Archery Elk Hunt

[azdesert rat]

Rage 2 blade. Killed an elk with it a few years ago, looked like a crime scene!

 

Good luck.

+1, i killed my elk with 1 last year and it worked like a dream

[plumber]

I also had bad results on an elk with a G5 Montec. It was a killing shot, and the bull was recovered, but the head looked like you had run over it with truck. The steel is just too soft to hold a good edge and seems to disintegrate when it hits anything other than flesh. I really like the idea of a one-piece, 3-blade, cut on contact head, so I bought some of the newer Montec CS. I haven't shot them at anything, but they seem sharper and harder, and should fly just like the Montecs, which have always flown really well for me.

 

The thing that's tough, but at the same time really nice, when picking a broadhead there are so many choices out there that are so far superior to what most of us had availalble when we started archery hunting it's mind boggling.

 

When I first started out, Thunderheads were pretty much the head to beat. But at $30 for 6 they were considered very expensive. The more I've gotten into bow hunting, the more great heads I seem to encounter each year. Yeah, there's also a gimmick head for every solid one.

 

I've made a list of the ones that are well constructed, fly well in most set-ups, and have a following of serious hunters who are real picky about heads.

 

Fixed heads:

 

Wac'Em/G5 Striker/Cabela's Copper Head/Red Head Blackout. Many names, still the same head. This has to be the most "cloned" head anywhere. Even Horton Crossbows have an OEM version of the same head (Horton FX Pro/BF200). Why so many versions of the same head? It's a good design, period. Solid, carbon steel shank, short, high angle, razor sharp, replaceable blades. What's not to like?

 

Muzzy 3-blade. Some people have tuning issues with these heads, according to all the stuff I've read on the Bowsite, Eber's and others. The bottom line from what I've read, is that if you can get them to fly well in your setup, there is no better head. From my personal experience, I killed a nice coues deer a couple years back in August in AZ with a muzzy. He went a few yards and fell over dead. The next week I killed a nice, big-framed 3x3 velvet muley in NM with a muzzy. It wasn't a great hit, but he bled out fast - and that's important. I have not seen Muzzys to fly any differently than any other good broadhead I've shot, and everything I've hit with a Muzzy died close to where it was hit. Don't let the fact that you can buy 3 of them at WalMart for $17 fool you. These are not "el-cheapo" broadheads when it comes to hunting. In a properly tuned bow, they fly great. And when they hit, they kill. I have as much faith in a Muzzy 3 blade as any other head I shoot, and better recovery rate than any.

 

Slick Trick - Man, I remember when these heads first came out. A "normal guy" posted on a popular bow hunting website about his new heads. I helped out a little bit with his new website to promote them. Who could have known then how amazingly popular these heads would be? And for good reason. The design is beautifully simple. You've got a solid, carbon steel shank like a nail, with not 3 but 4 blades made from the best German steel available. They are scary sharp out of the box in 1", 1 1/8" and 1 1/4". Plus if you like the older "bear" style, you can get the razortrick, which has the main cutting head in front of the ferrule for the only short, blade first, 4 blade "bear" style of head I know of. I have shot the slick trick standard and magnum, and I can say for sure that they fly perfectly in a tuned bow. I haven't shot the GrizzTricks or the RazorTricks. If the RazorTricks fly like the standard sliks, I can't think of a better head for any game. The standard and magnum are already field-proven performers and the newer offerings appear to build on the reputation that has taken "Slick Trick" from a one-man "garage" head to a proven favorite amoung a very picky crowd.

