Rage broadheads... i've always heard the horror stories!

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I have a neighbor who has more 190" plus whitetails on his wall than I have ever seen and an elk that scored 412, all shot with the muzzy, he swears by them! I personally hate them! I cant get them to shoot consistently at all, however looking at your animal and your broad head I would say yours bent when the animal fell on it.

That's same guy has also lost a few animals and has wild (BS) stories to go along with why he lost it.

The rage for me and my crew at least is just unbelievable! They fly like target points and I can keep my whole quiver in the kill zone out to 70 yards. I got a great doe this year at 50 something yards threw the woods she went 30 yards. The arrow passed threw and I lost the broad head but wow what a hole!

 

[rick523]

I quit using Muzzy's when I shot a buck quartering away at 22yds. and it glanced off. Tried several mechanicals after that settled on the G5 T3's a couple of years back, they leave quite the impressive hole also. Tried the Rage just wasn't for me. BNG if your using the tekin now you might want to try the T3 I was using the tekin and switched to these much better performance IMO. back in the day I used spitfires for several years with great sucess, killed my first bull with one shot him at 30 yds he went about 25, and found my arrow 40 yds from where he was standing, that was in my younger days when I was shooting 75lbs out of a darton, now I shoot 55lbs out of matthews and am killing just as many animals and it sure feels a lot better on my shoulders, rotator cuff surgery necessitated the reduction in weight. It sucks getting old.

 

[marksman1941]

I have a neighbor who has more 190" plus whitetails on his wall than I have ever seen and an elk that scored 412, all shot with the muzzy, he swears by them! I personally hate them! I cant get them to shoot consistently at all, however looking at your animal and your broad head I would say yours bent when the animal fell on it.

That's quite possible why it bent, but my issue is that it didn't penetrate the shoulder at all. When I skinned him out I couldn't even find a mark on his shoulder bone as to where it had hit, even though looking through the skin it was obvious where it had hit. And I'm shooting a Bowtech Assassin set at 65lbs with Easton Bloodlines going 298fps. It hits hard enough to go through a shoulder.

 

[rick523]

That's quite possible why it bent, but my issue is that it didn't penetrate the shoulder at all. When I skinned him out I couldn't even find a mark on his shoulder bone as to where it had hit, even though looking through the skin it was obvious where it had hit. And I'm shooting a Bowtech Assassin set at 65lbs with Easton Bloodlines going 298fps. It hits hard enough to go through a shoulder.

I've been bow hunting for 43 years, anything is possible at some point, trust me on this I have pretty much seen it all. In the excitement of the shoot you could have broke form, bowstring hitting sleeve, anything I think you said this was your first bow kill deer so my guess is this is what happened or something similar, no matter your skill level on a first deer you may not even noticed. Not to take anything away from you just sayin anything can happen.

 

[wvmountainhick]

I've used a lot of heads over the years and have had varying results. The few heads I've settled on are the slick trick magnums, muzzy mx4, and grim reapers. The reapers are the only expandable head I'll use anymore. Used rocket hammerhead and loved them until I hit a deer on a step a quartering angle. Didn't penetrate with a darned. Just rode the outside of the ribcage. Still got it by luck but turned me off of mechanical heads for a while. Prob more my fault than anything but still think a fixed had woulda done the job much better. Reapers did great on quartering shots. Love them so far.

 

[rick523]

Yep, reapers are good used them for several years, until I went to the T3.

 

[marksman1941]

I've been bow hunting for 43 years, anything is possible at some point, trust me on this I have pretty much seen it all. In the excitement of the shoot you could have broke form, bowstring hitting sleeve, anything I think you said this was your first bow kill deer so my guess is this is what happened or something similar, no matter your skill level on a first deer you may not even noticed. Not to take anything away from you just sayin anything can happen.

That is entirely possible. I was amped up, excited as all hell, I'd never been that close to a deer before, let alone a buck that big (If you don't know blacktail, this one was big. He placed #60 in the state for archery B&C at 138 6/8). I also know I made a mistake in where I hit the buck. I should have been about 2-3 inches to the right of where I hit. Instead of waiting for a more broadside shot, I got antsy and took the quartering away shot. I hit exactly where I was aiming, but it wasn't the best choice.

That said, the shot was clean, no sleeve hit (my left arm of my coat is made for archery and kinda shrinkwraps to your arm, so there's no chance of an issue) and no deflection off of anything, so I know I hit with full power. I felt like the broadhead should have done more damage. Now, obviously it did something cause I hit the **** deer hard enough to paralyze it and dump it on its side where it stood, even though there was no discernible damage to the spine. I don't know if I whacked a nerve, shocked the spine, what I did, but he was entirely paralyzed from the shoulders down. Just his neck was moving.

I showed it to a fellow at work (I work at a sporting goods store called Sportsmans Warehouse) who is an avid bowhunter, and he seemed to think that a tougher broadhead like G5 striker or Montec would not have bent and would have penetrated. I don't know. I do know I'm going to try strikers next time and see what happens.

 

[wvmountainhick]

Yep, reapers are good used them for several years, until I went to the T3.

I bought some T3's with inten of using them but have talked myself out of them a few times. I'd like to try them but they actually scare me to be honest. I know that they are a rear deploying system bent a ferrule just shooting at a target without the blades in them. Seems to me they should be stronger but that wasn't the case. G5 offered to replace them for free but I'm not that worried about it. The guy at the bow sho swears by them and I'll probably break down and try one to see what happens but when those Reapers hit the mark, that deer usually goes down inside 50 yards. Again, that's if they hit the mark. Bad placement is just bad placement and there's not a broadhead alive that will make up for that, unless you've got some Rambo heads.

 

[Elkhunter1983]

I have had good luck with both accuracy, penetration, and rear deployment with the Ulmer Edge's they don't look like much but fly like darts. The practice system is flawless. The only drawback is the little bands but nothing is perfect. I shot my elk quartering away slightly from 62 yards and the arrow was sticking in the opposite shoulder bone. He was dead within 30 seconds and ran about 20 yards. So far so good with the heads.

 

[inline6power]

slick tricks all the way. fly like darts and never have to worry about something not working. i may try some new toxics this year, they are completly different and i kinda like the idea behind them.

 

[Nalgi]

Why I shoot COC Broadheads

I have tried expandables including Rage. I have never liked them for a number of reason, all of which have been mentioned here. I always go back to my Buzzcuts!
Magnus just works for me.

I think it boils down to confidence, and I have it in Magnus.

Here is an 80 yds shot (at a 3" cross) with my buzzcut as well as one of the 5 bears I've killed with them.

 

[Dlewis82nd]

Ok I dislike rage because of their quality. But your not gonna tell my that you center punched an deer and it didnt die because you were using a rage. I have seen plenty of deer(not by me) killed with a field tip. It doesnt matter if the blades open or not if you shot it through both lungs and can see the exit on the other side the deer would have died. I shoot a head very similar to rage in NAP KILLZONE and these heads are really strong and sharp and still have the 2 inch cut minus the oring issues. My set up is a Bowtech Captain a 70 lbs with a 30'' draw i shoot a gt velocity hunter so my arrows are not that heavy. I have had no issues putting my killzones in the dirt after they deliver the death sentence that they carry. Blood trails are another story all together, you would simply have to see them to believe it.

 

[inline6power]

slick tricks all the way.

 

[Dlewis82nd]

I shot slick tricks for years! They are a dang good head! I'd would still shoot them if my buddy wouldn't have introduced my to killzones.