How Far Will a Bow & Arrow Kill? 

I'm pretty sure that no matter what distance you're shot from, if your body is the first thing the arrow strikes after it's released from a bow, you're going to have a bad day.

4:56 "gripping the shaft as it penetrates" lmao

People with no archery experience/knowledge have no clue how hard it is to hit a human sized target at 100 yards with a bare bow... especially because he was shooting heavy arrows with a 40 pound bow. Stop comparing him to olympic archers because they use stabilizers, sights & everything to help them shoot more accurately.. not to mention all they do is shoot. So trust me when i say this, He’s a great archer. Great Video!

Scott is an amazing bowman. This was a great video to watch! That 100-yard hit was absolutely beautiful.

11:50 ballistic bob "I'm melting........I'm melting,........ and you're shooting arrows at me!"

"grips the shaft during penetration"--no matter how old I get, that will always awaken my inner 12 year old.

simple answer to the question "how far will a bow and arrow kill?" depends on the bow and arrow, but basically, as far as you can launch it. heavier arrow = more pen

Thank you Scott for saying, that 25yrds is a responsible range. I've had so many people harp me as to why I don't take longer shots.

Thanks for the old school, at 14 years old pulling a 55 pound Ben Pearson long bow, this was 1960 I placed 4th in the North Dakota Championship. I also had a 30 pound fiberglass re-curve longest target was 85 yards, elevation was just above 45% to reach Target 55 pound was lot less elevation. Our farm had the Red Trail Archery Course on old U.S. 10 Three miles North west of Mandan, North Dakota. Loved reminiscing!! Thank you

65 Yards with that? That's quite impressive! 100 Yards with only several shots? Phenomenal!

11:50 Damn. Bob really let himself go.

This man is a true harvester of game. I'm glad to finally see someone point out the difference between shooting into ballistic gel and falling game with a capable bow.

The guy has an enthusiasm like a Vulcan

4:56 to see the world's greatest poker face.

I really respect that you only take shots that will kill humanely. I can't emphasize that enough. When I was a kid, hunting with a rifle, I shot a deer from a range above my paygrade and had to walk up to it and slit its throat as my grandfather (a WWII Veteran) insisted, to teach me not to take wild shots that I can't guarantee will be humane. So mad props to you.

11:56....the "You ain't got nothing on me" look. lol

The problem with long shots isn't the penetration depth (well if you hit a rib or another bone it obviously is), but the fact that as you said the wind can and will push those arrows way outside the kill zone. You end up with a gut shot which is incredibly painful for the animal, won't kill it as fast unless you somehow pierce an artery and spoils the meat.

The shooter had skill... Crazy skill

Amazing shots. The fear factor of arrows fired at you and getting hit, i can't imagine what it would have been like.

I wanna see a 70 compound. Although this dude is amazing!

I stopped bowhunting recently because of vision problems, but hunted for years with a #40 Bear recurve. I used heavy 2117 full length shafts and either Bear razor heads or Zwicky 2 blades. I often got pass throughs with deer using this. I screwed up on one and hit it in the shoulder. It went about 50 yards. The arrow broke about a 2" circle of bone out of the shoulder blade, went into the heart and was sticking out the other side. It did bend the head point a little, but I straightened it out and used it again.

Doing some calculations with average fps (a forty pound bow seems to have an average of around 130 fps on the low end, depends on limb shapes/materials ) and total grain weight the arrows hitting the target are producing around 14 foot pounds of energy, it doesn't seem like much until you realize it's all concentrated on the tip of that broadhead, would be interesting to see someone shoot a target through a chronograph set up in front of the target at range just to see what the total velocity/foot pounds is when it reaches its target.

"grifting the shaft as it penetrates" Eric's face was priceless !! lol epic

As a kid my brother and I tried to make bows from tree branches. We eventually were able too and tried archery but growing up in a no fire arms environment (until the age we could buy them, parents didn’t have any) we couldn’t hit anything with the bows. Nothing we’d spend hrs trying. this man hitting bob at 100yds is an amazing feat.

I am a 66 year old Britisher. I heard a story from a man that was in the SAS and during the war they went on an operation to blow up a fuel dump in N.Africa. They used a long bow. Alluminium shaft arrows filled with white phospherous, cardboard flight, and a tip that used a type of red match, . At four hundred yards it was quiet and devastating. Nobody new where the attack was coming from and they walked away clean.

imo it can kill as far as it can accurately be shot...

