Broadheads

I don’t know why, but that is a touchy subject for some people. They get all fired up over it. The only one I try to talk people out of is the little Rockets. I like a big hole and a lot of blood. I shot Thunderheads for years and when placed in the bread basket the deer would die. Only lost a few when I first started out. (my fault) The two reasons I switched were 1) I saw a picture of a deer that was gut shot with a Rage 2 blade and it was a bloody mess and left a gut pile. It makes a bad shot, a kill shot. The other reason is I like that they fly like a field point. Since I switched to the Rage 2 blade I’ve hit 6 big game animals, all are dead. One of the 6 shots was a bad hit, but it still only went 100 yards and died.

 

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Now to be fair,,,,,, This is a picture of a whitetail deer a friend of mine shot this year with a 3 blade Rage. He never found it. 6 days after the shot the deer came in and got his picture taken. He said the arrow had worked its way out about 10 inches.

 

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Ever since I bought my Bow Tech Admiral I have stuck with Rage 2 broad heads and have had mixed results with them but I still think they are the best flying broad head and you cannot beat a two inch cutting ratios which actually looks like four inches when you find your animal.

When I started archery hunting (9)I used to shoot the black diamond zwickeys and even thou you used to have to sharpen them allot the did the job, they weighted a ton but back than it was allimunium arrows with feather veins, everything was heavy. God I am getting old.

I have been testing the Terminator Brodhead which is a broad head that is cc machined out of a steel block which I like for busting bone on Elk and Pigs but my bow will not shoot them right, they drop about six to eight inches. I have also been testing the Hellrazer but it acts close to the same. When I shoot my rages they are touching my field tips so I can’t ask for a better grouping.

There is an old but new broad head that is back and that is the Wackem Broadhead, It has a great cutting tip to it and the blades are replaceable. I just feel that the cutting ratios is to small, I like a broad head that will cut a big ass hole in animals to be able to track them better.

The one thing about Rages to me is that you have to learn to double lung animals, I have shot some nice deer and pigs last couple years that I shot right in the shoulder or low and even thou they bleed pretty good I lost them all. I grew up learning to shoot that inside shoulder and now with this Rages you can shoot the center of the body and blow out all that air they will go down within fifty yards.

You know how I hate losing animals Larry, Most of all when they are big 3x4 but I feel now that allot of those shots where angle issues and that is something for the future post on how to determine angles correctly when the arrow enters the body when you are fifteen to twenty feet of the ground.

Good shooting everyone and keep making all the 3-D shoots, peace.
 
Here is a buck that I shot at 38 yards broadside but I think the angle from my stand and how the deer turned when I shot it went thru the back of the front leg and out the neck area. This deer is alive and he was a very nice 3x4. I shot this deer the next week after shooting my big 3x3. I shot a nice forked horn this year that bleed out like a stuffed pig and we never found him, two week later he is in the camera with a hole on each side of him and it was right behind the shoulder. I really feel that angles cause allot of good shots that enter and exit the body different than you see.
 

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I'm using 4-blade Slick Trick Standards. When I started bow hunting I was slingin' 125 grain Thunderheads but then I got intrigued in the mechanicals and between my curiosity and the fact that I had switched settings on my bow and arrows (now shooting 100 grain), I tried a couple out. First, I tried the Rage 3-blades. I just never could get used to having the blades open all the time. I changed the o-rings and the blades still would pop open all the time in my quiver or even while an arrow was just on the rest. I bought an Octane quiver with the magnetic hood thinking that less contact in the quiver would help, but it didn't. So, I switched to the Rage 2-blades. They didn't seem to open as easily as the 3-blades so I was happy in that respect. I arrowed a deer (she jumped the string and it ended up being a gut shot) during my first season with the 2-blades and only one of the blades deployed. I never found the deer and one wounded animal was all it took for me to change again. I then switched to Sonoran 2-blades (more commonly known as Swhacker) and really liked the way they flew. But, they have a small piece of heat shrink tubing that is used to hold the blades in place. Once again, I didn't like the fact that I had to worry whether or not my blades were going to open when I needed them to open OR whether they would open when I didn't want them to. I gave up on the mechanicals and went back to the Thunderheads (100 grain). After reading a lot about Slick Tricks, I decided to give them a try one day. I bought a pack of three and started shooting them a lot. I really liked them but had one little issue. The blades were a little loose and therefore made a little rattling noise (which drives me crazy!) in the quiver. So, I put them in the broad head bag in the garage and screwed the Thunders back in. A couple of months later we had this very discussion on another board and I mentioned the issue with the rattling blades in the Slicks. A fellow member suggested that I contact the owner because he had never had the same issue I was having. I followed his advice and the result of that conversation and the following customer service I received made me a Slick Trick customer for good. They fly as true as any tip I have ever had on one of my arrows and I couldn't be happier!
 
The one thing I have been using if you can get them from your dentist is the little rubberbands you use for braces, I have been putting them on my Rage 2 when I am stalking to keep the blades from deploying when you are walking. I might look at something new when I buy my new Invasion from Bowtech but for now the Rages just shoot to clean out of my Admiral so it makes no sense to change now.
 
Great feed back all, I also have used different broadheads from Crimson Talon, Rage, Tekan and Montec. Having the expandable broadhead enter a deers body and cause that much damage is ideal for taking the deer ethically. I do not want the deer to suffer and I am sure all archery hunters want the deer to die as quiclky as possible just not for retrieving purposes but for the sake of the animal as well. I carry 3 rage broadheads and 2 fixed blade Montec's with me now and depending on the shot and the time I have, I will determine which broadhead to shoot. You are correct the Rage broad head will open up on occasion when you are walking through the forest as it gets caught on bush's and branch's but the flight of the Rage is superior to a lot of the other broadheads out there and that is comparing them to fixed blade and expandable broadheads. One again guys, great feedback. Thanks.
 
The Rage do open up to easy and what I found is to not play with them. Open the package, take them out, close them and never open them to play around and show your friends how they work. This wares out the o-ring in back. On a stalk I make a habit to check it and pinch the top if concerned. They also come with extra o-rings.
 
It's good to see them back on the market, Bruce at the Bow Shop in Lakeside picked up a bunch at the show. I am sticking to Rages for now but the Wac,ems are one of my favorite fixed blade broadheads.
 
I have the whole kit to replace everything on the Rage broadheads and I feel this is the best broadhead out
because of these replacment parts. I can replace the tip, blades and "0" ring and they are like brand new when you
are done. Well worth the $20.00 for the replacement kit.
 
Like Larry

In the quiver ......3 Rage (tree stand/ground blind shots) 2 Montec (stocking shots)all 100 gr.

Rage open up to easy for me stocking in this brush.
 
Larry Cochran said:
What type of broadhead do you prefer to hunt with? Expandable vs. fixed blade? What is best, give me your feedback.

Thanks,
Larry
I like and use NAP's Spitfire mech.. I shot a buck in Kansas last week and my friend that lives there said it did more damage than his 54cal. muzzle loader. The arrow went through both ribs and hit the elbow of the leg on the other side and broke it, deer ran about 50 yards and piled up. I shot mech because they shot the same as a field point and you don't have to re tune your bow going to broad heads.
 

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