Iron Will’s issues

[LegenW84itDary]

Went in doe hunt last week, decided to stray from mechanicals and shoot these iron will 100s. First shot on a doe, felt good little high and no blood trail. Looked for a bit just couldn’t find anything.

Second doe, same thing felt a lot better. No blood trail, ended up finding that one just inside the brush randomly. No blood around it or even pooling. Hit went through both longs and heart.

Is it just not a great broadheads for white tails down south? Was it just not sharp?

My other issue with them is I just didn’t feel confident with them further than 40-50 yards. I use 3 hunter pro max vanes, slight offset. Do I need a helical? Bigger vanes to help steer? Or 4 fletch?

Love to hear others experience with transitioning from mechanicals to fixed.


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[HighwayHunter]

Do they have bleeders? Did you sharpen them after opening?


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[Dynamic1]

Very important to sharpen them well. Takes some practice. YouTube can be helpful.

I like a 4 fletch w helical.

[MIHunter]

I shot a mature 8 pt hill country buck a week ago an similar results. 26 yard shot, 150 gr, solid broad head, blew through it, but like you, no blood. Fortunately, he didn’t know what happened, stood there for 30 seconds, then got wobbly and fell right there. Concerned me as well about no blood. Even as I was watching him, no blood pumping out.

[MIHunter]

Do they have bleeders? Did you sharpen them after opening?


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Mine came pretty dang sharp. Yes they have bleeders.

[LegenW84itDary]

Do they have bleeders? Did you sharpen them after opening?


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Yes I did, they are pretty difficult to sharpen on my powered sharpener. I’m no expert though.


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[LegenW84itDary]

Very important to sharpen them well. Takes some practice. YouTube can be helpful.

I like a 4 fletch w helical.

Ya I’m thinking if I go fixed I need some better rear steering.


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[HighwayHunter]

Yes I did, they are pretty difficult to sharpen on my powered sharpener. I’m no expert though.


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I’m no sharpening expert myself. I’d recommend the stay sharp jig. I use one for my Magnus SER’s and I can shave paper with them and put a mirror finish on there. I think that’s the most important part of fixed blades. My experience has been that unless you hit a major artery you won’t have blood trails as good as a rage trypan can produce. It does seem that a well placed shot from a fixed blade zips through much faster and deer won’t run as far. If you’re in thick cover however it doesn’t take long to lose them if there’s no blood.


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[LegenW84itDary]

I shot a mature 8 pt hill country buck a week ago an similar results. 26 yard shot, 150 gr, solid broad head, blew through it, but like you, no blood. Fortunately, he didn’t know what happened, stood there for 30 seconds, then got wobbly and fell right there. Concerned me as well about no blood. Even as I was watching him, no blood pumping out.

Iron wills also? Ya I figured 1 inch plus bleeders would be decent for would channel. Mine blew through. Glad you were successful. What vanes, arrow setup were you running?


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[HighwayHunter]

Very important to sharpen them well. Takes some practice. YouTube can be helpful.

I like a 4 fletch w helical.

I’ll second this as well. I either shoot 3 AAE max stealths with a helical or 4 aae 2.0 with helical. 4 max stealths will steer anything


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[LegenW84itDary]

I’ll second this as well. I either shoot 3 AAE max stealths with a helical or 4 aae 2.0 with helical. 4 max stealths will steer anything


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Ya I’m thinking I should get some and play with those instead.


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[Planopurist]

I recently added a fixed blade (Slick Trick Viper Trick) to my quiver. I took a good buck with it a week ago, but didn’t find much blood for about 30 yards of tracking. I abandoned the trail for a grid search that quickly led to a recovery. I found plenty of blood when I back track about 40 yards. I attributed it to a high chest cavity hit on a hard quartering away shot. I’ve lost deer with mechanicals too. It’s all about shot placement, sharp blades, and what the animal does.

That being said, I will keep the Slick Trick, but I’ve also a set of Solid Legends on order. I’m considering the IW 100v. I went through the bare shaft process to assure my bow and arrow setup were well tuned. I also moved to a 4-fletch Bohning Heat rather than my 3-fletch Blazers, both left helical. I tend to think that it’s hard to have too much vane. At best, there’s only a minor difference in helical vs. offset. Did you actually shoot your broadheads out to 40-50 yards? If not, why the lack of confidence?

If you went through lungs and heart, I’m surprised there was no blood unless the holes closed up. I think your issue is mostly “misfortune”.


@StraightWayOutdoors
Straight Way Outdoors, Fulcrum Archery, Elite Archery, Upwind Odor Elimination, Wicked Twisted Bowstrings, Sevr Broadheads, Pine Ridge Archery, Bloodline Fibers

[RUNNING BEAR]

Never shot Iron Wills so can’t speak to blood trail, but for the distance issue, before you change up your fletching, maybe your bow isn’t tuned as well as you think, and now a fixed head is just making some other issue you have amplified??

Maybe not but might be worth shooting a little paper.

[RUNNING BEAR]

I recently added a fixed blade (Slick Trick Viper Trick) to my quiver. I took a good buck with it a week ago, but didn’t find much blood for about 30 yards of tracking. I abandoned the trail for a grid search that quickly led to a recovery. I found plenty of blood when I back track about 40 yards. I attributed it to a high chest cavity hit on a hard quartering away shot. I’ve lost deer with mechanicals too. It’s all about shot placement, sharp blades, and what the animal does.

That being said, I will keep the Slick Trick, but I’ve also a set of Solid Legends on order. I’m considering the IW 100v. I went through the bare shaft process to assure my bow and arrow setup were well tuned. I also moved to a 4-fletch Bohning Heat rather than my 3-fletch Blazers, both left helical. I tend to think that it’s hard to have too much vane. At best, there’s only a minor difference in helical vs. offset. Did you actually shoot your broadheads out to 40-50 yards? If not, why the lack of confidence?

If you went through lungs and heart, I’m surprised there was no blood unless the holes closed up. I think your issue is mostly “misfortune”.


@StraightWayOutdoors
Straight Way Outdoors, Fulcrum Archery, Elite Archery, Upwind Odor Elimination, Wicked Twisted Bowstrings, Sevr Broadheads, Pine Ridge Archery, Bloodline Fibers

Every time I look at the Solid website it says sold out? Is the website just not current?

[ag111]

Unless you bought the broadheads used or shot them into a target 50 times, I would bet that sharpness was not a factor. IW is famous for its attention to detail. Their heat treated A2 tool steel holds an edge incredibly well and the broadheads are known for coming RAZOR sharp. Possible you got a bad batch, but based on personal experience and their reputation I would bet not. I have hit animals in places that I never would have expected.. animals move constantly and do CrAZY things in the last 5-8 yards before the arrow gets there. A slightly high shot on a moving whitetail could be a back strap hit. Lots of research has been done on this topic, very little correlation between broadheads and blood trails... it ends up being mostly shot placement on the animal. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree as your experiences may vary from mine.