Getting Real My 2024 Elk Setup (Brace Yourself)

I'm going to be running this broadhead and I might get some hate for this but I'm just going to tell you what I'm running. Hey guys, we love elk hunting. It's so hard. Most miles ever. Definitely a tough, busy day. Separations and the preparation. A lot of bugles across the canyon today. Where at then, honey? This is a channel dedicated to inspiring you to be the best version or aspire to be the best version. The best hunter. The best dad. The best firefighter captain. Just the best dude that you can be. All right, I want to break down everything on my setup for 2024 elk season which is right around the corner. This is what I'm heading to the mountains. These are final decisions. There's no going back and there's one big change on here that you're going to want to know why. This is the lift 29 and a half received last year in August and I've been running with it ever since. I do have a backup over my shoulder. It is also a 29 and a half. Hashtag must be nice but literally I don't like heading the mountains without a backup boat. Also, a lot of you will be like, you're part of Matthews. You're going to be doing proving ground. Actually, believe it or not and I've made it publicly known, we don't find out until we find out. So, I never assume that I'm going to be getting a 2025 bow. I'm acting accordingly that this is my number one starter and that bow behind me is my backup. So, just know that and this is a great bow. I'm extremely confident with it. I've made some changes since Total Archery Challenge. I've made a few tweaks. I want to break all that down and then at the very end, I want to read your comments and see what you guys think about my setup. The good, the bad, the ugly. So, it is set at 80 pounds at 80% let off. I generally put the 80 pound mods on this time of year to give myself about eight weeks to really get some reps with it but I personally don't shoot 80 pounds year round. I think I just shoot a lot to where it could give me some elbow or shoulder problems. I'm getting older and I really do believe that dropping down and pounding off season is a good thing for me. You do you. With that being said, my draw length is 26 and a half and I guess we'll start with the arrow. The arrow that I'm using is this Easton X10 Parallel Pro 300 spine and I have hybrid HPs on the back. I decided to go without a wrap to make it as light as possible and the GPI is good on this and then I'm running Josh Jones's Podium 65 grain total weight, two piece, half out, with a collar. Love that. This is a 125 fill point. So, total we have 190 grains up front. Front and center around 14 and a half, 15% which I like. I have an IP4 knock on the back, max helical. These weigh somewhere around I want to say 20 grains total, maybe a little less and I'm really happy with the arrow flight. Now, the business end of the arrow that I chose, I'm going to be doing these broadheads on elk. My primary shoot an elk with this Iron Will, which is new for 2024, wide 125. It is vented. It is a single bevel. It is incredibly sharp. It is wider than the standard. These vents are not big holes, so it is not loud. It is way quieter than their standard vented broadhead. Good to know. It will penetrate. It's got the tanto tip. It's got the edge retention that I love and then you pair it with Podium components and I think arguably the best arrow on the market, which is the X10 Parallel Pro. Seriously, very confident. Now, I will put three of these in my quiver and then in the backhand, I'm going to be running this broadhead and I might get some hate for this, but I'm just going to tell you what I'm running. This is the beast broadhead from Josh Bomar, CEO of Bomar Archery and then the designer is a guy named David Houser, head engineer at Bomar Archery. I don't know. I know Josh a little bit, but this is a 2.3 cut, which is pretty big, but I'm looking for the biggest cut possible on a follow-up shot and I know that these fly really well at long distance, so I'm going to have two arrows tipped with this and these are the sharpest mechanical blades or any blade I've ever touched ever. There's these little gloves in the back that you have to wear to close this. I don't know Josh that well. He's been extremely nice to me in person and I run his nose button and I run his broadhead. That's all I know about him. All right, moving on. I'm running the two-piece Lowepro from Matthews. Take it on and off. It is on right now. I am practicing with four arrows in at all times, you know, trying to simulate good, perfect practice. The elk shape stabilizer kit, however, instead of a 12 inch front bar, I'm running a 15 inch. I have two, four, five ounces in the front on this bar with a 10 degree drop and on the back, I have one, two, three, four, four ounces on the back. The angles are all specific based on what balances the bow the best. Elk shape side plates, always that's part for the course. And then the QAD MX2, this is something that I, the reason why I switched to this over the Hamsky is literally because I can cock and stock at the same time and the micro adjustability is absolutely incredible and a must if you're going to shoot fixed broadheads like that iron will wide. I've tied in my peep in with halo so that it can and will not ever move. You cannot move this peep. It is literally not going anywhere. It's set to perfection. Nose button, soft knots, D loop, match strings. I changed them out at about 10,000 arrows. So they did pretty well guys. So these are Matt strings and I got about a thousand arrows into them. They're not, they're done moving. I guess we'll talk about the biggest change that I made, which is, this is not the UV slider. This is the XL landslide with a custom four pin setup. So this setup, this is what I stole off my target bow. And the reason why is because on this particular bow, say I'm hunting white tail from a tree stand, or I'm hunting antelope from a ground blind or whatever. I can switch to a single pin by just unscrewing this mounting block and putting this swapping heads out. And this does have a lens in it for 3d, all that kind of stuff. The other thing I like is it is so much brighter. It is not a hallway effect like the UV slider. The UV slider has the best body and I haven't figured a way to get this head on the UV slider. And I'm not saying that I'm not done, but like that would be the ultimate to me is like the XL. I don't love this part of it. I love this part of it. And on the UV slider, it's the complete opposite. I love the body, the ergonomics, how it slides, how it comes set. It is absolutely money, but I personally don't like shooting through a tunnel and a lot of professional archers do that is not me. I'm used to lots of daylight, bright pins, all that. And I shoot tighter groups with this head. So what I did a couple of weeks ago was I just swapped them out thinking I was not going to like this shot and shot and shot. And I've, I've literally shot my best groups I've ever shot with this setup. And I'm like, okay, this is what I'm running. So now I've set all my pins. I'm running 20, 30, 40, 50, which I think you have to have multiple pins for elk. They move too much. Things happen when you party with elk. I have had single pins and even double pins cost me shots on elk. It's bright. It's micro adjustable. I can micro adjust any pin to the tee. It's just a beautiful setup for me. So this is my elk hunting setup for 2024. Again, we have two broad heads that are going to be in my quiver. My primary is going to be an iron will wide single bevel 125 with bleeders. And then the beast as a follow-up arrow in the back of my quivers, 125 over two inch cut with the podium stuff on here. I'm very, very confident in this setup. This bow is shooting the best it ever has. And I, I feel like I'm peaking just before the season and I'm feeling confident. And that's what I want for everyone to head to the field, knowing that your bow is in time, your broad head tune and your micro tune so that your broad heads and your fill points hit together at extended distances. Your pin float is perfected based on the way you hold the bow and the way that you set up your stabilizers. Everything is on lockdown. Nothing's going to come loose and cost you a shot. Murphy is a bastard. Murphy's law will get you. This is a proven bow. This is the best setup I've ever had. And this is the best bow I've ever owned. And I truly believe that this is what I want to take to the field being super confident. I hope you find the same comment below any questions. I'll try to come back and answer them here below. And guys, we wanted to take the time to announce that after the elk season this year, we are going to go live with you all once a week, every week, and just hang out for 20, 30 minutes, answer your questions, bring you guys on. We're figuring out how to go live in the new studio. And we wanted to kind of say, Hey, that's come and be ready. Be thinking what day during the week works best for you. Separation is in the preparation. We'll catch on the next one.