Begin rant. Pardon the rambling.

I took a long off spell from bowhunting. Last year I started back with my recurve. I didn't get a shot in my comfort range. I got a new PSE this year. I've been shooting it daily for the last 3 months. It's fine tuned. I haven't shot a deer with a bow in nearly 2 decades. I told my hunting buddies that the first legal deer that came in range, was getting an arrow in it. This afternoon a lone doe came out in a food plot. She was 60 yards when she came out, and feeding away from me. She fed around for 5 minutes or so, then she turned, and walked across the plot, stopped broadside to me at 35 yards and went back to feeding. I put my 30 yards pin just behind her shoulder and let one fly. The only way I could describe the sound of the arrow hitting the deer would be to imagine someone hitting a watermelon with a baseball bat. She ran down the plot, went into the woods, then crashed. Then she ran some more and crashed. DRT I figured. I still had good enough light to get down and start looking in the plot. The plot is dusty dry, so I had little to work with but did find good blood where she entered the woods. I did not find my arrow, where the deer was standing, nor did I find any hair. I figured the arrow was buried up in the dry powdery dust, and I could find it tomorrow. I came to the house and waited. I waited about an hour, and headed out with my 3 month old beagle puppy. I wanted Ginger to "find" her first deer. We tracked the deer about 75 yards, and there was the arrow. That nice new Grim Reaper was still CLOSED, just like it was when the arrow left the bow. There was no blood on the broadhead. The once white, wrap and fletchings were soaked in blood. I followed the blood for another 75 yards, then the blood trail stopped. I found where the deer had lost it's dinner in the woods. Fresh grass and rape. Not sure what that means, but I will go back in the morning and see if the deer maybe bedded down in the creek.

I'm damn sure not a fan of Grim Reaper heads. That deer was hit good, the broadhead should have opened. If it had, I would have the deer skinned by now and hanging in the barn. I WILL NEVER SHOOT ANOTHER MECHANICAL HEAD. I don't care how many deer have been killed with them. I don't care if the world record is killed with a Grim Reaper next week. I read all I could. I worked the blades by opening and closing them to loosen them up. The damn thing ABSOLUTELY FAILED.

Deer here are about as rare as hens teeth. It makes me sick to my stomach to know I lost one. I may find the deer in the morning, and the meat should be fine as cold as it is tonight, but I really doubt that I find it. I've followed more than one blood trail that stopped with no deer at the end of it. There is usually not a happy ending to those stories.

i hate losing a deer even if it is a doe, it really bothers me. the last one i lost i said i would never shoot another one with a bow, but that was a lie. maybe you will find her in the morning

It bothers me too. I'm more pissed off than anything right now. I did my part, schitty high dollar broadhead failed. A lost deer is a waste. I can't eat the antlers anyway. Now, I do like to shoot the ones with the big antlers, but I was ready to put some good meat in the freezer.

Sorry to hear about your doe Furflyin. Mechanicals are great, when they work, but Muzzy's just don't fail to open. I don't mean that like I'm rubbing it in your face, it's just that I know several people that have tried mechanicals and come back to a fixed blade within a year or two. Mainly because of an incident like yours happened to them. I sure hope you find it tomorrow.

You are exactly right. If not for wanting to shoot a 3 blade, I'd be screwing my Magnus heads to my arrows right now. I'll likely be buying Muzzy's come Monday. I have shot a lot of COC broadheads, but never Muzzy's. Do yours fly true with the field tips? My bow is shooting a 2 blade Magnus with the field tips, but like I said, I've never tried the Muzzy's.

I once had a bow that wasn't tuned real well and broadheads didn't fly the same as my field points. With the bow I'm hunting with now, I can interchange broadheads and field points without affecting point of impact. If yours wont do this, it could be a tuning issue. If you are having trouble with that, Larry Odell is the best bow man I know of around here.

Mine is tuned as good as it can get I think. It is shooting the Slim Jim Reapers, field points and a Magnus broadhead all the same. Yep, ol Larry is a good un.

I have heard the watermelon sound! I gut shot a deer late one afternoon and heard that same sound, went back the next morning and found the deer approimately 150 yards from where I shot it. He had cross a creek and just made it up to the top of the bank when he died. I think the cold water rushing into the wound helped put the deer down due to shock. If you run out of blood try looking around for the closest water source.
If the deer has not been pushed it should have bedded up pretty quickly.

Good luck!

Grim reapers are supposed to close after they exit. It is the way theyre designed. It is dang near impossible from them to fail. Just google grim reaper failures. Most of the "failures" ending up being shot placement. I'm not saying you made a bad shot, but until you find the deer we can't say for sure.

