← Live Wild with Remi Warren
Live Wild with Remi Warren
Ep. 192 | The Next Chapter and a Deep Dive Into Arrows and Broadheads
00:58:23
In this episode of the Live Wild Podcast, Remi Warren shares his extensive experience in hunting and archery, focusing on the critical role of arrows and broadheads in successful hunts. He unveils his new venture as the owner of Day Six Arrow and Broadhead Company, emphasizing the importance of quality gear and proper arrow flight. The conversation delves into the technical aspects of arrow setup, the significance of broadheads, and Remi's personal philosophy on hunting gear. Listeners gain insights into the nuances of archery and the importance of investing in high-quality equipment for a successful hunting experience.
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Remy Warren
Foreign I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast, we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to Live Wild. This podcast is brought to you by Mountain Tough and Yeti. A lot of the tactics I talk about here require you to be in top physical shape. So I partnered with Mountain Tough to help get you ready for the mountain with their science based hunter specific training app. You'll get in shape and mentally tough able to tackle any hunt. Because we really believe this will help you be more successful As a listener to this podcast, we're giving you six free weeks to get you started. Just use code livewild Foreign welcome back everyone to the Live Wild podcast. I'm really excited because this week we're going to be covering one of my favorite topics, especially in archery, is the arrow and broadhead. You know, that's the touch point between the archer and the animal. And it's so important in the hunt and on the hunt and really for the success of the hunt. How that arrow flies and how it hits its mark, that kind of is the distinguishing factor between the rest of the story. You've worked so hard to get to this point and that's the final touch point. So we're going to dive into arrows and broadheads today and I'm also going to be sharing some really exciting news. I've got a kind of big unveiling for those of you that have been with this podcast or even the previous podcast before this. We're Live Wild. We're at episode 192. So for 192 weeks, I've sat here and kind of conversed with you guys. In some ways it feels one way, but then I get all that feedback back and. And it's been awesome. I kind of feel like the Live Wild audience is just part of my family. So I want to bring you guys in a little bit behind the curtains, what's going on and what I've got cooking in the future. So let's dive in and I'm going to kind of unveil what I've got next and this big announcement for essentially the course that I'm going to be taking over the next chapter in my life. You know, I I like to joke around that I have a lot of full time jobs and the podcast being one of them. You know, I've been, I've been guiding and outfitting for, I guess, 23, 24 years. I also do a lot of writing, I do a lot of video stuff, a lot of different things, you know, and, and over the course of that, everything's kind of taken me, you know, in this, in this one direction. And it's all based on hunting, really wanting to share that experience and make people better with the time that they're allotted. You know, I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend so much time in the field hunting and kind of learning, taking people hunting and just really learning from nature and really figuring out a lot of things that take a lot of time invested to figure out. And that's, that's one of the reasons that I really enjoy doing things like this podcast or online, you know, outdoor class content articles. You know, those are, those are huge time commitments for me, but I really like being able to share that. And then another aspect of what I do, which I really enjoy, and you've probably picked up on this on the podcast, is that gear development aspect where, you know, getting to spend so much time and really putting a lot of emphasis on my gear, like my gear selection goes through so many rigorous tests because it's just, I use it all the time. And so I like being involved in that process of gear, gear building, gear development, all those things. I also really, you know, have this. I've, I've kind of been this way my whole life because I rely on my gear so much is I really value high quality gear, like the best of whatever's available. I think it's like my mentality has always been that buy once, cry once mentality, just get it over with, buy the best. Because every time I don't, I end up buying like multiples of subpar stuff. And by the time I'm done, I would have had. I end up buying the better thing anyways. And it's just like, it's just a, it's one of those things where you just kind of keep falling into that, into that trap. Now on the other hand, kind of on the personal side, you know, I just feel like this podcast will be a good one to just be behind the curtain and in, in a lot of ways, like transparent of why I'm going this new direction or this direction. I think it's just an added step, but it's a new chapter for me. One of the things like, being so involved in gear is kind of always been in the back of my head of mind of like, okay, what about starting a gear company or working my way into, you know, developing gear more owning a, owning a company that has like a high quality product. And you know, I've. For years I've kind of tossed around and played. I mean, I've made my hands have been on some of the best gear out there across multiple different categories, multiple different industries, from packs and clothing to optics, like in the development, testing, ideation process in so many different avenues of the hunting space for multiple different companies. And it's something that I've always enjoyed and valued. And I think, you know, thinking about it behind the scenes, okay, what would I make? And you know, I'm like, man, there's so many companies that make really good stuff. And one of the companies that kind of stood out to me, I started as a customer. It was day six. Makes arrows and broadheads and some of the best, you know, I've shot a lot of different arrows over the years, a lot of different broadheads. And there was. They kind of got me first on the customer experience of being able to order a custom arrow and have it sent to me because of my schedule of like traveling and being gone and just wanting that same arrow and not having the time to either make it up sometimes or, or whatever. Like, dang, I'm down arrows. I was kind of always last minute too. I like, I like prepare and plan, but then, you know, things happen. You're like, dang it, why did I not pay attention to this sooner? And then just the quality of it. Like, I believe that they're the best hunting arrows out there, the best broadheads. Like, I've had more success since switching to those arrows and, and those broadheads than I had in the previous time. And I think there's a lot of factors involved with that. And we'll kind of dive into it today because I'm talking about arrows and broadheads. But the big kind of announcement and the direction that the next step and next chapter for myself and my family is I'm now the owner of Day Six Arrow and Broadhead company. So this has been something that's been in the works for a while. It's kind of for me really a dream come true. You know, I think that the reason, you know, it's like people would ask, like, oh, the companies that you work for, if you could own one or whatever, which one would it be? And I kind of always came back to day six and the opportunity presented itself. Brian's a good friend of mine and he's the founder of it and he's still going to be, you know, on, in operations and continuing to do what we do and what Day Six has done. But I'm kind of taking over the company and continuing with the plans of growing it and you know, developing new stuff and really taking what's already been built, the best aero and broadhead manufacturer out there right now and kind of diving in full steam and kind of like, I guess in, in on personal side, realizing that dream of, of owning American manufacturing and being a part of the development and process of a product and a company that's not just a good company, but a great company with a ton of high quality products. And I think that that's going to continue and, and even push it even further in, in some of the things that we're doing and making. And that's really exciting for me. I mean, you know, this is kind of something that's been a goal of mine to do something like this, you know, in my entire life on the, you know, behind the curtain. You, my, my wife and I have decided that this is something that we're going to be doing and we've, you know, invest everything that we have is going into this. But you know, there's that, there's that kind of a little bit scared, but also more than anything, just excited because I just, you know, I value the company and the product and I value it so much that I said this is something that I want to do and this is the direction I want to take. The things that I'm doing, I'm still going to be doing the podcast, I'm still going to be making videos, all that stuff. But you know, I'm also really stepping into the role of Day Six and, and so, you know, this, this podcast I'm going to, I'm going to, I think by the end of this podcast you'll understand some of the things that I really value and why day. Why Day six? Why am I like taking everything I've done over my life, the guiding and the other things, and kind of pushing over into running an arrow and broadhead manufacturing company, partially because I'm just a super fan of the product and partially because I think that it can enhance the archery experience and the hunting experience. And my big thing is helping hunters. And if I can do that through this podcast, through video content, through a product that really fulfills a need for a certain type of hunter and you know, creates a better Customer experience, a better product, a better end result, then that's a win for me because I'm part of that hunt and kind of I like to aid and insist on and assist on the hunt. And so if I can do that through a product, through information, through all these things, then that's checking a lot of boxes and I, and I feel really good about that. So that's kind of the big announcement. That's the, that's, I mean it's the biggest announcement that I've ever made personally, you know, is something that this has been in the works for a while and you know, to be able to come and talk about it on my podcast and say like, here's what I'm doing and you know, in some ways just like looking for your guys support too because I think it's cool that now there's, there's a, there's a company, not, not that I'm just involved with, but an owner of and it's something where, you know, your guys input's valuable to us, your guys support's valuable to us. But I think that like I'm just really, I guess what I'm just saying is I'm really excited to be able to, to talk about it with you guys because it is the really the biggest move that I've ever made in my life. I'm just like, it's still. But you know, I kind of pinch myself and go like, wow, this is really happening. And I'm really excited of where I think that we can take the company and what we can do with it and the type of products that are already in existence and the things that we might even in the future. I'm just really excited for this kind of next chapter. This is the next chapter for me. So you'll probably hear me talk about it a lot. And I, and I think it's kind of fun to be able to see behind the scenes a little bit. Especially for those of you that have followed the podcast and followed me, there's people like, man, I, I've followed you since Solo Hunter days or the first episode of solo hunter or YouTube video that I picked up probably almost 20 years ago. And that kind of support to me means more than anything you guys would ever know. Like, it's awesome when I get to, you know, go to like the trade shows and stuff, interact with everyone and meet people and hear their stories of like that tip that you did or this video inspired me to do this or I got this tip and I was successful or some of it's like, man, I tried that tip and it just didn't work for me. But what, you know, what these other things did, that's so fun for me. And so to bring you guys along on this kind of new journey into what I'm doing, it's cool for me to be able. I just feel very, very privileged to be able to do this and to kind of follow this dream and. And for those of you that are interested in kind of following along on the ride, this is it. This is ground zero of the next chapter of what I'm essentially doing. So I'm really excited about it this week. I kind of wanted to. In some ways, you know, I think that there's a lot of things that we want to do with the company and there's a lot of things around arrows and broadheads that I think people just don't know. And so the education around it is going to be a big part of some stuff going forward. And I think it just kind of starts today of diving into like why arrows, why broadheads? What's the difference? Why should I even care? In some ways, there's a lot of people that have been bow hunting a long time, right? And admittedly I used to be this guy who's quite a few years ago, but man, I did a lot of hunting and a lot of bow hunting and knew nothing about my arrow setup. And I found myself on a moose hunt really under gunned with an arrow that was too light for the situation. Like in many ways, and I hate to admit it, but like in many ways is probably an unethical setup because it just didn't have. I just didn't. It was just an afterthought of like, oh, I should use a different arrow for this or a better arrow or whatever. I was just using whatever I had previously and just kept it going all at that time. All I knew is like a number 350 or I think I was shooting 303 50s and like that meant nothing to me. That's the spine of the arrow, not the weight. And I'll talk to people and so many people are just don't really understand the basics of how an arrow works in flight. Why a different arrow might make a big difference in shooting and tunability. Why your arrow flight is probably the most important thing you can get out of a bow. You know, you could have the top of the line bow but without proper aeroflight it means absolutely nothing because you're going to get inconsistent performance, you're going to be in the Field and little things of, like being tweaked just a little bit where that arrow isn't tuned perfectly for that bow. You know, you. Your form is just a little off, and that arrow is way off. And that's hunting situations. That's when you're like, man, I'm so dialed on the range. But you don't really understand what's going on behind the scenes with arrow flight. And you get into a hunting situation