Ethics Archery – Bruce “Hoss” Ritter-Clark

 

Ethics Archery is a 100% American-made, veteran-owned company. They produce high-quality precision component inserts, outsert systems, and field points – some of the most overlooked parts of the arrow build – that are crucial in arrow building. Bruce Ritter-Clark, the Vice President of Ethics Archery, shares the advantages of spinning inserts and spin points in the arrow on your hunts. Bruce says arrow placement is the key because once it is released from the string, there’s nothing you can do. He explains why bow and speed don’t really matter and what actually does instead.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Ethics Archery – Bruce “Hoss” Ritter-Clark

This is part of the preseason prep. Bruce Ritter-Clark, otherwise known as Hoss, works at Ethics Archery down in Arizona. He and I got together and had some great conversations talking about what we’re going to talk about on the podcast. Hoss, welcome to the show. You’ve been an archer for a long time. The tag line for the show is, “What I’m using and why.” Let’s talk about that tag line because I think it’s perfect.

I like to use that a lot. When I talked to people about their arrow setups, their bow setups. It always starts off the conversation before I started getting into dissecting their bow or their arrow setup or their broadhead choice, anything like that. I always like to start and say, “What are you using and why?” You’d be surprised how many people can’t give me a legit answer as to why. They’ll always tell you what they’re using, but they don’t know why. A lot of times the real why when they sit and they have a “come to Jesus” moment with themselves and they have to be honest with themselves and they say, “Why am I using this product?” Nine times out of ten is because of what I saw on TV, a big name on TV is shooting it, or my friend is shooting it. There’s no real thought process as to why they’re shooting it. It always has something to do with social, it’s not the ethics, the ethical use of the product based on using it on an animal. That thought process isn’t there, and you’d be surprised how much that happens.

I like to get into the nitty-gritty. Everything that I build from my bow to my arrow setup has to do with ethically killing that animal, causing it the least amount of pain, expiring fast, and hopefully expiring within sight so there’s no track job. I prepare myself for the worst, but I practice for the best. We all know exactly where to shoot a deer. We’re always practicing that one spot, but what happens when that deer turns, goes to roll out of the way and you hit shoulder bone? Is your setup going to be able to go through that shoulder bone? Are you going to get adequate penetration to ethically take that animal down quickly and painlessly? If not, maybe you should re-evaluate what you’re shooting and put a little thought process into it. That’s usually where the conversation starts.

I walk into Ethics Archery and I go, “I’m shooting.” You’re going to help me pick the most popular bow. I’m an older gentleman. I’m shooting maybe 60 pounds and 70% let-off. You pick the bow.

The funny thing is the bow doesn’t matter. That’s what a lot of people don’t get.

Explain that.

It does in a way just because you need to know how aggressive the cam is. What I mean by that is we can break it down, this is like Arrow Building for Dummies.

I’m a dummy.

When it comes to the bow itself, the only part that matters is how to bow shoots as far as the cams. We’ve only got two types of bows out there. We’ve got regular bows and speed bows. It all has to do with the aggressiveness. If it’s a speed bow, you’re going to build it a little bit different. If it’s a standard cam and not considered a speed bow, we build it a certain way. All we’re talking is going up one spine. That’s all we’re talking about. The difference from aggressive cam to a standard cam is something more aggressive, you’re going to want a little bit stiffer spine to handle that because it’s going to be such a jolt at the very beginning. Other than that, it’s the same thing. With you, if you came in and said, “I was shooting X,” whatever X bow it is. Let’s go with a standard cam because that’s the majority of what people are shooting. We already know what your draw length is going to be and we know what your poundage is going to be. You want about 60 pounds. Would you say about 29 inches, most common? We’re going to build the arrow first.

Forget the peep sights, forget the string.

None of that matters. I like to always ask people this. I’m going to ask you and I’m going to ask all the audience out there. I want you to say this in your heads. How many deer have you killed with your bow? A lot of people don’t like that question. They don’t like the answer to that question. You might have some audience out there going five, ten, one, “I haven’t killed one yet, but I plan on it.” Are you chasing them down and beating them over the head with your bow? I don’t think so. You’re killing them with the arrow. The arrow is the only part that makes contact with that animal.

Your broadhead, your insert choice, which is the foundation of your arrow build. The arrow shaft itself, making sure that you have the right stiffness and the right spine down to the fletchings and the nock. All of that works as one cohesive piece and is the most important part of the entire setup. You can take a bow from the 1980s and build the correct arrow to that bow and make it perform on an animal, talking lethality and penetration, just as good as anything that’s built as far as a bow is concerned. The bow means nothing.

