How to Use Bows and Arrows for Hunting Small Game: A Complete Guide
To hunt small game with a bow, you need a bow with 25-40 pounds draw weight, specialized arrow tips like blunts or judo points, arrows with proper spine (aluminum or carbon), and the ability to shoot accurately at 10-30 yards. The basics involve stalking or sitting near feeding areas, taking ethical shots at stationary targets, using proper arrow recovery systems like flu-flu fletching, and focusing on species like rabbits, squirrels, and game birds that are plentiful in your area.
Small game hunting with archery gear isn’t just about filling your freezer between deer seasons. It’s one of the most practical ways to sharpen your shooting skills, learn woodsmanship, and experience genuine hunting challenges without the pressure and planning that big game requires. Whether you’re shooting at a squirrel darting up an oak tree or a rabbit frozen in the underbrush, every shot demands precision and quick decision-making that translates directly to better hunting across the board.
Why Small Game Archery Makes Sense
Many hunters only release arrows at live animals during deer season, which can lead to target panic and unfilled tags. Small game changes this equation completely. You get multiple opportunities in a single outing, arrows are usually recoverable, and mistakes teach lessons without ruining an entire season.
The practical benefits stack up quickly. Bow hunting typically causes less meat damage compared to firearms because arrows are more precise, which matters when you’re targeting animals that might only provide a pound or two of meat. Many regions also extend bow hunting seasons for small game beyond traditional firearm seasons, giving dedicated hunters more time in the field.
There’s also an accessibility factor that shouldn’t be ignored. Gaining permission to bowhunt small game on private lands is usually easy since landowners often consider small game pests, which can open doors to later big-game hunting opportunities.
Choosing Your Bow Setup
Draw Weight Requirements
You don’t need a powerhouse bow to hunt small game effectively. For small game such as squirrels or rabbits, a draw weight of 30-40 pounds is usually sufficient. Some hunters go even lighter – bows as light as 25 pounds have been successfully used for rabbits, squirrels, and similar-sized game.
The lower draw weight actually works in your favor. You’ll be able to hold your bow at full draw longer while waiting for that perfect shot opportunity, and the reduced speed won’t send arrows sailing into the next county when you miss. Higher poundage around 40 pounds provides more arrow options and extended range, giving you flexibility as your skills develop.
Compound vs. Recurve
Both bow types work for small game, but they excel in different situations. Recurve bows work better for quick snap shots, while compound bows have advantages for squirrel hunting and taking longer shots. If you’re planning to shoot birds in flight or running rabbits, a recurve’s instinctive shooting style gives you the edge. For sitting quietly near walnut trees waiting for squirrels to appear, a compound’s let-off and precision become more valuable.
Most experienced hunters recommend using your regular deer hunting setup for small game. This approach counts toward practicing for deer season while helping you judge yardage without a rangefinder – a skill that pays dividends when quick shots present themselves.
Arrow Selection and Preparation
The Right Arrow Shaft
Your arrow choice needs to balance durability with performance. Hitting trees, rocks, and other obstacles can really challenge arrows, making tough carbon or thicker-walled aluminum arrows like XX75, XX15, or XX17 better choices because they might bend but don’t hide cracks like carbon can.
Aluminum arrows offer a practical advantage: they slow down your bow without lowering draw weight, and they shoot surprisingly well even when slightly bent. This matters because you’ll definitely hit things you didn’t intend to hit. Many hunters keep a set of “already bent” arrows specifically for high-risk shots where recovery might be impossible.
Specialized Arrow Points
Standard broadheads designed for deer create excessive damage on small game and increase your chances of losing arrows. Small game hunting opens up a whole different category of arrow points, each designed for specific situations.
Judo Points combine blunt tips with spring-wire arms that prevent arrows from burrowing under grass and leaves. These points with blunt tips and spring-wire arms are excellent choices in areas with abundant vegetation. Judo points typically cause arrows to hop end over end upon impact, making retrieval very easy, and despite the springs, they pack a wallop and penetrate game quite well.
Blunt Tips come in various designs – steel spheres, fluted squares, cane-tip shapes – and resist lodging into wood, which saves you from climbing trees to retrieve arrows stuck in branches. In rocky areas, steel points like the Game Nabber work best, featuring sharp tips that flair quickly into blunted faces to impart shock while resisting sticking in trees.
Small Fixed-Blade Broadheads provide another option. The most effective head for all small game regardless of size, distance, or shot location was broadheads, with every animal hit being recovered quickly and easily. However, this was noted by a hunter using a 35-pound bow, so penetration and stopping power may vary with lighter setups.
Hex Heads offer middle-ground performance, particularly effective on squirrels and similar-sized game without the excessive penetration of standard broadheads.
