk hunting.


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[JK47]

That is an awesome looking setup!

I really like it. I’m dialed with field points. Just gotta finish with dialing the fixed blades. Hopefully I’ll get some blood on it.

I’ll probably be shooting this rig for many many years.

 

[Bump79]

Same ol Hoyt RX-1 ultra that I got the day they came out. 88lbs at 31.75”

Black eagle spartan 200 spine with a 100gr kudu broadhead. Total arrow weight is 545gr at about 296fps. Sticking with the kudu broadheads for elk, shooting 1.75” sevrs for whitetail. My setup is a hammer and I built it specifically for elk hunting.


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That's packing a hell of a punch!

 

[Dylan Sluis]

Same ol Hoyt RX-1 ultra that I got the day they came out. 88lbs at 31.75”

Black eagle spartan 200 spine with a 100gr kudu broadhead. Total arrow weight is 545gr at about 296fps. Sticking with the kudu broadheads for elk, shooting 1.75” sevrs for whitetail. My setup is a hammer and I built it specifically for elk hunting.


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No crap it's a hammer. You are shooting 88 pounds with a 31.75 DL That is awesome though, I always say shoot as high of poundage as you comfortably can because we want every ounce of energy you can get. And well, I think you got it all!

 

[Wilderlife]

Essentially the same setup for the last several months.

Hoyt Z1S.
77# @ 28in and 80% letoff. Mostly shooting a Scott Ascent hinge but picked up a 2 Smooth recently that I might shoot a bit. I've also started hunting with a Silverback mini + a bit.
Arrow setup is a 250 spine Crafted Archery ultralight, cut to 26.5in carbon-to-carbon. 45gn of aluminium components on the front, a 150gn broadhead, and some 4 fletch Easy Vanes on the back. Total arrow weight is around 475gn and they're going somewhere around 288fps.
The broadhead I've used the most lately is the Crafted Archery Aero 1, but I may use some others in the coming months - Terra Firma gladius and Venator, Extracts, or maybe some Kayugas.

Some old pictures of the setup.



A picture I just took now as I have a new stabiliser on the front and a 7 arrow Tight Spot.


I've owned this bow since May 2023. I've gone through a few different arrow setups and I've also switched the limbs out from 70# set to 80# set in November 2023. I've probably killed closed to 50 animals with it since owning it and plan to get plenty more critters on the deck before I even consider getting a new bow.

 

[Scoot]

PSE Mach 34. 29.5" draw at 64 lbs. Pushing out Easton Axis 340s tipped with 100 grain Spitfire Maxx heads. If I was hunting elk or moose (or a big boned critter), they'd be tipped with G5 Strikers. I just have deer on the menu this year though, so I'm using the expanders.

No pics handy, but it's sexy.

 

[CHGray]

 

[Billy Goat]

@nphunter started this a while ago, fyi

Thread 'Post up a picture your hunting bow!' https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/post-up-a-picture-your-hunting-bow.342430/

 

[Dylan Sluis]

@nphunter started this a while ago, fyi

Thread 'Post up a picture your hunting bow!' https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/post-up-a-picture-your-hunting-bow.342430/

Oh I know. That was in January also. I wanted people to go more in depth on their setups here. Not just a pic of your bow like that one was.

 

[nphunter]

This year I couldn't find a new short draw bow I wanted so I decided to build my own, wanted a light long ATA bow and also wanted carbon, nobody offers a carbon bow with a short draw cam with a long ATA. I decided to purchase a used PSE Mach 34 in mint condition, sold the EC2 cams and strings off of it and strings and ordered the new EM2 cam from PSE. Before deciding on the EM2 cam I visited a shop and drew back all of the PSE cams, some were on target bows and some hunting bows, the EM2 is a target cam.

The bow build went well, I had to come up with the correct string lengths since this was a custom bow, after spending a lot of time comparing bows in the tune charts I came up with the correct size. Austin at HV strings made the strings for me and they came out perfect.

I also added a Ti bolt kit to lighten it so it weighed 3.6 bare and weighs 5.4lbs loaded ready to hunt. It also has a forgiving BH and ATA and is faster than pretty much any production bow made at 27.5”. It is by far lighter and faster than any other carbon bow on the market, the only thing that was close was the old Hoyt carbon turbos but with shorter BH and harsher draw cycles with almost zero valley.

I did lose draw weight going to a smaller cam so I ordered new limbs and the final weight is right at 74lbs.
The bow draws nicely, stiff but smooth all the way to the wall and just locks in, it takes a little effort to come off of the wall and let down which is nice. Holds really well and feels great on the shot.

Here are the specs.

PSE Mach 34 (EM2 cam)

27.6” draw
73.8lbs
6.69” BH
34.124” ATA
342 IBO
448gr arrow @ 290fps

I’m very happy with the specs and feel like this Short Draw Mach 34 will be the ultimate hunting bow.

For arrows I decided to go back to 4mm shafts. I shot A/C Injexions for several years before they were discontinued and then VAP's after. The A/C arrows have always been awesome and the only reason I went away from 4mm was due to the lack of good heads at the time. I saw Evolution archery came up with the new glue in 4mm heads this year so I sold all my RIP TKO's and found a bunch of Pro Comp 340's in the classifieds.

With the procomps I also wanted to try out the new ez vanes from Aus and they are awesome, I went with a 3 fletch and they have pretty much the same surface area as 3 max stealth. The arrows are 27.5" long and with 150gr heads, ez vanes, a wrap and 10gr collar I'm right at 448gr and fly like darts.
I'm also shooting a QAD MX2 rest and a CBE Trek Pro 5 pin sight which I love and also shot on my RX4.

I've decided not to run a stabilizer at all this year, I've been shooting year without one and can shoot very well out to 100 yards with fixed heads and have no intention of shooting an animal that far. The bow just flat out shoots, even shots that feel like I pull or rush the arrows just seem to find the center of the target. I don't anticipate changing bows for a long time and hope to start piling up some critters with it this fall.



First 100yrd group with the bow.

 

[2Stamp]

Using a Mach 30 this year, 28" DL, at 65lbs DW. Bow started at 71lbs but I developed an issue in my shoulder about 30 days ago, so dropping to 65 is tolerable.

Arrows are Easton 4mm Axis, 340s, AAE hybrids, Halo nocks, with 200 upfront for a TAW of 461gr. I'll be using Evolution Outdoors Jekyll and Hyde this year. I have the option for a Valkrie system also. We'll see.

I'll be hunting Pronghorn, Mule deer, and maybe elk. Also Whitetail in November.

 

[butcherboy]

Same bow since 2012. Hoyt Carbon Element. 73# @ 28”. Arrows are Easton FMJ 340 cut to 27”. 50 grain insert and a 100 grain Exodus swept broadhead. 3 Blazer vanes. MBG single pin slider. QAD drop away.

 

[Cady Creek]

RX8 Ultra
68# 29" dl
Victory RIP Tko's 75g Hit insert w/QAD Exodus 100g(ELK) Rage Trypan(Whitetail)
471g TAW 15%foc