I know marketing is marketing, I get that. I’ve been to ATA, but sometimes we don’t need a new bow. We might need a new string, but it’s all in the arrow. That’s what captivated me when I was talking to you, Hoss, I was going, “That’s the endgame.” Everything is riding on that arrow.

It doesn’t matter.

You’ve got to tune it. It’s got to be on target, but after that the kill shot if you’re shooting tournaments, it’s all on the arrow.

That’s it. Once the arrow is released from the string, there’s nothing you can do. All of the preparation and all of the thought process that you’ve put into your entire build comes up to the point where it releases from the string. Once that’s gone, you can’t take it back. The only control you have over any shot in the woods is the one that’s still in your quiver. That’s the only one you have control over. Once that’s set, it’s it. You need to ask yourself if you’ve done the proper due diligence in your build. Did you put the proper thought process into, “Once that arrow is gone, am I confident that it’s going to do its job?” Not everything is perfect.

We could all sit and talk with each other and tell each other that, “I shoot every deer. I wait for every single deer to be perfectly broadside where I’m only shooting flesh right behind the shoulder. I’m going to stick it in between the rib bones. I’m not going to have to worry about that because I’m such a phenomenal shot.” That’s great, but it doesn’t happen that way. 99.9% of your shots are going to contact some bone. 99% of them are going to be at an angular shot. You’re not going to get a perfectly 90-degree shot. Has it happened? Absolutely. Does it happen every day? Absolutely not. Most of your shots are going to be marginal. That is a fact.

Once the arrow is released from the string, there's nothing you can do. Share on X

Arrow placement is absolutely key, but you can only do so much as an archer and be so accurate to put that pin where you want it. Here’s another fact. Once that arrow is gone, you have no more control. That animal might move, it might duck and it might take a step forward. There are a lot of things that can happen. Once that arrow contacts the animal itself, every animal on the planet is moving. It’s never standing still. Once the arrow hits that animal or just before it hits, it is moving and you have to be able to account for that. What’s going to happen once the arrow makes contact with the animal? What kind of due diligence did you put into your build? That’s where we have to start. You have to ask yourself.

You work at Ethics Archery.

I work at Ethics Archery where I manufacture though. We just make the components as a manufacturer. We have our products in the shop.

Let’s explain who Ethics Archery is.

We are a 100% American-made, veteran-owned company. Scott Gizowski is the owner. The shop itself is in Vale, North Carolina. Everything is made in one location, shipped from one location. What we do is high-quality precision components. Inserts, outsert systems, field points, these types of things that are very crucial in arrow building and probably some of the most overlooked parts of the arrow build. I like to use the analogy of a home. You have multiple different products on the market like a factory. You’ve got aluminum, you’ve got stainless steel and you’ve got brass. That’s technically your three choices of material for an insert. Think of your insert as a foundation for a home that you’re building.

Are you going to build it on tin, which is aluminum? Are you going to build it on dirt, which is something like a brass? You can get it hard pact, but it still gives. Are you going to build it on concrete, which is like stainless steel? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have it on something that’s not going to budge like concrete. I always go stainless steel. You have to think about the quality of the components that you’re using. What types of materials is it? What type of material are you screwing into that base that’s holding that arrow together? If you don’t have everything cohesive, if it doesn’t hold up on a hard impact, if there’s any bending, any breaking, penetration stops, you’ve just wounded an animal, and none of us want to do that.

It’s going to happen. Unfortunately, I’ve done it. It’s sad when you lose an animal, but it does happen because of everything that’s going on. That’s the way it is. My responsibility is to have the best gear, to be in practice and everything. Let’s get back to the arrow build. Let’s talk about the components. You told me something about FOC. What’s FOC?

FOC is going to be Forward-Of-Center weight. Typically, if you go into your average bow shop and you pick out an arrow shaft of any kind, let’s say you pick out a Victory VForce, which is your standard diameter arrow. Most shops are going to put the standard insert that comes with it, twelve to eighteen grains. That’s going to put you right around 10% to 12% FOC. That’s what I call a cookie-cutter arrow. That’s not putting any thought process into what you’re building. That’s just going into a bow shop, “I need arrows,” “Here you go,” out the door. I don’t do that anymore. FOC from my personal testing, there are going to be a lot of people out there that are going to disagree with me and that’s perfectly fine. That’s what I love about archery. What works for me may not work for you and what works for you may not work for the other guy. If you can take a little bit of information from everybody you speak to and build a formula that works for you that you’re happy with, that’s possible in archery. There is no one right way to do everything. That’s what I love about it.

