how to practice bowhunting

How to practice with broadheads – the right way!

September 10, 2024 by Leigh Hauck

Broadhead practice is the most important thing that is never talked about. How much should you practice with broadheads? How early should you start shooting broadheads before a hunt? How do you sight your bow in with field points? In this blog, I am going to answer all these questions and so much more. It’s time to change the way that you practice with broadheads.

Shop All Broadheads

How often should I practice with broadheads?

There are only a handful of shoots I do each year that don’t involve broadheads – they are all sighting in. When I first get my bow built in the late winter, I take the first 2-3 full sessions to shoot with field points only and get each pin dialed in like a laser. As soon as I know that my bow if completely sighted in, I add a single practice broadhead to my quiver.

Through the entire spring and summer, I shoot a quiver of 5 arrows with one being a broadhead. This broadhead will rotate through my entire dozen arrows and gets shot every round. The big key here is to always shoot a different spot with your broadhead.

Tooth of the Arrow Broadheads are the most field-point-like fixed blade broadheads ever made, and shooting any two arrows at the same spot with one is a sure-fire way to damage your arrow or your point.

 You may be asking why I would do this? What is the point of shooting a broadhead all year, and how do I go about sighting in for broadheads or broadhead tuning with this method?

The reason I do this is simple – it gives me 6 months or more of confidence in knowing that my broadheads shoot just like my field points. When season rolls around, I have full confidence that my broadheads are identical to my field points. But what if they aren’t?

This is another reason to start shooting with broadheads early. If they don’t shoot like your field points right away, you have lots of time to get that issue fixed. There are very few setups that just won’t shoot a fixed blade with a field point, and it is always 15+ year old bows which just aren’t up to date with today’s archery technology.

If your broadheads don’t fly with your field points, something is wrong with either your setup, your form, or both.

By adding one broadhead to your shooting rotation early on, you have months to sort any issues out. This completely removes the “time to sight in with my broadheads” event that occurs for too many bowhunters a week or less before they depart on a hunt. If your setup is done correctly, sighting in with broadheads doesn’t exist. Your bow will shoot field points and broadheads the same, at any range.

Shop All Broadheads

How soon before a hunt should you start shooting broadheads?

As I discussed, you should basically always be shooting with broadheads. Unless you are a target archer, the whole point of archery is bowhunting, right? There is no reason not to be preparing for that all year long.

Once I get about a month away from a hunt, I will add a few more broadheads to the lineup. I tend to shoot three broadheads and two field points in each five-arrow end – ALWAYS AT DIFFERENT SPOTS.

I like to shoot a few models of broadheads, just to prove to myself that my bow is truly as dialed as I think it is, and I know it will shoot any broadhead that I choose. If your bow shoots one broadhead differently than another, there is something wrong with your setup! It really is that simple. The not-so-simple part of that is assessing the issue, but that is a blog for another day (HERE is a great video I did which might help you figure out your issue).

Shop All Broadheads

Doesn’t this ruin your broadheads?

It only ruins one, and I don’t even consider it ruined – it is just a designated practice point.

Isn’t this going to break your broadheads if you shoot them so much?

As long as you aren’t shooting the same spot, and your broadhead never makes contact inside of a target with another point, no. I have been shooting the same practice point for 3 years now. I have a few of them, but one that is my go-to. It finally got retired the other day after I weighed it and found that it had lost 14 grains of weight just through being shot hundreds upon hundreds of times.

Interestingly enough, it still shot the same as all my other arrows out to 80 and 90 yards despite the 14-grain weight differential. 

I have been shooting Tooth of the Arrow Broadheads exclusively for 6 years now, and I have never broken a single head... because I never shoot arrows with broadheads at the same spot! 

Broadheads are expensive, what if I don’t want to sacrifice one for practice?

Well, you probably shouldn’t go bowhunting then. I get the question quite often - “do I need to test these heads or will they just fly with my field points?”

The answer is always the same – it doesn’t matter. Test your heads. You are willingly putting an animal's life in your hands, and you owe it to that animal to test the gear that you will be using.

If your bow, arrows, and form is perfect then yes, any quality broadhead will fly identical to your field points with no adjustments. If there is something that is out of check, even the most forgiving broadheads may have an issue.

You need to test your gear before hunting, even if it costs you a $15-$20 broadhead.

The great thing about Tooth of the Arrow Broadheads is that they are the most forgiving fixed blade broadheads ever made, meaning that even if there is an issue with your setup, a Tooth of the Arrow is more likely to still fly like a field point than any other head on the market.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be trying to make your setup perfect, it just means that if you are down to crunch time that you can still rely on a quality American-made broadhead to get the job done until you have time to get your bow back in the shop and work out any issues.

In short shooting broadheads all year long ensures that your setup and your form is perfect. There is no reason to start chasing issues a week or so before a hunt, that is a recipe for disaster.

Shop All Broadheads

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the topic further, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@toothofthearrowbroadheads.com

If you liked this article, make sure to subscribe below to receive more helpful bowhunting tips, hunting news, and product releases.