Penetration of Hunting Arrows

As an example of the penetration of the broadhead, the accompanying photograph shows a young buck shot with an arrow of the type of plate 13, figure 14, from a 68-pound bow at a distance of 50 yards (pl. 18, fig. 1). This animal was shot first completely through the abdo­men at 65 yards. The arrow severed the abdominal aorta and flew 20 yards beyond, sticking in the ground. The deer bounded about 30 yards, then staggered, and I approached within 50 yards and shot him back of the right shoulder. The arrow ranged forward through the chest, cutting the great vessel of the heart, and made its exit out the opposite shoulder running down the leg six inches, and was only stopped from going completely through by striking the bone in the leg. This animal died in less than two minutes. This deer is one of eight that we have killed with bows in the past four years. Mr. W. J. Compton shot a running buck at 75 yards, killing him with an arrow which traversed the chest and pro­truded a foot beyond the opposite shoulder.

In securing museum specimens of grizzly bear from Yellowstone Park under a government permit, Mr. Arthur Young and I shot and killed three adult bear and two cubs with the bow and arrow. These bears were wild and were taken at great risk. The largest animal was an old male, killed by moonlight, the arrow being shot from a blind at 60 yards.

Mr. Young shot an arrow (similar to pl. 13, fig. 14) completely through this bear's chest, severing the vena cava and producing death by hemorrhage. This bear weighed a little over a thousand pounds.

I shot in the heart and killed instantly a charging female grizzly at a distance of 40 yards. The arrow severed two ribs and buried itself in the heart wall, causing a tremendous flooding of the entire chest cavity with blood.

The bear shown in plate 19 was a female that charged while we were taking her cubs. She was shot with five arrows and had her foreleg broken by a rifle shot before being stopped. The photograph shows the arrows pene­trating her body. Besides those protruding from her, there is one lying on the ground at her side which had gone completely through her chest, while one not in this picture penetrated her abdomen, severed the portal vein, and flew ten yards beyond her prostrate form.