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My opinion on broad heads this year!

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Big J

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First off let me start by saying a field point will kill a deer and Indians killed millions with a stick and rock tied on the end. So shot placement with any broad head will kill a deer, even with wal-mart specials! Broadheads are high dollar now and i think well overpriced but if you can afford it, buy what you want! We are licky to have such a huge selection in the market!So with that being said here is my opinion on them this year.

I love Rage broadheads! The two blade version is unreal and they will slice a deer like an axe! I have killed deer with them and they work, unfortunately there are issues with pre deployment and it is documented. They need to address this at Rage.

Grim Reaper is a great head! Maybe The best 3 blade on the market. I have seen the detestation of that heads and it is pretty awesome. I am not sure if it is the design or just how dang sharp the thing is. It is one of the sharpest broadheads I have even seen.

I am going to switch to schwackers! I like two blade cuts and I feel the lest resistantance the better chance of pass thru. I set my bow a little light in Bow season so that if I have to hold for longer than 60 seconds, I can hold it longer. Personal preference.

Pound for pound! Money for Money! I still think the Redhead blackout products are the best bang for the buck! They have expandable and 3 blade and when it comes to sharpness, thickness and affordability without sacrificing quality. They still have the best bang for the buck!

My 2 cents!
 
I agree with everything you said. I have never shot the Blackouts. Though I have shot the Redhead Gators and I will tell you they are not woth the money. Wound channels and penetration lack with this broadhead. I shot 2 deer with this head. First was found by a miracle due to the fact that there was not a speck of blood on the ground. When I found her it was a perfect heart shot that deflected off of a rib or shoulder and came out of the back hind quarter on the other side. She only went 40 yards BUT in a thicket she was still hard to find with no blood. The next deer shot with these was an older scrub buck. My bow shoots 311 fps through a chronograph and has amazing kinetic energy. The head barely penetrated the skin hitting a shoulder blade and breaking in the hit. I found the arrow and the head had about 1.25" broken off. Saw that deer later on cameras. Needless to say I switched to the Grim Reaper and have been more than pleased since.
 
Master Chief said:
Mostly because fixed blades don't fly like field points.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that information is very inaccurate and is an incorrect assumption many make. In almost every case, fixed blade flight not flying like field points, can directly be attributed to tuning issues of the bow, arrow or a combination of the two. Expandables, and their low-profile design and narrow ferrules, greatly mask tuning problems that exist in people's setups.
 
A point will kill a deer but can I find it is the issue. I like heads that produce a lot of blood. Thunderheads have always done that for me. Tried some others and went back to the TH. Going to try the 4 blade mangus this year.

I'm with you on the price of them. I'm a carpenter and buy a lot of cutting tools. Pound for pound broadheads are grossly over priced. I just bought 200 razor blades for 24 bucks. 18 replacement blades for thunderheads is about 20 bucks. I also buy cutting heads that fly 3450rpm and have zero flight problems and I can use them hundreds of times for less than 20 bucks cutting things that would ruin a head, a head I can use only once.
 
TNDeerGuy said:
Master Chief said:
Mostly because fixed blades don't fly like field points.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that information is very inaccurate and is an incorrect assumption many make. In almost every case, fixed blade flight not flying like field points, can directly be attributed to tuning issues of the bow, arrow or a combination of the two. Expandables, and their low-profile design and narrow ferrules, greatly mask tuning problems that exist in people's setups.
Click to expand...

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

Broadhead discussions on Archery forums are almost as volatile as buck limit discussions on a Serious Deer Talk forum...VERY OPINIONATED.

Lots of discussion by LOTS of people with VERY little experience on the topic.

WE have been studying the effects of broadhead design on deer kills for THIRTY years. Also, as an aside, MUCH information has also been obtained about bow arrow combinations, bow tuning, effective rests, sights, durability of arrows, vanes vs. feathers, and a BOOK full of other related material.

In the end, assume ALL broadheads out of the package are DULL. Until you tests them. (I use a taught, small, rubber band stretched between two fingers. As I begin to push it, it should pop the band in less than an inch of push, preferably, 1/2 inch. The band simulates an artery or vein. You do not want the vein being pushed out of the way, you want it open and bleeding.

I WILL NOT PAY the RIDICULOUS prices for a package of new heads and have them open up DULL!!!

The BEST head you can buy is the widest, sharpest, most accurate blade you can afford.

Like growing big bucks where it takes ALL THREE...AGE, GENETICS, NUTRITION...YOU MUST HAVE WIDTH, SHARPNESS, ACCURACY...take away any one, and everything else suffers.
 