 

The Magnus Stinger/Buzzcut. This is the better half of today's version of the old Bear broadhead. Many guys get turned off right off the bat that it is such a long broadhead. It just looks like it will be harder to tune than the shorter heads because it "should" catch more wind, and it's so long it "should" change your FOC. Don't be fooled by appearances. While the Stinger and Buzzcut look old-school, they fly right along with the shorter broadheads in a properly tuned bow. Add in Magnus' warranty, it's basically a lifetime, no-fault warranty...I don't even know how they can do it aside from trusting people not to abuse it. You can shoot one of these heads into a rock quarry and mail it in to them and they'll send you a replacement. I think that's awesome, and I love that spirit of customer service, but I don't think any head can take a shot out of today's bows and hit anything but a target or straight vitals and not be damaged. Enough about the warranty, what do they do when they hit? They cut, and they cut big time. There is a reason old-school longbow and recurve shooters like the Bear style head. They are devastaging. You've got a long, cut-on-impact razor head, followed by a strong ferrule housing bleeder blades. The only difference between the Stinger and Buzzcut is that the Buzzcut has a serrated edge. Something that was once frowned upon, but many bowhunters now prefer.

 

Mechanicals: Well, all I have to say about mech's is I've never shot one at an animal, they seem to do a good job of making up for an improperly tuned bow, you either love them or hate them, and I've heard as many people telling me how great Rage heads are as I've heard of people saying they stink. I bought a pack of Rage 2-blades this year. I don't know what, if anything I'll hunt with them. On the one hand, I keep hearing of great success with them. On the other hand, I'm old school enough to think that moving parts are just a chance for things to go wrong. I'd rather spend more time tuning my bow to shoot fixed blades. Nothing against those of you who shoot mechs. I definately see the appeal.

 

But, at that critical moment, if I had to choose between a solid fixed bland and a mech, and knew I could hit where I were aiming at 40. 50 even 60 yards out, I'd choose the fixed heads.

sweet post i like it

[plumber]

Great post, solid advice! tune your bow to shoot a "bullet" hole thru paper is the key to getting any fixed broadhead ( or any broadhead) to shoot well. pick a spot!

[ruthunter]

Swhacker all the way.

 

 

[kennyazman]

im watching a pretty cool show on the pursuit channel called broadhead science. the guy does a bunch of differant tests with differant broadheads and compares the results. Its totally promoting the swhacker broadheads. I myself am a little skeptical but i have to admit this show is starting to sell me a little on them. I am new to archery hunting as well, and shot my first deer this past january with magnus stinger 4 blades and i couldnt have asked for better results, but I am open to something better. I have an archery antelope hunt coming up in august, and an archery cow elk in september, I have the same quistions about broadheads, and the swhackers actually look pretty good according to the tests on this show. but for some reason i have a bad feeling about mechanicals as oppose to fixed blades.

[plumber]

Kennyazman, Go with your gut feeling on which broadheads you like. the Magnus Stinger is a great broadhead. I've been bowhunting for 25 years and what type of broadheads are the best is like asking anyone 'whats the best bow, optic, truck 'ect. when I started out everyone @ Fiesta Archery was shooting Rocky Mtn.Razor. good head but thin blades,and they would break, went to Thunderheads, 125 gr. worked very well, have shot my fair share and have never had a tip or blade break. I know Rage Broadheads sure have some big names behind them. like I always tell myself, DONT PANIC, HIT EM IN THE BOILER ROOM AND PRAY FOR A GOOD BLOOD TRAIL. just my humble two cents. your going to have a great Aug & Sept. two great tags, good luck.

[Elkhunter1]

+1 I know I sound like a broken record about the Swhacker, and I am not talking because my brother designed the head. I am talking from experience. We tested the head for two years before offering it to you guys. We shot hogs in the shoulder, coyotes, plywood, plexi glass, basically anything we could think of and this head NEVER FAILED TO OPEN. We even put multiple bands on it and it still opened.

This is not all the game I have taken !!! Go to sonoranbowhunting.com and see other pics

 

 

 

 

 

Swhacker all the way.

 

 

[jnobleinaz]

+1 I know I sound like a broken record about the Swhacker, and I am not talking because my brother designed the head. I am talking from experience. We tested the head for two years before offering it to you guys. We shot hogs in the shoulder, coyotes, plywood, plexi glass, basically anything we could think of and this head NEVER FAILED TO OPEN. We even put multiple bands on it and it still opened.

This is not all the game I have taken !!! Go to sonoranbowhunting.com and see other pics

 

 

 

 

 

Swhacker all the way.

