Rage's are a must

[HateHumminbird]

I guess anything is possible. While it didn't happen to me, I got a chance to see an arrow a buddy shot supposedly into a bucks shoulder/leg bone. It was an old aluminum arrow, and actually split at the base so you could see the insert.

As the story goes, he draws back, puts the pin behind the shoulder at 20 yards, and lets go. He hears a terrible THWACK, and sees the buck run off with the full length of the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, and watched it fall "out" after a few yards down the trail. No blood on the head either. He thinks it hit the bone so square that just the tip stuck into the bone without breaking it.

He could've been lying to me and the thing just hit a tree, but on the other hand, I've shot a tree before. There's no getting your broadhead out of that one. We were alot younger, shooting old hand-me-down bear bows that were probably 50-55lb draw weight with the old aluminum arrows. Certainly weren't breaking any speed records.

Who knows?

Joel

[treble]

This might be the video you're talking about..

Okay can't get it to show up on here, just go to this link.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=2284517

[fishinmajishin]

I'd say unbelievable, but I just saw it! Again, I wasn't calling anybody a liar, just had to see it for myself. A glancing blow, but still! Didn't even see a hair fly. That guy's gotta be having nightmares to this day. Goosehunter...still would like to hear about your uncles' friends encounter. Had to hit hard bone just right.

Trigger...what brand mechanical were you using?

[mrklean]

i give it to you on that one, now when i see the arrow ill believe that one He must have not loaded powder right or something thats a big mess up thats for sure.

[vister]

makes a guy wonder if the muzzy bullet in that video was tumbling when it hit? Yes, it was a little high, but still would never have believed that a bullet would just have bounced off a deer.

I've seen a buck that had a bullet skinned from nose to forehead while the guy was party hunting. looked like a worm line where the hair was missing, but never went through the skull

[crazyice]

Part of this whole issue really, in my humble opinion, comes down to shot placement. I for one wouldn't have taken that shot in the video due to the extreme quartering towards me shot. I would much rather have a quartering away shot. Sometimes if you just wait for a better shot, it will present itself, and then I don't see any of these problems being problems at all. But even with that quartering towards shot in the video, you would think that it would have penetrated atleast some.

[96trigger]

I won't say what brand it was, to tell you the truth, it wasn't top of the line. The picture alone says it all still looks brand new, except for the bent head. The rubber band, weather checked now, is still on the darn thing. Brings back a lot of bad memories, I was ready to quit at that particular moment, at the very least I remember having the bow above my head, ready to smash it into a million pieces on the ground, but I scored the next weekend, and scored big the next year after revamping all my equipment and spending countless hours practicing. Glad I didn't give up. I was feeling pretty darn low after that morning. I swear to God I almost cried.

[harvey lee]

The broadhead looks to be of poor quality.

With the deer shot with the muzzy, I agree Crazy as I would never have taken a shot at the deer in that position. Very poor choice.

[96trigger]

Harvey, what makes you think its such poor quality? Just wondering so I don't ever make the same mistake twice. It seemed to be along the same line as almost all the other mechanicals like the wasps, rockets, and even the Lazer Strike II's that I'm using now.

Poor quality or not, it hit something darn hard to bend the tip like that, try bending it back once, I have, I can't do it. I have inspected and reinspected that thing a number of times.

Needless to say, I have never used that brand again, nor will I.

[92python]

96 trigger,

Since the shot was close and the ferrule bent could it be possible that the arrow had some sort of fletch contact off the bow or rest and therefore the arrow was flying a little crooked when it hit?

I have noticed that when I shoot my bow and get some fletch ontact my arrows fly crooked for the first few yards then the fletching takes over and straightens the flight out. I can visually see this happen.

I have 3 kinds of arrows and this happens every time I shoot my heavy Easton 2219s with the Blazers and a 125 field point. Those arrows are about 2 inches too long as well. I also have noticed this happen on some of my Axis 340s when my rest wasn't set up right and was getting contact or if my fletching was messed up.

A crooked flying arrow would explain the bent ferrule if it hit something solid like a shoulder at just the right angle.

[kevfish1]

ya i was thinkin the same thing- how can one say it is of poor quality lookin at a picture. Looks like one i have shot for years and is very good quality

[harvey lee]

The screw on tip on the broadhead is bent on the spindle. I have used Muzzy's with the same type tocar tip and have shot them into trees and have also shot deer and the broadhead went through the front shoulder and never once did the tip bend over like that.

Seems to or at a minimum looks like it is weak where the tip screws on.

Yes, it could be the flight of the arrow but I have never seen a broadhead bend on the tip like that even smacking them into a tree and then having to dig the broadhead out with a knife.

[sticknstring]

Sure looks like the Rocket variety to me... nearly identical to a Sidewinder or Hammerhead - same color and Pathfinder tip. Darn good knockoff... There's no way that head hit that deer unless it deflected off it's antlers or hoof as you say. Maybe a branch on its approach? I'll take that head if you don't want it - screw a new tip on and whack a turkey with it

[96trigger]

I think if it was weak, it would have broke off. Cheap metal is brittle, and breaks, it doesn't usually bend like that. And like I said, I've tried to bend it back, with everything but a vice and pliers.

Python, The arrow could have very well left the bow crooked, I am no longer using that bow, those carbon arrows, or that braodhead. I have also shot numerous broadheads into things that I shouldn't have like wood, I think that mostly when it hits something like wood, it usually hits it squarely. This buck was quartering away from me, it was a perfect shot, but he was very close. Which is where the arrow fletching making contact with bow makes sense. I cannot remember because it has been two years, how the flight was on the bow. All the other deer I shot with it were probably 10 or more yards farther away than this buck.

