Lol...I know there has been a few cape buff taken with mechanicals. Mostly pro staff types trying to prove their broad heads are up to the challenge but no matter how much I like em, I think that it's a job for a steel 2 blade head.

quote:

Originally posted by AR MAN:
HEY THECANADIAN,

I couldn't afford the multiple trophy fees paid for you to keep trying to prove your point lol!

lol. Not quite sure if this a discredit to my accuracy or the broadhead.

Fixed!!!

I've been using NAP Spitfires in my crossbow for the last 2 seasons but I've yet to kill a deer with them.

I've used Bear Razorheads with my recurve as long as I've been archery hunting.

I like what a friend once said about mechanicals; "why would you want to shoot a broad head that has to change form inorder to work"?

Half my camp prefer Rage mechanicals, the other half (myself included) prefer Slick Trick fixed. All of us keep records of how far from impact to exparation.

Survey says:
Absolutely no difference.

Takeaway:
Shoot what you have confidence in and don't knock the other guys choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
easy answer: they are illegal, as are lighted nocks, here in Idaho.

They were also in Washington State but NOW They are both Legal.I have Bow hunted for years. I have ONLY used Fixed Broadheads. I am STILL leary of mechanicals on large game.

I started this over a year ago. After thinking about it and listening to a lot of people, I am going to use fixed blades for one simple reason. There is less to go wrong.

I have heard of no one having a malfunction with a fixed blade. I have indeed heard of malfunctions with mechanical models.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
...I am going to use fixed blades for one simple reason. There is less to go wrong.

That's exactly my reasoning as well Larry.

The old adage about anything mechanical being prone to failure comes to mind here.

.

quote:

The old adage about anything mechanical being prone to failure comes to mind here

So are you guys shooting recurves and long bows there is a lot less to go wrong with them.

I have used the NAP Thunderheads with success on deer and hogs. Blood trail has depended on location of hit and exit wound. Trails have been from drops to painting the brush with blood.

The thought of mechanicals is intriguing. But, I have no need to change now. The older I get the simpler I like to keep things.

Tom

I took some Solid Broadheads to Africa in July. With the 3/4" bleeders, these two blade broadheads seemed to shoot both accurately and quietly. Left big holes and got pass throughs on everything but a Waterbuck. Kudu, blesbok, warthog - no problem, and I was shooting only a 52# bow.
These things are ultra sharp, and though I took some German Kinetics, I never even thought to use them. The Solid Broadheads made tracking into just not a problem. Never had one go down out of eyesight.
Others in our party used some different fixed blade B'Heads, and had similar results. Slick Trick and Exodus shot well and passed through all but another Waterbuck. Those guys are tough ! However, worth noting that for similar results, they were shooting 65-70# draw weights.

Old thread, I realize, but I'm just getting caught up.

I belong to the A.B.C.C. (American Broadhead Collectors Club) and have seen many of the 5,500 or so broadhead designs introduced since 1935 or thereabouts. Last November I used a three-blade Mowoc Dot manufactured in 1960 to take my buck (from a production lot Larry Whiffen, Jr. found in his father's stuff). It was a broadhead before I released, a broadhead in flight, and a broadhead after it hit the deer. No expectations that it would start as one thing and become another when it hit meat or bone. Kind of like your seat cushion will become a flotation device in the event of a water crash. I'd rather just have a flotation device to begin with, thanks all the same.

Collectors love the clever designs that look great, or seem clever, but are rare because the hunters soon learned they failed miserably and were only sold for a few years. Make great displays, though.

Some are good. Some are crap. Personally, I use wood arrows and the older glue-on styles with fixed blades are my choice. But like any projectile the important thing is you put them where they need to be.



STOS two-edge. A wonderful broadhead. That one snapped off in the tree behind the buck when he lurched after the shot and feel in a heap.

Was in the firm camp of fixed (muzzy or wasp) until my brother in law got me a rage hypodermics a few years back. I used them and have to say over the last 5 years have not had an issue with them, great blood trails, and short tracking jobs. 4 of us bow hunt our lease and take 25-30 deer a year. We all switched to mechanical and have been happy.

The first generation of mechanicals left a lot to be desired, the current offerings I have no complaints.

Shot 11 deer with the Rocket Steelhead, all were pass-throughs. Would not recommend the Steelhead for moose or elk though.

For fixed-blade, have used Thunderhead, Wasp SST, Slick Trick's and Exodus.

Trying the G5 Deadmeat this fall.

For a good fixed blade head it is tough to beat Solid or Slick Trick's.

G5 DEADMEAT for mechanical.