 

I saw a test with all the xpandables on tv and the schwacker was the only one to succeed. If some one was going to use expandable it should be this broadhead. It blew away the rage and all the others not even close. i was impressed.

[azffhunter]

Im a relatively new hunter...but I've been shooting the Slick-Trick Magnum that seem to fly pretty good. I saw a program on TV the other day that "field tested" several mechanical heads. The program was clearly an advertisement for the Schwacker broadheads...but the tests and the footage was interesting. If the testing was truly done unbiased then I would say the Schwacker would be a no brainer strictly based on the footage. The RAGE heads came apart in almost every test...would be very interested in others opinions about these "field tests".

[Elkhunter1]

i can't say on the Rage tests that have been done and I don't want to talk out of turn about them. However I do have experience when it comes to the Swhacker. This head was renamed from the Sonoran. This head like all others could break or bend a blade if shot in the wrong place, but I will tell you if you hit any animal in the wrong spot you will want the blades to be razor sharp cutting what arteries or veins you do hit. The cutting edge of this blade is protected by the farrel during flight and the initial entry. Only after the wing blades make contact with the animal do the main blades deploy and start cutting, and they are "cut your arm hair sharp." If you are still not convinced about the Swhacker come with me on a Javelina hunt during the HAM hunt next year and I will show you what they can do. In the mean time look on sonoranbowhunting.com site on the 2 page of the photo gallery at the Wt shot out of a stand. What ever you decide good luck with your hunts.

Im a relatively new hunter...but I've been shooting the Slick-Trick Magnum that seem to fly pretty good. I saw a program on TV the other day that "field tested" several mechanical heads. The program was clearly an advertisement for the Schwacker broadheads...but the tests and the footage was interesting. If the testing was truly done unbiased then I would say the Schwacker would be a no brainer strictly based on the footage. The RAGE heads came apart in almost every test...would be very interested in others opinions about these "field tests".

[huntlines]

All the information given has been great. I agree with all of it and respect everyones opinion. Years ago, mid 1990's I was shooting a fixed blade broadhead and thought people were crazy to shoot mechanical broadheads. However I missed a nice buck at fourty yards one day. The shot felt good and I know I didn't jerk it but the arrow flew low and left. A few days later I was reading an article about practicing with your braodheads. I was using hay bales to shoot into with my field tips which obviously are not good on braodheads so I went out and bought a braodhead target. What I found amazed me. At twenty yards everything was fine but at fourty yards and further the arrows flew low and left.

 

After speaking to others I was told multiple things from tunning issues to different fletchings and even adjusting my sights when it came to hunting time. None of the above interested me at all after finding my bow was tuned fine. I wanted to shoot the same as my field points when I went out hunting period. I was speaking to a guy whom has a lot of knowledge when it comes to archery gear and he suggested trying mechanicals. I never thought this guy would suggest suck a thing. All the stories I had heard about bad things happening with them and all. He said something that has never left me and that was "try it, doesn't mean you have to hunt with them". So I did and have never looked back.

 

Since then I have harvested five nice whitetail bucks, a mule deer, three bulls, a turkey and a bobcat using the same mechanical broadhead. During this time period I have only lost two animals and they were to poor shot placement and had nothing to do with the gear. Some of the animals listed above were long range shots and the arrows flew straight.

 

The broadhead I have used has had a recent modification that I think has made a great broadhead even better. I hate to tell people which broadhead I use because if they start selling to many the price will go up on them. However I know people will ask if i don't so....they are the vortex broadheads. I shot the mini max up until last year and now am shooting the new vortex inverter. The last buck I shot, which is the profile picture, is my biggest yet and he only went fourty yards with a huge blood trail.

 

My biggest point in all this is practice with your broadhead! Find one that shoots straight without a lot of changes from the practice field to the hunting field. When you find something that works....use it.

[afmalinois]

The vortex is a nasty broad head. My dad was having a heck of a time bh tuning his crossbow last year and i put a vortex on for him. He was shooting dots at 40yds with them. He hammered a doe at 25 yds and the trauma was unreal. Huge cutting diameter and a strong head. I was very impressed with the performance.