and you, whatever, like the bulls walking, you turn your. Your form's a little bit off and that arrow goes wide and it just misses the target. Whereas somebody else that has a, like, a more tuned setup does that same exact tweaking of body position and all that stuff and hits a half an inch or a quarter inch of off where they're aiming and ends up with a successful hunt and kill. Compared to the guy that, like, you know, has the story of, like, dang it, I missed. I don't know. I was holding on and I don't know what happened. Well, what happened might have just been something that, you know, maybe could have been controlled by just perfecting the setup just a little bit. And there's a lot into it, right? Like, there's. There's just so much. But we're going to dive in a little bit today and talk about arrows and broadheads. I'm specifically going to talk about some of our day six stuff and then. And go through it and, like, I'll talk about my setup. And then also, like, I acknowledge that there is other setups, and that's, you know, if you just want to, like, see what might be in the future. Right. We're going to make stuff for other setups as well. There, there is a. I mean, we can cover with what day six already has 99% of the hunters out there. These arrows are built to be precise, tough, durable, and they're designed for hunting like. And in many cases, designed for a lot of western big game hunting where the arrow matches, like, the toughness of the animal with the right setup. So I'm going to dive in. We're going to dive in and just talk arrows. And I think you're going to glean a few things off of why arrow flight's so important, ways to kind of improve your setup. And then. And without getting too techy, right, Maybe we'll. Maybe we'll jump in. We'll have Brian jump on a podcast. This is going to be like arrows 101, maybe like 101.5 and. And then maybe later on we'll dive in and we'll go like level two, level three, maybe something even for like, super advanced stuff. You know, we're talking about everything, but we're going to dive into arrows and broadheads. Because you think about an arrow and a broadhead, that is the touch point of the hunter to the animal. And it's. It's as important as anything. Like, it doesn't matter how much you, you know, you've got money in tags, you've got money in travel, you've got time away from work, family, whatever. You got time in the field, time spent chasing, time spent trying to fill that tag. You've got all this stuff. And it all comes down to that arrow connecting in the right way. And that's like how the Hunt story ends, is how that arrow connects. So it's just an extremely important piece of gear. So I'm going to dive in now and we're going to kind of go through. We're just going to do a run through of arrows, broadheads, and a little bit of the philosophy, some of the things that you might not think about about arrows, maybe just like a basic overview of arrows and then also broadheads. So for those that are just kind of new to archery, I think when you. When people start talking about arrows, it's like a lot of it becomes gibberish. It just goes over your. And there's so many options. And I think that, like, what ends up happening, which is a. There's a reason that there's pro shops and other things, because getting the right arrow setup for your bow is very important. Not every bow can shoot every arrow. If you change your bow, you might have to change your arrow. And so I'm going to talk about a few of the things just to kind of define a couple of the things that depend on, you know, like when it comes to arrow selection. So this is one. So the first thing is the straightness. Okay. You might see that when you go to purchase errors, you might see like 0.001, 0.003. That's saying how straight those arrows are. Now during the process of producing arrows, you're trying to make, you know, 0.001 or better, which most of them come out better, but there's going to be a few that aren't as straight. And so those get lumped into the, like, lesser category. So often, like between 01s and O3s, there's, you know, a little price difference. They aren't as straight. Now a little behind the scenes, like, often in those 03s, you could get those, the ends are often what is adjusting the straightness. So you could cut off like if you don't need to shoot a full length arrow, if you're somewhere in the 27 inch range, whatever, you could cut off some of the back, some of the front and actually bring that like you could retest that arrow and bring that straightness back to an 01 with just, you know, essentially like getting in and like improving that, that 03 error. But that's, that's neither here nor there. The straightness is a factor in consistency. So the, the when they're all matched within the same straightness, they're going to fly like you want. Your arrow needs to be straight. If it's, let's say that the points leaning one way or another, it's going to guide the arrow in a direction that you don't want. So you could have five arrows, right. I used to do this like a lot with other aero companies. I would get a bunch of arrows, like I would get, I don't know, dozens, like two, three dozen at a time. And I would shoot them all. I would have to like knock tune them or I'd like turn it to find the right spine. I'd get. And then I would get like separate them into groups of ones that shot more like each other. And then those would be the ones that I would hunt with or shoot. But then I would run out of those and then I have to go into the other batch. And that's one of the things when I first started shooting day six, they all shot the same because the spine consistency. I didn't have to knock tune them. The way that these ones are built, it's like doesn't matter which way you put it on the string. It's essentially the same. And the straightness and consistency of these were so much better than everything else that I shot that I'd get a dozen arrows and could shoot in hunt. Like I had a dozen arrows. I didn't have to get three or four dozen to weed out through a dozen, which is crazy to me. But like I used to have a garbage pail full of what I would consider subpar arrows from other companies that it was just like I would shoot all these arrows and these ones didn't fly right and whatever. And then I would go back through that garbage pail again when I ran out, try to like redo everything. Like it was just, it was a mess. But that's the thing that, you know, really originally drew me to Day six was that consistency. And I think part of that consistency is, you know, having a lot of control over the product. And then like the very tight tolerances on the components. The component system on these arrows is what's nice is like made in America, made in Wyoming components. And the tolerances aren't just one size fits all. It's specific to these arrows. So the tolerances are extremely tight. Everything fits perfectly together. And we're just taking what, you know, might be an acceptable margin of error and decreasing that margin of error so that each arrow is more consistent. Because with that more consistency you get repeatability and repeatability. Like if the arrow is more consistent, repeatable, then small, like the human error factor of our inconsistency is minimized. And that's the biggest thing about archery is most of the error comes from the shooter, the archer. Right. But if we can minimize that through our gear selection, through our setup process, then we're going to