Not a pass through but deer down

[TxBowHntr]

I decided to try out the Grim Reaper Whitetail Specials this season as I have read and seen many great things about them. On Saturday morning, I was fortunate enough to have a solid 8 point turn perfectly broadside at 19 yards. I let my arrow fly and hit behind the shoulder for a perfect double lung shot. I was surprised that my arrow did not pass through. The buck ran 80 yards +/- 10yds. and piled up. While skinning/quartering him up, I could see that the arrow went straight through (no deflection or hitting of leg, scapula, etc...), but stopped just as the small tip of the broadhead penetrated the opposite hide. There was a 1/4" hole where the point of the broadhead poked through. The only bones that were hit were ribs. Now, the insides were complete jello. I guess keeping that head inside while he ran really scrambled his lungs up before it fell out. I have shot other mechanicals (Rage Extremes, NAP Spitfire) and had complete pass throughs with those numerous times. I am thinking it was the combination of the large cutting diameter and the over the top blade deployment. I know things ended well, and my freezer is stocked up now, but I don't think I will be using them for deer going forward. I'll save the rest for turkeys. I bet they do some damage on thunder chickens...

Mathews V3X 33
70lb, 85%
29.5" DL
30" Hexx, with 125gr. inserts, 100gr. broadhead, 542gr. TAW

[Bucknaked]

IDK, I shoot 62 lbs and and with the MegaMeat I had complete pass throughs at 20-22! One hit pretty close to where yours hit , caught ribs either side ! Stranger things have happened! Nice buck! Congrats

[da_pepper]

I had a similar experience with a spike I shot. I shot him, he ran 5', then fell over and died. I was using a QAD fixed blade. Didn't pass thru. Thought I hit opposite shoulder. When skinning, I found it did not hit opposite shoulder. It hit opposite rib cage, but arrow was broken off at tip, and there were two holes. Non went all the way through. I think when I shot him, he did something causing the tip of the arrow to break off, and poke two holes in his rib cage. But nothing to pass thru all the way. Luckily I didn't have to track him, but it was a weird experience. Weird things happen sometimes when bow hunting. Isn't always the broadhead or the arrow. Although sometimes it is.

[lazuras_dc]

My first archery buck ever, same thing happened to me with slick trick magnum fixed broadhead. Double lung, he died literally 30 yards away but no blood trail as he ran off he broke the side of the arrow sticking out of him but after I quartered him up I found my broadhead lodged in his opposite rib.

[adam_p]

With that setup it should have blown through and been stuck in the dirt. Blades were probably dull. Been a problem on the latest grim reapers I've tried.

[TxBowHntr]

With that setup it should have blown through and been stuck in the dirt. Blades were probably dull. Been a problem on the latest grim reapers I've tried.

I thought so too. I did feel the blades first and they seemed sharp, but I didn't really examine them.

[BTLowry]

Last Grim Reapers I shot were the "hog heads" (basically something they threw together with a bunch of leftover parts from what I understood) and they were very effective. 3 blade, 1" cut.
They sold them all and after I could not get any more I switched to a fixed blade head

[Pushbutton2]

Last Grim Reapers I shot were the "hog heads" (basically something they threw together with a bunch of leftover parts from what I understood) and they were very effective. 3 blade, 1" cut.
They sold them all and after I could not get any more I switched to a fixed blade head

When I at On Target Archery last year they had some on hand.
They kept them on the counter. It's the Mechanical head I prefer for pigs.

Why? If memory serves they're like $20/pack vs $40/3 pack

[tdwinklr]

I decided to try out the Grim Reaper Whitetail Specials this season as I have read and seen many great things about them. On Saturday morning, I was fortunate enough to have a solid 8 point turn perfectly broadside at 19 yards. I let my arrow fly and hit behind the shoulder for a perfect double lung shot. I was surprised that my arrow did not pass through. The buck ran 80 yards +/- 10yds. and piled up. While skinning/quartering him up, I could see that the arrow went straight through (no deflection or hitting of leg, scapula, etc...), but stopped just as the small tip of the broadhead penetrated the opposite hide. There was a 1/4" hole where the point of the broadhead poked through. The only bones that were hit were ribs. Now, the insides were complete jello. I guess keeping that head inside while he ran really scrambled his lungs up before it fell out. I have shot other mechanicals (Rage Extremes, NAP Spitfire) and had complete pass throughs with those numerous times. I am thinking it was the combination of the large cutting diameter and the over the top blade deployment. I know things ended well, and my freezer is stocked up now, but I don't think I will be using them for deer going forward. I'll save the rest for turkeys. I bet they do some damage on thunder chickens...

Mathews V3X 33
70lb, 85%
29.5" DL
30" Hexx, with 125gr. inserts, 100gr. broadhead, 542gr. TAW

guys, ...lower 1/3 of the chest!

[TxBowHntr]

guys, ...lower 1/3 of the chest!

I was elevated, the arrow exited lower than the entrance.

[tdwinklr]

I was elevated, the arrow exited lower than the entrance.

I figured as much, just messing with ya. Nice shot in that case!

[rolylane6]

It could've been the deers reaction at impact. Could have been that his shoulders pulled backed as the arrow passed thru and pinched the shaft against a rib. "Catching it in flight" so to speak. Just a thought. Deer do strange things and they are quicker than the eye.


Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[Kirby86]

Hit a buck last year in a similar spot. 15ft up in a tree, slightly forward of where you hit, but roughly same height. 550gr arrow going in the 290fps range. 100gr Whitetail special.
It spined him, but otherwise I got about 6 inches of penetration. Kinda surprised me.

I truly believer theres a moment when the broadhead is opening that it can jack knife hard enough that the broadhead jams, essentially. If you've ever shot an over the top style head into something like a 2x4, if the blades don't make it through, thats usually where they stop with the blades about 1/4 of the way open. It also tends to be those type of hits that break the retention ring holding the blades on a grim reaper.

The 4 blade heads are the worst about breaking at the expander cups in the 100gr versions. The 125 expander cups are more durable.

Most of the guys I know that swear by these heads prefer either the fatal steels or the 1 3/8 because the ferrule and blades are shorter.

According to Grim Reaper, the shorter the blades, the less the radius has to open so they open faster.

Last year, I also wound up shooting 2 Nilgai cows in South Texas with 100gr fatal steels and recovered neither.

Because of those experiences I've gone back to a rear deploy mechanical in thoughts that I still get a decent bloodtrail even when I don't get a pass through. I'm shooting the Sevr 1.5s but I still don't trust a mechanical for Nilgai. Gonna reserve shooting fixed blades for that hunt!

[jt400]

I have a very similar setup as you and have shot dozens of deer with that broadhead including some big bodied deer and axis. Several large pigs as well. Not all but most were passthroughs. The ones that weren't generally hit the offside shoulder. They're mine and most of the guys on my lease's go to broadheads. I'd suggest you try them again before giving up on them. Strange things happen with arrows.