Some people don’t like high FOC, some people don’t like high-mass weight. They want to stick with the lightest, fastest arrow they can because they think that speed kills. Even though we have data that tells you speed absolutely does not kill. It’s momentum. Even people want to talk about kinetic energy. They put their arrow weight and their bow speed into these kinetic energy calculators and all they care about is kinetic energy. That’s the one they’re looking at. If you don’t know this, you’re going to know it. Kinetic energy means nothing when it comes to shooting an arrow. It has no factors whatsoever in penetration. Kinetic energy only matters in things that are supersonic. Bullets breaking the sound of speed, that’s the only time kinetic energy matters. Please get that out of your heads. The number and the value that you’re looking for is momentum. The higher your momentum values are, the higher the penetration rate is going to be. This is fact.

Please start looking at momentum. How do you get momentum? You have to build mass weight. You have to have weight to carry through flesh, bone and organs. If you don’t have the weight there, it’s not going to penetrate. Where do we want this weight? You want it on the front. They’ve done testing where they’ve centered the mass. They’ve put it in the rear and they’ve put it in the front. By far the best way to do this is to pile that weight in the front of the arrow. You want the majority of that mass weight in the front of the arrow because when it hits, it’s going to be more accurate. It’s going to guide that arrow a lot straighter and more true. It’s going to tune so much better. It’s going to make you more accurate and more consistent. That’s very key when we’re talking about shot placement. Once it hits, that weight is going all in the front and that energy is going to transfer to that bone, let’s say you hit bone, and it’s going to shatter that bone. It’s going through, it’s going to create a hole and allow that arrow to drive through. That’s what you want.

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When we talk about FOC, my personal opinion and the testing that I’ve done, I like to have a minimum right at 18% FOC. Some people are going to argue and say it’s 15%, 17%. My key number is going to be 18%. This is out of my personal bow at a 29-inch draw, 70 pounds. I’ve shot anywhere from 60 to 70 pounds and all of my testings has been 18%. Anything over 18% FOC with a compound bow is just a cherry on top and it only gets better from there. In my arrow setup, I’m shooting 24% FOC, on my light arrow. My heavy, what I like to call my battle ax or my rebar, that’s a 705-grain total weight arrow with 28% FOC. People say that’s extreme and for some people it may be, but there’s no animal in North America that will ever stop anyone of my arrows. I don’t say that as a Band-Aid. This does not mean go out, make bad shots on purpose, taking chances and not being accurate with your shot, that is not what this is about. This is about doing your due diligence if something were to go wrong.

Are you using a fixed blade? What kind of broadheads are you using?

For me personally, I’m going to be using a fixed-blade broadhead. I actually did another podcast talking just about this. My personal preference when I’m talking about a broadhead, let’s say I walk into a Cabela’s, a Bass Pro or any shop. They’ve always got this big wall and it’s got any kind of broadhead you can think of. How does somebody choose that? Here’s how I choose. First off, I’m going fixed blade. I’ve used mechanicals in the past. The mechanicals kills deer every day. There’s nothing wrong with them as far as they’re capable. For me, there are too many variables. Anything mechanical like that, the thin blades, the aluminum ferals, all that stuff, it’s not for me personally.

Those were introducing a weak point into the most important part of the setup, which is the arrow and the first thing to make contact is the broadhead. You can take these things out of the package and if it won’t shave paper or shave the hair on my arm, I don’t use it. That’s the bottom line because you’ve got to have a hard, strong, durable, sharp broadhead that’s going to retain its edge. Here’s what people don’t think of. They pulled an arrow out or any fixed blade broadhead or mechanical. They’ll shave paper with it or they’ll test on their fingernail, “That’s was sharp.” Shoot that into your target one time, pull it out and try that sharpness test again. It doesn’t work. It’s not sharp.

Edge retention is the one thing that people tend to forget about. Here’s a fact, before you get to the vitals, you’ve got to go through hide, fat and possibly bone. If your arrow is not sharp after going through all of that, you’re reducing your chances of killing that animal ethically. It needs to be sharp once it passes through hide, fat and bone because that’s where the vitals are. If it’s not, you’re going to have a problem if it’s not designed to get through the bone. It’s only designed as a cutting tool. It can’t get the vitals. These are the thought processes I put into it.

