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51 Posts
I have been a bowhunter for forty plus years. I remember the days when Pearson bows ruled in SE Arkansas and the debate was should compounds be legal and part of bow season or should bow season be just traditional bows only.
Since about 2005 me and the guys I bow hunt with have been shooting Rage broadheads exclusively and haven’t lost a single deer. We have tracked several of the deer for a mile or more to recover but those were from extremely poor shoots but we still got the deer. There are 9 of us that bow hunt and the “young” ones started bow hunting in the 80’s. Back then we lost deer on par with everyone else. But starting with the Rage we were very impressed with the penetration, blood trails, awesome exit holes and no lost deer. In the past six seasons we have killed 129 deer between all nine of us. We are not “trophy” hunters, we will kill a 2.5 year old 8 pt, it’s not a dink to us, we like to bowhunt and have the time and are fortunate to be able to bowhunt 80 plus days a year and also travel to other states bowhunting. Your probably laughing at that 129 but with 9 of us, hunting all that time over the past six years its only about 2 to 2.5 deer per person per year.
A vendor of mine knew that I bow hunted and gave me 10 packs of a popular 4-blade fixed blade broadhead. Having all those new broadheads available I decided to shoot them and they were shooting just like my field points so I took them on a late season hunt for some deer meat on the ground we own in S Central AR close to Saline River. One of the guys had got a nice outdoor grade video camera from his family for Christmas and wanted to get a deer kill on tape so he went with me to video the hunt. This past Saturday afternoon we got into the stands about 1 overlooking a corn / soybean feeder and sat. About 4 I had a nice doe come to the feeder. She was never alarmed and gave me a nice easy 14 yard perfect broadside shot with the new broadheads. She took off running; we never heard her fall so we sat on the stand till dark thirty, about 6:15 before we got down. I found my arrow, the white feathers covered in blood, but little blood at the spot she was shot or the way she ran. We went back to the camp and reviewed the video on a wide screen and the shot was perfect into the heart area, everyone agreed that it couldn’t get any better. We all ate and sat around and then went out about 9 to start looking. All 5 of us looked from 9 till 1 in the morning only finding small drops of blood.
Sunday morning we got started back looking after breakfast and about 11 am one of the guys finally found the doe. The hogs had already found her and ate most of her but you could still see that my shot was perfect in the heart and she still went almost a mile before collapsing. 5 hogs were killed and several others wounded when we found her. We all had shotguns with buckshot Sunday morning because of the hogs in the area.
When I got back to camp, the 9 unopened packs along with the opened broadheads were promptly disposed of.
After we talked the rest of the day and on Monday about what had happened and watched and rewatched the video many times we decided that we are going to be MECHANICAL ONLY, guests who come to hunt will have to shoot mechanicals or not be allowed to hunt. Period. Together we own almost 3,000 acres of bowhunting only ground and our picking up two adjacent sections this spring. On the 3 pieces of timber ground that I personally own and lease out, Grant Co, Arkansas Co, and Dallas Co, they too are going to be mechanical only. My lawyer is redrawing up my lease agreement so that it stated in my contract that if a fixed blade broadhead is found on my property it is a $500 per broadhead fine, no fixed blade target shooting, no fixed blades in vehicles, etc. Surprise visits will be made and often to enforce this. If the guys leasing my ground do not like this, I already have a list of others who are willing to pay $45/ac for the timber ground in Arkansas County.
We were totally disgusted with the fixed blade and especially with the video proof of a perfect hit at a broadside deer, no excuse for the deer going that far. If I had been shooting a rage she wouldn’t have gone over 50 yards.
Shot placement is key, but broadheads are a great equalizer. Fixed blades had their glory but something better has come along. I think there was a post around Thanksgiving, Fixed blades let me down, I wish I had listened to that guy.
Just my cents,
Unless you lease from me then well, my way is the law.
And I'm the Judge, the Jury and the executioner !!!
Since about 2005 me and the guys I bow hunt with have been shooting Rage broadheads exclusively and haven’t lost a single deer. We have tracked several of the deer for a mile or more to recover but those were from extremely poor shoots but we still got the deer. There are 9 of us that bow hunt and the “young” ones started bow hunting in the 80’s. Back then we lost deer on par with everyone else. But starting with the Rage we were very impressed with the penetration, blood trails, awesome exit holes and no lost deer. In the past six seasons we have killed 129 deer between all nine of us. We are not “trophy” hunters, we will kill a 2.5 year old 8 pt, it’s not a dink to us, we like to bowhunt and have the time and are fortunate to be able to bowhunt 80 plus days a year and also travel to other states bowhunting. Your probably laughing at that 129 but with 9 of us, hunting all that time over the past six years its only about 2 to 2.5 deer per person per year.
A vendor of mine knew that I bow hunted and gave me 10 packs of a popular 4-blade fixed blade broadhead. Having all those new broadheads available I decided to shoot them and they were shooting just like my field points so I took them on a late season hunt for some deer meat on the ground we own in S Central AR close to Saline River. One of the guys had got a nice outdoor grade video camera from his family for Christmas and wanted to get a deer kill on tape so he went with me to video the hunt. This past Saturday afternoon we got into the stands about 1 overlooking a corn / soybean feeder and sat. About 4 I had a nice doe come to the feeder. She was never alarmed and gave me a nice easy 14 yard perfect broadside shot with the new broadheads. She took off running; we never heard her fall so we sat on the stand till dark thirty, about 6:15 before we got down. I found my arrow, the white feathers covered in blood, but little blood at the spot she was shot or the way she ran. We went back to the camp and reviewed the video on a wide screen and the shot was perfect into the heart area, everyone agreed that it couldn’t get any better. We all ate and sat around and then went out about 9 to start looking. All 5 of us looked from 9 till 1 in the morning only finding small drops of blood.
Sunday morning we got started back looking after breakfast and about 11 am one of the guys finally found the doe. The hogs had already found her and ate most of her but you could still see that my shot was perfect in the heart and she still went almost a mile before collapsing. 5 hogs were killed and several others wounded when we found her. We all had shotguns with buckshot Sunday morning because of the hogs in the area.
When I got back to camp, the 9 unopened packs along with the opened broadheads were promptly disposed of.
After we talked the rest of the day and on Monday about what had happened and watched and rewatched the video many times we decided that we are going to be MECHANICAL ONLY, guests who come to hunt will have to shoot mechanicals or not be allowed to hunt. Period. Together we own almost 3,000 acres of bowhunting only ground and our picking up two adjacent sections this spring. On the 3 pieces of timber ground that I personally own and lease out, Grant Co, Arkansas Co, and Dallas Co, they too are going to be mechanical only. My lawyer is redrawing up my lease agreement so that it stated in my contract that if a fixed blade broadhead is found on my property it is a $500 per broadhead fine, no fixed blade target shooting, no fixed blades in vehicles, etc. Surprise visits will be made and often to enforce this. If the guys leasing my ground do not like this, I already have a list of others who are willing to pay $45/ac for the timber ground in Arkansas County.
We were totally disgusted with the fixed blade and especially with the video proof of a perfect hit at a broadside deer, no excuse for the deer going that far. If I had been shooting a rage she wouldn’t have gone over 50 yards.
Shot placement is key, but broadheads are a great equalizer. Fixed blades had their glory but something better has come along. I think there was a post around Thanksgiving, Fixed blades let me down, I wish I had listened to that guy.
Just my cents,
Unless you lease from me then well, my way is the law.
And I'm the Judge, the Jury and the executioner !!!
opcorn: :hide:
