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Major Problem, but what was it?

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Urban_Hunter

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I'll try to keep this short:
Last year my bow got stolen (another story) and I decided since I was starting fresh I would get a crossbow. I went with the Barnett Wildcat Extreme. I tagged a doe in mid-season last year with it but was suprised that the bolt did not pass through: 20 yard shot perfect broadside no shoulder contact. VERY little blood on the ground but she didn't run far. THEN, at the end of season, I decided to take another doe: 25 yards broadside. The bolt didn't go through and I could see it protruding out as she ran off. I thought, O well won't go far, shot placement looked great. Got down and ZERO blood. After looking for 4 hours I had found 4 drops of blood and no deer. It shook my confidence. This year Opening day SAME STORY. Late in the morning lonely doe (maybe button buck) 20 yards. No pass through! I start shaking in the stand praying for good blood as I have seen this before. Found some blood and followed about 50-60 yards and vanished. Spent ALL DAY looking for deer, but it was in a thicket and could have gone anywhere. I'm sure some will slam for shot placement, but it was right on. Maybe not perfect but GOOD ETHICAL KILL SHOTS, just no penetration. Came right home and sold the xbow same day. Bought a Mathews and haven't looked back and will NEVER EVER own a crossbow again. The weird part is that the cross bow nearly shot through my target and my Mathews doesn't... but my Mathew's just went straight through a deer and so hard into the tree behind it that it split the MAXIMA shaft??? So, whats your thoughts? BTW, The Mathew's kill fell over, stood up, and fell back over.... no tracking this time...
 
Forgot to mention one important part and what I THINK the problem probably was. I was using Barnett Broadheads.... Looking back on the design I believe this could be problematic. Either way, I am a firm believer in confidence and I think if I was to lose another deer I would quit hunting. I have taken MANY deer over my life and NEVER been through something like this and would not even consider changing broadheads and taking that bow back in the woods... even though it seemed lighting fast and pin point accurate.
 
how heavy is the arrow with broadhead?
crossbow manufturers have a recommended weight foir each xbow.

my Tenpoint needs at least 425 grains. that is total weight with broadhead.
 
I have an Excalibur that shoots Carbon bolts with the 2" Rage broadheads. I honestly believe they could pass through 2 deer at the same time. RAGE - It slices and dices and puts food in the freezer.
 
I just shot my second deer of the year today with my Excalibur. Its the Axiom, only 305 ft per second. One of the more inexpensive ones. I use the NAP Spitfire Maxx, 100 gr. The first two deer I killed with it were perfect broadside, and had complete pass through the ribs and buried up in ground. Today's was a little different. Quartering towards me, I pulled a little and hit a little high on front right shoulder. Busted through the opposite shoulder. Ran about 75 yrds straight downhill. The damage to its shoulder was amazing. Looked like I had shot it with my 30-06.
 
I shot a doe Sunday with a Barnett C5 Wildcat, probably the same Xbow as you have. Using a Rage head and Carbon Express bolts I got a complete pass through and she died within 50 yards.

Not sure what your problem was, but there has to be something wrong. I'd lean towards the broadheads. If not that, something has to be off.

I'd send it to Barnett and let them check it out, they have good customer service from what I hear.

I have total confidence in my Xbow and would not hesitate to hunt anything with my setup. These bows are fast and pack a lot of KE. Something is not right with the setup. It should be hammering the deer.
 
I actually think it was something up with the broadheads that you were shooting, simply because you said it was penetrating the target deeper than your new vertical bow and I'm assuming that's with field tips, so the only difference would be the broadheads.
 
In hindsight it has to be the broadheads. Johnny that is correct, with field tips the crossbow penetrated better than both my new bow and the bow that was stolen prior to buying the Barnett(I still use the same target). I would say I wish I would have tried a different broadhead, but as mentioned I did not feel comfortable taking that thing back into the woods. I'm sure the new owner loves it. I had no complaints with anything else, it was super fast and shot golf balls at 30 yards no joke. It just didn't get the job done I'm assuming now because of the broadheads.

If you look at the broadhead design it has a flat flange around the point that is supposed "catch" skin and bone and depress the piston to deploy the blades (it looked like a road cone, a point that came down to a flat base). I now think that if you hit a rib it would be like hitting it with a flat dime instead of splitting it with a point and blades. I think this is where the energy was lost. Make sense to anyone else?
 
Of all the deer I have shot with a crossbow, both TenPoint and Horton, I have had only one that was not a complete pass through. That arrow (bolt) went through just about every major organ after going through the shoulder and lodge in the offside hide.

The problem was not your crossbow. But why would you shoot a crossbow if you can shoot a vertical?
 
Well it looks like the consensus votes for the broadhead being the contributing factor. I was pretty confident that it wasn't the bow itself, but I just wanted everyone elses opinion.

Bowriter, the reason I went to a crossbow was for two reasons. One being that my vertical bow had just gotten stolen during the second week of archery. I felt more comfortable sighting in a crossbow and saving my season vs trying to relearn a new bow (even though thats what I did this year :(

Two being (and I still firmly believe this) a crossbow opens up a wide range of shots to be taken from a tree stand that would not be possible with a vertical bow, such as shots to your right or behind you to the right if you are right handed. Shooting sitting down is also a HUGE perk, not to mention already being in full draw. I know some say it is all about the sport, and it used to be for me. Now it is more about the end result... having a clean kill vs a spooked deer that will always be on alert from that point onward is an advantage... even on other deer! I have had good bucks in range that were spooked from old momma doe that had busted me earlier in the season and knew right where to look.
 
Absolutely was the BH, being mech's need abit more oomf to penetrate than fixed bladed heads. Among the worst designs of mech's is a piston heaed! Did you ever shoot one of those BH's into a target of some sort to ck on its workin's & accuracy at 40 yds? My BH's will hit a hardball at 40 yds, not an inch group but is certanly min of deer forever!
 

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