I’m looking for something fixed blade, preferably one-piece solid, forged as one-piece. If you have multiple pieces, you’re adding a variable for failure. Let’s say you can’t get to a forged one-piece broadhead and you’re looking at a fixed blade that has replaceable blades. That’s not a problem. They hold up well if they’re built right. You’re looking at blade thickness. This .032 or .030, .035 blade thickness. I hate to tell you but it doesn’t hold up very well. That’s why it’s a one and done. You shoot an arrow at an animal, whether you hit it or not or into your target, I’ll say your blades are all bent up. That’s not going to cut it.

You want a thicker blade. You’re going to look for something .050 at least and above. I actually prefer the .070 range and above that. In order to get into these broadheads, typically you’re looking at something called a single bevel broadhead. There are plenty of options out there. Most of these are going to be two-bladed, single bevel broadheads. I resort to those because they’re built for what I want. They’re built for hard bone impact. They’re designed in a wedge style with such a thick blade. They’re designed to breach bone. They’re built to breach bone and hold up without taking any beating, without bending or without rolling the edges. That’s why I tend to go that way. They’re single bevel so their sides rotate through the body. Once it makes contact using pressure from flesh and bone because they’re sharpened on opposite sides, it gives them a natural rotation within the body. When you have a double bevel blade, you cut an artery, it’s like you’re already getting stabbed straight in, straight out. It cuts that artery, but blood pressure begins to rise. It can still pass through that artery. That’s why a lot of people survived stabbing so much because it’s getting out.

Imagine that stab wound and giving it a quarter twist. You just destroyed everything in that area. You created a hole and destroyed the path of blood flow. Therefore, it has nowhere to go but outside the body. All it can do is bleed. It’s not going to pass from artery to artery sustaining life. That’s the cutoff point. That’s why I use single bevels. Anytime I use a single bevel or you’re going to go to a fixed blade or even mechanicals, start thinking a little bit more and find out what you want out of a broadhead. Everybody goes, “Why shoot mechanicals for broadhead blade?” If you tune your bow, you’re not going to have to worry about broadhead blade. Build the right arrow that’s spine correctly for the bow, tune it and you can shoot whatever you want. It’s going to have that “field-point accuracy.” That’s a false statement within the industry, but we’ll use it since everybody understands it.

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about broadheads or if we’re talking about aero builds or components, any of that stuff, you’ve got to have a come to Jesus moment. You’ve got to ask yourself 100%, “What am I building this for? Why am I using the products that I’m using?” Who cares what they say on TV. Who cares who your favorite hunter on TV is and what he’s using. You’ve got to put your own thought process in it because you’re watching me and Tiffany on TV and you use the products that they’re using because they’re using them. You go out and you wound an animal. Me and Tiffany don’t have to live with that, you do. Think of it that way.

We’ve got the broadhead. You get your votes. Are you using 150-grain broadhead?

I’m using a 125 and for my heavy set up a 225 grain.

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With 225, you can shoot just about anything on planet Earth that you can go hunt with it.

Yes.

We’ve got our broadhead. We had a great explanation about the broadhead. We’ve got the thing called the inserts. There are all sorts of inserts. You make some of the best, but let’s talk about the care and feeding of the insert. You told the insert is the foundation of which the mass that gives you the momentum, that gives you the FOC. We’ve got the most integral part because if I’ve got a great arrow and a great broadhead, then I’ve got a bad insert, I just shot myself in the foot. Is it correct or not correct?

That’s the best way to put it. Go back to the foundation of your house. It doesn’t matter if you put $1 million home on the tin. It’s not going to stay there long. It’s going to fall. It’s going to crumble. You can put a $30,000 house on concrete and it’s going to last a lot longer than that $1 million house ever would. It’s the same concept. I don’t care what arrow brands you go with. Bruce, what arrows do you prefer?

I use Carbon Express when I shoot my crossbow.

I’m a Victory guy. We all know that other guys out there might be a Gold Tip guy. One guy might be a Black Eagle guy. It doesn’t matter what carbon you’re using. Carbon fiber is carbon fiber. You can claim to be the toughest. You can claim to be the strongest. Do you ever hit a steel high beam? Do you ever hit a concrete block with carbon? It blows up, but you can strengthen that entire system by putting the correct inserts in. You can shoot steel. You can shoot concrete, which I don’t advocate doing. I do it for testing and to get views on Facebook, to show people what they’re capable of.

