Archery Talk Forum banner

Ok absolute for hunting!!

4K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  dave-madden 
#1 ·
So I had some good feedback from my other threads on ok bows so I thought I would share my next venture with ok archery. As most lefties that shoot ok bows know the ok smoke is not available in left hand BUT after tinkering a bit I've decided it's not a big deal. Why? because we have the absolute. A 37 1/2" axle to axle 7 1/2" brace height 315 ibo in a bow that's only 3.8 pounds ... Sounds like a dream hunting bow to me. I have a bit of hunting experience as I grew up hunting white tail out of a tree stand and was an alaska big game professional hunting guide for a better part of my life guiding hunters on species from kodiak brown bear to dall sheep to giant alaska/yukon moose. I seen all the setups for bows for hunting from the shorties for tree stands to longbows. My personal preference has always been accuracy above all else. I've
pretty much hunted with target bows for the last ten years so the absolute is to me a logical choice as it is a balance of speed, light weight and arguably one of the most accurate on the market today.
 
#2 ·
I'm gonna share my setup on my bow and hopefully get to share some pics from my two upcoming archery hunts, a moose hunt and a caribou hunt which I will be using my absolute.

My bow of choice

Turquose ok absolute small cam
27 7/8 draw length
68 pounds at approx 65% let off





Arrows.. Not picked yet but likely to be easton axis

Stabilizer, honestly don't know who made it. It's a little 12"

Sight.. Spot hogg 5 pin hogg it

Rest.. Not sure but might just leave a blade on

Broadhead ... Undecided but may shoot an expandable this year
 
#5 ·
I've been trying to tune my OK Archery Smoke so I can shoot fixed blade broadheads, NAP Hellrazors, for elk. . I can get bareshafts shooting pretty good at 20 yds but when I try to shoot a broadhead it seems to corkscrew towards the target. I was using the short vanetech vanes to clear the cables without using spreaders, but I have put the spreaders back on and will try the setup with Blazer vanes to see if that helps. Getting frustrated at this point, so I hope you have better luck with your setup, looking forward to the writeup.
 
#6 ·
Have you tried AAE MAX or FlexFletch shieldcuts, these both are low profile vanes, and I have these on my indoor larger OD target shafts and no clearance issues at all. Also a helical fletching is a best steering you can put on your arrows.
 
#11 ·
Originally Posted by Elgavilan<br />
I've been trying to tune my OK Archery Smoke so I can shoot fixed blade broadheads, NAP Hellrazors, for elk. . I can get bareshafts shooting pretty good at 20 yds but when I try to shoot a broadhead it seems to corkscrew towards the target. I was using the short vanetech vanes to clear the cables without using spreaders, but I have put the spreaders back on and will try the setup with Blazer vanes to see if that helps. Getting frustrated at this point, so I hope you have better luck with your setup, looking forward to the writeup.
<br />
<br />
How does your field points compare to broadheads?<br/>

Field points fly great. . Spent a couple hours tuning and shooting the Smoke this morning and got the broadheads with the Blazer vanes flying pretty good, shot out to 40 yards and they stayed on the target this time. Just need to fine tune it some more.
 
#15 ·
The same arrows CX nano XR450's I was using last year for tournaments with my DST40, this year I cut the length down about 1.8" still on the week side very slightly with my Absolute, at carbon length 26".
I use the Beiter 4" overdraw rest, the arrow point is inside the riser opening right now about 1/2" in front of the launcher blade. If I would move the rest back I still have about 1" for overdraw, I could cut off an extra 1" from the carbon that would make the arrow 25" with a proper slightly stiffer spine and the point would be "inside" between the riser and the string.
But again, these are my tournament arrows and flying just great as is at 26".... The CX XR410's got cut down to 27" from 28.8" and these are my practice arrows, for proper spine I shall go down to 26.2"
The bow true DL is 27" and I have a 1" long d-loop at 56.3 lbs and 20.8 lbs holding weight, Absolute with medium cams.
 
#18 ·
BigHUN this really interests me. Why do you think so much different. Did you make any other major changes that affected spine or do you think your absolute likes stiffer arrows.
I've always seem to end up with weaker spines but my absolute so far seem to like stiffer but I have more testing to do. Another time though I gotta stop playing and start practicing. Gonna shoot a state 3d. First one since I stopped shooting years ago.
 
