So I'm new to bow hunting. this is my first full season. being inexperienced i wanted to give myself the best chance to kill and recover a deer. I purchased the NAP Killzone broadheads because if the alleged huge entry and exit wounds and the large blood trails. Earlier in the season i shot my first deer ever a doe who gave me a perfect quartering away shot at 24 yds. It wasn't the best shot as it was pretty far back but i had hoped it angled up into the lungs. My issue is i never recovered that deer mostly due to a very poor blood trail. i followed the very skimpy blood trail on hands and knees for 70 yds with large gaps between drops until the trail finally went cold. Im wondering if it was just bad luck or if others have had this issue with the Killzones? if so what do you use now??? PS i shoot 60lbs and 30 inch draw
I hate to say it but the bad blood trail was likely your shot placement. No broadhead will I've you a good blood trail with a bad shot.
Shot placement is ultimately what kills the deer not the broadhead. Keep with it and keep practicing and study where you should place shot on every angle. Nothing wrong with killzones
That wasn't bad luck on the broad head, poor shot placement is the reason for the lack of a blood trail
I'm in complete agreement with what everyone else has said. Killzone is a great head, it does leave a big hole and plenty of blood to follow, as does every broadhead on the market today...when you punch it through the vitals.
Depending on your opinion of a lot of blood or not much blood can be a big difference. A lot of times even a vital shot you may not have much blood right away based on different variables. Being a new bowhunter......if you could take pictures people on here will tell u a lot. Deer can run very fast. You need to grid search for blood to find blood trails sometimes. It can be extremely tough. If you ever hit a deer high and don't get a pass through you can expect a tough blood trail. Even though you might have double lung hit the deer. Blood will pool up in deer instead of shooting out like a lower shot on same vitals. Best advice is always wait at least an hour before tracking. Once you shoot an arrow try to mark landmarks of where you shot and where deer went. Also listen for any sounds that might tell a story of where they are heading or if you hear a crash. I wrote all of this since you said you are a newbie. Everyone is right as said above. Broadheads don't matter to kill a deer. Also test broadheads before hunting to see that they shoot well. We can never have enough practice. I'm still in need of more shooting myself and always will be. Good luck if you are still searching.
Since you are new to bow hunting, I'll take it easy. Several lessons can be learned from your experience. First, you give yourself the best chance at killing and recovering a deer when you take the highest percentage shot which is broad side or slightly quartering away. Second, you didn't recover the deer because you didn't know what to do when you made a bad shot. You didn't say how long you waited but my guess is it wasn't the 8-12 hours necessary before taking up the trail on a gut shot deer. Third, you "hoped it angled up into the lungs" but a shot that was "pretty far back" was not likely to hit the lungs. Maybe one lung but not both. That deer most likely died within 150 yards of where he was shot unless he was pushed. Hopefully your next shot will turn out better. Here is a bit of good information taken right off this site: http://forums.bowhunting.com/showth...al-quot-What-to-do-AFTER-the-shot-Please-Read
Thanks for the input guys and for not tearing me apart lol. It sucks to learn the hard way. but lessons were definitely learned.
