# Question about fpe.



## UCChris (Oct 26, 2017)

My sister is just getting into archery and I just finished setting her bow up this morning. She's pulling 40.5 lbs with a 24 inch draw length. Her arrow is 325 grains and it's flying at 182 fps out of the bow. That is legal here in Utah, but it's only making 24 fpe. Is that even ethical to shoot a deer with?

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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I think that the Native American's were getting somewhere close to 24fpe using their bows to take down bison - and they didn't even know what fpe was!


we sure like to complicate things.


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## KRH (Jul 27, 2015)

I've seen women kill deer and elk with similar specs, the key is that those kills were under 30 yards, perfect broadside, and the archers were very good shots. 
If she's willing to do the practice, hunting with that setup seems ethical to me so long as the shot selection is ethical. I'd try to keep it under 40 and only broadside or slightly quartering away shots. Also, after practicing for a while she will build up some strength so maybe you can bump it up to 45 pounds to give it a little more juice. That was our experience.

Good luck


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

What is "fpe"?


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

KRH said:


> I've seen women kill deer and elk with similar specs,
> 
> Good luck


Men do it too. 

Think about the equipment we used 20 - 30 years ago. 200fps? No way. We were lobbing shots in from 30 yards. A 50 yard shot was a long ways. 100 yards? Unthinkable.

The key isn't fpe, or fps, or ibs, or grains.....
The key is to get close and make a good shot.
Archery never was supposed to be easy.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

High Desert Elk said:


> What is "fpe"?


Abbreviation of "ft/lbs energy" units of measurement.

-DallanC


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

DallanC said:


> Abbreviation of "ft/lbs energy" units of measurement.
> 
> -DallanC


Thought so, never heard of it before. Most of the time it's just referred to as KE...


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

High Desert Elk said:


> Thought so, never heard of it before. Most of the time it's just referred to as KE...


Most Americans would not understand Joules 

-DallanC


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*wtf*



DallanC said:


> Most Americans would not understand Joules
> 
> -DallanC


I'm good with joules, not fpe. Joules is old school, back before da internet and cell phones when we spelled everything out and use punctuation marks.


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## KRH (Jul 27, 2015)

PBH said:


> Men do it too.


Absolutely. Wasn't trying to sound sexist, but the original question pertained to a woman so I answered it that way. Thanks for pointing that out


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

Well, anyway, energy in archery doesn't mean anything as we are not trying to induce a hemorrhagic shockwave to kill. We are sending a "knife" with enough motion (speed) to make a clean slice for maximum hemorrhaging. 

The KE that is talked about in archery really describes the work that is done by the bow to send the arrow of 'X' mass down range at a certain speed.


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## bow_dude (Aug 20, 2009)

A few years ago my wife was my partner in a winter 3-d league. Someone started talking about a hog hunt in the Price, Utah area. The discussion caught her interest and she said she would like to go hunt a pig, "cuz they are so ugly". She didn't have to say it twice, so we purchased a hunt. She was shooting a Mathews single cam bow, pulling 40 lbs with a 25 inch draw. I have never been a believer in all the heavy arrow hype, so I built some arrows that shot well for her. We ended up with 600 spine Goldtip arrows weighing in at about 250 grains. We used an 85 grain Magnus Buzz Cut for the broad head. She ended up taking a 2 to 3 hundred pound hog with a 20 yard shot. First arrow penetrated completely with the arrow hanging out the far side. Her second shot did the same thing, penetrating the heart. As the hog ran past me, I also shot it. I was shooting 70 lbs and got a complete pass thru. Bottom line... you don't need a lot of arrow weight or poundage to have an effective hunting setup. Most important thing is the type of arrow head you are using that will give good penetration and shot placement. Heck... back when I first started bow hunting, compounds were unheard of and a complete pass thru was not the desired strategy. Most people shot 45 lb recurves. The theory was that you wanted the arrow to stay in the critter so it continued to cut and cause hemorrhaging as the critter moved. Interesting how the thinking has changed. We killed a lot of deer and elk with those low poundage bows.


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

My preference is to have two holes with the arrow staying in. Shot a 6x last year in Sept with a 395 gr arrow with a complete pass through. Shot was 27 yds.

To reiterate, arrows kill with fast, clean, and precise cuts and not blunt force impact.


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## grizzly (Jun 3, 2012)

Which of course brings back the old Momentum vs KE debate...


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## kdog (May 4, 2015)

I think the set up will work just fine. would recommend a good sharp cut on contact head.


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