Flu-Flu Arrows for Bird Hunting
When shooting upward at treed squirrels or attempting aerial shots at birds, regular arrows pose a serious safety concern – they can travel hundreds of yards if you miss. Flu-flu arrows are specifically designed to travel short distances, using long sections of feathers with six or more sections instead of the traditional three.
The excessive fletching generates more drag and slows the arrow down rapidly after a short distance of about 30 meters. This limited distance makes arrows easier to recover when hunting small game, and they’re less likely to pass through animals, reducing the risk of injuring other animals or causing environmental damage.
Flu-flu arrows are ideal for bird hunting, and many bowhunters pair them with large broadheads or bird field tips like bird points or judos designed to knock birds out of the sky.
Target Species and Hunting Techniques
Squirrels: The Gateway Small Game
Squirrels make excellent starting targets for bow hunters. They’re abundant, relatively predictable, and provide genuine challenges without requiring extensive travel or planning.
Finding Squirrels
Squirrels are found around hickory trees, oaks, and walnuts for their food resources, with fox squirrels generally found in more open pasture timber and woodlots while grey squirrels tend to be in more mature timber. Look for evidence of their feeding activity – shredded pine cones on the ground, scraped bark, piles of nut hulls beneath trees.
Scout large wooded areas for hickory and walnut trees and set up right at daybreak to wait for squirrels, as it’s not uncommon to shoot multiple squirrels in the same spot within a short amount of time.
Shot Placement and Technique
When it comes to squirrel hunting, it’s often best to shoot them while they’re on the ground or low in the tree rather than at height where arrows can sink deep into tree trunks. This lesson typically gets learned the hard way – through lost arrows and missed opportunities.
The best time to hunt squirrels is early in the morning when the sun is just starting to rise, as that’s when squirrels are hungry and most active, with late afternoon also productive as they gather food before dark.
Still-Hunting vs. Sitting
Two primary approaches work for squirrels. Passive hunting involves choosing a location and waiting for prey to come to you, while active hunting involves stalking squirrels. The “still-hunt” approach means walking slowly through the woods, stopping often, and scanning treetops and forest floor for signs of activity.
When stalking a vocalizing squirrel, walk about 30 meters toward the sound, then sit and watch in all directions, remaining motionless for about 5 or 10 minutes until another shot opportunity presents itself. Learning to move in the woods without sound and limiting visibility is crucial for success.
Rabbits: Fast-Moving Targets
Rabbit hunting with a bow demands quick reflexes and different skills than squirrel hunting.
Hunting Methods
Rabbit hunting requires thinking on your feet and shooting quickly, with hunters drawing and shooting in one smooth motion. This makes it perfect for hunting with a recurve bow due to the instinctive shooting style.
Many hunters use dogs to push rabbits into shooting positions. When hunting with dogs, using blunts paired with flu-flu arrows makes sense to avoid injuring the dogs with sharp broadheads.
Where to Find Rabbits
High-traffic rabbit haunts are easy to find by looking for tracks, trails, and droppings in overgrown fencelines, old homesteads, and thick brushy areas. The most popular way to hunt is with a shotgun walking brushy areas with grass next to crop fields in the morning or evening, but this approach adapts well to bowhunting by moving slowly and being ready for quick shots.
Try to find rabbit signs in fence rows or thinner strips of cover rather than large patches where rabbits can scamper between brush piles without showing themselves.
Game Birds: The Ultimate Challenge
Bird hunting with a bow represents the pinnacle of small game archery difficulty, but it’s entirely feasible with the right approach.
When scaring up a dove or pheasant, there are a few seconds where they “hover” in the air before taking flight, which is the easiest time to take your shot. Most successful bird hunters focus on ground shots rather than aerial attempts, though wing shooting provides a much larger challenge for those seeking it.
Many bowhunters shoot birds while they’re sitting on the ground as it’s much easier than attempting aerial shots. A flu-flu arrow paired with a Judo point or similar bird point works well for fast-moving birds, as the tip’s broad striking surface and the arrow’s limited flight distance improve chances of success while mitigating safety risks.
Essential Skills for Success
Judging Distance Without Rangefinders
Small game hunting helps hone yardage estimation skills since shot opportunities often present themselves without time to pull out rangefinders and determine exact distances. This skill proves invaluable during big game hunts where animals appear suddenly and decisions need to happen in seconds.
Practice at various distances without your rangefinder. Set up targets at 15, 20, 25, and 30 yards, then walk around and guess distances before checking. The more you practice this skill on small game in the field, the more automatic it becomes.
Shot Selection and Ethics
When shooting at a squirrel in a tree or a rabbit, if you’re fairly close with your yardage estimation, you’ll have meat in the freezer, but if not, you’ll usually miss altogether. This immediate feedback loop accelerates learning in ways that target practice never can.
