Broadhead Question (Sorry Long)

[El General]

This is my second year bow hunting and finally made my first kills last week, three pigs and a doe. I have 100 grain Magnus Stingers and Grim Reaper Hades. I hunt mainly from popups and ground blinds.

I killed a large boar with the Stinger. It was a very good shot (double lung with complete pass through) and he piled up 60 yards away and kicked out under a cedar. There was good blood on the arrow, but zero blood trail. There wasn't even any blood under the tree where he kicked out and it took him a bit there where he dug a pretty good hole while dying. I had a buddy around and he couldn't find blood either.

I have a color deficiency and have a hard time picking up blood on the dirt. Part of this is because of the extremely dry conditions in West Texas. When blood hits the dirt, it seems to disappear. When it hits rocks, I don't have much problem finding it.

I stuck the doe with the Hades. Complete pass through and found arrow with good blood. Shot was a little back and got one lung and liver on a slightly quartering away shot. I had a reasonable blood trail to follow here for about 60 yards and it gave out at an intersection of three different trails. It took me awhile, but I found the doe dead in the trail about 20 yards away. She had turned ninety degrees at the intersection. I was alone at camp when I stuck her.

Stuck a medium sized sow with the Hades. Did not find arrow, but definitely hit her. Again no blood and could not recover the pig. At this setup, the brush is extremely thick.

In addition, it has been very wet this year and grass, broomweed, and brush is thick and high. It is going to make finding animals very difficult until we get a couple of hard freezes.

I have some Rage Hypos that I could stick in my quiver. I am more comfortable with fixed heads. Does anyone stick a couple of mechanicals in their quiver for situations that you need a shorter track because of heavy brush, etc?

It seems like a reasonable solution. What do y'all think?

[jakeb03]

Slick Trick Mags. Conversation over.

[muddyfuzzy]

Broadhead Question (Sorry Long)

Two blade heads are awesome for their superior penetration generally attributed to their higher mechanical advantage; however, it is not uncommon for them fail to leave good blood due to the generally smaller linear cut. It has happened to me and a lot of other folks. That being said I still shoot a two blade but offset the issue with a wide 1-9/16" cut.

[TxHunter06]

Slick Trick Mags. Conversation over.

X2 they leave a blood trail that Stevie wonder could follow

[boh347]

I like rage hypos and slick tricks. I believe each animal and situation is different. No broadhead performs flawlessly. Over the years there's been threads knocking all em.

[CSR]

Swhackers is all I'll use for mechanical. My only bow kill dropped and crawled maybe 15 yrds and expired.

[N.DaWoods]

Slick Trick Mags. Conversation over.

This.

[wade _s]

Another vote for the Slick Trick Magnums.

[Sleepy]

They'll all make lots of blood if you hit them right. Mid/high lung shot or liver, probably not going to have much blood, at least until the lungs fill up. I've learned to keep shots low. I aim for the center of the shoulder. Have not had a blood trail problem yet when I put it through the shoulder. Even if an animal is bleeding internally, if the shot is low, gravity is naturally going to bring the blood down to the lower sect of the body, and it's going to poor out. Mid high, sometimes the blood is great, sometimes it's non existent, doesn't matter if it dies in 30 yards or 100 yards.

[Bradical BH]

Big fan of SlickTrick.... Even better results with the grizz trick. Can't go wrong with either. Shoot through mesh, shoot through bone ... Doesn't matter . Best I've found. Last year I shot deer with rage hypos, reaper Razor cut, stingers, rage 2 blade and DRT. Then I used a grizz trick and never looked back.

[BamaPSE]

They'll all make lots of blood if you hit them right. Mid/high lung shot or liver, probably not going to have much blood, at least until the lungs fill up. I've learned to keep shots low. I aim for the center of the shoulder. Have not had a blood trail problem yet when I put it through the shoulder. Even if an animal is bleeding internally, if the shot is low, gravity is naturally going to bring the blood down to the lower sect of the body, and it's going to poor out. Mid high, sometimes the blood is great, sometimes it's non existent, doesn't matter if it dies in 30 yards or 100 yards.

Couldn't agree more! BH's are tested more than we could ever shoot in our lives before being released to the market. I believe it is more of a shot placement issue than BH, although some do make bigger/ different cuts.

[Sleepy]

Couldn't agree more! BH's are tested more than we could ever shoot in our lives before being released to the market. I believe it is more of a shot placement issue than BH, although some do make bigger/ different cuts.

Exactly. Shot placement is everything. So many people hate on broadheads. Every animal I've shot this year, I could have used a broadhead from Walmart and probably would have had the same result. The broadhead can't do its job if you don't do yours. So many times what some folks think is a great shot, isn't really all that great. I'm not saying I haven't made not so great shots, but the times I haven't put it where I was aiming, the blood trail lacked, and the track was longer.

[swilliford]

There is also a big difference in shooting from a pop up (which is the way I hunt 80% of the time) and from up high. I always have less blood trail for the first 30yds when hunting from the ground.

[popup_menace]

When you hunt low, you gotta aim low. Shooting from the ground usually means that your entry and exit are both the same height, which leads to bad blood trails regardless of broadhead. The reason you get the red carpet type trails is a combo of a good vital shot and a low enough exit for the blood to escape.


All that being said, I would really recommend either slick tricks or ramcats over any other head, simply from what I have seen and how well slick tricks tune out

[docmay]

I shot a doe with a hypodermic this weekend. I found hair at the impact site and no blood. Could not find the arrow but I heard it hit the feeder pen. I consider myself a decent tracker and could not find blood. I walked 20-30 yards down each trail she could have taken. No blood. I went and got the truck and figured I blew the shot. I walked down a couple trails and made a loop. Doe was there dead at 60-70 yards. I tried to back track blood to the sight of the shot but could only follow the last 20-30 yards. It was weird as the shot was center of the chest. I also stuck a management buck in the shoulder with a hypo. I think I would have had a chance with a fixed blade but you never know and it was my fault. The best blood will be a exit lower than the entrance and a hit in the chest. I used to shoot 1 inch cut steelforce. Minimal blood on the ground but if you made a good shot the animals were dead in 100 yards. There is no head that will produce a great blood trail every time. Shoot what you have confidence in and make sure the blades are sharp. Put the arrow in the right spot and things work.