Rage Broadheads

[kentstate24]

I just wanted to post about my recent kill. I had never liked the idea of mechanical broadheads because Ive heard so much bad stuff about them. The guys at my local hunting store begged me to try these this year, and told me how awesome they were. I shot a nice 6 point buck at 25 yards last friday, and let me tell you the he didnt run but 50-60 yards on me. When I first went to look at where I hit him, I didnt find my arrow, which made me a little worried, because typically I get a straight thru shot every time. However I looked at the little trees and shrubs just at the point where I shot him, and it looked like a crime scene. I mean blood everywhere. I was hunting the side of a hill, and heard him making a bunch of noise, the blood trail was amazing, blood spray was everywhere all the way to him. When I finally got there he was laying on his side, he broke my arrow in half, and the broadhead side was sticking out his other side right behind the leg. ( It was a heart shot) After this hunt, I dont think I would hunt with any other broadheads, I was very impressed.

[Woods Walker]

Hmmm....I hunt with Razorcaps, and before that Thunderheads, and every deer that I hit in the heart/lungs did the same thing as yours. I wonder.....could have been ARROW PLACEMENT and not any particular head that is responsible for this?

Tell you what, hit one in the guts or the front shoulder and then get back to us on how well it worked. THEN I'll be impressed!

Point is, ANY well made, SHARP head will do the same thing if you put it in the right spot.

[loneranger]

Yes,,I hit the heart a couple times. Can't believe the blood you get. that poor thing just pumps it out everywhere any time you put a hole in it. Other parts of the deer make many different scenarios for sure!

[JPH]

Tell you what, hit one in the guts or the front shoulder and then get back to us on how well it worked. THEN I'll be impressed!

I have! Actually I've had 2 front shoulders and 3 gut shots with the Rage-2.

The front shoulder shots were not good. The first scapula shot was on a mature buck who was actually so intent on responding to my rattling that he only ran a short distance after being hit, then limped back and gave up a second shot. Thank God my aim was better on the second chance and I double lunged him. The autopsy showed the Rage-2 to be so deeply imbedded in the scapula that I could not pull it out but it only made a dime sized hole in the actual chest cavity. The second scapula shot was on an adult doe. She ran off with the herd, only slightly limping. I tracked her for three hours but lost blood in standing corn. After that I walked the rows and edges for another 4-5 hours. I never found her and suspect she may have survived.

My gut shots have all led to recoveries. The first was a horrible case of buck fever on a 2.5 year old. I flinched on the shot and hit him closer to the back legs than the front. While he was able to walk a considerable distance, the cutting diameter of the Rage-2 had opened his belly widely. I waited all day and was able to follow blood across a bare pasture and found where he had actually lost gut crossing a fence and recovered him. The second was a simple failure to stop a doe before shooting and I hit her too far back. I gave her several hours, followed blood through the woods until it quit, turned down hill and recovered her in a creek bed. My last experience was a large doe in an open bean field. I misjudged the range and shot just under her chest, clipping her belly right behind her sternum. Again, the wound was so large that her stomach literally dropped out of her body and hung down. It was a terrible sight but I knew she was going to die without crossing a fence. I spent a sleepless night and recovered her in the morning.

Obviously, I share these stories at my own risk. I may appear to be a reckless hunter but I assure you each of these bad shots have troubled me greatly. They have also been spread over a decade of frequent bow hunting with the Rage-2, so they are statistically rare (thank God). It also may appear that I am endorsing the Rage broadhead as a substitute for proper shot placement. I am not. I'm simply pointing out that bad shots do happen and I believe that the Rage-2 does make those bad shots that hit soft tissue more lethal. As for bad shots that hit the scapula? Not so much.

Take all of that for what it is worth and make your own decision.

[Woods Walker]

"Reckless hunter"...? NO WAY JOSE' (pun intended....)

But you supported my postion.....NO broadhead design is a substitute for good shot placement. If a mech head makes you more accurate then by all means use it. But in no way should they EVER be though of as an "edge" on a poor shot. They only things that enable you recover poorly hit deer are EXTREME perseverence and luck.

[JPH]

NO broadhead design is a substitute for good shot placement. If a mech head makes you more accurate then by all means use it. But in no way should they EVER be though of as an "edge" on a poor shot. They only things that enable you recover poorly hit deer are EXTREME perseverence and luck.

You know I agree with the first statement in the quote above, but the fact is that certain broadheads DO widen the effective kill zone. This is not a statement on ethics, it just a simple truth.

Let's look at it like this. I know that if I place a .223 round in the heart of a deer, it will die quickly. It is a legal round where I hunt in Missouri and we agree there is no substitute for good shot placment. So why do I shoot a 180gr 30.06 that is not as flat and accurate as the .223? Because I know that as hard as I try, under field conditions, many of my shots will miss the mark and I will have to rely on the shock/trauma caused by a big round to put my deer on the ground quickly. Does saying this mean that I do not value shot placement or the deer I hunt? Heck no! It means that I am a realist.

I went to the Rage-2 for the accuracy, but I've stayed with it because of the wounds it causes when my accuracy is off.

[DEER30]

I have been shooting Rage for years and would suggest everyone give them a try. I love them. I once killed three deer with the same 3-blade head and arrow in one season. All three were pass straight through and burried in the ground. www.deer30outdoors.com/its-all-the-rage/

I will say that a buddy of mine also has been shooting them the past 4 seasons and next year he said he was switching back to fix blades because he wasn't getting the penetration. I tease him and say "I guess that Mathews just doesn't pack the same punch as my Hoyt."