make like miss smaller and increase our success by missing smaller because everything is like at a tighter tolerance. So you've got your arrow, the arrow, there's the arrow shaft, then there's like, you know, where the, the tip broadhead screws into. That could be an insert. On some arrows we use an insert outsert eccentric system, which is designed because it's extremely durable. But then you don't have to do like on micro diameter arrows, you don't have to have some kind of weird threaded component like the, the deep six or something. Don't have to do that. So the, the centric system allows extreme durability in the front end. Like a lot of arrows, that's where they break. So we got extreme durability on the front end with the centric system. I mean we've got aluminum, steel and titanium options. And then, and then the whole, all the way through, you know, extremely consistent shafts. And then the, another part of your arrow is your fletching. So those, you know, everybody can choose their own fletching. Like you can go 3 fletch, you can go 4 fletched. I've seen some guys shooting 6 fletched. I've seen Some guys shooting 2 fleshed and 5 fletched. Like I shoot 4 fletch. That's what I like. Especially when you have an arrow that like the spine doesn't matter because I can pull it out of the quiver and I can essentially put it on the string two ways like immediately and don't have to really even think about it or look. That's one of the reasons that I like I just pull it off, pop it on. It's the same whether it's shooting one way or another. It doesn't. It doesn't really make a difference. I also like for the added stability because I. I shoot a fixed blade broadhead and we'll talk about broadheads in a little bit. But I like that I've just had good luck with it and I think it. I just think it's kind of cool. Anyways, I just like forefletch. That's just personal Preference. I've shot 3 fletched, but I just like the way that I, I line up. I like the. I like the way the four fletched feels is what it comes down to, like personal preference. So then another number, and this is the number. So there's. There's numbers on the arrow and you buy them by these numbers. And that's the spine. And essentially the spine is how much that arrow flexes. Like the actual measurement of it is by hanging a weight on of a certain length shaft. And how much it flexes from the baseline, you don't need to know that there's a formula for. It doesn't really matter. All it's saying is like how much that arrow flexes. And so it goes from stiff to more flexible. Kind of think of it like a fly rod, where you got like a carbon fiber fly rod and that thing's very stiff and like a bamboo fly rod or fishing rod. I don't know. Probably fewer people, more people are familiar with arrows than like bamboo fly rods really. But like if you cast a bamboo fly rod, the thing just wobbles the whole time and it's, it's like a lot slower. Think about like more flex slower. Right? So you have to cast the bamboo fly rod a lot slower because it just flexes so much. So there's more time in it. In. In some ways you can't really use as much force to throw it out there. Whereas like a stiffer rod, you can whip real fast and get that fly moving and, and it. It's like quick action. Similar thing with, with the flex of an arrow. So you think of it like the suspension in a car. Maybe this is a better analogy where you're driving down. If the suspension's too stiff, that rides like real bumpy. If the suspension's too. Or sorry, it's like real hard. The ride's real hard if that suspension's stiff, if it's too loose, it's real bumpy. You're like flopping all over. But when it's just Right. You. You really don't notice it. We're trying to do with the flex of the arrow is match the. The flex to the bow. And where that flex comes into play is the people call the archer's paradox of how that arrow. Kind of like originally it would flex around the bow in a way, but when it goes from not moving to all the force moving it, it need it. It's gonna move, it's gonna flex. If it was perfectly straight, it would shoot. Like, if there's no flex, the arrow would shoot and it would have trouble correcting in flight. So the flex absorbs the energy from the bow transfer to the arrow moving. So it flexes and then it stabilizes. And so what you want is a quick stabilization. When the. When the spine is right, that arrow flexes and stabilizes very fast. And the faster it stabilizes, the more consistency you have, because it allows it to leave the bow and then be a consistent flight. And so if it does it further out, well, it might have moved more, and then it re. It stabilizes, and you've got bigger groups. So if we can match that to the bows, it is often like the spine is based off of your draw weight length, because that's the energy that's going into that arrow. So we're going to match our spine to our arrow to achieve perfect arrow flight. Now, there's a lot of, like, outside of the spine, the spine is dynamic. We'll go into that another time. Like, as you cut the arrow, the spine changes. As you add point weight or other things, like, the spine changes. So the spine, whatever number is there, isn't 100% set. You could have an arrow that is a 300 spine, and maybe you've cut it down. Like, depending on how you cut it or what kind of point weight you have, that can change it. So don't worry about that right now. We're just talking about the numbers. So if you see your. Like, a lot of people think that if I'm like, what weight arrow are you shooting? Because not all. Not everybody has the weights of the arrows on the hero. Sometimes I've noticed. But if somebody's like, what weight are you shooting? And often they just look at like, oh, I'm shooting a 300. And they think that that's the weight of the. Like the physical weight of the arrow. If they weighed in on a scale, that's incorrect. That's actually the spine or the flex of the arrow. So the weight. And then, so another number that we might have is the total Weight of the arrow, the grains per inch. This tells you how heavy the arrow is, right? So as we have a heavier arrow, well that's, it's going to go slower, but you're going to get more energy downrange, which often means higher penetration. So the heavier the arrow, you're gonna get better penetration. Now the lighter the arrow, the less drop you're gonna get. And these are two categories that you kind of wanna kind of put yourself in. I like now I like a heavy arrow, but I don't need it so heavy that I. It's like the drop discourages me from using it. So I want, I'm on the heavier side of arrows. I also have like a, a pretty solid bow setup where I can shoot a heavier arrow faster often. But since my wrist injury I've had to. I used to shoot like 85 pounds all the time and now I just shoot a 70 pound bow. My dad shoots like a 60 pound bow and my wife shoots a 50 pound bow. And within all of us we kind of choose the heavier option of the arrows. Even like I'll sacrifice, personally I'll sacrifice a little drop for better penetration because if, if I'm. Something happens like I hit a bone or an elk's close and it's whatever and I accidentally hit that shoulder, I want to be able to punch through stuff. So my setup is based on penetration. But I also have like, I like having other setups. Like I've got another bow that's set up lighter, faster, less drop. And there's like man pronghorn hunting, flat terrain. I got a lot longer distance sight tape on it. I don't have to worry