Fixed Broadhead Results for 2016 Season?

[gerald strine]

I have shot many deer with mostly Slick Trick x bow tricks and recovery's are any ware between 30 yards and 120 yards with good lung shots the normal is around 80 yards I would say most often.
I believe that the state of mind of the deer when shot like alertness to danger can be a factor in the distance traveled .
And I believe that the deer just has to use up the oxygen in its system before going down If a deer can live one minute on its last breath and runs for most of that minute it can go quite a ways.

[Carey]

Your observation regarding how far the deer can go on its last breath seems to substantiate my observations.

Years ago I only shot for the heart.. even with a pure heart shots, I saw some deer run for a long way..... Some several hundred yards up to a 1/4 mile. 'That just did not seem realistic.' The beginning of these trackings always had a lot of blood ...but ,often the last part of this tracking was with very little blood evidence. The system was empty but the deer was still going.

When I changed to shooting lung shots ...my experience has been kills that traveled mostly 25 to 125 yards, with the norm being about 40 to 50 yards. The downside of the lung shot,,,, it seems to produce less blood than the heart shot....at least until the cavity fills up.

I COULD BE WRONG ABOUT ALL OF THIS !!
Carey

[Big John]

My go to Broadheads for crossbows on Deer and Bear are the " Slick Trick Magnums".
Those are devastating heads! Love them.
And excellent accuracy out to 50 yds. no problem.

Big John

[Hunt it]

2016 - G5 Strikers 100gr.
12 hogs, largest 300 lb farthest any trailed under 80 yards, farthest shot 35 yrds
1 bull moose hit in lungs at 37yrds - fell over within 10 seconds, not 1 step
1 400lb black bear, hit facing on 22 yards, recovered inside 30 yards.
1 whitetail doe, broadside 22yrds, 40 yard recovery
All above shot with either 380 or 400 using BEZS. Good bloodtrails on all hits. Few blades chewed up on hogs. The G5 proves to be very accurate out to 100 yards.

[SEW]

1.25" cut. Solid steal. 40" blades.

...

Bet that cut quite a hole!

Just kidding , of course. Like the 0.04" blades.

[Carnivorous]

1.25" cut. Solid steal. 40" blades.

...

Bet that cut quite a hole!

Just kidding , of course. Like the 0.04" blades.

LOL...

[vixenmaster]

I knowed this be a fixed B-head thread but, we all have tried this one n that one. I am in the process of B-head reduction mode. I have 2 or 3 swhackers to use up anudder 8 or 9 of those Torrid SS to use up n a pack of Grave Diggers. Some Blk Hornets to wear out, then dependin on how accurate i can get these No Mercy B-heads to shoot. I will get them set up on one of my crossbows. I am stayin wid me Spitfires XXX out of my Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. I will also shift my Magnus Snuffer SS to one of my Excals

[nchunterkw]

Your observation regarding how far the deer can go on its last breath seems to substantiate my observations.

Years ago I only shot for the heart.. even with a pure heart shots, I saw some deer run for a long way..... Some several hundred yards up to a 1/4 mile. 'That just did not seem realistic.' The beginning of these trackings always had a lot of blood ...but ,often the last part of this tracking was with very little blood evidence. The system was empty but the deer was still going.

When I changed to shooting lung shots ...my experience has been kills that traveled mostly 25 to 125 yards, with the norm being about 40 to 50 yards. The downside of the lung shot,,,, it seems to produce less blood than the heart shot....at least until the cavity fills up.

I COULD BE WRONG ABOUT ALL OF THIS !!
Carey

I shot Ramcats for the last two years. 8 deer and a bison all with good blood trails. The bison left more blood on the ground than the outfitter had ever seen. Most deer were shot from the ground in the lungs with initial blood within 5 to 7 yards. I do not believe that the cavity has to fill up before you see blood. #1 the circulatory system is under pressure and the lungs and heart are pumping. #2 on double lung shots I think a lot of the blood trail comes from the nose/mouth and that happens quickly too. As for mech heads, I'm done with all forms of those. IMO I have no need for them as I get great accuracy from my fixed heads

[tz380]

Over the years I have shot a lot of different mechanicals and fixed blade broadheads after a crappy blood trail with a rage 2 years ago and a buck that I shot but lived with a rocket aero head that I later shot with mz and saw an unopened mechanical embedded in a shoulder bone... I decided I will use mechanicals on nothing but coyotes...

For deer I went back to exactly the same broad head I started with long ago as I've
Retrieved every deer I've ever shot with a slick trick.

I decided to add a new 380 Matrix to the Arsenal this year for cold weather deer hunting as I was having some issues with the my shoulders and the compound and paired my bolts up with 150 grain xbow slick tricks...