The thing most people are not thinking about is the width of the injury. If a bullet does not fragments or tumble the wound channel is small but the shock damage is wide. An arrow with either a broadhead or a multiblade head(My best ones have 3 blades). The 3 blade one I have will create a 1 1/2 inch wide wound channel with three cuts and a central 1 cm diameter hole. I bought them because of the bleed out speed for a centre mass hit on pigs and deer. My friend who was advising me does not allow anyone to hunt on his property without the ability to hit an area that kills rapidly. I think the most interesting way of explaining it is the difference between a shotgun slug and a rifle bullet. Rifle faster longer range and relies on tumble and deformation to kill if not critical hit. Shotgun slug creates a massive wound channel at slower speeds. Another comparison is the cruciform bayonet compared to a single edge. Both will kill you but one will make you bleed out way faster.

That target arrow head was originally designed to fight against knights in their armour.. the head is designed to place all to energy on a small point which enabled the arrow to punch through the armour and into flesh. If that didn't kill then infection would as most arrows were stuck into the ground for easy of firing action.... great video guys !

Amazing how lethal a bow is. ❤️

I took an archery class in college to get an "easy" PE credit. One of the most satisfying classes I've ever taken. Nothing like getting the range dialed in and hitting the target from 70 yards. What I like about the English Longbowmen was they were regular citizens, not nobility.

That was some of the coolest bow testing ever!! Amazing shot at 100 yards!!

I agree. My Dad, Uncle and a friend shoot less then 50LBS with modern bows. They kill deer every year. 15-20 yards shots. Great video. That man is a good shot!!!!

I love Eric's lookback at the camera after he says "gripping the shaft as it penetrates"..why so serious? hahaha

15:19 *Crazy to think that a dude today with a minigun is better than 1000 well trained longbow men from the past*

Awesome video, As a compound bow man myself this was some amazing shooting all due respect to my brother of the bow.

Wow, I have been a trad. Archer for 40 plus years, love the sport is sort of like golf, great one day crap the next, thats what makes it so interesting, this man is on top of this game, great video mates!

Nice shooting. What most do not realize is that a 40lb. bow is absolutely lethal at greater distances than most think. Most of the Native American bows were in the 40 to 45 pound draw weight -- and they brought home the venison. Most of the Natives got as close to their prey as possible as they wanted to both bring home the meat and did want to reuse as many arrows as possible. A miss is tantamount to a wasted arrow as misses are typically how most arrows are destroyed. Flint arrowheads are not anywhere near as durable as contemporary, steel broad-heads. Either way, hitting a rock will destroy both types of points, not to mention the shafts. Very impressive demo.

Scott is obviously an outstanding archer , and I'm glad he mentioned Agincourt (I'm English, we won) The English had 9000men max. , with the French having 36000 max. The English lost around 900 men, the French lost 12000 dead, yes that's 12 thousand, with 2000 captured. Those 6000 archers Scott mentioned really were a force to reckoned with :)

Attending a historical recreation event a few decades back I watched a demonstration of an archer with a historically accurate LongBow and arrows. From a distance of 30 paces the arrows pierced a 12-gauge steel breastplate. THREE INCHES of steel is like being stabbed with a standard Swiss Army Knife blade.

Very good video. I’m a beginning archer, I have a BowTech Diamond compound bow with a 55lbs draw. I would love to see the same test done with a compound and crossbow just to see the differences between these 3 bows. Thanks again.

I’ve known Scott for several years and he’s a stand up guy.

11:50 "you got it" that was the most satisfying shot from a bow I've seen

Amazing bowman..and great video ! Respect ! Liked and subed .

Very interesting. I´ve read in Agincourt, longbows from 90 to 110 draw weight penetrated over three inches trough gambeson and mail armor at around 350 yards. Decimating french troops before closing in to fight. Of course this were volleys, not acquired target shots.

I’m just glad for modern compound bows!

The British Long Bow Society, estimated the bows of the Medieval period drew 90-110 pounds-force (400-490 newtons). Elm Bows were commonly used back then.

griping the shaft as it penetrates great

This subject needs to be done again with modern bows and arrowheads

Did ballistic bob start to melt?

5-4 inches?! Hell, 3 inches kills period.

Big salute to this man. Shooting a target in a range of 100 yards is not very easy to every one. He is really a talented bow shooter.

I don't understand why americans sometime use yards, sometimes feet. It's so confusing to me

You should make this video with throwing knives, Crossbows and other ranged weapons.

Lol the look on his face when he hit those long shots. Priceless. Troll on

from my experience in re-enactment battles (knights templar) i have seen bowmen hitting targets at ranges of upto 800m in practice shots and even then we found field head arrows stuck in wood backing and trees a good half inch. never underestimate the power of a longbow, it is simply leathal and most reasonable and some surprisingly unreasonable distances.

