i know a lot of people think the 30 dollar broadheads are all that but i've been using easton three blade 100 grain expandables from wal-mart for the last 5-7 years and i haven't lost a deer in a while. i've shot seven or eight deer over the last three years and if i do my job they don't go far at all. i may lose one tomorrow but i'm still happy with the averages.
i started using rockets three blade and then i started using the eastons and i haven't been able to tell a difference. about 12 dollars for three.
just thought i'd share a little info in these tough times. i also use the cheap arrows from walmart with the two inch vanes. they're not durable but they'll do.i can stand five bucks a piece, and i can buy one or six at a time.

I hear you Globe. I irks me to see a 3 pack of bh's priced from $30-$50 & what's worse is people pay it. That's the very reason guns, bows, leases, trucks, atv's, ect... have increased so much in price, someone will pay it.

Are you able to reuse the head after you shoot a deer or miss and stick it in the ground? Can you find replacement blades for them? I shoot fixed heads and resharpen the blades myself. My heads may cost $10 a piece, but I can shoot numberous deer with them.

That's why your able to kill them deer Shaw, they're numb!

Whatcha doing to them to get them in that "numberous" state so you can kill em'?

:p

Numerous....Dang typo police. :rolleyes:

guy i work with uses those cheap walmart fixed blades and has kid several deer with them...

I've been using the same 4 muzzy heads since 2005.
I think they've killed 9 deer, although it's probably just one head that has actually killed all the deer.
I noticed, while resharpening them recently, that 3 of the heads still look brand new and one shows some wear.
I must be a creature of habit, using the same arrow all the time.

I'm using the same 3 blade muzzy's that I bought around ten years ago. I bought a 6 pack, but one had a run in with a tree. These muzzy's have shot many deer over the years and still fly straight. After a shot just take the blades apart, run them under water to clean and put back togeter. I love them.

I'm glad you started this topic, globe, as I was about to start a similar one.

My 3 arrow arsenal (lol) was unacceptable so I decided to buy 3 arrows and a 3 pack of Muzzy broadheads.

My wife went grocery shopping in Montgomery, Saturday, so I gave her one of my 3 Easton Carbon Storm arrows for reference. She bought me 3 Easton Flatliner D.O.A.'s...and a pack of 6, Muzzy 125 grain, 3 blades. With a bottle of Windicator...the total amount was $78.38 for 3 arrows and the approx. $3 bottle of Windicator!

My acceptable Carbon Storms were half that price but they told my wife the Flatliner D.O.A's were compatible to my Carbon Storms...and they didn't have Carbon Storms. -+3 in straightness and -+2 in weight...for Flatliners as opposed to -+5/-+3 for Carbon Storms.

I don't even glance at the mechanical blade or $39 packs....I can't afford them.

Whew ! This stuff is really expensive !

I'm with you, globe...we probably don't need the really expensive broadheads to kill a buck, anyway.

we use to sharpen our blades on the old wasp broadheads we had in the late 80s. We used a rubber wheel on the grinder.
If you'll take the time to sharpen them, then you can pay whatever. I don't have time anymore.
I often lose a broadhead when I kill a deer also.
No head to re-sharpen!
Excuse the iPhone. Typos!

(oops...I somehow deleted my own post while trying to edit...and I'm having computer problems. Sorry.)

I don't even glance at the mechanical blade or $39 packs....I can't afford them.

Whew ! This archery equipment is really expensive !

I've been able to get some really good deals on broadheads from ebay and gunbroker.com. I wanted to buy locally, but when I went up to my local, independent hunting store, they wanted twice what I could pay for a set of Muzzies on ebay. In fact, this summer, I got two 3-packs of Muzzies for 15 bucks on ebay.

Same for ammo. Before I ever leave the house to buy, I check auctions online.

Remember the commercial where the Native American was looking at how this land has been trashed & had a tear rolling down his face? Just imagine how he would feel if he went into Academy to pick up a a pack of broadheads! That salesman across the gun counter would probably have a tomahawk implanted in his skull.

I for one am glad that some people choose to shoot the Walmart expandable broadheads, b/c their piss poor performance allowed me to kill the deer below.


After capping out the deer I was cutting chunks of neck meat off and my knife hit something that made a metallic sound. Upon closer inspection I found a walmart expandable 3-blade broadhead (minus one blade) and small piece of bone fully encapsulated in a piece of grisle(sp?) near the center of the deers neck. The deer was obviously shot in the dead center of the neck, half way between the head and chest, a season or two before with the cheapo walmart expandable which didn't penetrate into the vertebra at all and simply lodged up against it. There was no sign of an entrance wound and the deer was 100% healthy. I never found the missing blade third blade from the broadhead. If the deer had been shot with a good fixed head I doubt I'd be writing this. So to all my hunting neighbors shooting walmart expandables.....keep up the good work!

sounds more like a piss poor shot than broadhead performance.
A mechanical is not made for neck and shoulder shots. I know that going in. If I put it through the ribs, they won't go far.
I've shot way more deer with fixed than mechanical, but my percentage of recovery went WAY up with mechanicals.

Good luck!

I spend too much time and effort to be able to hunt to spend ANY money at Walmart for cheap Walmart stuff!

Walmart sells the cheapest stuff it can and many mfg's cut corners to make Walmart's requirements that they be the cheapest.

There are a few things I buy there but not ANYTHING related to archery.

You probably don't need an expensive broadhead to kill a deer. But the cost of broadheads is so small compared to the overall cost of hunting, why worry about it? After spending thousands of dollars each year on land, seed, fertilizer, clothing, vehicles, gas, guns/bows/optics, stands, etc.; I'm not going to base my broadhead selection on price. So what if you save $5 per broadhead, and shoot 6 of them a year? That's a whopping $30. That's two bags of fertilizer.

Sounds more like your shooting skills improved.

Personally, I'm not going to shoot a broadhead that only works if I make a perfect shot.

I spend way too much time and effort trying to make it all come together, for a few seconds of that moment of truth, to risk it all on a disposable blade.

How do you know that it was a cheap wall-mart broadhead? Did it have a sticker on it?

I personally think it does not matter what type of broadhead you hit them with as long as you hit them in the boiler room they will go down. Now as far as shooting a fixed blade vs. expandable I would rather shoot a fixed blade due to the fact that they get more penetration if I hit a bone or shoulder. My muzzie fly just like my field points, no difference what so ever.

Got a friend that has shot three wall hangers with the Rage and did not get penetration and did not recover any of the deer. In fact he told me yesterday he is going to switch to his fixed blade this week. He is an aldeer member so I won't mention his name. Maybe he will read this and chime in. However I will say "to each his own"!