#16 ·
I have done a "funy" test with my absolute & broadheads...the fun part is that I shoot with her a 0.340 ACC arrow & 100gr field point at 60#@29.25 (best bare shat setup)...so I have taken a 0.250 spined vap (orange nock and firenock outsert) and a 0.300 vap (green nock and deep six insert) of approximately the same length that my usual ACC arrow and put 2 different broadheads on them (a 100gr qad exodus on the vap 0.300 and a 125gr vpa bh on the 0.250 arrow) and shot both of them twice at 30 meters using my 18 meters pin...the result is on the picture: in spite of some very poor and inapropriate dynamic spines, in spite of broadheads points, in spite of inapropriate nocking height (cause the vap diameter is much smaller than the vap one) and because the bow has zero lean and a center shot rest, I have got no lateral deficient spined flyers...the drop is only the result of trajectory, pin and nocking heights...the yellow little thing is the target

 
#17 ·
I have done a "funy" test with my absolute & broadheads...the fun part is that I shoot with her a 0.340 ACC arrow & 100gr field point at 60#@29.25 (best bare shat setup)...so I have taken a 0.250 spined vap (orange nock and firenock outsert) and a 0.300 vap (green nock and deep six insert) of approximately the same length that my usual ACC arrow and put 2 different broadheads on them (a 100gr qad exodus on the vap 0.300 and a 125gr vpa bh on the 0.250 arrow) and shot both of them twice at 30 meters using my 18 meters pin...the result is on the picture: in spite of some very poor and inapropriate dynamic spines, in spite of broadheads points, in spite of inapropriate nocking height (cause the vap diameter is much smaller than the vap one) and because the bow has zero lean and a center shot rest, I have got no lateral deficient spined flyers...the drop is only the result of trajectory, pin and nocking heights...the yellow little thing is the target
Very interesting. I have so far found simar results. I went from a tuned x10 to 2315 aluminum with fixed broadheads
 
#19 ·
A stiffer shaft is no problem for compounds - better to stiff than to weak. I have made a comparisson between weak and stiff shaft. Therefore I have build to arrows, 400 and 500 spine, same length, same bow, weight 315 and 300 grains for the weak shaft. The stiff one was 10 fps faster. The reason is easy, the weak shaft bends more and looses so a lot of energy when the bow accelarates the arrow.

On my Absolute I shoot arrows with a 300 spine for 3D and field, because I like a more heavy weight arrow. No problem with speed, 297fps for 3D(360 grain at 62.4#) and 278fps for field(400 grain at 59.8#).
 
#20 ·
Thanks wolf. Great info for sure. I ve never really had a problem with too stiff of an arrow. Usually I group shoot and pick the best ones regardless of spine.. . Within reason of course. The speed findings sure is interesting but makes perfect sense.
I'm more intrigued in the difference between bigHUNs findings from his 40 to his 38 considering bows are very similar.
Did you find similar findings when you switched.
 
#22 ·
I would guess the 38 is more efficient than the 40 (everything being equal: DL, DW, cam size, etc) because of its symmetry (arrow is accelerated in the true geometric center of the bow). More of the stored energy is transferred to the arrow. A "normally" spined arrow then flexes too much. A stiffer arrow can handle the extra energy and recover faster. Any archer induced "errors" (torque, high/low grip pressure, etc.) are possibly not amplified as much and thus the better grouping?
 
#26 ·
So thought I'd update. Our early moose season is getting real close so time to concentrate on bow set up. This will be my final setup. Dst38 turquose
Easton axis 400
Grim reaper expandable. Broadheads
Spot hog job it sight
Tuner rest
And after much consideration. And research I decided to test out a carbo fast x tinct stabilizer.

I'll post some pics as soon as it's all set up
 
#30 ·
Sucks about the bow not being here yet. I will keep updating as the season goes. Our early moose is almost over and I have not got out too much. We have some flooding going on and I can't get to my favorite area. I head out to help on a sheep hunt(non bow) at the end of the month and then off to the arctic to help with three archery moose/caribou hunts. I will post lots of pics.
 
#31 ·
So finally getting a chance to sit down after a long season and getting caught up in work.. Good news it was an amazing time being out in the bush less then good news is we are eating tag soup.. It was some of the toughest moose hunting Ive done in a long time.. We were in the arctic and the average daytime high should be about 40 degrees and our actual temps were 67 degrees.. Nothing shuts down hunting moose like heat.. Moose were more nocturnal then normal. Our best bet was to catch them early and late and try to find them in the dense spruce.. We had several close calls and tried to get some bulls to grunt back at up but they refused to make so much as a peep.. Very frustrating.. I did have the pleasure of making a great calculated stalk on a caribou that should of never been close that we mised out on by mere secods.. We beat it to a draw but it got there just before us. We were close enought to hear the clicking.. Thats hunting..

My absolute was a dream to carry on the tundra.. The light weight shined on the mile long stalks.. The major concern of most about broadheads and the shoot thru cables were not even an issue.. I was able to nock an arrow under pressure from the front like I ve been doing it for years.. Heres a few highlights... including a massive bull moose that came out a few miles away the we chased into the timber but could not find..







 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top