Broadhead choice for 2020

[180splitg3]

Hey guys. I'm really struggling with choosing a head for this year. I have been looking at a bunch of different heads from coc single bevel all the way to the expandables. I have taken several deer with rage 2 blade heads (probably 90% of my kills) but have been following the trend of going to a more rugged coc head and it seems to make sense. I will be hunting mainly whitetails but am going on my first archery muley hunt in October. My dilemma is this - I have only lost one deer in 13 years with a rage 2 blade (hit above spine, non fatal hit with any head) so why switch? Some of these hits have been back more than I wanted but the rage still tore them up - I have never hit the front shoulder. I'm shooting a 60# bowtech reign with 520 grain TAW at around 250 fps. I am currently debating between the 125 cutthroat and the rage tryphan - I realize these are very different heads and each have their own benefits on different types of hits. I don't hear of a ton of members using the rage heads currently but maybe they are afraid of getting blasted by the more vocal fixed head group so they don't speak up?! I would love to hear your input on both heads for deer. I am thinking penetration will be more crucial with a longer shot on a mule deer (cutthroat) but at close range on a whitetail I feel like a big nasty hole would be better (tryphan). Maybe I should use a different head for each hunt but was thinking I'd like to stick to one head...

 

[bsnedeker]

I use the cutthroat and I really like them, but if you are successful and confident with your rage heads i don't think it makes a lot of sense to switch it up just because the internet says you should. For deer I think expandable heads are fine. If you ever go chasing elk or moose i would probably look to switch.

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[justin davis]

I’m using Iron wills

 

[Billy Goat]

Confidence is number 1.

I'm not a fan of rage, but I think if you use some of the smaller cutting diameter stuff you will be fine. They look to me to be close to the same size closed as several fixed, so I don't see a big gain in flight characteristics. I know several guys who routinely kill elk with a rage, they don't have any complaints.

I haven't had any issues with spitfire. I shoot a lot of different heads tho, not positive what I'll take elk hunting yet. I do know that they are all tuned so it's not a big deal.

 

[Evol]

I'm a broadhead whore and buy tons every year.

This year I'll run slick trick 125's for my fixed and Evolution Outdoor Hydes as my mechanical. These are new without a ton of info on them but they seem very well made and I've had good experience with the makers previous heads (gravediggers). Just my .02 if you wanted to try another mech besides rage.

 

[Trial153]

Going with IWs and Raptor tricks/sevr out of my open country setup and for my whitetail rig it will Soilds and raptor tricks for does.

Not sure what I will use on my cat hunts this year

 

[xcutter]

I'm going with Trophy Taker ATAC 125s. Great heads and fly awesome. Difficult to sharpen though.

 

[dkime]

I’m shooting the Day six XLs, I’ve got a pretty killer setup with an obnoxiously heavy arrow for my treestand setups. If I make it out west I will probably drop down a little bit in weight


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[WhatToHunt]

I'm with you, I too have been following the trend of going to a more rugged coc head and agree it makes sense. Have shot G5 Havocs past few years and had some poor penetration which worries me. Just ordered some Viper Tricks and upping my FOC with some brass inserts. The Magnus heads were interesting, but I was able to practice with a Viper Trick and it shoots just as well as my field tips.

 

[Joe Holden]

Sevrs for expandable.

Montec / VPA / Black Widow PX2 / QAD Exodus for fixed. They all hit at 50. Stretching out a bit further this weekend to finalize choice.

Edit: QAD more consistent to 100. Staying with them.

 

[Laramie]

For deer, a relatively sharp spoon would do the trick. Don't overthink this. If you own rage, and are confident you can place them where they need to go, there is absolutely zero reason to change. I have shot deer with a pile of different expandables. They all produced a dead deer when I put the arrow where it needed to go.

 

[ckkone]

SEVR 1.5 and Grim Reaper Micro Hades 3 blade.

 

[Zac]

Heads are fun to play with and the Cut Throat isn't super expensive. I would buy some shoot them at targets and then get very proficient at resharpening them. It's a great skill to pick up and you are going to have that head forever. Then if you have experience with them and an elk or moose hunt falls in your lap you know the exact arrow setup to employ.

 

[Kenn1320]

I always had good luck with expandable heads, except for some early versions. I had great blood trails with rage 2 blade. I now hunt with a recurve and not happy with fixed 2 blade heads. I've switched to vpa 3 blade.

 

[sammymc12w]

This was my experience with SEVR 2.1’s last year. The tip failed and did not penetrate the shoulder of a 175# whitetail buck. With a little bit of luck, the buck limped back out to posture up to another mature buck that came in and I put a finishing QAD Exodus tipped arrow in him at 63 yds. All of the SEVRS were shipped back to the company for a refund (which I haven’t gotten back now that I think about it!). If the tip failed on a whitetail buck, then I’ve got no confidence in it for an elk rib or shoulder. My .02 cents


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[sammymc12w]

This was my experience with SEVR 2.1’s last year. The tip failed and did not penetrate the shoulder of a 175# whitetail buck. With a little bit of luck, the buck limped back out to posture up to another mature buck that came in and I put a finishing QAD Exodus tipped arrow in him at 63 yds. All of the SEVRS were shipped back to the company for a refund (which I haven’t gotten back now that I think about it!). If the tip failed on a whitetail buck, then I’ve got no confidence in it for an elk rib or shoulder. My .02 cents


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[sammymc12w]

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[sammymc12w]

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[7mmremmag]

wasp sharpshooter 150s

 

[Pbast81]

Have to agree with others on this thread. Why switch if you are accurate and confident? Accuracy kills more than the type of head you are using.