Yes, you are correct about gravity affecting arrows equally...they all come down in the end, BUT Actually, gravity affects the angle of travel. If I shoot an arrow straight up it will stop and turn 180deg and come straight back down...due to gravity (the angle of travel will do a 180). If I shoot an arrow straight down the angle of travel will never change until it hits the ground due to gravity...gravity does affects the angle of travel. This is all due to physics.
Perhaps I should have been more clear. Yes, the angle of travel will change throughout its flight... I was referring to the fact that acceleration due to gravity is a constant -9.81m/s/s regardless if the arrow is shot straight out, straight down, or straight up as an
initial angle and remains constant throughout the time of flight. Heck, there's even a force due to gravity acting on the arrow while its motionless on the rest, it's just balanced by an equal and opposite force from the rest. In fact, we can even split an arrows trajectory into x and y components. The horizontal position will follow a path equal to the initial horizontal velocity multiplied by the time. (friction from air resistance does slow this down, but its pretty much negligible at such close range). Conversely, the vertical position of the arrow can be described by y_0 +v_y,0*t + 1/2gt^2, where g is -9.8. This is why on angled shots, we always aim for the horizontal distance rather than the actual distance to the target. When shooting an arrow straight up, the horizontal velocity component is 0, so all the motion is vertical. Eventually, the acceleration component overcomes the velocity component in the y-position equation, and the arrow begins to fall. The angle of travel at any one time can be found by taking the inverse tangent of the instantaneous vertical velocity over the horizontal velocity.
Take home message...Aim for the horizontal distance, know your bow's POI at close ranges, and PRACTICE close range steep angled shots.
I'd rather hit high than low. Low is often a brisket or one lung shot. Tough recovery, if any. I don't think there is a good answer for this one. After about 18' on level ground, the "sweet" spot gets a lot smaller.
Completely agree. If it's a steep shot I'd ideally want to hit just under the spine, taking out the top of the near lung and the bottom of the far lung, which is a much smaller kill zone.