As for fixed vs mechanical, the only reason to shoot mechanical is accuracy. Any time you put wings on something you give it the ability to steer itself. The fixed blades would act as wings. As for mechanicals, anything mechanical can fail. Thats why I shoot the ones with the smallest failure rate. That's why I shot grim reaper.

Hope you find your deer.

"smallest failure rate"????

why not shoot a broadhead with no failure rate???

like any number of fixed head broadheads?

This broadhead DID NOT OPEN. There is no evidence on the broadhead and no blood on the shaft until the wrap. As for accuracy, I bought into the mechanical is more accurate Bull Schit. A Magnus 2 blade solid piece of steel broadhead flies in the same place as my 100 grain field points and the Grim Reapers. A tuned bow that is then broadhead tuned will shoot anything as accurately as a field point. Back in the day I shot Jerry Simmons broadheads with my compound. They were something like 1 3/4" wide. Guess what, they flew just like field tips.

Ohh I see, pardon my humor.

I understand.

Fixed it for you.

Sorry but until you find the deer (if you do) and show me the two pencil holes on both sides I just reject these it didn't open stories that are based on nothing more than not finding the deer and the head being closed after a pass through. Most mech heads close again after a pass through or as you pull them from the ground. But even a closed head through the lungs or heart would equal a dead deer. Can you open the head with your fingers? If so then there is no reason it would not open on a deer.

Also people lose deer all the time with fixed heads too. In fact since there are way more people using fixed heads than mechs (heck I still use them too) I'd bet you that "more" deer are hit and lost with fixed heads. It's just in those cases the hunter knows they can't run to the internet and find a group of people who will throw their arms around them and let them dog the lost deer off on the broadhead.

If you don't find the deer, you don't know what happened. People should have a decal on their truck windows that say that. I can't count the number of times I have helped a friend or family member look for a difficult to find deer that was "Hit Good" only to discover when we actually found it that "uh oh", it wasn't hit so good after all. If that has been the case with the ones we found then I'm going out on a short limb and bet that it's also the case with the ones that we didn't find. 99% of lost deer, despite all the excuses and misplaced blame are actually due to bad shot placement.

No way to know for sure at this point but I'll tell you what it could mean. If any blood runs into an animals stomach it will throw up. So will humans if blood runs into their stomach.

If your bow shoots fixed broadheads well, there is absolutely no reason to not shoot them. If by chance you do not have a complete pass through a fixed blade will not fold back up and will continue to slice and dice causing damage with every move the deer makes. More damage = more chance of finding a dead deer!

Which is why some people use mech heads. If you have the power they make a very big hole. A muzzy buried one inch deeper than one of my reapers in the ground on the other side of a deer is of no benefit to me that I can fathom.

Hmmm, hit sounded like a gut shot. Deer regurgitating stomach content along the blood trail as though some blood got into the stomach. A blood trail that petered out as they often will with a gut shot because they commonly clog with stomach or fecal content.

So lets add these facts together and what do we get? Yep, no doubt about it, broadhead failure. LOL!

No, not really. That's a wide paintbrush assuming everyone shoots a mech because they can't tune a bow. Ease of screwing in a field point on one target butt, two-finger removal, less target butt damage, and shooting all I want is my reason.

Read and comprhend the entire post. Sticking in the ground would indicate a complete pass through, would it not? The "more damage = more chance of finding a dead deer" related to the broadhead staying in the deer.

Have fun with the reapers.

I comprehended it very well. But if my arrows are passing through the deer with which ever head I use then a fixed head doesn't really offer me the benefit of which you spoke.

Had a similar discussion on another forum with some folks. There was a guy on there who shot a deer with a rage and thought it had not opened properly because when he picked up his arrow it looked like it had not opened. When he went to look for his deer however this is what he found. The hole tells the tale with a mech head. Not the state you find it lying in after the shot.

I must be wrong, but I don't remember you being in the stand with me yesterday. Exactly how the frick can you tell me what the facts were if you weren't here, and you didn't follow the blood trail? I have gut shot deer before, and found them. I have helped people track deer that were gut shot. I have tracked or helped track probably close to 200 deer. This ain't my first damn rodeo. I know just exactly what rumen contents look like. In addition to the bright red blood on the ground and leaves, what I found on the ground was wet grass leaves, and wet rape leaves. About 5 of each. Looked a lot more like what it had in it's mouth, not in its stomach. It wasn't even chewed up. Rumen contents are a mix of bile stained green ground up nasty chunks and mush that smell like dammit. It's called cud. The arrow hit this deer about 1 inch behind the shoulder. The deer was broadside at the release and turned to a slight quartering to position when the arrow hit. I have little doubt that the arrow did hit one of the chambers of the deers rumen. From the low spot where the entrance hole should be, the exit hole would likely be right behind the last rib. The arrow probably hit the reticulum, but it had to go through the liver to get there. My bow is shooting 280 fps so it has the power to open a Dim Reaper. If 280 won't open one, they shouldn't be on the market. Maybe it's because I am shooting a PSE. Do they only open if you shoot Hoyts or Matthews bows?

