Summary: Bad shot placement, passthrough, impossible tracking job, questioning broadhead performance, destroyed liver, found deer, still unsure of pivot design. Lessons: Knowing where your shot hit is important to know what you might be dealing with. Not giving up on the blood trail is critical in any tracking situation. Getting help allows you to work with more confidence for a longer period of time. Any of the three broadheads I carry would have likely performed the same with the shot placement (my guess). Setup: Diamond Iceman, Approx 57lb DW, and 28DL. Backstory: Got a chance to use the SEVR 1.5 broadhead for the first time on a live animal. In practice, I had a ton of confidence in this head as it was flying nice out of my setup (I actually felt is was more accurate than the 1.5 Rage...which I also am carrying in my quiver this year). Very helpful that you can practice with the same exact head, then use said head-on game day by removing a small Allen screw. Even so, I kept the head I used for practice out of the quiver. Results: Time = Shot Hunting from a tree, I sent an arrow about 2o yards toward a smaller buck which was a very slight quarter too angle. My arrow hit high and back, will full penetration. I figured it passed through but, could not find my arrow at the shot of the site. Knowing it was not a great shot, I figured it was at least the liver and at best, possible lung. Time = 1-hour post shot At the point of impact, there was zero blood and no found hair. 5 yards away, found a clump of hair and the first signs of blood. There was very, very little blood. I started becoming concerned already. In standard leaves, I found a few pinhead-sized drops. I managed to track about 40 yards by looking for roughed up leaves and prints vs blood. In the first 40-50 yards, it was a struggle to find anything more than pin drops every 10 or more feet. At approx that time, I found the arrow on top of some scrub brush. Broadhead was clean, the front half of the arrow shaft, mostly clean. Back half and back of the fletching, full of dark red, thick blood. Arrow did not have any foul smell so, I once again thought liver, no lung, and no guts. At this time I backed out to give it more time. Arrow seemed to me to have been pulled out confirming pass through. Time = 2-hours and 15 minutes post shot Tracking from this point forward -- I was hoping would be much easier knowing two-holes however, it only became more difficult. By this time I had my father and uncle with me and ready to help. Blood from one drop to the next was about every 8-10 feet and when found was a single drop the size of half your pinky fingernail. We could not detect any other type of blood on the leaves and brush. We went over 10 - 15 yards now before finding a single drop. Time = 3 hours post shot, we are about 75 yards from the original impact and making no progress finding blood or knowing which direction the buck could have gone. We started walking trails and searching for best guess directions. From the last drop of found blood, I randomly found a single spot again over 20 yards away. This happened again about 20-30 yards later. (mostly luck finding the last two drops) From this drop, we went about 10 yards till the next drop, then, the blood changed back to the pinhead-sized drops and every couple feet. The three of us were able to once again actually track vs guess. We tracked for another 20 yards or so, looked up and 10 yards ahead of us is my dead buck. Buck went about 150 - <200 yards from the shot. Confirmed that the arrow was high and back. In gutting, the liver was completely destroyed. Really just shattered, like a bullet hit it. Bleeding was massive but, all internal. Entry and exit holes were OK, nothing remarkable. For entry and exit however, being high did not help with blood tracking. Buck never bedded down and was stiff as a board once found so, confirming a fairly quick kill. At the time of shot I was very confident in the SEVR broadhead, as I chose it over the rage 1.5 and SlickTricks (I carry 3 different heads). After hit I was a bit concerned I did not find the arrow till 40-50 yards and the broadhead was very clean. At the time of tracking, I was wishing I had used the rage or ST as I could not understand why the blood trail was so bad. Once recovered I was relieved and know that bad shot placement is likely why blood trail was practically zero and that is likely the case with any head I would have used. I love that the liver was destroyed. Was this the broadheads handy work and would all of them would have performed that well, no idea. I'm still a little concerned with the head design and pivoting blades. Not sure why but, just how I feel at the moment.
I bought the 2 inch 150 grain heads to try for this next year. I will have to report on how they do after next year.
I enjoyed how they shot. Will selectively shoot them next year as well. I'm starting to shoot fixed more and more over the past few years. I like both fixed and mechanical.
Thanks for sharing this. I’ve taken quite a few animals with the 1.5–Muley, Zebra, Blesbok, and whitetail. Every time the head looked brand new afterwards. The blood trails were all either good or great, based on the shot placement. It’s become my go to head. I test a ton of broadhead’s—like 70+ last year alone on my channel (Lusk Archery Adventures). The 1.5 is by far the most durable mech I’ve ever tested. It’s the only one to make it thru a .22 ga steel plate 5 times ( the next best was 2). I shot one into a cinder block 3 times and it was still going strong. Another into an elk scapula 13 times. There are many factors affecting blood trails—cutting diameter, durability, sharpness, edge retention, penetration, etc. But the biggest factor by far is shot placement. The other factors pale in comparison to that. This year i shot a doe with a Tooth of the Arrow on top of a True Blue Crossbreed. That’s 4” of cut! I hit her high and back, just like you described. Pass thru. Almost no blood. It was a liver shot snd she died fairly quickly...the lack of blood had nothing to do with the broadhead—it made a HUGE hole...it was just not in a place that created a good blood trail. I also shot a doe with a tiny 1 1/8” 2 blade. Blood everywhere! It was a low double lung shot snd most of the blood came from her mouth and nose. Broadhead selection does matter...but shot placement matters even more. Congratulations on your buck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