about, you know, if the animal jumps a little bit, okay, I'm going to catch it. Still, I'm not so worried about penetration. That's great. You know, moose, elk, other stuff even for me, mule deer. And I've got my certain setup. I'm not saying it's the only setup to have, I'm just saying it's a, it's a setup for me and my hunting style. I like to get pastors like my setup with a 70 pound bow. I've gotten passers on pretty much everything that I shoot. Like from musk ox to caribou, moose, elk, like that's what I'm looking for. And being able to like blow through bones to like being able to take hard quartered shots. Like, I like having the option to have more shot options and opportunities that are still ethical than having to have the perfect setup. Because I know that my arrow might not make it through to where I need it to make it through if the animal's not exactly positioned right. So I've taken like a lot of hard quartered or face like quarter, two quartered away shots that I know with 100 confidence are going to be fatal shots because I know my setup and it's going to penetrate to the vitals based on that angle. So that's my personal whatever. So we've got that and then we've got the grain. So the, the weight measurement would be that grains per inch and that tells you like, okay, per inch of arrow, this is how much. And then you've got your, your outsert or your insert. So ours are the centric system. It's a, it's technically an insert outsert. So there's a part that goes in the air and a part that goes outside the arrow which adds durability. And it's the best. I mean like it's the centric system. It's just the best, you know, it's the best system that I've ever seen as far as like durability and, and hunt ready. And then you know, you can throw a wrap on the back or whatever. So there's, you know, you can get different weights for that outsource. If you want a little more weight forward, you can throw in, you know, some, a different weight out. Like centric insert outsert. You could also change the weight of your head maybe. We'll talk about some of that stuff on different podcasts. More like a lot of people are like, what's your foc, Your front of center. And for guys that like want really high front of centers, you can maybe go with a little bit of a lighter arrow and kind of balance your setup that way. So on the day six side, we've got like the HDs, which are heavy duty. These are nearly indestructible. The thickest wall 4 millimeter arrow out there. Like the most durable 4 millimeter. And the thing, this is what kind of drew me originally to day six was this hd. It's the flagship arrow because it got a higher grain per inch, all carbon to meet the weights that I wanted. And the durability factor is insane. You look at it and you look like you take the knockout or whatever and you look in there and you see the, how thick the wall is on this. They're, they're 4 millimeter arrow. So like a micro diameter arrow, but just absolutely like in some ways bulletproof. And that to me was like the original Selling point. My buddy Tim Burnett, who did Soul Hunters with me, he's the one that kind of introduced me to him because he's like, dude, your arrow sucks. I know what you're doing. You need to stop doing that. And I'm like, yeah, I know, man. Like, I'm just breaking arrows all the time. Everything. He's like, shoot this. Because he knew that I was just the guy that, like, just breaks stuff. He's like, here, this thing's bomb proof. And that was like the original. He was the original pitch to me of like, go get. Go buy these arrows. And. And I did. I've been, like, stoked with him ever since, obviously. But, you know, so. So that's your grain's branch. And then you've got like your. This is a funny thing about arrows. This is like, I think when you say 4 millimeters, so that's the inside diameter. But then, you know, all arrows, you can look at the outside diameter. So that's like the actual. If you were to measure two arrows, so you could have two arrows with the same inside diameter, but the outside diameter is going to be a little bit different. So that's our. That's our day 6 HD. A little heavier arrow. That's a little bit about the arrow setup. You know, we also have our xd. So, like, if you want a little bit lighter setup. So now you're like, hey, I, I want less grains per inch because I'm a little worried about. I want less drop. Okay. And that. There's a very valid point to that. I know a lot of people, they're like, hey, I'm on a mule deer. He bounce out a yard or two yards. And I don't know, I want less margin of error in the drop than. And maybe sacrifice a little bit of that weight. So the XD does that. That's a five millimeter arrow. And then the XDs have lighter grains per inch than, than the HDs. And then they also have. Now one of the cool things that we have on our arrows is the NOC. We still use our 4 millimeter knocks because we have. We manufacture like a knock insert so we can use that smaller nock. So essentially, you're getting a little bit less knock pinch with that standard 5 millimeter arrow because you're using a smaller knock. And that's been, that's been. That works really well. I think that's the coolest thing, one of the coolest things about shooting these xd. So I shoot xds, I shoot hds. I generally hunt with the hds. But there are a lot of instances because I. I've gone back and forth over the years of, like, okay, it's nice to have that less drop. And there's some hunts and some things I'm like, okay, it's all about precision, putting the arrow in the right place and maybe being in conditions where, okay, I got to take a shot that's a little bit further. Or even just like, if you like to shoot total archery challenges or those kind of things, like 3D targets, that's a big, you know, especially if you're going unmarked ranges and stuff like that, where you got to guess the range and you might be off a little bit. If you have less drop, you're going to be more in that kill zone more consistently. So that's the kind of selling point of that option of era. Somebody's like, what do I get? You know, like, you're new to it. What's get. Well, the first thing is you're going to match the spine of your arrow based off of not the length, but, like, your. The poundage of your bow and your draw length. If you increase. This is one thing that I see all the time, like, in. Dudes used to write articles about this. This is what blows my mind. When I was getting into archery, the amount of, like, bad information out there. Guys would. I remember people saying, okay, before your hunt, like, I practice all season. This was the thing. I did this. And I'm like, why do I suck all of a sudden? So I'd have a bow. And I even. Honestly, like, I just bought arrows. I bought whatever arrow was on sale and shot. I didn't know there's any difference, to be honest. This was like, when I was a youngster, I. I had to teach myself how to bow hunt. And man, the amount of mistakes that I made. Like, thinking back, I would have. If I just would have had this podcast to listen to. Like, if I could send any. If I. If I can one AI to send information into the past, I will send myself a library of, like, all this information before I start bow hunting. Because just a little bit of this knowledge would have saved me so much anguish and heartbreak. But I remember reading articles about guys saying, like, yep, you turn down your bow and you practice with it. So you can practice all the time. And then you. Before the