I was hunting a wooded, inside corner in high wind conditions, mid-morning, Nov. 7th.
My inital shot was broadside at 20 yards. I had bleated him to a stop and he was in an open lane, but I rushed the shot. I just did not settle in. Shame on me! The arrow smacked him in the right shoulder blade with about 3" of penetration. He lurched forward and broke the shaft off within a few steps. I could see a huge hole with immediately heavy bleeding as he hobbled 30-40 yards.
He then stopped and stood about 40 yards from my stand for about 3-5 minutes! I was praying that he'd go down, but he did not even lower his head. There were a ton of limbs in the way so I could not shoot.
Then, amazingly, he turned around and began to approach my stand via another trail! He was was about to walk into my scent steam. I had a small hole in the branches (about the size of a basketball) that lead to a another 20 yard limping shot. It was not the kind of shot I would normally take, but I felt I had to. As he stepped into the opening, I bleated again and released. The arrow punched right through him at about mid-ship. He turned uphill and began the death run.
He laid down after another 30 yards and I watched him with my binocs for another few minutes. Then he got up again and started running downhill! I was looking for a third shot when he nosed in for good. He had made a big half-circle around my stand and was lying in plain sight. I could see the second wound gaping open as blood and air escaped. Finally he quit breathing and bleeding.
The post-mortum revealed the following:
The deer had a field dressed weight of 195 lbs. and an estimated live weight of 245 lbs.
Shot #1 = The rt. shoulder blade shot (all my fault) had badly dammaged the bone and had made a dime sized hole in the chest cavity. The broadhead and a small amout of the shaft remained lodged until butchering. I think that shot would have eventually killed him and he was putting down a good blood trail, but it would have been a long day.
Shot # 2 = The rt. mid-ship shot took out the rear of both lungs, just ahead of the diaphram. The arrow flight was perfect, when I really needed it to be. The broadhead fully deployed on contact and made huge wounds going in and out. The blood trail looked like someone shaking out a paintbrush at that point. Again, air and blood could be seen coming out at 40 yards!
IMO, this is a superior broadhead. And while I am not a superior archer, I am supremely blessed.