With a little tuning I had these things flying like darts at 45 yards. Mid December I had one of the bucks I was hunting all season standing at 30 yards, the matrix fired the buck trotted 25 yards stood sideways stared at the ground.. I watched it crawl over a knoll and expire.

Last year I drilled took two different bucks with 100 grain 1 1/8 slick tricks from the Mathews. The first deer trotted 30 yards stood looked back like what just happened then fell over, the second trotted about 60 yards stopped looked around then had a dirt nap.

I'm not really sure why for the last 15 years I screwed with other broad heads there is no better feeling than after shooting a deer with an arrow watching the deer tip over and die a quick humane death.

A friend of mine raves about the toxic broadheads to the point my father bought a pack, he shot a spike late season in the snow a little far fwd ( maybe 2" )... Blood trail was insane blood every where...deer trotted about 30 yards stood for 5 seconds and then bolted...

We recovered the deer over 1.5 miles from where it was shot.. Great blood trail whole way...

I am not knocking the toxics but my father said he will not use them for deer again, what impresses me most about the slicks is they pass so easily through a deer it's like they don't even know what happened so they don't run or bolt... By the time they figure out somethings wrong it's nap time.

[tz380]

Hey Carey I don't have rights to open email

[Goose52]

Shot a small 5pt right behind the shoulder this fall at 20yd with a boltcutter. Had blood 15yd later and a dead deer 20yd after that. if it aint broke dont fix it.

[Carey]

Thanks for all of your posts. This forum is so informative.

My biggest surprise is that no one reported regarding the Wasp Drone. Several had indicated they would be testing it this season.

Slick Tricks seem to be a favorite and very effective.

Again, thanks for your responses.

Carey

[nchunterkw]

Just looked at the Wasp Drone. Meh. It looks about like any other 3 blade fixed head. I like that is has a solid steel ferrule though. But my experience has been that 4 blade heads that look similar to the Drone fly better than 3 bladed ones. An exception would be the Ramcat I shoot now. It is 3 blade, but the blades have a true swept back design which I think gives it it's great flight. They truly fly exactly like field points for me. I believe the QAD Exodus has this good flight quality as well.

[carperdoug]

Just looked at the Wasp Drone. Meh. It looks about like any other 3 blade fixed head. I like that is has a solid steel ferrule though. But my experience has been that 4 blade heads that look similar to the Drone fly better than 3 bladed ones. An exception would be the Ramcat I shoot now. It is 3 blade, but the blades have a true swept back design which I think gives it it's great flight. They truly fly exactly like field points for me. I believe the QAD Exodus has this good flight quality as well.

I have shot ST, Muzzy, Ram Cats, Magnus in past years. Primarily Slick Tricks. I have not used the Wasp Drone on deer yet as I am presently trying the Wasp Jak X mechanical. With great success I might add; 4 deer this year. I have extensively tested the Drone and compared it to the above and in every case it shot better groups and was exactly the same POI as my field points out to 50 yards. Only the Ram Cats shot to the same POI; the Drone grouped better. I think it would be a good choice/option for fixed blade archers.

[nchunterkw]

Just looked at the Wasp Drone. Meh. It looks about like any other 3 blade fixed head. I like that is has a solid steel ferrule though. But my experience has been that 4 blade heads that look similar to the Drone fly better than 3 bladed ones. An exception would be the Ramcat I shoot now. It is 3 blade, but the blades have a true swept back design which I think gives it it's great flight. They truly fly exactly like field points for me. I believe the QAD Exodus has this good flight quality as well.

I have shot ST, Muzzy, Ram Cats, Magnus in past years. Primarily Slick Tricks. I have not used the Wasp Drone on deer yet as I am presently trying the Wasp Jak X mechanical. With great success I might add; 4 deer this year. I have extensively tested the Drone and compared it to the above and in every case it shot better groups and was exactly the same POI as my field points out to 50 yards. Only the Ram Cats shot to the same POI; the Drone grouped better. I think it would be a good choice/option for fixed blade archers.

Good to know Doug. I didn't mean to say it was a bad head, just that it was not remarkably different from other designs. Slick Tricks I have found to fly good - but you have to make sure to spin test them and get them assembled on the arrow properly. Many times swapping out washers until all is well. My Ramcats (125gr 1.5" cut) fly really well, and spin true when installed. The double O ring design helps with this I think. At the beginning of this season I had 11 arrows well within the 1.5" bull on a Rinehart 18:1 at 40 yds. The Drone being smaller may in fact group tighter, but my experience is that good groups are more determined by arrow quality/consistency than by the actual head used. Some larger fixed heads will plane a bit more, but if the arrow really spins true that effect is minimized. At hunting distances I have no issues using any of the heads you named above. What is really nice is the high number of truly high quality broad heads we now have to choose from. Pick one you like and can shoot well and let 'er fly!