I've been sticking arrows in game since 1960 I guess around 500 head of big game to date and will throw this into the mix. Way back when we had little choice but fixed bh the biggest reason most novice bowhunters lost game was they could not sharpen their heads good enough. Choices in fixed heads were few then along came bh with replaceable blades and anyone could shave with their bh. Today a beginner can shop online and have dozens of choices that will do the job i you place your arrow correctly. There in is the real answer to recovery....SHOT PLACEMENT...poke a hole thru both lungs with even a sharp stick and the animal will die! Marginal hits are still marginal with a big 2"+ bh you just get more non lethal blood loss.
I shoot both fixed and mechanicals depending on the animal's make up. An expanding bh is of little use on a thick skinned animal.

quote:

Originally posted by 2th doc: An expanding bh is of little use on a thick skinned animal.

For thick skinned game the best broadhead is the Solid. The guy incorporated curved blades like a samurai sword because the curved sweep cuts better.

Love using my 3to1 fixed broad heads

Interesting to me that I started this almost 3 years ago. There is a lot of good information.

I will be checking my BH's again. I just got the new Ten Point crossbow that is very narrow. Nitro something or another. I can't wait to stick something with it!

I realize mechanicals have improved over time but I at least have no interest in them. The argument that you don't have to tune your bow with them is false they will most certainly wind plane just like a fixed blade. They also aren't as tough. Not tuning your equipment just tells me that the shooter is too lazy and maybe should take up another sport or doesn't have the knowledge which can easily be found to help them.

This year is my 50th year Bowhunting so I guess I've become set in my ways but I also know from lots of experience what works. But if somebody else has had success with a mechanical then have at it. Just don't try to tell me they are somehow better. 20,000 plus years of fixed blade broadheads in use is pretty hard to match.

For nearly 60 years I have bow hunted during that time the sport has evolved as well as the equipment mostly for the best. Today I still hunt with a long bow I hewed from yew myself,a 3 piece Bear take down recurve, a Hoyt compound and a Ten Point crossbow. I have shot Port Oxford cedar shafts, fiberglass shafts, aluminum shafts, carbon shafts. I have knapped my own flint broadheads, used a dozen or more fixed blade broadhead and yes today use several different mechanical breoadheads...
AND YOU KNOW WHAT????? They all work well if you do your part, you can not expect to gut shoot any animal with any combo of equipment and expect it to just fall over dead isn't going to happen except on some o those TV hunting shows.

quote:

Originally posted by 2th doc:
For nearly 60 years I have bow hunted during that time the sport has evolved as well as the equipment mostly for the best. Today I still hunt with a long bow I hewed from yew myself,a 3 piece Bear take down recurve, a Hoyt compound and a Ten Point crossbow. I have shot Port Oxford cedar shafts, fiberglass shafts, aluminum shafts, carbon shafts. I have knapped my own flint broadheads, used a dozen or more fixed blade broadhead and yes today use several different mechanical breoadheads...
AND YOU KNOW WHAT????? They all work well if you do your part, you can not expect to gut shoot any animal with any combo of equipment and expect it to just fall over dead isn't going to happen except on some o those TV hunting shows.

I started hunting with a long bow over 50 years ago the only thin g I haven't done is nap my own flint points or use them.

But as doc says do your part you well shortly have a dead critter.

I have a reputation as a good tracker many people have called me to help find game.

I have heard it many times when I asked the question where did you hit them.

I have yet to have someone to tell me they gut shot it.

When it was obvious from the material on the shaft and the smell it was a gut shot.

Very few animals that are double lunged or heart shot travel more than a 100 yards most a lot less.

I made my life easier I have trained blood tracking dogs.

I don't even look for a blood trail.

I just put the dog down and give them the track command and away we go.

If I train another one it is going to be a small breed.

Because I am tired of being dragged by a 100lb lab eager to find the game.

P dog, only recently in my hunting career here in Pa. did the use of tracking dogs become legal though I have often wondered why they were not. One of my largest bow killed whitetail scoring over 190" P&Y from Ohio was located by a tiny long haired daushund the outfitter owned. That little dog came to him from Germany with long blue bloodlines bred for blood tracking....thank god she was good at it as I had hit the buck just in front of the hind quarters.
If I was not as old as Moses I would get myself one of those dogs, train it well and put the word out about him around the area. I believe it would pleasure me to help others find their game.
In Christ, Rev. Terry

I have always just trained my bird dogs to blood trail.

A small dog with short legs would be nicer.


They have found a lot of deer that would have been lost.

I shoot compound bows at 74 lbs, and have never had an issue with mechanicals. The only shot that was no a complete pass-thru was shooting straight down on a buck between the shoulder blades. Even then the arrow was only held in by the fletching. If you shoot enough KE, mechanicals work quite well on Deer-size game.