season, you turn it up as heavy as it will go and then recite it in. That's what. That's what the leading articles out there were telling you. You turn down your bow, you practice all summer. And then right before the season, you turn it up and you recite your bow in. Okay, well, what's that do? It changes the way that the arrow interacts with the bow, the way that the spine is. So you would need from a lighter bow to a heavier boat, potentially depending on how much you're changing it, a different arrow spine or cut it or at a different point weight or whatever, because that arrow is not going to flex right. And you're going to get really bad performance out of it. And that's what. That's what would happen. You know, you'd have an area. You're shooting great all summer. Crank it up. I remember I'd have marks on it, and I'd crank it up all the way to where it's like the limbs were all the way down. Change the weight and go out and hunt. Recite it in and go out and hunt. My broadheads and my field tips did not fly anywhere close to the same place. Like, I. I'd have field tips that flew probably 6 to 8 inches different than my broadheads. And that. What that's telling me is that the bow isn't tuned. And that's like a. That's a big problem. Like it. So what that means. So here's the. Here's my pitch for matching everything the right way is. And I've said it probably a lot of times, but I think it's a. It's a good analogy to have is like, let's say I'm deer meal, deer hunting. Okay? I've got a buck of a lifetime bedded below me. I shot all summer, and I'm shooting good. Like. And the bucks out at 48 yards. That doesn't even matter how far it is. Let's say 48 yards seems a standard mule deer yardage. 438 to 48 yards somewhere in there. Okay, I'm all set up. I'm ready. I'm just waiting for this buck to stand. I'm sitting down. The buck stands up, and I've got everything kind of lined up. The buck stands up and I. I know now, like, I'm gonna have to shoot from a sitting position. So I draw back the bow. And, like, where I'm sitting, it's like my legs and body is lined up for over here. Let's say. I don't know, straight in front of me. And the buck now is in this position where it would be like, 45 degrees to the left. So I'm sitting. I'm in this awkward position. I got the hill and everything. I got a slope. I draw back. I'm unseen. I. I twist. But, like, as I'm twisting, I'm putting string, like, pressure on my face of the string. Just because my form's not, like, it's not perfect. It's not like it was when I was standing in my backyard shooting. Okay, well, is that going to make a difference? It. It is going to make a difference. Make a difference on any bow, Whether your bow is tuned or not, it's going to make a difference. But let's say my bow isn't tuned. And when that arrow is leaving from the untuned position, right, it's, like, slightly. It's not shooting out straight, so it's, like, shooting a little bit left. So no matter what, like, I'm overcompensating for that arrow. That's. That's not shooting right anyways when I'm in my backyard, but with my sights. I've adjusted my sights over and everything so that it's lined up and it's working for the most part, to where I'm hitting where I want. Okay, so. But it's off. So it's not shooting out straight. So what I'm getting is, like, I'm getting. I'm hitting where I want for the most part. But that arrow isn't leaving straight. So it's already, like, there's already a percentage where this isn't gonna work. I mean, it's gonna work, but there's already a percentage here where it's not flying, like, optimally, I guess, is the best way to put it. So. And now that I've got a broadhead screwed onto it, maybe I'm. Maybe I didn't get. I couldn't get my field like, I couldn't get mechanic, like, with this setup where it's a little odd, it's out of tune. I can't really get the field fixed blades to fly great. So they're kind of flying erratic. Because what's happening is, like, I'm shooting at 20 yards, and it's on, but when I'm shooting 50 yards, it's, like shooting left. Well, it's because when my arrow is leaving that bow, it's leaving left. And that. That broadhead is just, like, showing you its true path More than allowing the fletchings to kind of correct that. That spin. So it's kind of steering it that, like, in its incorrection. So we're on the hill. The mueller stands up, we twist our forms a little bit off, and now we're putting a little bit of string pressure on our face. And that arrow that's already left is now like, way further left. And we release that arrow and we miss the deer. Okay, well, the same guy that did it with a perfectly tuned bow, where everything's shooting straight, does that. He's got the same weird torque and he shoots and it hits the deer and he kills it. Well, why is that? Because he's starting at tune and true. And as like, that imperfection is within a margin of tolerance. So, like, when it's already out of tolerance, you've now. You've now adjusted it way out, and it increases the amount that you're going to miss by. Because you're already starting off and now you're even more off. So the guy that has that tuned perfect arrow flight, now he's off, but he's still on target. He's missing instead of by 8 inches an inch. And he hits the deer and he's got like, that's his hunt story. I shot the buck. I got the buck. And he doesn't even have to think about, like, he didn't even know. I didn't even know then my form is low off. And it shouldn't even matter because you want, whatever the situation is, to be able to make good on that. That arrow flight. So that's where the spine, the. The right arrow for your. Your weight, all that stuff comes into play because it helps you get the right tune for your setup and shoot a more perfect arrow. Everything comes down to arrow flight. So, you know, the first thing that we're gonna wanna do when we're selecting arrows for everybody knew is like, base the spine off of your draw length and weight. And like, when you order it, that's like what we're here to. To set it up. And then we're going to figure out the length to cut it based on your draw length. Because we can't cut it too short, otherwise it won't work in your setup. But as we cut that arrow, it's going to change your. The actual spine of the arrow. So as we cut it down, it's going to change the spine depending on. Maybe you're like, I've got a bunch of 125 tips and that's what I want to shoot. Okay, well, as long as we know that, okay, maybe we have to add a little length or decrease a little length to get the right spine for whatever arrow you've got. And so that's the big thing about, like, the arrow setup is getting it so you're going to get good arrow flight, and that good arrow flight is going to cause less margin of error downrange in a hunting situation. So the next thing we're going to talk about, we're going to cover broadheads. Broadheads? Yeah. I've shot a lot of different broad. I've shot a lot of broad hits. I keep coming back to the. I kept coming back to the day six evos because, like, they just kept consistently performing for me. And maybe it's because of the simplistic nature of it. It's a fixed blade broadhead, and then it's got bleeders on it. The thing that I like. There's a lot of things that I like about these broadheads. I, I mean, I believe that they're the best made fixed broadhead on the market. The highest quality components. They're made in America, which is nice. They've got stainless, they're made out of stainless steel. They also have a bleeder that is designed for penetration. Right. So it's like the reason of shooting a fixed blade broadhead is not. I don't know, I mean, in some places it used to be you had to, but it's because you want a broadhead that penetrates well, it cuts on contact and penetrates all the way through. But then you'd see these other bodies where the bleeder looks like it's. It's set into it as an afterthought at like 90 degrees, where it just slows the penetration down. So these bleeders are designed, they cut both directions, front and back. So like, if it did go in and come back out, it's cutting both ways. Same with the entire broadhead. Like every edge is sharp. And then the bleeder blade is designed with the right angle that benefits for penetration. Now we've got, you know, different sizes. We've got the Evo and the Evo X. The X is more like larger cutting diameter. This would be like your white tail kind of thing where you're, you're closer range, but you just need a bigger wound channel for better blood trailing. I personally just shoot the regular Evos with the smaller bleeders that I think the half inch bleeders, because I'm just, I'm going for penetration. My blood trail isn't as good as if I did added bigger bleeders or, you know, the Evo X larger cutting diameter. But I'm. That's like, that's my particular setup. Right. And I've had a lot of luck with it or a lot of success with it. Say, and then there's like the Evo XLs, which I shoot out of my trad bow, which is just like a lot larger, heavier. They're made for traditional archery for the most part, or like dangerous game, water buffalo and stuff like that. The other thing that I like about these broadheads, they're sharp on both, like double bevel. So you can cut through that hide and still have plenty of sharp left to continue cutting. What you want to cut the vitals, whether it hits bone or other things, it's not going to dull. Through the process of going through hide, hair and bone into the vitals, you're continuing that. So you. By keeping it sharp through that, you're gonna have better penetration going out the other side as well, or just better penetration into the vitals, which is, you know, extremely important. And then having that durability there, they fly accurately. And then that just superior materials. You know, it all comes down to like the point of contact of the animal. That's the killing power of it. The broadhead is your bullet, right? And how it hits and goes into the vitals and does what it needs to do is how like the difference between your success and failure. And now there is like, there is a argument. And I'm not like, this isn't, you know, I'm just like, yeah, you, you own a broadhead company now. Of course you're gonna promote. No, these are what I use. But I also have used mechanical broadheads. And there's situations where I. I like mechanical broadheads. I'm not anti mechanical guy for those out there. Like, I get it. Like, there's a lot of situations if I, you know, if I hunted exclusively white tailed deer, I'd either shoot the evo X or I would shoot probably a mechanical. Better blood trails. Like, there's a. I have a lot of problems with mechanicals. Like, there's a lot of things that I don't like about them. I like the keep it simple, stupid mentality. Like, I don't like things to go wrong. I had a film was it last year. It's called mechanical failure. And I literally am 5 yards from a buck swapping out from this broadhead to a mechanical that I wanted to test and then go back to this one. This was like this hunt was two years ago now, and. And it had a failure. And this failure now with these, with that broadhead that I was using is, I think, fairly well documented. It was binding and it was essentially made a trident. And so it just like stuck in not even the length of the broadhead and did nothing and it sucked. Right. And like, it just. It failed on me. Now does that happen all the time? No. But am I also used to like being able to take hardcore shots if I want or things that maybe brought mechanicals struggle with. Yeah. So that's why I shoot the fixed blade now if that's, you know, like in a lot more controlled situations and other things. Hey, mechanicals, like, have their purpose. When I'm going hunting does and other stuff, I don't necessarily put as much. Not that I don't like. Let's say I'm going hunting dough white. I get like these, you know, three dough whitetail tags a year or whatever. And I'm just. I'm going out to collect meat and there's a lot of does. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, if I mess up on this one doe, like, I blow the stalker. It doesn't give me the perfect shot. It doesn't matter. I can go find another one in five seconds. Right? But when I'm hunting a once in a lifetime bull, elk or an elk hunt where I've got a tag and I know that I'm going to grind for an entire week a sheep hunt, I'm gonna. I'm gonna put my money in a broadhead that's like, okay, it's gonna do the trick. And maybe I get a little like, not perfect scenario. Like, it's hard quartered away. And that's my one shot as it gets up from a bed and before it moves. And that's my shot. And that's like, I know that I can reach the vitals with this particular shot with this broadhead. That's what I'm going to use. Cut on contact, go through, get the vitals for that hunt, right. So it can be specific to. And then sometimes, like, you know, you can keep your setup for everything or you can, you know, have a little bit different setup for different things. But. But that's my philosophy on that. I think that, you know, part of the. Part of the draw for me with day six, at first I was like, okay, I shot the arrows and then shot different broadheads. And then I switched to their broadheads. It was like, yeah, at the time, they were probably the most expensive. Right now they're like middle of the pack, right? Like, they were. They've always been the highest quality, but the price hasn't is like. Hasn't really changed at all. But having had success with it was like, okay, I continue to use it and continue to buy them. Continue to use them and just continued to have good success with it. And so that's why I kind of have been using that setup for so many years of just like, it's just proven itself to me personally time after time. And I also like the fact of the thing that I like about non mechanical broadheads is just, they're more quiet. There's less wind noise. The less things you got going on, the less they make noise. The fewer string jumps you have, and the fewer string jumps, you know, the. If the animal's where it is when you release the arrow, you're a lot more likely to put the arrow where it's supposed to go. And that's just purely hunting. Like, that's just how it goes when an animal jumps. Like, you could be the best archer in the world. If the animal isn't there when your arrow gets there, you. You're gonna make a bad shot or miss. And that's. The times that I find myself missing or hit it bad. It's like the animal did something that caused that or, you know, and obviously it falls on the archer too. Right? Like, maybe it was a shot where I should have anticipated that. Or there's times too where I anticipate it dropping and it doesn't. I shot at a whitetail last year, and like, I don't know why I should have held nearly at the ground, knowing how alert it was. And it went so far over its back. Like, that deer wasn't even in the same zip code when that arrow got there and it was only 