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The Great Broadhead debate

I shoot Rage as well, and have been very happy with them. I've shot plenty of deer with a 3 blade muzzy as well, but finally switched for good not because of the blood trails, but accuracy. The one thing that I could never deny in practice sessions is that the Rage always shot right with field points, and often times the muzzy's did not. My only complaint with Rage is that you have to babysit the blades. In and out of the quiver and there they are flopping around once in awhile. If they are truly coming out with a new retention system, I think that would be a nice upgrade :way:

NWBuck
 
I understand the shot placement, it goes for all broadheads without question. The two deer I've shot with 2 blade rages this year have died within site (less then 75 yards) and had excellent bloodtrails. I did however run one through a shoulder blade last year and received less then 4" of penetraion and the deer wasn't recovered. I've seen both sides but I'm not sure there was a broadhead on the market that would gotten through that shoulder as bad of a shot as I put on him, not the broadheads fault...

Overall I've been very impressed with them and will continue to shoot them. I'd personally prefer to shoot a fixed blade but my bow does not like them. I've spent 3 years "tuning" for broadhead flight but mechanicals are the only ones that shoot like field points with my rig, bottom line.
 
nacho2770 said:
You would know since you were there and saw all the blood trails and the entrance and exit holes!!!!!!!! :thrwrck::thrwrck::thrwrck:

I was there and I saw 4 rage shot bucks with the worst blood trails I have ever experienced in my bowhunting career. And I never said all 4 were broadside double lung....I said most.....one was a quartering away shot that exited right at the bucks elbow which is a low exit hole and the blood trail still sucked because it got plugged.

So to sum it up....none were poor shot choices....all were poor broadhead performance.

You want to buy some rage heads? I got 6 for sale!!!
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I will buy those heads off you, PM me. Seriously.
 
nacho2770 said:
You would know since you were there and saw all the blood trails and the entrance and exit holes!!!!!!!! :thrwrck::thrwrck::thrwrck:

I was there and I saw 4 rage shot bucks with the worst blood trails I have ever experienced in my bowhunting career. And I never said all 4 were broadside double lung....I said most.....one was a quartering away shot that exited right at the bucks elbow which is a low exit hole and the blood trail still sucked because it got plugged.

So to sum it up....none were poor shot choices....all were poor broadhead performance.

You want to buy some rage heads? I got 6 for sale!!!
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Of course I'll buy them.......best broadhead available on the market. One thing to keep in mind......you recovered all 4 deer within 200 yards.....that's a pretty good selling point if you ask me. PM me what you want for the heads, assuming they are new I'll take them off yours hands.
 
Critter said:
Of course I'll buy them.......best broadhead available on the market. One thing to keep in mind......you recovered all 4 deer within 200 yards.....that's a pretty good selling point if you ask me. PM me what you want for the heads, assuming they are new I'll take them off yours hands.
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No its not a good selling point since I never had a deer run more then 80 yards when shot with a fixed head and always had good blood trails. Its a big step backwards in my experience anyway.
 
nacho2770 said:
No its not a good selling point since I never had a deer run more then 80 yards when shot with a fixed head and always had good blood trails. Its a big step backwards in my experience anyway.
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Lol......to each his own I guess. I could care less if you don't use them, but I have a problem with people blaming the heads for issues caused on their own. The O Ring retension sucks, no doubt about it. The results from a properly placed Rage head is devastating though, no doubt about it.
 
I have shot rages and montec g5's. I have killed deer with both.

Rages- I love the blood trail but every deer I have killed with them has went way to far and very rarely do you get a pass-thru with a rage-- If you doubt me go watch their video on the website-- there are something like 48 hunts and I bet only 8 of those have a pass- I really like how they shoot just not much confidence with mature deer.

Fixed blade G5 on the other hand, I very rarely have had a deer run over 100yds and every deer I have shot with them has been a pass-thru and I have actually had a couple of really poor shot placements. The downside is the blood trails aren't as good and to really get fixed blade broad heads to perform you need a very well tuned bow.

Bottom line is both will kill deer with good shot placement-- I just don't want to take chances when the deer of a lifetime is 25yds away-- I will be shooting fixed blade.
 
Critter said:
Lol......to each his own I guess. I could care less if you don't use them, but I have a problem with people blaming the heads for issues caused on their own. The O Ring retension sucks, no doubt about it. The results from a properly placed Rage head is devastating though, no doubt about it.
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I have a problem with people blaming me for issues that weren't my fault!!!