They’re not designed for that. If you shoot steel high beam and bend something or break it, don’t blame it on the product. It’s not designed for that. Do some of us in the archery industry do it? Yes, because we’re trying to show how durable the product is. It’s not about withstanding that, it’s about saving the arrow. The arrow is the most expensive part of the entire setup. I don’t know about you, but if I’m shooting in practice and I whack something hard because I missed the target, I would rather replace a $2 insert than a $15 arrow any day of the week.

We design our products here at Ethics Archery to save the arrow. This is what we do. Not only that, but it makes it fully adjustable. Everything we do is fully adjustable so you can build whatever arrow you want to build with one product. You don’t have to buy any more stuff. When you do that, you’re also getting the foundation. You’re going to get solid 303 stainless steel. Do we use aluminum? Absolutely, but we use higher quality aluminum 7075. Some of the stuff we do is made of 6061, but that’s for the super light. When we’re talking build FOC, you’re using real stainless steel. The designs that we have, the way we’ve built everything is strictly to protect the arrow. Are you going to bend some of our stuff if you go out and shoot steel plates? Absolutely. Is it going to hold up to an animal in the shoulder? That’s what it’s made for. It’s going to punch through. It’s going to hold that arrow together. That arrow is not going to fail once it goes through the animal. That’s what matters.

Who cares what happens after it passes through the animal? If you’d be over in New York City sitting on the side of a building and shoot a deer, it passes through the concrete. If it fails, who cares? After it goes through the deer is what happens between entry and exit on the animal that matters. If you’ve got a bad foundation and you happen to hit a bow and the arrow breaks, penetration stops. It’s gone. You’ve got to go to hold it together, and that’s what we do. It matters to me if you use our stuff because obviously, we’re a business, but realistically if we’re talking hunter to hunter, I don’t care what insert you’re using.

I wonder what’s your thought process behind it. Why are you using that insert? Nine out of ten people have no clue. They couldn’t tell you the thing weighs. Put some thought process into it because the foundation of your arrow is your insert or your outsert system. Whatever connects the broadhead to the arrow, that juncture is the foundation. Use the best materials you can because if that holds up, you’re giving more percentage of a chance that your broadhead is going to hold up and your arrow shaft itself is going to hold up. You’re making it one cohesive unit, and that juncture is your insert. A lot of people overlook that.

I’m shooting 100 grain in my crossbow, you might shoot a 125. You look at DirtNap, it’s 100 grain and well-made. “I don’t know what insert I should have in my crossbow whatever they came when they came with.” There’s no thought process at all.

You pick up a crossbow bolt and go, “This is what I’m going to shoot.” It didn’t make any sense. Have you ever even thought about going with heavier broadheads or heavier point weight on the end of your arrow or your bolt?

Nope.

It’s because they don’t know.

I go 380 feet per second so it’s smoking fast.

I’m glad you finally mentioned arrow speed.

It’s all sexy. I’m going, “You can’t even see that arrow.” It’s gone.

I baited you a little bit.

I’m good with that. I think about that. I’m completely clueless. Unfortunately, crossbows are part and parcel of the universe now. We better get smart. I shoot Excalibur. That’s what I started with. I tried some other brands and Excalibur work best for me because it’s simple. I’ve got some DirtNap. Tom Addleman over there at DirtNap makes a great product. When you’re talking about single edge bevel, that’s the terminology he talks about building it. There are some guys out of Iron Will, they’re stud broadheads. You could hunt any place in the world at $30 apiece. They’re worth every cent you’re going to pay.

They make a great double bevel broadhead. If I was going to shoot a double bevel, which means sharpen both sides that would be the head I would most likely shoot. They’re impressive. They’re built like a single bevel. The design of the blades themselves, the way it’s put together is designed like a single bevel. That’s what I like about it. It’s designed for hard bone impact, but they put two edges on it. It looks fine. It’s a killer.

They ship it to you in a box. Those are two guys that I’m enamored with as things go on, you learn and this is how I learned myself. We’ve got the broadhead. We’ve got a matching foundation and I would call you to insert your foundation. That’ll create a thought process to say, “What do I want behind this broadhead? What is going to stand up to my momentum and the mass?” When they hit the bone, what’s going to happen to that insert? We have the arrow and everybody talks about the spine. What’s spine?

