Last night I took my 13th deer with a Rage head....a doe at 38 yds. she ran 50-60 yds in a circle and died in sight in less than 5 seconds. I honestly believe this head is the most devistating head I have ever seen..I shot exactly 14 deer with these heads and lost one to no fault of the head, my poor aim is the culprit. This post is for anyone who is pondering wether to shoot them or not...shoot em, Im a nut when it comes to things working perfectly, paranoid to be truthful, and I have zero worries with these heads now...I did last yr and at the start of this yr, but I have none now. Im not looking to start a debate, Im just trying to ease the minds of those who shoot em and want to shoot em.
You cant post something like that and not expect a debate. On that note i'm not taking a chance, my fixed blades always open and kill them the same.
""You cant post something like that and not expect a debate. On that note i'm not taking a chance, my fixed blades always open and kill them the same. ""
I haven't killed as many animals as you but of the ones I did, Rage's worked perfectly and the animals all died extremely fast.
the two deer i killed this year was with 3 blade rages...did the trip..only going 20 yards and 50 yards...clean pass on both... 2 thumbs up Rage broadheads..
My hang up is I wonder if I have plenty of KE to get consistent pass throughs. I was actually planning on posting that question during the off season and getting some opinions. If I don't have more than enough, I will stick to fixed heads.
If they made a 1.75 inch 2 blade with a STEEL ferrule, I am all in. I've killed with the Rage, but opted out of them this year after finding that with my KE, I trashed a head per shot. That's hit or miss.
x2 ... I personally like taking as many of the "what if's" out of the equation. Glad to hear you are having success with them. Obivously your bow is tuned correctly, and you have adequate KE. Oh, and congrats on a banner year...you've been stacking em up! :D
It's like throwing an axe at a deer :p. I switched this year from G5 montecs (which I loved) to the Rage. I was a little skeptical about them. Ok .... very skeptical. But I must say WOW!!! I really can NOT believe the hole they put in the deer. I killed 2 does and my 9 pointer with them. All passthrough and I think the farthest was my buck that went maybe 40 yards. One doe went about 10 yards the other about 20. These things are devestating! I dont' see myself going to anything different. The only thing I don't like about them is sticking them in my quiver without having them open. Anyone know a good quiver that accepts the rage better?
Those of you that know me, know I am a believer in fixed blades. Here is what I personally know about the Rage. An outfitter I know by Albia will no longer allow his clients to use them. Every deer that has been lost in the last two years by his clients has been shot with a Rage. It is not a small number of animals either. I believe it was 10 or more deer. This year a friend of mine hosted a buddy from Minnesota and when he had Rage heads on his arrows my friend tried to get him to switch to fixed before they hunted. His buddy refused and crippled the buck of his life. The arrow penetrated about 2 inches and bounced out. Low KE???, Hit too much bone??? (scapula area) They switched him out to fixed blades and the next buck he shot was a clean pass-through. I have heard of many other hunters that have had very poor penetration with Rage and have lost deer. I think if you center punch the deer through the soft spot you are fine. If you catch very much bone there is just way too much head to get the job done. I have had fixed blades go through scapula, leg bone, defletct off shoulder and continue through, etc. In my opinion you are far more likely to get some deflection and better penetration from a strong fixed blade than any mechanical. If mechanicals are so good, why do some Western states and many outfitters not allow them.? Perhaps they encourage poor shot selection?? Any head through the center will kill a deer. I want a head that gives me the best opportunity for a kill on marginal hits that may hit some heavy bone and there is no argument in the fact that a fixed is going to stand the punishment and penetrate better. Ballistics jell does not represent what happens when you hit some bone. We shot fixed heads right through a steel barrell, the Rages and other expandables exploded, sheering blades off.
I am not really a mechanical fan but I did want to try the NAP Bloodrunner because of its' "fixed" design and somewhat smaller size than the rage. To use it I made an arrow specifically for it and that is what I think you need for the rage, an arrow made specifically to use it. Besides the KE to power it through the animal IMO you need a high FOC, and sufficient arrow weight to give you the needed momentum. The problem that I see with most rage users that post in the forums is that they have an untuned bow shooting a poorly designed arrow and those two things decrease the KE substantially so that, even if they are shooting 70lbs, they still don't have sufficient KE for a mechanical like the rage. This is what the NAP Bloodrunner did at 60ftlbs of KE with a properly tuned bow and an arrow made to use it. http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?t=9926
I have killed two deer with the rage, no issues at all. I killed this year's buck with a Slick Trick. I have wondered if I used a rage would I have recvored this buck. Let just say I missed a bit from where I was aiming. I aim for a good miss also, not a perfect shot. I execpt to be off a bit. When a deer is 32 yds away and moving
Germ, in my opinion, you would have been disappointed if you had been using a large expandable. That is exactly the type of shot that made me go back to a strong fixed blade head years ago. With so many good fixed blades on the market and the ability to get them to shoot just like field points I see no advantage to an expandable. Congrats on a nice buck.
I think with a rage a hunter needs to be more selective with their shot choices, I am just not. Both does I waited for the idea shot, and I will say it was awesome what a rage did to those deer.
Plain and simple the Rage is a good head if you somehow never have contact with the shoulder. That is the reason that I switched to fixed (Slick Trick). I just never want to hit that big deer or any deer in the shoulder and have to depend on a expandable to get penetration. Those that use the expandable rages see probably the most devestating wounds and for good reason. But as bowhunters know anything can happen and sooner or later your going to hit to far forward and hit that shoulder and when that happens I want a fixed blade.
People hunting with me this year have had ONE issue with a BH (that really had NOTHING AT ALL to do with the BH). A friend was hunting and shot a buck and got ZERO penetration. The head broke off at the ferrule. Not "just below"....AT the ferrule. I'm sure the deer is fine. Not much blood on the trail, at all. If you're packing enough KE AND your bow is in tune....the rage heads are devastating. Period. Oh....the BH in question above was a 2 blade, fixed head.
I've taken 4 deer this year with the rage. 3 out of 4 died within 30 yards of the shot. I shot one doe that lunged forward right when I left off the the release and hit her back. The arrow went through her pounch and out the back leg. She died within 60 yards of the stand after letting her go over night. I love the accuracy and KE has never been a problem. I've had complete pass throughs will all my shots.
I was wondering about using the 3 blade Rage broadheads. I'm using 3 blade 100 grain Muzzys right now. I like the Muzzys, so I'll probably stick with them for now.
I think we should stop the current debate and wait until Eddie Salter weighs in on this pressing matter.
