I have been bow hunting since I was 17 and very seldom ever hunt with a gun, maybe a muzzleloader on occasion. I started out shooting Thunderheads and then switched over to Muzzy after about 5 years later, and continued to shoot Muzzy for almost 30 years. I decided to give Slick Trick a try, thanks to Perchjerker and have been pleased with their results.

But after watching the results that my oldest son has had with Rage, I will go on record and state that I cam going to be shooting Rage next season. I hope that I have the same results that my son has had with the Rage broadheads next year.

You must relinquish your title as "muzziehead" now & give it to someone else that shoots Muzzy's.

You wont be disappointed. As long as you hit them where your suppose to you will have no problems.

You'll regret it lil sister. LOL

Easier said than done. I'd rather take my chances with a fixed head and be able to bust that shoulder if needed.

Good luck to you Muzzie. I know it's not an easy decision. I've been weighing the same for about 4 years now. I just can't put a price tag on the confidence that comes when I snap that fixed bladed arrow on the string each hunt.

The rage is a copy of another head,Rocky Mountain I think. I used that head one season and it was the only season I lost deer shot with my bow.Shoulder hits didnt penetrate. Hits with good blood stopped bleeding. With the Slicks I've seen or heard every deer pile up. I tried mechanical heads, saw fixed is best for me. If it ain't broke why mess with it ?

Whatever gives you confidence I would shoot it. I will say that I have seen multiple broadheads used and if you hit that shoulder bone your not getting much penetration. One being the great slick trick, still didn't penetrate and ended up with a lost deer. Id rather be a little back that forward any day.

I was a fixed head hold out up until the year before last. I'm shooting the NAP Killzones and the NAP Slingblades now. The holes they punch and the blood trails they leave are far better than any fixed head I've ever used.

Good to hear Shaw. You had any marginal hit experience with them or have you double lunged them all? The only mechanical I've ever shot was the Spitfire, and while I liked it, there is just something in the back of my mind that nags me about that mechanical.

I centered the shoulder blade on a doe last year and didn't get but about 3" of penetration, so no recovery. I've hit 3 or 4 in the same spot with a fixed head in the past with the same results. There's one spot on that shoulder you will not send a broadhead through, I don't care what anyone says. I've killed a many of them by hitting them in the shoulder, but I didn't hit that spot. All of my kills were center lung or heart shots except for one. The 8pt I killed last year was with a neck shot, on purpose, and he was DRT. The only other deer I hit and didn't recover with the Killzone was an old 9pt last year. I grazed him across the top of his back.

Im a swhacker guy.. I shot a rage at an armadillo this year... Broke a blade and i threw the other two in the garbage.. I could hear it flying through the air. I wish you luck with them but I will never ever buy another rage.

yep

I personally would not go away from the tricks. That is your decision though. Shoot whatever makes you the most comfortable.

I keep want to try a different head, but I'm old school and for some reason I stay true to my roots!
Simmons interceptors 190 is all I've ever shot and I've had 0 problems.

I switched from Rage Hypos to Ramcat and haven't been sorry.

I lost two deer this year with my Slick Tricks, thus the reason for the change. Both were what I would consider boiler room hits and produced plenty of blood but from some reason I never recovered either deer. The one deer that did recover ran almost 500 yards and it was a damn near perfect hit.

We shall see. I should get to practice up on a few hogs between now and next season with the Rages.

First year bow hunting so I tried 3 different blades, first I shot a doe at 20yds with Muzzy Trocar; passed through the ribs with good blood trail piled up after 45yds.
Next deer was shot with Rage Chisel Tip 3 blade, passed through the ribs with decent blood trail and very little damage to blades.
Last deer was Rage Chisel Tip 2 blade, shot high. Cut the spine in half with the top blade passing through with over a 1/4" sticking through the opposite side ribs.

I still say we get a sticky going of pics of different broadhead entrances and exits with distance to deer found so the proof is right there.

Just aim farther back. It's not that hard! I'll take 6" behind the shoulder everyday with any big name mechanical on the market.

Can you post more details on the shot. As someone that has Tricks on my arrows (after 20 years of shooting Thunderheads) this is concerning.




That's a good idea.

