Mechanical broadheads for elk.

[dvm_hunter]

Not to be a butthole, but how do all of you that "lost" animals know the broadheads didn't deploy?? I've shot T3's since they've come out and I've recovered the arrows and the blades be closed. But, I also recovered my animals and it was apparent they opened.

 

[gabenzeke]

Not to be a butthole, but how do all of you that "lost" animals know the broadheads didn't deploy?? I've shot T3's since they've come out and I've recovered the arrows and the blades be closed. But, I also recovered my animals and it was apparent they opened.

Found one carcass shed hunting about 500 yards from where the blood trail stopped. Arrow was still in the rib cage. I guess the other one I just assume failed, but you're right, I don't know that for sure. I do know the arrow hit the right spot. Hardly any blood to that one. Game warden even came out and helped me look.

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[jmez]

I won't shoot them at elk or deer but that is just my personal opinion. I've had good results with Spitfires on antelope.

I asked my hunter about the flight, he said the only adjustment he had to do was on his sight due to the elevation change from sea level to 9000'.

I think this is one of the biggest problems with mechanical heads and the primary reason there are failures with them. Most all mechanical heads fly like a field point as they have a similar profile. This allows guys to simply sight in a bow and then go hunt. No tuning involved or required. You now have poor arrow flight that never gets corrected. Couple poor arrow flight with a head that requires more energy for penetration and in many cases a design that is prone to kicking out and you end up with a poor result.

I'd guess that the guys that have the best luck with them are tuning their bows.

 

[NMbackcountry]

Not to be a butthole, but how do all of you that "lost" animals know the broadheads didn't deploy?? I've shot T3's since they've come out and I've recovered the arrows and the blades be closed. But, I also recovered my animals and it was apparent they opened.

I know for a fact that the T3 failed. I recovered the arrow and the blades were still locked. It wasn't by chance, the blades never deployed.

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[jmez]

i think there have been a lot of problems with the T3 head haven't there?

 

[MuleyFever]

I won't shoot them at elk or deer but that is just my personal opinion. I've had good results with Spitfires on antelope.



I think this is one of the biggest problems with mechanical heads and the primary reason there are failures with them. Most all mechanical heads fly like a field point as they have a similar profile. This allows guys to simply sight in a bow and then go hunt. No tuning involved or required. You now have poor arrow flight that never gets corrected. Couple poor arrow flight with a head that requires more energy for penetration and in many cases a design that is prone to kicking out and you end up with a poor result.

I'd guess that the guys that have the best luck with them are tuning their bows.

I agree with this. Fact is most hunters are lazy part timers. They shoot their bow a couple times before they go out and they love mechanicals because they don't think they need to practice with them. They shoot an arrow that is not flying quite true and when a mechanical hits an animal with the tail slightly off to one side they don't get the full energy of the arrow.

Now I believe a lot of hunters are committed and do the work and some still have a mechanical fail but I bet the majority of the stories you hear are from either poorly tuned bows or poor shots that are blamed on the Brodhead.

 

[camping1601]

I started last season shooting the g5 T3 mechanicals. I had previously harvested a deer and an elk with them so I felt fairly confident in them. September strolled around and I loosed an arrow on a bull. It felt like a good shot but after trailing him I found my arrow but never found the bull. The blades failed to deploy so the entry/exit hole was slightly bigger than a field point. I switched to slick tricks for my next two hunts and got clean pass throughs everytime. I'll be avoiding mechanicals from now on.

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There's definitely something wrong with the T3.

 

[5MilesBack]

I tried the T3's out of the package a few years ago, and none of the three spun true. I won't put a BH on my arrows that doesn't spin perfectly true.

 

[TheCougar]

I've had good success with the rage chisel tips. I've also head good things about the killzones and I will probably try them next year.

 

[Beendare]

I had decent luck with mech heads but stopped using them for MANY reasons, the top 5;

1) They are harder to BH tune for perfect arrow flight. CONTRARY TO WHAT MANY THINK, just because your mech heads shoot close to your FP's, that DOESN'T mean you have perfect arrow flight [and perfect arrow flight is key to it all!]