We can have a forward conversation just on spine, but we’ll do it quick and easy. We’ll do it without going crazy. Generally, we have two spines that we talk about. This can be your static spine and your dynamics spine. The static spine is while the arrow is at rest. The dynamic spine is what causes the arrow when it flies through the air and it’s flexing up and down. Your dynamic spine reaction, the stiffer you go, the faster it recovers. The lower you go in spine which typically is higher numbers, the longer it’s going to take through to react. You have to match your poundage to your spine to get that proper reaction towards going to recover quickly. It’s going to maintain good arrow flight throughout the length of the shot itself. This is the easiest way to explain it. We can go way in depth and go way more scientific.

There are YouTube videos that show when you release at 50 pounds, 60 pounds. I want to say warp but it doesn’t, it bends.

It’s the dynamic spine reaction. A lot of people like to call that archer’s paradox. Archer’s paradox is not applied to compound or center shot bows. Archer’s paradox deals with traditional equipment where the arrow goes side to side instead of up and down. It bends around the riser and corrects. That’s not what we’re talking about here. It’s just a misused term. What we’re talking about is dynamic spine deflection.

If you’re shooting traditional setup, no wheels, pullies, cams. It is archer’s paradox because it bends around the grip and the riser. It’s going to re-correct forward. I don’t know what they called for crossbows, but for compounds, dynamic spine response is the correct terminology.

Dynamic spine reaction or deflection is the same thing. That’s going to be an up and down motion as the arrow tries to correct. When you shoot a compound bow, the string is coming forward from a dead stop all of a sudden rushing forward. What’s going to happen? That spine is going to load up with the weight that’s in the front and it’s going to bend. It’s going to bend as it’s coming forward. As it goes out of the bow, it’s going to come back up and bend until little by little it straightens out. For every action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction. How long does it take for that to go halfway up, halfway down until it’s perfectly straight? That’s where spine comes in.

Somebody’s analogies might be bad, but that’s how people tend to start understanding things. The higher the number on the spine, the longer it’s going to take to react. That’s why we want to give you the stiff enough spine based on your poundage in your drawing so that you can maximize that and have it quicker. If you’ll know on these IBO speed chart. We’ve got 700 spines, 600 spines, 500, 400, 340, 300, 250, 200 and some 150s. As you’ll study this chart and get to know it a little bit, the higher your point weight, which is insert and broadhead combined, the lower the number it gets starting from 25 to 32 inches.

You’ll notice that at 100-point weight, it goes seven, six, five, four, all that to 32 inches. Thirty-two inch draw at 35 pounds with 100 grains up front. Even though it’s a 32-inch draw, it’s got quite a bit of force to put me in a 400 spine. You take that same exact draw lines at 32 inches and you bumped that up to 40, 45 pounds. We’re only going ten pounds. Ten pounds isn’t much, and you’ve already jumped up to two spine values. Three hundred is probably going to be one of the more common out there that’s going to be needed. A lot of shops, a lot of people, when they look at this, I had a guy that was at 29 and 68 pounds and he went to a box store. It was either Bass Pro, Cabela’s or Scheels or one of those. He found this arrow chart. He walked into the store and went, “I want this arrow. What spine do I need?” He did what everybody else did. “I need the 100-grain head.” He went to that one, putting them in a 400 spine arrow. He was wondering why he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with this brand new $2,000 wrapped up in his bow because he just got a brand-new flagship top of the line bow.

It’s the arrow. You’re not going to hit anything right, which is why you always want the arrow on the stiff side. Learning this and getting the proper spine is going to give you that overall build on an arrow. When you get your broadhead, you’ve got your foundation or your insert matched to that arrow spine. When it reacts properly, that arrow is no longer in its deflection mode when it hits the animal. It’s already going straight and it is contacting flesh. When it contacts flesh, it’s going to transfer the energy from the broadhead to the foundation or the insert to the arrow evenly in a straight form all the way out the back of the arrow. When you do that, you’re maximizing the effectiveness. You’re maximizing the penetration because if there’s a bend there but it still has the deflection mode when it hits the animal, that energy transfers. Imagine a stick and it’s bent in the back when it hits something straight and the energy transfers up. When it hits that bend, it’s got nowhere to go.

It blows out the back, the arrow snaps in half. You’re not building the proper arrow for proper penetration because you lost all of your momentum. All of your mass weights on the back your arrow because it snapped off. You wanted to hit that animal’s flesh and straight, which is why arrow spine is critical. If you ever get to that point if you look on the chart and you go in at 150, you look at the 65 to 69-pound range and 26 to 27 inches, it puts you on that borderline of 340 to 300, always arrow on the stiffer arrow on the 300 all day long. If you get to the same spot where it says 70 to 74 pounds at 150, you go to the 27 to 28-inch range and you’ve got 300 on both sides, the 300 is going to be perfect no matter what you want to build unless you decided to go extremely heavy.