"gripping the shaft when it penetrates" hahahahahaha

I love how peaceful this all sounds and looks in comparison to gun shooting videos omg.

also medieval archers didnt typically fire arrows at maximum range, theyd wait until the enemy was well in range of them to minimize waste of arrows and strength (shooting more takes more stamina) remember they still had to fight after the enemy go to them

I dont bow hunt so take this comment as you will, however him saying that 25yards is the outer limits of bow hunting seems way to short. Maybe if you're only using a 40lbs pull but with a 80lbs pull I'd hope you could hunt at longer distances.

this guy is a master, im no expert, but look at the way he shoot, so smooth and no hesitation

love the educational bits, great vid.

we need to outlaw these high capacity silenced fully semi automatic assault weapons. >:c

9:23 he looks so proud about that shot lmao. Thats some good fuckin aim goddamn

Great video Eric. This is quickly becoming one of my fav informative weapons channels. I'm no firearms or archery expert by any means but it's still extremely fascinating & valuable information. Btw, way to hold back the laughter when Scott said "grips the shaft during penetration" hahaha.

he looks really silly with that beret on.

I am just getting into archery sort off with a couple pvc bows i made and I am impressed at his distance. I am excited to hit a 3ft x 3ft box from 50ft away. Really have to guess when shooting instinctive how high to aim etc.. This dude is pretty damn impressive !

impressive shots!

I have read somewhere or heard somewhere that in medieval times the bowmen would practice with their bows from childhood and by the time they went to war they were using up 300 lbs pull long bows. I would think that although it may be possible, a 300 lbs long bow would require someone with forearms the size of tree trunk to pull it back.

The storytelling of the battles was a great piece of information to ponder

5 inches or 16 inches.........with that gnarly tip, it would still hurt. A lot.

"I'm dying to know" so is your target

When talking about war bows and the force of the draw you should also point out that the arrow is more simular to a broomhandle than the modern arrows in thickness.

How far will a telecaster kill? I've cleared a room in 5 minutes. (Joke)

Bows are awesome.

I use a 400lbs whipped crossbow, 15th c, and that kicks like a mule, the vibration hurts your hand when you fire it. great job guys.

It's the sharp that kills. Well that and the arrow weight, plus fps. If you're interested in archery, get a cheap bow at a weight that you can hold for 10 seconds comfortably. After you build up your strength, then get a more powerful bow. I'm a female, and my bows range in poundage from 38# to 42# at my draw length, of course it took a while to build up to that. You men will have no trouble building up to a 45 pound bow in no time, so that's why you should buy a cheap used bow to practice with at first, you won't keep it long. IFL limbs are another way to go, but still can be expensive.

I read an article where some bows from the late Hundred Years War were recovered from a sunken ship that sank crossing the Channel. They were able to determine that some of the bows they were able to recover had draw weights of 180-200 pounds! Further, though most bodkin points were iron, some were steel. This would mean that a 'top end' English bowman, who had been shooting since he could draw the flimsiest bow, could drive an arrow through the richest noble Frenchman's plate armor. Damned impressive. Worth noting that, once adopted from the Welsh, only the English encouraged and rewarded their commoners to practice archery. Where do you think the pub game of darts originated? Every nation could summon up such excellent archers, but only the English could draw upon them in such huge numbers and use them on the battlefield properly. Admittedly, they learned this in the hardest of ways - warring with the 'Celtic Fringe' nations of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. But they saw it's effectiveness, rapidly adopted it, enthusiastically encouraged it and perfected it's use on the battlefield.

50 years ago, I was shooting a 36lb target bow in competition outdoors at 40, 60 & 100 yards. The bow was a self bow (Fixed limbs). At 40 yds I was consistently in a 6 inch circle, at 60 yards a 1ft circle and at 100 yards an 18 inch circle, with little wind.

Along with the ballistics gel, why not try it on a pig shoulder or ham? Then BBQ it afterwards. 2 videos in one, win win!

5:11 that look "i hunted this pig, now i'll hunt you"

It largely depends on the type of bow but we tried this and with traditional equipment kinetic energy doesn't drop to a less than lethal measurement until 185 yards. With current technology we recorded fatal impacts at 220 yards after that we could no longer hit the target the effect of external forces wind, gravity etc. You may get lucky past that but good luck.

40 joule point blank. That's less than half the kinetic energy of a warbow arrow at max distance.