30 yards away, that was. I was like, I just mis. Gauged where I should have held. And then there's times where you gauge where you should hold and they don't do it, and you shoot underneath them. Whatever. It's all part of it. All part of the fun. But. But that's my personal setup. And, you know, and I think it's fun to be able to kind of say, like, okay, well, here's now the things that I'm making, and here's why we're making them. And then, you know, and then as we kind of continue to grow with the company and do some new stuff, I think you guys are gonna see some things that are. Yeah, I think it'll intrigue some people. So a little carrot there. I'm not gonna say what we're doing, but a little behind the scenes. But I think that, like, that's the fun part for me is like, finding and developing things to kind of fill a void of something that might not you know, just continually fine tune my process and my setup and really why I am fine tuning my process and my setup is just for more success down the road, more success in the field. I hope you guys got to enjoy this kind of next chapter for me and where, where I'm going, what I'm going to be doing. You know, I just. One of the things that I can't thank you guys enough is for the support over the years, whether it's been my live wild stuff and not a lot's really going to change from like you got for everyone else. It's changing a lot for me and my day to day and like my workload and the things that I'm going to be doing. But for everyone else, you know, the podcast is still going to be there, videos are going to be there, going to be doing, you know, essentially staying the course with a lot of things. I'm actually cutting back the guiding and, and that's kind of been a, in some ways like a hard thing to let go because I've been doing it for, was it, I don't know, 24, 24 years now, something like that. Like, I'll probably jump in and take some people hunting. But, you know, I'm actually, I'm getting out of the outfitting game for the most part because I just, I can't, you know, focus on all these different things. And actually too, like, part of the, the cool thing with this is thinking about down the road with my family and like, as my kids start school, you know, they would always come to camps with me or whatever and it's just going to be hard, you know, in the future. And I don't, you know, the time with my family is super valuable too, especially because I'm traveling a lot. We're all traveling a lot. It's a lot. It's like, it's, it's a lot. And so I'm excited about this kind of next chapter to be able to do this. And just thank you guys so much for the support. You know, I think that it's cool to be able to do this and bring you guys along on the ride. And I know that it's, it's because of everybody's support out there that I'm even able to, to do something like this. Like, it literally is a dream come true to be able to live this lifestyle and, and I want to just be able to give back to you guys as best that I can. So I just thank you guys so much for the support and you know, the Support of this. If you're someone's like, dude, I shoot a bow. I've got arrows. Consider it. When next time you go to purchase arrows, go to purchase broadheads, think about buying them from me. I mean, that's a. That's the hard sell in some ways, but that's who you're supporting. You're supporting this, you're supporting, you know, hunters, people. It's not. You aren't buying them from, like, some massive multinational corporation that really doesn't give a about hunters. You're. You're buying arrows and broadheads from somebody that lives, breathes. Every waking moment is thinking, hunting. Like, it's like all I talk about, all I think about, you know, getting out in the field, that next. Thinking about the next setup. That's what everybody that works for day six and works with day six, that's what we do. We live and breathe hunting. Everybody that puts their hands on these arrows and broadheads shoots elk and deer and antelope and everything with them, and that's cool. Like, I. I just. That can't be said for every company out there. No. Especially, you know, in, you know, and not to knock anyone or whatever, but, like, if you have, you could kind of vote with your dollars and do you want to support a small business and people that care about quality and tight tolerances and we're like, physically there, you know, making sure that these things are perfect and supporting that or whatever, that's up to you guys. But if you're, like, in the market and you're like, yeah, I need some new arrows. Hey, think about us as an option, you know, in the future. And maybe you're like, in between and you're like, hey, I want to support what these guys are doing. We appreciate that. Grab some hats and T shirts. We got a cool logo with a buffalo on it. But I just, you know, that's like my. That's my pitch to you guys, because I really do believe that this. We're going to do some great stuff. And we already have a great product. It already has. Like, for those of you that are already day six clients and customers, thank you, guys. You know, for you guys, nothing's changing. It's still the best product out there. You're still getting incredible customer service. It's a small operation, right? Like you call your. Like, we're building arrows for you, and we can custom make arrows with whatever fletching colors and all that stuff. We can do that stuff. We can send you just shafts and components. You can do it yourself. We've got everything like it's a, it's a, it's a one stop shop. You can order arrows and have them fully cut and sent to you or you could have them. You know, most people probably, you know, enjoy the process of, of putting their own components and things or like, you know, assembling themselves, cutting themselves or even taking it to your local bow shop or whatever. And maybe, hey, maybe you've got a bow shop that's nearby that they might be interested in selling some of these arrows for us. Send me a message. You know, I think that that's like, that's a cool thing. We'd like to be able to get really good products in people's hands. And I think that this is an awesome. And the first step is just like, you know, doing it if you, and if you're a, maybe you buy it, you like it. Leave a comment Leave a rating Follow some of the day six social stuff YouTube channel, Instagram. I mean we're releasing a ton of awesome videos on there. I've got an incredible team of guys and friends that are, they're going to be like giving us some really cool content as far as videos and other things to put on the Day six channel. So go over there, subscribe. Like, you know, I think it's one of those things like I don't normally like hard sell. Like be like go buy it, buy it from me. Date Day 6 gear.com that's where you can find it. But, but it's cool because this is, you know, kind of in a lot of ways my life, my family's life now really focusing on growing this company, the brand, the products and doing that along with Brian. And you know, it's awesome that you know what he's done with Day six already. Like he's made the best stuff and we're just going to continue to push that envelope. Make the best stuff for hunters, for hunting, for archery. And so I'm really excited about that. So I just want to thank you guys again so much for all the support. And until next week, I'm just gonna say, yeah, just gonna say go check out day6gear.com hard sell, fling some arrows guys. We'll catch you later. Sam.