For a typical build right around that 18%, that 300 is going to be perfect because it puts you right there where both numbers are the same on both sides of that line. That’s what I would do. Other than that, it’s getting out and tuning your bow. You’ve got to build from the front to back. Once you get that done, then you have tuned that arrow that you just built to the bow. That’s important. A lot of people try to do it backward. They buy the bow and try to tune an arrow to the bow. I don’t like to talk about it that way because it takes the importance within from the arrow shaft itself and the arrow build.

We have the fletching and the nock.

When it comes to fletching, this is another reason why I like high FOC because when you build the front of your arrow and you load up the front of your arrow with that weight, you’re now transitioning how that arrow’s going to fly. It was going to fly straighter when you tune it. It’s going to fly towards the target by pulling the arrow behind it instead of the weight in the back pushing the arrow. The most important part of the impact is going to be the point. That’s where the broadhead is at. It doesn’t matter where the back end hits. It’s where the point hits because that’s the killing end of it, you want that to hit where you want it to. You have more control over it. What I would do is I take helical out personally. I run a straight clamp where the two-degree offset on my Blitzenburger and I go with a small extremely light fletching. I am running a four-fletch because I’ve seen great improvements at longer range with the four-fletch over the three. Personally, I’m using the AAE Plastifletch Max 2.0. They’re 0.33 tall, two inches long, super small.

As a matter of fact, I have three fletchers. It’s one of my show arrows. This is on a Victory VAP V1 Elite, they’re tiny. They look bigger on the shaft because it’s 166. That’s going to be with the Ethics Archery outsert system and our field point. There is a field point on there. You can’t see the junction because the machining is that good. Two different pieces here and that’s how that outsert works. Those going to have an internal pin. It’s fully adjustable with a sleeve that fits over top. You have an internal footer and external footer matched up with the field point. It’s perfectly flush, perfectly flat. It’s not going to mess with arrow flight. That right there is what I like to call rebar or battle ax because I’ve got videos online. Here’s the whole point of building these arrows. You want an accurate, you want a consistent higher FOC, and you’re going to get more control.

Here’s the deal. This arrow purposely shot at a two-inch thick cinder block at nineteen yards and I’m going to hunt with it. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’ve got videos out there where I’m shooting our products at 50-gallon propane tanks at twelve yards away, shooting steel and the arrow survived with no problems. That’s what you want. It’s got to fly right. You’ve got the correct fast. You’ve got to be consistent. If you hit a bow, you want to make sure that your foundation is where it needs to be. When it hits, it holds everything together and punches through. You’re doing that animal justice by killing ethically and quickly. Please, if you take anything from any of this, I’m going to be available for you. You can call me.

How can they get in touch with you?

You can get a hold of me through Ethics Archery, the website. Send us an email. Those emails come to me. You can get a hold of me on my cell phone, (480) 251-1367. You can get a hold of me on Instagram @BigHoss01. You can find me on Facebook at Bruce Ritter-Clark. I’m all about education. Do I claim to know everything? Absolutely not. I talk to people that are smarter than me every day and I always try to learn something myself. That’s what I love about this sport. I don’t care who you are. How long you’ve been doing this. You will never ever know everything about this sport. You will never master this sport. Nobody’s ever done it. It’s humanly impossible. There’s always something out there to learn. Anybody who claims they know everything, they’re full of nonsense.

I just happen to know what I know and I want to share that with as many people as I can. I want to educate as many people as I can because we owe it to the animals behind. I’ve seen way too much. Facebook killed me because everybody’s out there. All wound lost out there, it drives me nuts. I shot a deer. I hit it in the shoulder. I got two inches of penetration and never found it. Now that thing’s out there limping and suffering, it may or may not die. I have a problem with that. I’ve done it. I shoot lightfast. That’s all I cared about was my bow speed. I wanted to be the guy that beat my chest with my friends out there at the archery range going right bow shooting 310 feet per second with my hunting arrow.

I realized how much BS there was in that, and that speed doesn’t matter, it’s momentum. I have had one bad shot on an animal. I looked for that animal for almost two days straight without going to bed through the night. I didn’t find it. I punched my tag and walked out of the woods. I wouldn’t even shoot another one. I was disgusted. My hunting season ended that year. It was a personal thing that hit me. Once that happened, it opened my eyes. I started looking into all my equipment, my bows, my arrows, all this stuff. Everything that I pick up if it’s in the package and it has to do with archery. When I pick it up, I go “Why?” That’s the question I have to answer before I purchase anything. Why am I shooting this? If you don’t do that, start.