Only take shots you’re confident in making. With small game, the ethical considerations differ slightly from big game – you’ll often get additional opportunities in the same outing – but clean kills should always be the goal. Wait for stationary or slow-moving targets, know your effective range, and pass on questionable shots.
Finding Your Arrows
When shooting into trees and brush, finding arrows after the shot can be tough, making bright arrow wraps helpful for quick arrow recovery. Consider using bright neon wraps, fletching, or nocks that stand out against natural backgrounds.
The design of small game points helps with recovery. Most small game broadheads are designed to bounce off trees or the ground, making finding the arrow after the shot quick and easy. Judo points, with their spring wires, typically prevent arrows from sliding under grass.
Practical Considerations
Cost-Effective Hunting
Small game hunting with a bow is fun, rewarding, and doesn’t have to cost a lot of money – just grab a few old arrows and a couple of small game broadheads. This accessibility makes it perfect for getting started in bowhunting or introducing others to the sport without significant financial investment.
Use your existing bow setup. Screwing on a small game head to existing arrows and getting after it requires minimal modification. The main expense becomes specialized arrow points, which range from a few dollars for basic blunts to around fifteen dollars for premium judo points – far less than big game broadheads.
Building Confidence and Skill
Squirrels and rabbits are small and require bowhunters to focus on executing good shots, with every squirrel harvested building confidence. The more confident a bowhunter becomes in the field, the better odds they have of killing a buck in the fall.
The psychological aspect matters. If you make a bad shot and miss a squirrel, chances are later that same day you’ll have another opportunity at another squirrel, so it isn’t a big deal if you miss. This lower-pressure environment allows experimentation with techniques and shot angles that would be too risky with limited big game opportunities.
Legal Requirements
Before heading out, research your local regulations. Some states require specific minimum draw weights or arrow configurations, with blunt-type arrowheads allowed for taking small animals and birds including rabbits, squirrels, quail, grouse, and pheasants.
Season dates, bag limits, and legal hunting methods vary significantly by state and even by specific game management units. Many states offer generous small game seasons that run for months, but always verify the current regulations for your area.
When to Hunt
Squirrel season often opens in late August and runs through January, providing months of opportunity. By December, leaves are mostly gone and squirrels become easier to see in trees, making late-season hunting particularly productive.
Early morning and late afternoon provide the best action, though the middle of the day should be avoided unless it’s cool and cloudy. Plan hunts around natural feeding times when animals are most active and visible.
Getting Started: Your First Small Game Hunt
Begin with abundant, accessible species. Start with a small game animal that is easy to find and populates your local areas, with grey squirrels being excellent starting targets as they’re easy to get fairly close to and tend to stop frequently, giving good shot opportunities.
Use your existing equipment with minimal modifications. If you have a bow you already shoot well, keep using it. Add small game points to a few arrows, practice at realistic distances, and find accessible hunting locations. Public lands often have excellent small game populations with minimal hunting pressure.
Start conservatively. Your first few outings will teach you more about arrow selection, shot opportunities, and recovery than any article can convey. Expect to miss shots, lose some arrows, and learn from each experience. Still-hunting is typically the most productive mode of operation for small game, slipping through obvious habitat silently and slowly, looking for any hint of game.
The Reward Beyond the Harvest
Small game hunting with a bow delivers benefits that extend far beyond the few pounds of meat you bring home. Bowhunters who take small game hunting seriously will likely become better bowhunters overall. The skills you develop – judging distance rapidly, executing shots under pressure, reading animal behavior, moving quietly through various terrain – apply directly to every other type of hunting you pursue.
There’s also the simple enjoyment of being outdoors during seasons when most hunters have packed away their gear. A few years ago while moose hunting in Alaska, the hunter had more fun chasing small game around than the moose itself. That perspective shift – from viewing small game as secondary to recognizing it as genuinely engaging hunting in its own right – opens up hundreds of hours of quality outdoor time.
The table fare deserves mention too. Properly prepared squirrel and rabbit make excellent meals, whether fried, stewed, grilled, or in dumplings. Each successful hunt provides not just shooting practice but genuine wild game protein that connects you to the full cycle of hunting, harvesting, and eating.
Final Thoughts
Small game archery hunting doesn’t require expensive equipment, extensive travel, or complex planning. It requires a functional bow, appropriate arrows, some specialized tips, and the willingness to learn through trial and error. If you’ve never bowhunted small game, grab your bow, a few old arrows that have been sitting in your closet for years, grab a 3-pack of small game broadheads and go hunting – once you try it, you’ll be hooked for life.
The fundamentals remain consistent across all species: move quietly, shoot accurately, recover your arrows, and respect the game you pursue. Master these basics on small game, and you’ll find your overall hunting capabilities expanding in ways that surprise you. More importantly, you’ll discover that some of the most memorable hunting experiences don’t come from the biggest animals but from the challenges that push your skills and the time spent outdoors pursuing them.