2)The blades are cheap, weak

3) They limit my shot selection. The addl performance from a strong fixed COC head can turn a bad shot location into a killing shot. The difference is amazing almost guaranteeing 2 holes every time and they get through tough tissue to vital organs better.

4) I don't have to think about my BH at crunch time; blades opening in the quiver...or in flight, etc

5) animals shot with a mech head know they have been hit...and take off like they are on fire. On the contrary with a fixed COC head many times they have no idea what just happened. I have had much easier recoveries overall with COC heads.

Edit; To each his own...mech heads work fine in most cases........a guy just needs to understand the ins and outs of his setup.

 

[switchback270]

Does anyone have experiences with Ramcat broadheads on elk?

 

[dieselgenset]

I'm curious about ram cats too. Going to try them and QAD exodus swept broad heads this year

 

[switchback270]

I'm curious about ram cats too. Going to try them and QAD exodus swept broad heads this year

I've had great experience with the ram cats on 3 whitetails so far. Planning an elk hunt this fall and think I'm going to stick with them.

 

[Beendare]

I did a whole pictorial on hunting arrows on the Wapiti talk site....that some might find interesting

 

[Yotekiller]

A friend of mine has killed a pile of elk with grim reapers. Never had any issues. I have shot 3 whitetails with g5 t3 and had a failure with all 3. 2 never deployed and the one that did broke 1 blade and another blade bent down until it hit the shaft. The deer were recovered but it looked like I shot them with field points. The last one was a nice buck that I left alone for 6 hours before bumping him out of his bed. Came back the next day and found him dead. Any other broadhead I have ever shot that deer would have been dead within a few minutes.

 

[elkduds]

I did a whole pictorial on hunting arrows on the Wapiti talk site....that some might find interesting

Thorough review w great illustrations, even an x-ray of unopened mech head in an ungulate.

 

[sneaky]

Does anyone have experiences with Ramcat broadheads on elk?

I used to have an archery shop and had several customers who killed elk with ram cats. They were very effective, even on some marginal hits.

 

[Beendare]

Not to be a butthole, but how do all of you that "lost" animals know the broadheads didn't deploy?? I've shot T3's since they've come out and I've recovered the arrows and the blades be closed. But, I also recovered my animals and it was apparent they opened.

So a good buddy Hector lost a 161" buck using those T3's...the original version. He said when he shot the buck [25 yds from a treestand] the arrow didn't look right as it was corkscrewing on the way to what would have been the best buck of his life. Hector shoots for Mathews as a pro in the ASA tour...so we KNOW the guy can shoot [this is awhile back]

So back at camp I told him to pull one out...we took a look, it was fine...."Pull another one"....well what do you know...one of the blades deployed when pulling it out of his quiver. Same thing happened with another one we tried.

.500 is damn good as a baseball avg...but it sucks on arrows.

So lets look at the "Why"
1) he screwed them on ASSUMING they would fly like his field points
2) he never test fired them....tough to do with some of the mech heads without wrecking them
3) he didn't tune....so who knows if he had good BH arrow flight [see Mez's post above]
4) when shooting these, he needed to pay attention when loading them. So right at the moment of truth he has to divert his attention away from the animal to check whether his BH is still perfect?

Many mech head shooters are leaving crucial arrow flight testing to chance. Well thats fine....just don't be disappointed when they fail....and yes, they do FAIL....in many ways potentially.

if you are going to shoot mech heads understand the implications........and test the same as you would any other BH....and you will be fine.

 

[Beendare]

Oh...how did we know Hectors buck was 161"?

A gal shot it 5 days later on the same farm in rifle season. They also had it on camera.

My buddy, the farmer, noticed the wound and the fact it was the buck Hector described to a T. He said in 40 years of whitetail hunting he had never seen anything like that wound channel. The arrow entered a little high center body [pretty decent shot location] ...but then angled straight down just inside the rib cage and exited. He said the one lung had a nick in it but that was about it. That buck was out chasing does like nuthin happened only 5 days later.

 

[switchback270]

I used to have an archery shop and had several customers who killed elk with ram cats. They were very effective, even on some marginal hits.

Thanks for the input!