Originally Posted By: ZYears ago I read an article by a doctor that explained what the OP is suggesting. It was comparing an artery ripped versus one sliced. The sliced one was easier to repair or fit back together.
This, by and of itself is absolutely true...a "sliced" artery is easier to "repair" {translated: stitched back together} because it is all there and you can see just what to sew to what...on the other hand and obviously, if you run an artery thru a meat grinder it would be very hard to "repair".....but we are not talking about just putting them back together. No one is trying to do that after an animal is hit with an arrow and running away. In fact, I am not so sure it would matter. Cut an artery cleanly enough so there is hemorrhage and it wont matter because you cannot last long enough to get somewhere and have it "fixed".
Make no mistake, the artery that is cut very cleanly with a very razor sharp honed broadhead will hemorrhage. This is what kills...it's not just how the artery is cut, it's that the bleeding cannot stop.
There was an old video I saw once about bowhunting for black bear in Alaska. The guy that did the video brought up two very good points about bowhunting. One was to learn to shoot out of a tree stand sitting down {so you don't have to spook the animal by standing up} the other was this test he had with a certain number rubber band. He explained that arteries have evolved to be the consistency of a rubber band and "move out of the way" to avoid injury. He showed how to stretch the rubberband not too tight between your finger and thumb and move the edge of the broadhead into it. If the broadhead moved 1/4" or more it was not sharp enough.
Many years ago Fred bear used to recommend sharpening a broadhead with a file. In his later years he backed up and admitted this recommendation was probably a mistake and that they should be honed and stropped for a better chance of more severe hemorrhage.
An artery cut with a rough or jagged edge will clot faster and stop or at least slow way down bleeding and often be "survivable".