I left my arrow on the trail last night. After I walked circles around the last blood I could find, then walked the branch 1/2 mile, I got my arrow and headed back in. You guys can argue that the broadhead opened all you want to. The cutting edges of the blade are clean, and what I could see last night is that there was blood on the blades, where they meet the ferrule. When you open the broadhead there is a perfect outline in blood of the curves on the ferrule. SO, either the blades were wiped clean, except for the part that sticks out past the ferrule, or the broadhead DID NOT OPEN.

Here are the facts Todd. I've made bad shots before. I'm man enought to admit it when I do. I did my part yesterday afternoon. The arrow hit where I wanted it to. The deer is nowhere to be found. The blood on the broadhead indicated that the broadhead didn't open. A friend of mine came over last night to help trail the deer. He was the first one to say the broadhead didn't open. I didn't want to agree with him. After I looked at all the evidence, it didn't open. Believe what you want, shoot what you want. I really don't give a crap. I really like the LOL at the end of your post. If you think losing a deer is funny, you can go fact yourself.

Apparenly you don't have to find a deer, follow a blood trail, or see anything to tell what happened. You are the Internet deer hit recovery blood trail specialist.

Do us both a favor and don't respond again to any of my posts.

Having heard that,lets look aT THE REAL FACTS !

Fact #1 The only true grim reaper(for deer) on this site is Matt Brock !\
Fact#2 Fur made the shot,and hit the deer.
Fact#3 Fur found his arrow,broadhead unopened.
Fact#4 Fur searched w/help found no blood trail.
Fact#5 Fur don't be having fresh backstrap.
Fact#6 Fur is getting cut on contact broadheads because he learns from mistakes.
Fact#7 Fur is far smarter than anyone on this site that continues to shoot mechanicals after loosing deer.
I think that pretty much sums it up !

If the arrow hit one inch behind the shoulder and should have come out behind the last rib on the other side then that is not what I would call "slightly quartering". That sounds like a very hard quartering to you angle. It's not the best angle to shoot deer with a bow. Odds are you caught one lung at best even if the shot is exactly as you perceived it to be. And yes our eyes can fool us about that as well. They can go a long ways on one lung.

I have bought and tinkered and hunted with so many different types of broadheads that it would be depressing to sit down and figure out how much money I have spent on them over the years. On the mech head side I have shot Snypers, Spitfires, Steelheads, Jackhammers, Reapers, Shockwaves, etc, etc,. I have shot fold from the front type, rear blade deploying, you name it. I have never had one fail to open on a target or a deer. And it's not just me. Out of all the friends I have that bow hunt none of them have had any of the various mech heads they have used fail to open over the years either.

So it mystifies me that time and time again the story on the internet is some guy who has bought his first pack of mech heads and has the very first one fail to open. I've heard this story so many times with those exact claims that it just boggles the mind as to the odds it could be true.

Yeah, but you don't count, Dan. You're a hardcore and experienced bowhunter that has taken the time to get to know his equipment. In contrast, every single person that I personally know, that shoots mechanical heads, have said " I can't get my ( insert fixed head brand) broad heads to fly with my field points, so now I'm shooting ( insert mechanical head brand). They fly just like my field points!" CD.

Fair enough.

Tell you what I'll do. I'll buy 30 Grim Reaper broadheads and 30 pumpkins. We can meet anywhere you say to conduct a little bet and here's the conditions. I'll shoot all 30 pumpkins with the Reapers. If any have failed to open by the time they exit the back of the pumpkins I'll give you 2000 dollars; eat the cost of the broadheads and the pumpkins and the test is over. If all 30 open however you give me 1000 dollars and reimburse for the broadheads and the pumpkins. You have 30 chances to win. I only have one. Deal?

But be forewarned. I haven't had a mech head of any kind fail to open, ever. Consider that before you accept.

Sounds like a sure bet for some of you mechancal haters!

Or pumkin hunters.

" Tell you what I'll do. I'll buy 30 Grim Reaper broadheads and 30 pumpkins"

Someone has been making some good money this year.

I was worried about failures also im shooting NAP 2 blade bloodrunners this year, they seem like the best of both worlds to me. 1 1/8 cutting diameter undeployed, and 2 1/16 fully deployed. cuts no matter what. Anybody used these or had any success or failures with them.

I'll never use a mechanical. I just don't see the need.