H4life. If you watch the video in slow motion, you can see it hit, and see it bounce back off. It hits high in the shoulder blade and doesn't roll down, it bounces back a couple of feet, but I could clearly see it.

[Bear55]

Crazy! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I will say that it was a poor shot, too high and really a bad angle.

[96trigger]

Quote:

There's no way that head hit that deer unless it deflected off it's antlers or a branch on its approach.

No branches in the way, clear unobstructed shot. Broadhead laying on the ground like a I dropped it, undeployed, not even dirt on the tip, never hit its antlers, had the sights right in the bread basket. I wasn't hurried or rushed.

We just saw a muzzleloader bullet bounce off a buck, why can't a broadhead? Strange things happen.... I am not embelishing this story at all. Trust me, it is a vision that is burned in my memory forever.

Quote:

A crooked flying arrow would explain the bent ferrule if it hit something solid like a shoulder at just the right angle.

I'm assuming something like this happened. Everything was just too perfect not to have made that shot. When we are in our stands envisioning the perfect shot, this was it.

[crazyice]

That broadhead looks familiar. Rocket Sidewinder??? I used to shoot them, used to being the key phrase. No complaints about penetration, or ability to kill quickly, but try to replace the blades after a shot, and you will be one frustrated guy real quick.

[Guest Kyle]

how close was the shot?

[sticknstring]

Replacing the blades aren't too bad. I've used Hammerheads on turks for years and just keep replacing the blades. Pretty small set screws and I wouldn't want to try it caffeinated!

96 - I don't doubt an arrow won't bounce out of deer. Heck I had it happen to me last fall on a shoulder hit. BUT not without some blood or hair.

Quote:

The only thing that I can think of is it hit its hoof.

At 10 yards you really had no idea where the arrow went... you said you watched it bounce off his back but thought you may have hit a hoof? I'm not denying what happened - only you were there. Yes we did witness a muzzy ball glance off a deer so strange things do happen and what you had happen is apparently one of those. That's one reason I started to film my hunts... what you see and what actually takes place are sometimes two very different things.

[vister]

lining up the edge of the screw in tip to the wing tip of the mechanical, there is no way that hit any part of the deer with out deploying. maybe an antler, but their hooves aren't that hard to bend and arrow tip flying 200 miles an hour.

I think ya hit well high or low, directly into the face of a rock, which stopped it right now. then ya would think there would have to be some arrow damage of some sort. maybe a wrinkle, bulge, split, crack or tear??

But then the tip would be mooshed. as my signature says:

[bottom-bouncer]

The guy in the muzzy video Is bill miller former editor of north american hunter the magazine and the current host of ESPN outdoors. I know him well I will have to ask him about it.

[96trigger]

Quote:

lining up the edge of the screw in tip to the wing tip of the mechanical, there is no way that hit any part of the deer with out deploying. maybe an antler, but their hooves aren't that hard to bend and arrow tip flying 200 miles an hour.

The tip is 5/8 of an inch long, it is plenty long to bend and not deploy. Also, with the rubber band around it, there is nothing to say that it didn't deploy somewhat, but then get pulled back in by the band because there wasn't enough penetration. Also, no rocks, only dirt, and, I am not that bad of shot. I'll give the fact that I may have aimed too far forward and hit shoulder blade, but at that range, with that big of a deer, no way was I too high or too low. As close as I was, 6 inches high or low still would have put him down.

[fishinmajishin]

A huntin buddy of mine lost a ten pt. shooting a mechanical like that. Figured it didn't open up, and didn't pass thru. Said he hit it just a smidgen high but should have worked. Minimal blood and between a 1/4-1/2 mile of tracking. I switched him over to the Rocket heads after that, and now he uses Rage heads, too. With the other options on mechanicals now, those would be in my trash can.

[PerchJrkr]

i know 3 people that have lost deer to penetration issues with rage's... i also know a couple people that have had other front opening mechanicals go through deer and never open up- they made good shots and the deer wound up going down, but never deployed.... said it looked like the deer was shot with a 22 or something similar. i know that anyone that i know that has tried rages went back to COC heads within half a season of buyin the "rage"

[Christopher Quast]

Sounds like it was more of a shot placement problem than anything I was skeptical of the Rage heads after shooting Rockets, but then I double lunged my doe with the 2 blade and all I can say is HOLY SCHMIDT!!!! What a hole and she went about 60yds and was done. Gut shot or shoulder shots usually dont do the job!!!

[harvey lee]

This weekend we shot numerous deer and they were all shot with rage 2 blade heads. Large holes and good blood trails and we hunted in the rain all weekend.

[updecreek]

Yes two not three. I use two blade G5 mech. Solid tip like broad head and two mech blade. Three is too big if it hits a bone it it more likly not to got threw the deer.

[RainyMan]

I shot a doe saturday morning with a rage 2 blade. She was 12 yards and walking and I made the mistake of shooting on the move. I hit her behind the lung close to the liver and in the center of the body. My arrows had green a yellow with little blood on it, so I let her lay for 6 hours. I found one drop of blood and jumped her 100 yards from where I shot her. Her bed had little blood in it, so I stop looking and came back later not finding her. I love the rage, but this shows shot placement is the key not the broadhead.

[PerchJrkr]

A guy i work withs dad shot a doe with a spitfire and it never opened up last night. He said it was a pinky sized hole through the deer, luckily caught a major artery at the top of the heart and it was enough..

[huntfish365]

IMO there isn't a better expandable broadhead out on the market than the rage 2 blade but there are penetration issues. I will still be using them but cant compare to how fast a muzzy zips through a deer without even slowing the arrow down.