“Gripping the shaft as it penetrates”

I was taught when I was learning that is was important to always clear the area behind your target before you shoot. I was taught that an arrow will kill as far as the bow launches it. Learning on a farm I couldn’t afford to hit our livestock at any range. Its also important to consider that for this testing, a 60lb compound will launch a 600 grain arrow nearly three times faster than shown in the video here. I was also taught that ethical hunting range varied from animal to animal. Something like a deer, I would go no further than 30m for an ethical kill with my compound. That’s for shot placement, not penetrative ability. On smaller animals such as rabbits, a hit anywhere with a broadhead will kill extremely quickly, and thus it is not as vital to hit the heart as bloodloss is more exaggerated on animals with less blood to lose.

Guy is good with a bow, personality of a brick.

Two Rivers bowmen can kill at over 300 paces!!!

Before firearms, there was archery this is a craft our ancestors used to put food on the table and use in warfare. Glad to see people like him practice this in modern time.

This is from Mike Wahl of Unlimited Outdoors. OK This video leaves a lot out. #1 The least common bow used is the recurve in both target and hunting in the USA. The compound bow is the most common bow. For comparisons my compound bow shoots a 450 grain arrow at 346 feet per second that is nearly 100 foot pounds of energy. He did use the best penetrating tip for the video. This is a somewhat misleading video for the novice archer watching. A high power bow such as mine will kill a person or a deer or any other light skinned animal past 500 yards. If shooting at a downward angle such as in a canyon the arrow will experience very little velocity drop. The ballistic gel is also a misleading variant. It sticks greatly to the shaft. An animals body actually lubes the shaft as it passes through. There isn't enough resistance on light skinned game to stop the arrow unless you hit heavy bone. At 72 yards I got a complete pass through on a quartering away shot on a medium sized mule deer. On a 275 pound Russian boar at 60 yards I also got a complete pass through for instance. I later that same season was filling my second deer tag and with my 31 inch draw on a 60 pound martin recurve, bow I took a broadside shot on a smaller blacktail buck and got only 7 inches of penetration at 22 yards. (The tip barely poked through). Another thing is the variable of the fletching. Plastic vanes retain the speed much longer down range. Feathers stabilize much quicker but that is due to the increased drag factor. The most common arrow shafts are carbon not aluminum. Aluminum shafts have increased parabolic flex and lose energy quicker due to the increased flight distance that it takes them to stabilize. (Over 20 yards) Whereas Carbon arrows stabilize almost within 10 yards and retain more than 30% greater down range energy. On video I have shot a 200 pound pig with my compound at 100 yards in Northern California. The arrow went in high in the middle back and came out in the forward lower chest area. It didn't pass through but the tip did exit about 4 inches. This was a downhill shot that clipped the pig's spine and planted him in his tracks. In Texas with the makers of the Gobbler Guillotine I shot a 200 pound pig and a 130 pound whitetail each between the eyes at 40+ yards each and the arrow passed through to the fletching on both. Now before you all start hammering me about those long shots please note that I don't recommend those kind of long shots and mine are usually under 40 yards. But we practice them 2 to 3 days a week and are quite proficient yet we are aware of our limitations. Archery hunting in California tends to be at longer ranges. We are extremely lucky to get a shot under 30 yards. By the way the bow I shoot is a Limbsaver SpeedZone SZ-34 set to 80 pounds, 30 inch draw with a release, Gold tip 75/95 arrows and Titanium broadheads. The power stroke on that bow is 29.5 inches of the draw. Let off is 80% at 29.5 inches.

25 yards is the limit for trad, not all bowhunters

This is some of the best archery science in the internet and that was amazing shooting

The face he has in his hunting photos is kinda disturbing but fun video anyways.

Over 1000 thumbs down. You must be doing something right. Keep it up guys and stay with stick

I like how Eric fluently uses metres, feet and yards interchangeably.

No comments on the hunting beret? C'mon.

I love your guyses video and it proves my point ballistic shells a waste of time you proved a 40 lb longbow can go almost through a wild pig and that same boat only goes 5 inch into ballistics gel but yet completely through a hog thank you for doing this video I love it and I love bow and arrows especially I recurves keep bringing up the good videos

As an armature archer with a 40 lb longbow, that guy is a pretty good shot!

11:50 this is what all of us came for. Thank me later

I hate not metric system :P

An incredibly interesting piece sir, your bowman had some very cogent points when briefly outlining Agincourt, those men had to be as tough as could be imagined. Some of the the skeletal remains brought up from the Mary Rose shipwreck, showed abnormalities to the shoulder area, they had been trained from age six to draw a bow & this practice for decades caused deformation to the bone-structure & musculature. Thanks again man....

next time get Tim Wells from worldhunting group. He drops animals from over 100yds with pinpoint accuracy. and shoots birds out of the sky with ease.