Dang 500 yards of tracking a deer with a dang near perfect hit...
Most deer wouldn't have that much blood to track for 500 yards. And I've gut shot deer that only ran 100 yards, took them a few hours to die but they died right where they laid down at the first time.
Although I've only shot 1 head since I was 12 I've seen other heads reek havoc on deer and all of them do their job. Some expandable heads will not enter on a heavy angle shot some will do just fine. Chisel point or cut on contact? I look for 2 things in a head .
1. Durability
2. Availability

I want a head that I can wash off resharpen and reuse, and if I need more I can order and have them here in a few days.
Seems like every time I'm look through a catalog or in a store they have changed the style of the thunderhead or muzzy or new expandable heads. Surely with the change in design they fly different and requires a little tweeking.
I'm pretty sure I have a few of my first Simmons I ever bought some 26 years ago and they still do the job in my set up.

I shot one thru the hips opening day this year with nap killzones she went 75 yards and piled up. In all honesty I shot at her further than I should have. I watched her for awhile and she was calm but it was one of those dead still afternoons when there was no noise in the woods. The shot would have been good had she not jumped at the shot. I had been practicing out to 80 yards all summer and felt confident. Even shot some before I hunted that afternoon. She was at a ranged 63 yards. I was stupid to even try the shot and that'll be the last one I sling an arrow at that far. I will say the enterance and exit holes looked like an axe wound.

I have never herd of a deer shot in the boiler room go 500 yards. I have had subpar shots with slicks and the deer still die within 100 yds. A deer shot through both lungs aint going 500 yards. I don't care if you shot them with a field point.

Not to mention you are one of the few people I have ever heard saying anything negative about a slick. I have got friends that used to shoot big mechanicals to convert to tricks and they never looked back and never had any issue.

Shoot whatever is going to give you more confidence. I will tell you this though, if you are looking at the rages you will find a heck of a lot more bad things said about them than tricks or muzzy's.

I call fowl on near perfect shot Muzzie ! I think many of these "bad" shots are due to taking long shots and the deer either moving or re-acting to the shot. I'm not william tell, but I usually see or hear my slick kills pile up. Bow hunting is supposed to be about getting close and making a killing shot.

Amen

I quit shooting Rages 2 years ago after losing a couple deer. I swapped to SlickTricks and have not been sorry. As was stated above, if you make a perfect shot with the Rage, theyre awesome. But as we all know, that perfect shot doesnt always happen. I havent lost a deer since switching to Slicks and the farthest one went 100yds. I personally have more confidence in them than any other broadhead ive ever shot.

I don't care what broadhead you shoot them with. If you hit that specific spot in the shoulder, your gonna loose the deer.

Believe I've heard that before.

Any broadhead will penetrate when placed in the correct spot. I love the rages because of the entrance and exit holes. I've had a few shots where the arrow was not a complete pass through, but the entrance hole was as big as the exit and had NO trouble finding blood.

I'm not sure which spot you're talking about but if you're referring to the shoulder blade area with a broadside shot I can learn you something with the Simmons that I shoot! I've hit them in every spot imaginable in the shoulder and although some did not exit all of them died!!!
I'm a firm believer that on a direct hit to the shoulder the arrow is just as important as the head. Light carbon arrows ain't my thing I still shoot logs at them! 30 inch long 2219 with 190 Simmons plus bleeder blades out of a 69# parker or a 75lb longbow into any part of the fuel pump area= 1 dead SOB!

Stik are you shooting land shark ? huge double edge braodhead ?

I heard that my goal is to kill one with a recurve one day. The shot opportunities are just few and far in between. I believe a bear razor head would do it to but for practical purposes out of a compound bow most broadheads won't penetrate.

I shoot bipolar it is a hybrid head.

Interceptors!

landsharks are 150 grain, that's what my wife shoots!

I going to have to differ with you that Larry. 23 yard shot right where I was aiming.

I'm changing to slick tricks. But I've just been farting around bowhunting. Going to get serious about it in 16-17.

I'm going to try the wac em exit, 4 blade fixed blade next year. I switched to them after reading an article in Bowhunting World. I couldn't get them to fly right out of the ZXT I started the year with, but I purchased a NoCam HTR just before Christmas, and after just a little fine tuning, the wac em was matching my field tips. The reviews I read on the heads were awesome, and they're made in Alabama, so that's also a plus. I've always liked the idea of a fixed 4 blade head, but I've always had problems getting them to fly the way I thought they should. Hopefully I will have some success stories out of them come next fall.