Its been a long night
- Thread starter Monster Raxx
- Start date
This morning was my last hunt before I had to head back home. I went and sat in the same stand just in case the buck returned. I also decided if a doe came in the last half hour and presented a good shot I would take her. This doe came in and gave me a nice 20 yard broad side shot. It doesnt make up for the buck but gaining some confidence back after making a bad shot I believe will help the rest of the season.
Hey, when you fall off the horse, you gotta get right back on! Nice job dropping the hammer on that doe. It's too bad about losing that buck, but it happens.
Congrats on your doe. Your shot looks good in the still shot unless he ducked before impact IMO. Sorry to hear you didn't get the buck.
Thanks for sharing the picture Tom. Heart breaking part of hunting. Glad to see you got back on the horse and tagged a doe!
Wow, that shot placement looked good. Those deer can be tough animals, sorry to hear about this. Congrats on your nice young doe.
Sure looked good from my angle TOO. Good work on getting back after it! It doesn't ease the pain of the loss, but at least you get some shooting confidence out of it...
I will agree with the others and say that the shot on the buck looked perfect in that picture. Sucks that you were unable to recover him, but that's just part of hunting. Great work on getting back after it and harvesting a doe!! Congrats!
Milo
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I will post some video when the camera man puts it together for me here is a pic though of the nockturnal before impact. It is some what decieving because it looks like it is headed right behind the shoulder but in fact the arrow went in behind the ribs headed toward the off shoulder. I have looked at the video countless times trying to figure out what went wrong. It looks like everything should have worked right and that buck should not have made it out of site. I know the easy thing is to blame the expandable, but there are too many factors that could have gone wrong. I dont think I could have done anything differently though. I was always a fixed blade guy, last year I swithched to NAP BloodRunners because they are like a fixed blade that expands, a buddy talked me into using the KillZones. I dont know if using a fixed blade would have done a better job, but what I can tell you that by the next hunt I go on I will either have the BloodRunners or a fixed blade.
okay man i gotta ask, if its not the broadheads fault, why you making the switch then?
Milo I have never shot these heads before, I have also never lost a deer from this shot before. I have watched the footage countless times and I just can not figure out what went wrong. I do not know if it is the broadheads fault but I am going to switch to a head I have more history with because I am unsure. If I am not completely confident that the broadhead can make that shot then I dont think I have any other choice but to switch. So the decision to switch is more about me than the head, if I came across as trying to blame the broadhead completely then I apologise, I was just trying to explain what my thought process going forward would be after being asked. Now on the broadside shot with the doe the broadhead worked perfectly and I was impressed with the cutting diameter.
Milo
Tatonka guide.
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Well I will give you MY comments on what I think happened. I think you centerpunched the rib bone...in doing that to added too much force onto the head and it bend causing it to parchute inside the animal
here is a picture of these heads..Do you see the 4 channels in the ferrel? by removing that material is forces the stress onto the 4 columns Aluminum is not all that strong but their is also another bending moment that occurs when the collision happens adds even more force onto these columns, and due to their relatively long length, their slenderness ratio causes them to deflect and fail. this head design is fair inferior to the rage head as they only have 2 cut outs but removing that material causes major weakness in the broadhead cross section. You also have to factor in these stress happen essentially instantly and aluminum is prone to snapping when loaded quickly. You also struck a very tough bone area. at the rounded edges the bone is actually thicker in that section and making it harder to break. Those 4 cutouts make this head a disaster structurally. anytime to remove material and not replace it, bad things can and will happen.
Milo do you believe I would not have had the same outcome if I was using a fixed blade or the BloodRunners?
I got away from mechanicals for this very reason. Unless the buck is standing broadside, I do NOT like my odds with expandables.
A Slick Trick would've put that buck down for sure.
Judging by your shot placement, I can't see how anyone can think anything other than expandable failure. Just my two cents...
I'm not crticizing, because I truly think you put that shot where it needed to be. I lost a big 10 back in 2008 for the same reason. When I found my arrow on a pass through the blades were closed. I've never used an expandable since.
Milo
Tatonka guide.
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fixed blade, no i don't think you would have had the same outcome..blood runners i am not sure. in not convinced the short snubby tip on them isn't a hinderance. the blade angles have me concerned also. i think you made a solid shot personally, did you ever find your arrow?
i will try to post a picture tonight or tomorrow of a shoulder shot doe I hit with a 47 pound longbow. You will see what happens to poorly designed head with they encounter bone.. I guess i wont say poorly designed....i will say "ask more from your broadhead than its been designed to do"
i will try to post a picture tonight or tomorrow of a shoulder shot doe I hit with a 47 pound longbow. You will see what happens to poorly designed head with they encounter bone.. I guess i wont say poorly designed....i will say "ask more from your broadhead than its been designed to do"
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Yeah, I'm not here to gang up on you either, but that shot looked on the money and I'm inclined to agree with Milo. Seeing that picture he posted of the head made it pretty obvious to me that there are some inherent design flaws in that head. Sure is a weak looking ferrule and it wouldn't take much to bend that head and cause it to do funny things on the inside of the deer...
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I can tell you I have made that same shot with a ST. Cut the last two ribs on entrance and exited the offside shoulder paddle as he was ducking. The arrow was and was laying on the ground 10 feet from impact; so I'd venture to say the KE was spent and all but the fetching exited and it flipped out as he bolted. I feel confident enough to say the outcome would have been different with a solid fixed blade head.
Milo I really appreciate your input on this, I was hoping you would let me know what you were thinking.
Jesse I am not taking any of this as anyone ganging up on me. I put this post up and pic knowing I might get a hard time from some. But if anyone can learn from this I think it is more important. Milo we never found the arrow, when we were watching the footage you could see the arrow was still lodged in him. I only got about 12" of penetration which I just could not believe. My fear with using mechanicals for years was hearing horror stories like Cotty's about the head not opening up and not getting a pass through. Looks like I am going to have to shoot some fixed blades to see what shoots best with my set up. I will be back in a stand in 10 days so I need to get this taken care of right away.
Jesse I am not taking any of this as anyone ganging up on me. I put this post up and pic knowing I might get a hard time from some. But if anyone can learn from this I think it is more important. Milo we never found the arrow, when we were watching the footage you could see the arrow was still lodged in him. I only got about 12" of penetration which I just could not believe. My fear with using mechanicals for years was hearing horror stories like Cotty's about the head not opening up and not getting a pass through. Looks like I am going to have to shoot some fixed blades to see what shoots best with my set up. I will be back in a stand in 10 days so I need to get this taken care of right away.
12" of penetration is more than enough to kill a deer. Perhaps there wasnt much of a blood trail because the arrow didn't exit and the part that stayed in plugged the hole? How was your blood trail?
I appreciate you being open about it and taking the constructive criticism in stride. I do believe it is an important learning experience for not just you, but all of us. This is the kind of talk that really adds to the quality of a forum IMO...
Chad there was hardly any blood, we found blood where he first stopped. Looking at the footage it looked like something (probably guts) slid out some, plugging the hole plus the arrow was still in him.