Rage against Rage Broadheads – Almost lost a Big 10 Pt Buck

[TNXBow]

Plain and simple, the 2 Blade Rage broadhead did not open. It was 15 yard shot, right behind the lungs @ 7:30 am on Tuesday 11.18. I had plenty of time, with the 10 Pt Buck walking behind a Doe. Straight pass thru with plenty of blood on the each of the fletching, but almost no blood on the ground at the point of exit and a very small blood trail with both sides of the deer bleeding. I saw the impact and I was confident the Buck would drop in 50 yards. I tracked the deer over 1600 yards spending 20 hours over 3 days and with some help, found the deer @ 4:30 pm on Thursday 11.20. I have a pack of Rage 2 Blade broadhead if you want them. I will never use them again. I fully admit I was just slightly behind the lungs, but if the broadhead would have opened the results would have been different. I was unable to harvest any meat from the deer. In Tennessee, we don’t have the large racks that can be found in Iowa and Ohio. So I am very fortunate to be in a position to harvest this 10 Pt Buck had a green score of 156 ½.

I realize there is a risk that a mechanical broadhead would malfunction, but that risk is larger than I originally estimated. From this point forward, I will only used fixed blade broadheads. Everyone has their own experience, but I wanted to share my experience with the forum members. I have learned a lot over the past 3 years and appreciate the help to be a better hunter.



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[vixenmaster]

congrats on your great Buck and am sorry that the BH failed.

[huntman]

great buck congrats! I will nefver shoot a mechanical head for that reason. I have seen it first hand with a friend that shots them.

[VixChix]

WOW- what a nice tall rack! Sorry to hear of your experience. Thanks for sharing the info here. It's always good to hear reviews of real-life performance!

[DuckHunt]

Wow, get a load of the tine length. That is very nice buck. Congrats.

By chance had the Rage that failed been fired at all before (even into a target)?

DuckHunt

[Normous]

Nice deer!
I was just telling another forum member who stopped by the house tonight how well the Rage 3 has performed for me. 4 deer have dropped under 45 yards with full deployment upon entry. Huge holes left the surounding foliage painted red. Shitty that happened to you.

[FredBear]

Nice buck! I don't use mechanicals for that exact reason. I know the chances are slim they won't open, but that one time it doesn't is enough to keep me away. GREAT JOB ON NOT GIVING UP ON HIM!

[mikej]

beauty buck congrats

[Grizzly Adam]

Really nice buck, with a classic southern rack!

Good job on the tracking persistence, too!

Too bad about the mechanical failure. I use fixed myself. A good hit with a fixed head leaves MORE than adequate blood, 95% of the time. The 5% just teaches us how to track.

I'm amazed he was that whole when you found him. Here where I live, there wouldn't have been anything left but antlers, a denuded skeleton, and a doggie-chew dried hide. Incredible to me that it went so long without SOMETHING having at it.

I've seen buzzards pick a road kill absolutely clean in about 4 hours!

[TNXBow]

I don't know why it didn't open, the Rage 2 Broad Head I was using had never been shot before. The target broad head that comes with the 3 pack sighted in like a field point.

The vultures did their work below the neck. Luckily no coyotes had found it yet. I will still be able to mount the 10 Pt Buck, but the shoulders were gone.

[groundpounder]

Great looking deer and tine length! I really try to use persistence when finding a downed deer but with the sight of that one I would have searched for days too! I hate to hear about the mechanicals trouble for you but that is the exact reason why I do not use them. There have been several posts on mechanicals versus fixed this year and everyone has thier own opinion(right Sumner ). Mine is that most anything mechanical CAN and one day WILL fail. For a fixed blade opinion I would recomend the Montec. All one piece design screams reliability. Cutting diameter may not be as big as some of the others but it is my choice for hunting.

[wheelie]

great looking buck my friend, thanks for the info, something I never really thought of, seen those mechanical broadheads and I will be better informed if I ever decide I need a change to something else. I have only used excalipur 3 blade fixed broadheads so far.

[ecoaster]

Great buck. I went back to fixed blade heads because there is no way they can fail if properly placed. If I do my part, they will do theirs.

[wabi]

Great buck!!!!
But it's a real shame you only got antlers for your efforts.
Exactly why I put the mechanicals up last year. I love the short blood trail when everything works as advertised, and I was lucky enough to have a short blood trail when it didn't. I put a Wasp Jak-Hammer through a deer's heart last year and the broadhead was still banded closed when I recovered it! Luckily the deer only went about 60 yards with the heart shot.
I tried a couple new expandables this summer, and I found one I like the simplicity & size of, but when it comes time to shoot deer I'm using a Wac'Em Exit (4 replacable blade - fixed blade head) for now. So far I'm 2 for 2 with them.

[crazyfarmer]

how do you know it didnt open for sure? You cant tell by the bhead after the shot since some will close back up or come loose. Knock on wood, but no issues here with rage after 6 deer the past few years. I use the 3blade though. Its hard to go by blood trail at the point of hit also. Ive nailed deer with fixed blades and couldnt find any blood. But the deer dropped in 60 yards. Email rage and maybe they will refund you also:) Sorry to hear about your luck with them but they are going strong for me It never fails that when something does screw up, its on a nice buck also

thats one hellova buck and congrats on the kill!

Ive always said you can kill a deer with a well place fieldtip so you kinda proved that point.. just ended up being more work for you though