TNDeerGuy said:
Master Chief said:
Mostly because fixed blades don't fly like field points.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that information is very inaccurate and is an incorrect assumption many make. In almost every case, fixed blade flight not flying like field points, can directly be attributed to tuning issues of the bow, arrow or a combination of the two. Expandables, and their low-profile design and narrow ferrules, greatly mask tuning problems that exist in people's setups.
Click to expand...

Agreed a properly tuned bow and arrow will shoot mostly all heads the same.
 
Here is something I never thought of until I started skinning and processing my own deer. A deer's hide is rather thick. When skinning them, you want to work under the skin and hide...where that stuff just peels off like an orange peel. When you start getting near the hair, you run into this thick white looking stuff. That thick white stuff and the hide itself will dull a knife rather quick...even the sharpest of knives.

That got me thinking about broadheads and their sharpness. Cutting through a deer's hide is one thing...then its gotta break through the rib cage in order to hit any vitals. If you hit shoulder muscle and bone; this dulls the blades even more.

My question is this....is a razor blade sharp broadhead really what you want? I can see the point of it IF it retained its edge once it cut past through the hide and then through the ribs and meat. BUT...the thing I think of is this...which holds its edge longer: a razor blade or a carpet cutter/utility knife? The razor blade is scary sharp and the sharpest of the two...but wouldn't cut but maybe 3 inches of thick carpet before getting so dull it wouldn't cut hot butter. The utility knife's edge doesn't come down to as fine of an edge...therefore it's not AS sharp as the razor blade but will hold its edge much much longer. I would think you would want a blade with an edge like a utility knife for hunting...that way it don't dull as fast when zipping through thick hair, hide, bone, vitals, and then out the other side.

If you look at the blades on a Slick Trick broadhead...you'll see they don't come down to as fine of an edge as some of the other products on the market...particularly the mechanical heads. Having killed several deer with the Tricks...I wonder if the blade thing is the reason why those little diameter broadheads cause so much damage and blood to be spilled. I've shot deer with 1.5 to 2 inch cut mechanicals that didn't bleed as much as a 1" cut Slick Trick.
 
Been shooting thunder head 85,s for years they shoot just like my field points! And the good thing is you don't have to throw then away after you shoot a deer with it or shoot one into the ground unlike the open up broad heads that cost 30 to 40 dollars for 3. Lol
 
slick trick all the way
they are one mean head probably the strongest i have ever used so far have shot 3 deer and one yote with the same arrow same broadhead and same blades before they stop cutting my hair on my arms.with my bow tuned out to 50yrds [thats as far as i have tried them] they fly just like my field points
 
Look,
I am not a scientist, so giving you EXACT, scientific details on knife sharpening just isn't going to happen.

What I can do is take HUGE amounts of information, say from a data pool of FIVE HUNDRED BOW KILLED deer, and translate THAT information into something PRACTICAL.

And here is what I have learned.

Dull broadheads simply PUSH veins and arteries out of the way, rather than slicing through them thus causing more severe bleeding and a quicker death.

Afterall, archery killed deer die from BLOOD LOSS. (unless it is asphyxiation due to lung collapse and diaphram damage)

I have recovered over 200 arrow killed deer personally and been involved with HUNDREDS more, gun and bow. I am pretty sure I have seen about every wound channel imaginable, and some that should NEVER be imagined.

DULL blades kill deer. And VERY effectively when you are talking about BOTH lungs. But, according to MY experience, NOT AS EFFECTIVELY as VERY SHARP HEADS.

And finally, I will add this. So many times I have heard hunters say, "hey, I hit that deer way too far back and he dropped after running ONLY a few yards". Yet they had NO CLUE that even thought they did indeed hit the animal high and back, toward the guts, the arrow sliced through the KIDNEYS, A LETHAL but VERY low percentage shot. Or maybe "hey, I GUT shot that deer RIGHT THROUGH THE STOMACH, and it fell after only 75 yards". And yet the hunter had NO IDEA that they sliced the pyloric artery in half.

Luck always plays a role in killing. But luck plays little role in killing effectively, humanely, purposefully, and CONSISTENTLY!!!

SHARP, WIDE (as you can afford), ACCURATE.
 
gondo said:
excited to try some nap killzones... have had great luck with rage
Click to expand...
I loved the Rage, and the 2" cut, and the blood trail they left. Last year though I had one open in flight, and cost me a deer. Brand new out of the pack a week before. Lucky for me it was a doe, and not a good Buck. I have bought 6 Killzone broad heads to try this year. Going to Presidents Island, I don't want no suprised to happen. Can't wait to see how they perform.
 

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