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First year using Rages, my experiences

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    First year using Rages, my experiences

    This was my first year using expandibles of any kind, I had been wary of them in the past, but decided to give them a try. My set up shoots a 450 grain arrow at 278 FPS and is tooned well enough to put the rage hypodermic, magnus stinger and a field point in the same spot at 50 yds, i didn't test further than that. All points were 125 grains. So how did they do? Here is the results:

    Deer 1 was a small bodied doe and I hit her about perfect, pass through blood everywhere, perfect performance

    Deer 2 was a huge bodied buck, i hit him a touch higher than I would have liked and I hit the off side shoulder so i did not get a passthrough on him. Good blood trail, broadhead worked as designed, curious if i would have gotten a passthrough with a fixed head, not sure

    Deer 3 was a big bodied doe. shot her pretty good quartering away, hit the top of the heart and got a passthrough. Good blood trail.

    That is all folks, 3 deer shot 3 recovered, nice big holes in the entry and exits where i got them, even passed through the thin part of the shoulder bladed on both does. So at this point i will keep using them, until i find a reason not too.

    Also all deer were shot right around 20 yards

    #2
    Good job. I have used Slick Tricks for years. Never used mechanical. This is good information.

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      #3
      Same results here. But I even shot a buck way back hard quartering away. Buried to fletching deer went 100 yards good blood. Gave him a hr. He was stiff when I got there. I shoot a couple for and a hog with it. My results are the same as yours. My first year also

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        #4
        Welcome to the dark side.

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          #5
          I've been shooting Rages for 8 years and have never had a failure or bad result, other than those caused by the shooter

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            #6
            I am currently not using the Rage broad head. However when I did use them they worked as advertised. On both deer & hogs.


            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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              #7
              I was 3/3 with them this year. I’m back on the rage bandwagon. Lol

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                #8
                Been shooting rage since the original head came out and now shoot rage extremes. Haven't lost an animal yet. Have made several marginal/bad shots and still was able to recover those animals. Blood trails have been fantastic. I think they fly so true that I wont be getting rid of them.

                Good report.

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                  #9
                  Shot 5 with Rages this year. Recovered everyone of em.

                  Got one with a whack'em shot a bit higher than perfect poor blood trail but dead deer at the end.

                  I love the big mechanical heads because I tend to loose my composure and suffer from archery-fever. It helps clean up my imperfect shots. For what ever reason I consistently aim too high on a deer.

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                    #10
                    I’ve killed 30-40 animals with rage broadheads and never had one fail me. I’ve lost a couple but it wasn’t the rage’s fault. I’ve recovered 3-4 gut shot deer with them as well. I have tons of confidence in them

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Jon B View Post
                      Shot 5 with Rages this year. Recovered everyone of em.

                      Got one with a whack'em shot a bit higher than perfect poor blood trail but dead deer at the end.

                      I love the big mechanical heads because I tend to loose my composure and suffer from archery-fever. It helps clean up my imperfect shots. For what ever reason I consistently aim too high on a deer.

                      I have become convinced that deer ducking the arrow is probably going to happen every time. I bounced one arrow off a jumpy does back earlier in the year, saw hear a couple of weeks later and she had a swath of hair shaved off of her back. I had felt good about my shot, but still missed very high. The last deer i shot i intentionally aimed at the bottom of the heart, and just clipped the top of the heart, she had dropped 3 or inches at the shot and she was very calm when i shot her.

                      All that to say you may not be shooting high, but maybe not be shooting low enough considering that the deer is more than likely going to drop. I have have shot some deer but don't consider myself an expert, so take my theories for what they are worth :-)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by RJH1 View Post
                        This was my first year using expandibles of any kind, I had been wary of them in the past, but decided to give them a try. My set up shoots a 450 grain arrow at 278 FPS and is tooned well enough to put the rage hypodermic, magnus stinger and a field point in the same spot at 50 yds, i didn't test further than that. All points were 125 grains. So how did they do? Here is the results:

                        Deer 1 was a small bodied doe and I hit her about perfect, pass through blood everywhere, perfect performance

                        Deer 2 was a huge bodied buck, i hit him a touch higher than I would have liked and I hit the off side shoulder so i did not get a passthrough on him. Good blood trail, broadhead worked as designed, curious if i would have gotten a passthrough with a fixed head, not sure

                        Deer 3 was a big bodied doe. shot her pretty good quartering away, hit the top of the heart and got a passthrough. Good blood trail.

                        That is all folks, 3 deer shot 3 recovered, nice big holes in the entry and exits where i got them, even passed through the thin part of the shoulder bladed on both does. So at this point i will keep using them, until i find a reason not too.

                        Also all deer were shot right around 20 yards
                        I have a theory that mechanical broadheads result in more recovered deer (that's not a theory, that's based on an actual study) for two reasons:
                        1) They are more forgiving on the shot when a bad shot is made that could more negatively impact the point of impact for a fixed blade head. IOW, a poor shot would have resulted in a larger miss radius with the fixed than the mechanical.
                        2) Larger cutting diameter, big holes just bleed more on average. They may not do more damage internally necessarily, but, when both animals die, the larger hole (and a better blood trail) does make them easier to find.

                        Out of a well tuned bow like yours the likelihood of a mechanical having the same recovery as a fixed is very high; even though the fixed blade may have more penetration, or potential for penetration.

                        On your second deer you may have had a complete pass through with a fixed head, but you still had 100% penetration from the mechanical (complete transit of the thorax); so the system worked as it should have.

                        IMO, you are right on the edge of where I would recommend a mechanical when someone asks me what they should shoot, 450 gr, good speed, probably about 13% FOC and a well tuned bow. Any lower on any of these I would recommend a fixed head, probably. That's not to say a lighter arrow wouldn't work, but for me, that would be pushing the boundary for using mechanical heads.

                        I think that mechanicals get a bad name due to untuned bows and too light arrows, in that order. Further, I think that untuned bows is BY FAR the largest contributor to poor mechanical performance on animals.

                        Anyway, sounds like you are dialed in; if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

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                          #13
                          Been a believer in Rage for years, no reason to change. They definitely have the cut to make for a good blood trail on even a decent shot.

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                            #14
                            Great shooting, but which Rage were you shooting. This was my first year with mechanical broadheads as well and I was impressed, even on one not so good shot. Fortunately, with the mechancial, the cut was significant and he blead out

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Fcap60 View Post
                              Great shooting, but which Rage were you shooting. This was my first year with mechanical broadheads as well and I was impressed, even on one not so good shot. Fortunately, with the mechancial, the cut was significant and he blead out
                              I was using the hypodermic, i should have put that in the OP

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