newbie to archery

[mbcook]

This will be my first season chasing whitetails with a bow, I am really excited about the upcoming season.. I have gun hunted my whole life and taken a some really nice bucks so i have decided i need a new challenge in my life......as a newbie to bow hunting i have spent the last few months practicing and i feel confident in my shot placement the question i have now is...Which broadhead to use? mechanical or fixed? right now i am leaning toward the g5 fixed blades they have some really good reviews at cabela's and I know a few people who like them...Let me know your opinions, what broadheads do you use? 

[passin through]

I use the rage, but G5 makes a good head too.  Mostly as long as you have something proven on the tip, a well built arrow (fletching, spined right, total arrow weight ect.) You will do ok.  Pick your shot!   Personally I am going to a slightly heavier arrow to help boost my kinetic energy up some.  I have been shooting a total weight of 375 grains with a 56 pound pull @261 fps.  I am bumping up thanks to my traditional experience last year....I shot a perfect pass though on a doe's shoulders with a full length shaft with a woodsman broadhead on the end....that 500 grain arrow cam off of a 40lb recurve clipping along under 200fps.  Whatever you shoot make sure its sharp!  (hint--- out of the box brand new sharp is not as good as it can be gotten!)

[Goose]

I shoot the rage 2 blade. Love them.

There are many good heads out there. G5, Muzzy, NAP etc... all make heads that are proven. The best advice I can give you is: shoot what you have the most confidence in. All of the mentioned heads will kill the deer if they are put in the right place, use whatever one you can put in that place.

[extroverted]

I used to use Rage, now I am using slick tricks. But before you go out and get any old brand name off the shelf there is some things you need to consider such as the poundage your comfortable using without shaking and the arrow speed as well as kinetic energy of your bow to your arrows.

I use a Guardian and my set poundage is 53 pounds. Having relatively low poundage takes me out of using mechanicals and the longer yardages, especially as your bow string wears with age. I try to change out my strings every 2 years, besides what others say.

Make sure you know at what yardage you are going to be shooting and make sure that you are comfortable shooting 10 yards further than lets say 35 yards for a total of 45 yards. That way there will be no question of arrow placement, what ever the conditions.

So with my setup, shooting at 53 LBS using a 400 grain arrow and a 100 grain fixed tip at 220 arrow speed per my setup and brace height my kinetic energy will be 53.75 FT LBS enough to kill Deer, Antelope, Bear, at 35 yards.

Sure it's a slower speed, but it's not speed you want as much as the KINETIC ENERGY, as the arrow meets the animal and will your lighter arrow penetrate as deep as you want with the faster speed???

Something to think about:
Check out Bowhunters guide to accurate shooting, by Lon E. Lauber

[scottflesher]

I've shot 100 grain 3 blade fixed Muzzys for the past 5 years. I shoot about 65lbs with a 300 grain arrow (400 total if you count the broadhead). Not sure what FPS that equates to, but I'd imagine around the 280 range.
Contrary to what some experience with fixed blades, I haven't had much arrow planing when I convert from field tips to broadheads.
When I converted from gun to archery hunting, I was suprized how much more important practice became. If you find that you love the intmacy of archery hunting, practicing will become a passion and a year around activity.
Best of Luck

[PhillipW66]

I shoot the rage 2...every deer iv shot with them fall in sight.

[Lot to Learn]

welcome to the addiction, warning, gun hunting may become pretty damn boring, not enough to quit, but pales in comparison. I have shot the rage 2, I don't like them for one reason:  I travel through some heavy brush at times and it is somewhat easy to have them fall out of position doing this. Rather than worry about it every time I nock I went back to NAP 100 gr thunderheads. Nothing fancy but will certainly take down a deer. 

[Woods Walker]

I shot Thunderhead 125's for years, and they always performed without a flaw, as well as retain a scary sharp edge even AFTER they went through a deer. They also never fell apart or deformed in any way, even after being lodged in a few spines.

They are also THE sharpest head "out of the box", of any head that I've ever used.

[mbcook]

Thanks for the comments, with my season coming up soon august 15th hopefully i will get to try out one of these heads soon and see just how well my practice pays off 

[Woods Walker]

If you are making the transition from gun to bow, the most important thing you have to learn is where your arrow entry points are with the as opposed to a gun. These all depend on the angle that the deer is presenting to you, and IMO is one of the biggest challenges in bowhunting as opposed to firearm hunting, next to getting close.

Here's a classic example......

You're on your stand with your rifle/shotgun. You see a deer approach you on a quartering to angle. He stops at 30 yards. The next few steps he will take will put him into heavy cover or into a gully, so this may be the last that you have an open view of him. Now I've been in this situation many time with the gun, and you simply shoot right through that front shoulder and drop him.

Now put a bow in your hands, and reduce the range to 20 yards. What do you do? Well, what I would do is let him walk, because in order to hit the vitals on that shot, your arrow entry point has to be dead-on the front shoulder, and if you've boned out a few deer shoulders the reason is self explanatory, or should be. This also why with the bow you should always wait on a broadside shot until the deer's INSIDE front leg is FORWARD of the outside leg, or at the very minimum even with it. If the inside leg is behind the outside leg, then you are shooting through shoulder again.

One more example..............

You've been shooting 3-D targets. You know where the kill rings are. Now put yourself on stand with a bow, and imagine a deer coming in to you, and then angling away from you at 20 yards. Where to you want the arrow to enter the deer so that it will pierce the vitals best? If you shoot at the "kill ring", you will most likely NOT have good killing shot. In a cse like this, you actually have to aim for the last rib or even behind that so that the angle of the arrow is dead center of the vitals when it passes through the middle of the deer.

Bowhunting.......the "thinking" man's game! [;)]