Ethics Archery, you can reach out to them. If you’ve got questions, hit me up at [email protected]. I’d love to explore this because it’s the second time I’ve had this conversation with Hoss. I’ve got to get my crossbow set up so I can go shoot anything. I’m not saying I’m going to shoot a grizzly bear, but I’m going to shoot a moose. That’s a big critter, 1,000 pounds elk. When I go to take my boat to Africa when that day comes, I will take my crossbow but I’m probably going to use a .375 for my Cape buffalo. He’s going, “No, I don’t know.”

We’ll build you some battle axes. We can make that crossbow way more lethal than any firearm.

There’s a lady up in Wyoming, I don’t have the whole story. I can’t find a link. It’s something about hunting a Cape buffalo with an air rifle or an airbow. I don’t know all the details that’s why I’m not going to tell the name until I get everything straight. We’re supposed to have her on the show. I’m going to be very interested to know the whole backstory. People are adventurous. The whole thing that I love about Hoss is that you ask yourself the questions. Once you have the right equipment, the right arrow to do the job, the bow you have now, you don’t necessarily have to go out and buy a brand-new bow. Golfers do it all the time. If I got the next best thing, I’m going to take five strokes off my game.

It never happens.

It’s not going to happen. Am I against marketing? No, it’s the way it is. Every single person at ATA has great products. They have great businesses. They’re in competition. They have to have marketing. I get that. That’s why people like Shockey, Lee and Tiffany and Drury brothers. They’re well supportive.

All those people you mentioned are great people. They’re very good at what they do. Do you not want to take any skill away from those people? By any means, but you also have to consider that the top 1% of this industry is paid. It makes their living solely on what they promote.

That’s their job. Are you going to tell on Jim Shockey not to go to work, and not to make money for his family?

He’s going to promote what he is paid to promote. It’s not that they don’t have confidence in the things that they do promote because there has to be some integrity there. They’re going to do it in a way that they’re told to because that’s their bread and butter. You can’t look down on them for it. I’m not putting them down for it, but the consumer needs to understand why they’re pushing this brand of trail camera? This brand of trail camera pays them to say this about the trail camera.

It’s no different than the football players, any professional athlete, and any actor. Why do they think you have those people pushing Gillette, shoes and Prada, anything at all? They’re recognizable, people go, “If they like it, why shouldn’t I like it? If they use it, I should use it.” Maybe you should, maybe you shouldn’t. You have to think. That’s why this has been such an educational thing. We’re going to do this more. We’re not done here because we get a lot more to talk about. We shared what I wanted to share. Any last thoughts, Hoss?

I’m passionate about it. I get worked up when I talk about arrow builds to people. Even more so when I have somebody else on the line that’s fighting back in a debate. Those are some of my favorite conversations because I get passionate about it. The bottom line is if you take anything from this podcast or any podcasts that I ever do, I always tell people, “Please put some thought process into your arrow build.” If I catch you out on the mountain in Colorado elk hunting and I see you out there with a bow and we start to talk. I’d say, “Why are you shooting the arrow that you’re shooting?” You should have an answer. It should be because of the thought process you put into it.

It’s not because so and so says this is what you shoot. That’s what I want to hear from every hunter. Anytime I talk to somebody about their why. I want an intelligent answer. If we can do that, our wound loss is going down. Animals are going to die much more ethical, much quicker. The overall industry is going to grow, not just monetarily or the size of the company. I’m not talking that. I’m talking as a whole. It’s going to bring more and more people together as one unit in the hunting world when people start thinking about every little thing that they’re doing. It’s so much more intimate. When you gain that intimacy with the people that are likeminded and with the products that you use, it can only get better. It never gets worse.

Thank you on behalf of hundreds of thousands. We went over 250,000 downloads for Whitetail Rendezvous. I guess I’m real. I appreciate every single audience. I look forward to growing our brand at Whitetail Rendezvous. I look forward to continue to stay in touch with you. I think we should do at least twice a year, if not more and develop that relationship. Hoss, thank you so much for being a guest at Whitetail Rendezvous.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Important Links:

• Ethics Archery
• DirtNap
• Excalibur
• @BigHoss01 – Bruce’s Instagram
• Bruce Ritter-Clark – Bruce’s Facebook
• [email protected]

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