Seriously???? You are going to act like I made the broadheads leave piss poor bloodtrails???? Listen they didn't work for me and I had horrible results with them......get over it....I am not lying.....Cripes!!!!!
 
Shot "another" deer this year with the Rage 2 blade. Complete pass thru "again", the deer ran about 70 yards and piled up. Shot many deer with them, great head, nacho I will also take them off your hands if they are new.
 
sureshot1 said:
I very rarely dont have a pass through with rages.....why so many mixed results? :)
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19 deer and all but 2 have been thru and thru. And I only pull 62lbs. So to the guys that never get pass through, I would love to know why as well?

I personally know 15+ guys that shoot Rage and I have never heard anything bad from anyone except a few guys on this sight. I remember when I started bow hunting and everyone used fixed blades. There were a ton of horror stories back then as well. What's the common denominator you may ask? Poorly placed arrows is the answer, plain and simple. Deer have been being wounded by various broadheads for years and it's always seems to be the equipments fault :)

Hell, I saw a deer get hit by a car last week and get up and run away. I've also seen them get absolutely mushed by vehicles. Point is, it's all about where you hit em, not what kind of vehicle you were driving :D
 
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I have lost a couple with the rage that were without a doubt bad shot placement.With a good shot placement,never had to trail.Watch them go down within 70 yds. One thing I have noticed is even with complete pass through the arrow does not stick in the ground. Always just laying on the ground where shot. I will continue to use them based off of my overall success with them. I do wonder if shooting less than 70 lbs has something to do with problems. (Chime in with what poundage you are shooting) I do know with fixed blades I fought accuracy and lost deer with those as well.I do remember with fixed having arrow burried in tree trunks after pass through. Cousin shot a buck out of a blind this year at ground level. (Rage) I was worried arrow would be lost out in field. Turned out it laid right where he shot as well.I'm guessing you lose a ton of energy which is why I wonder if lower poundage is the cause for bad success with these blades.
 
abelr said:
of those 19 deer-- how many where mature bucks vs does?
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7 of the 19 were/are 5 yr old bucks or better and a couple of the bucks were very large bodied deer. Believe it or not the only 2 that I didn't get pass through on were does and I spined both of them (not proud of that, but they can be quick sometimes) :eek:
 
I love my Rage 2 blades, nothing bad to say about them at all. They work for me and thats all that I need to know. I don't care if people don't like them because they are advertised on every hunting show, or sponsor every show, or whatever. They work, and I honestly don't think the guys on TV would be using them if they suck because let's face it, nobody wants to shoot a deer and not recover, but thats besides the point. I don't care who shoots what head because everyone needs to shoot what they are confident in.
Also for the how far deer run debate, I think it has a large part to due with adrenaline. Deer that have been feeding or stopped on their own all seem to run a shorter distance than the deer that are bleated to stop and appear nervous in my experiences. Also bow noise gets them alert and the blood pumping faster. If they get shot and don't know what hit them, then in my experiences they don't go quite as far.
 
Some great answers and some great experience without a doubt. I think it is very interesting how some broadheads work for some and not for others. Just for some fun try this little test. Take a plastic bag and double or triple it up. Take a rage or mechanical blade and push it through while on an arrow. Then take a cut on contact broadhead and push it through as well. See how much pressure it takes for each one. For poundage I shoot 60 lbs so need as much resistance as possible. Again, shot placement is key and I always hope for 2 holes instead of 1. Least resistance usually gives 2 holes. Thanks for sharing all the experiences out there this is good stuff.
 
Bill Hartzell said:
Interesting point and a pic that is amazing. Wow, what a hole. My experience with 2 blade rage has not been good either. Again, shot placement is key no doubt about it hands down, no ?'s asked. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me like if you do not use cut on contact heads, the deer seemed to be bludgeoned or smacked harder if you will. Razor sharp cut on contact heads cut or zip through the deer. My point is that if you have deer traveling long distances after a shot, could it be because they are jolted harder on impact? In the past I have had deer shot with razor sharp Zwickeys actually walk away cuz they aren't sure what happened or were cut rather than jolted. Could it also be that you need a higher poundage bow with a mechanical? I'm shooting 60 lbs not 70 or 75 like you strong young bucks do:) I enjoy reading and learning all of the comments.
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I think we are out smarting ourselves! I shot a few deer with 2 blade Zwickeys! They all died fast and left alot of blood!!! Now!!!!!!! Ya had to sharpen them yourself!!! That would make many drop out!! :thrwrck: When I went back to the compound, I went to Thunderheads! A great fixed head!! :way:
 
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