100gr. Rocket Hammerheads!! I have been shooting them for deer and turkeys for the last few years and they have been great!
Here's a pretty cool QDMA link on the recovery rates from both fixed and mechanical broadheads - High Deer Recovery Rates for Fixed-Blade and Mechanical Broadheads | Quality Deer Management Association. I was a Rage 2 blade guy for years and took a 129 inch pope and young in 2010, this year, I wanted to switch it up a little bit and see what else was out there. I shot a few early season with the Rage 2 blade, none went further than 40 yards. Moved to the Muzzy Trocar, she went about 100 yards; the shot was a little high but still cut both lungs and left 100x more blood than any deer I've ever shot with a Rage. I told a friend about them and traded for a 100gr. NAP Spitfire. It shot just like a field point and I got a pass through at 37 yards - puddles of blood. Furthermore, although I haven't had the chance to hunt with them yet, I picked up a pack of 100gr. Ramcats and so far, they're living up to all of their hype. With their advanced back cutting blades, and tear drop bevels on the tip that direct air away from the blades, they shot like field points from 20-60 yards. Give them a look
The QDMA article/study and many others never take into account something I think many forget when comparing the two head types....the fixed blade users are comprised of two types of hunters: -One whom uses them due to the lack of moving parts, usually stronger ferrules (opinion I know), less wasted energy on opening and basically elimination of the risk of something acting up. -One who buys the cheapest most affordable broadhead Walmart or the like has on their shelves. This isn't a blast to the 2nd one, but common sense tells you that the 2nd group has a larger % of their group comprised of inexperienced or "no practice" style of hunters....greatly impacting the results of recovery studies.
https://www.facebook.com/john.jeanneney/posts/575888935840417 John is a friend of mine who founded deer search, he is also the authority when it comes to tracking dogs. I have tracked with John and his dogs several times and if there is a better tracker ...I haven't seen him yet. He has been on over 1000 of the worst calls and his experience is apparent when you see him work. Just another take on the subject.
It is pasted below. John Jeanneney via United Blood Trackers About 75% of my bow season deer calls over the last five years have involved Rage mechanicals that gave insufficient penetration and no exit wound. Obviously I do not get called when Rage heads work well, and I know that a successful Rage kill usually goes with a very impressive exit wound and lots of external bleeding. I don't have the necessary statistical evidence on the different types of heads used for all deer shot to challenge Andy Pedersen's conclusions about effectiveness. It seems to me that the experiments at Indian Head do not reflect attitudes and hunting conditions in the larger bowhunting picture. At Indian Head the hunters were better educated, and they shot at close range. I am assuming that their equipment was appropriate for the conditions of Indian Head. In my own tracking work I find that bowhunters tend to shoot light arrows that give a flatter trajectory for longer shots. Of course this means that there is less kinetic energy to drive the Rage head through tissue and bone after penetration. Many bowhunters tell me that the main reason they like the lighter Rage heads is that they can go directly from target arrows and heads to their Rage heads of the same weight. The Rage-mounted arrow does not plane, and the trajectory is the same. For the average bowhunter the Rage setup is more convenient, and he is not thinking about the effectiveness of the Rage head after penetration on angle shots or when bones are involved. There does seem to be a surprising number of Rage hits that require a tracking dog, and the Rage hit deer are not always mortally wounded. Once the Rage head stops, the blades float and do no more cutting. I suppose that this is a good thing since the whole arrow pulls out easily the way it went in Andy Pedersen's Indian Head study is a contribution to our understanding, but it is not the last word on this complex subject.
I like Original Spitfires for deer and turkey, love my G5 T3's for deer. 3 deer with T3's this past fall, not one ran more than 50 yds.
The only broad head i have used is a muzzy 3 blade fixed have yet to shoot a deer with my bow so take mine with a grain of salt... I think i am going to switch to two blade expandables this year! maybe rage?
So far I've only killed deer with Rage and shot one with a CX Quad Pro 4. It was a bad shot so I can't say goo or bad about the CX head. I have shot a lot of heads to try out and so far the worst flyer was the Muzzy MX-4. Dang things paper tunes to a tee but, when shot at 30+ yards they had a cork screw flight pattern. That may have been due to the fast spinning Quickspins I had fletched at the time. The best flying fixed blades have been NAP Thunderheads. They flew great no matter the fletching. The Spitfires performed excellent as far as flight. I like to test mechanicals on pumpkins. Soft skins let you see how they open. So far the Rage seems to open completely on impact. The others have opened anywhere from half to 3/4 open on impact. They all have been open on exit. With the Rage I haven't had a deer travel more than 50yd. Everyone had great blood and passed through. All were spot on shots and none over 24yd. That probably helps.
My Favorite is Swhacker 100gr. 2" cut. Moving up to the 125gr. 2.25" cut this year. Fixed blades, the Muzzy MX3 and Magnus Singers. Both fly perfect.