Pumpkins are cheap, he will clear $750 after he wins.

He ain't winning nothing, hes just bumping his gums to hear his self. No body is paying him any mind.

Hang in there Furflyin. If you hunt with a bow, you are going to lose a deer. I trailed one last Sunday evening for a club member and he was shooting a Rage broadhead. His deer traveled through cut over about 60 yards and was one of the worst blood trails I've ever followed. I thought it was a muscle hit, not any evidence of a lung hit at all. When I found her, she was shot through both lungs and low. Had I not ran into my friend that night, this deer would have been coyote bait. I shoot aluminum shafts and killed over a hundred deer with the bear 145 razorheads. I don't think you can even buy these heads now, but they were awesome. I still get sick thinking about the two that I never recovered. Makes me feel so low I can't stand it. It'll get better I promise! I been there and done that.

Thanks Teach. I'll be back in the woods next weekend, with my new Slick Tricks. Which razorheads are you shooting? The vented ones or the solid green ones?

Several years ago I bought about 15 packs of Cabela's (lazer mag broadheads???) on closeout. They are identical to the NAP Thunderhead 125's and shoot just as well. They leave a good blood trail and I have not lost a deer to one of these yet. My son did shoot a deer last year that ducked as he released and the arrow went into "no man's land" between lungs and spine. Not much blood at all could be found and that is the only one we have not recovered with these broadheads. Hope this helps!! I have been around reading everyones posts the last three months, but I have been busy as a cat in a sand pit this year. I'll get back to posting and visiting as soon as my online classes are over this year. You have also set the Aldeer record for most posts in the shortest amount of time that I know of!! War Eagle my friend!

It called money talks and BS walks.

It's probably more like WTH does a pumpkin have to do with a deer.....

Having a laptop helps with that. I can stay online and not miss what's going on in the house all at the same time. Would you believe that I'm really a shy, introverted guy? I didn't think so. LOL War Eagle to you too bud!

LOL! If you read the bet again you see that loser covers the broadhead cost too. I would only be out the cost of the broadheads for a short time.


People will say that anything mechanical can fail. And while technically true they never consider the probability of such an event. There are many things that while possible are at the same time so unlikely as to push right to the brink of impossible. These type broadheads open via a simple hinge mechanism. Push on the front of the blade and they swing open. About as simple and foolproof as it gets. The original poster claims that none of the 3 blades on the reaper opened. The 3 blades on a Reaper work completely independently of one another. So what is actually being alleged here (whether it's realized or not) is that not one, not two but three simple hinges on all three blades failed simultaneously. The odds of one failing are very long. The odds of two failing are in the Florida lottery range. The odds of all three failing (outside of deliberate sabotage) are so astronomical they would be into the billions to one.

If you have 30 deer you can produce on demand for the test then that's fine with me.

What the hell does a pumpkin have to do with deer X10.....

are pumpkins the new "test medium" for broadhead testing or is that just a Pine Hill thang?????

why don't you(Todd) just quit beating around the bush and call the man a liar or idiot..you pick which.....

dangitman......the broadhead just might have failed to open and you've slammed his arse for several pages over nothing......

Don't like my posts Fred then don't read them. So simple even you can manage it.

yer too easy Todd......

Only when my wife gets me drunk.

Hell Fred, it's impossible for something mechanical to fail. Haven't you been reading the posts? He must be a big, big man. I sure as hell hope he is. He can call me what he wants behind his computers safety blanket, but if he does it in person, then I've got a side bet you guys can get in on.

Is that a threat? LOL! You reaaaallly don't want to go there.

Sounds like some pee-pees are getting stepped on....

Back to the fixed blade must hit where the field point does to be tuned theory....I disagree. The faster a setup is, the more fidgety it "CAN" become. I've tried to tune some setups to be the same and couldn't get it with the existing bow, arrow, BH combination. Usually the BH hit about 3" off to the left (RH) and no rest adjustment, poundage adjustment would make a difference. But when you cut vanes at 40 yards and the arrows hit vertically on a plumb line, the set up is tuned. Maybe buying a stiffer spine arrow would make the difference. But it's not needed when arrow flight is good and groups are tight.

I wasn't there .So the Grim Reaper may have Failed.But I have to ask why you would shoot a deer 5 yards less that it was?You said you ranged it for 35 and shoot it for 30.That would make you thinks shot placement may have been a little off.

I offered them a fair bet. But they just want to take jabs and ponder about me getting my ass whipped. Tells me all I need to know about the strength of their convictions on the matter.

Sorry you didn't find it today Fur.

Believe it or not me too. Hate that he lost a deer.

No, it's not a threat. It's a promise. I've sat here and read you post six ways to Sunday about how I have no idea what I'm talking about. How this, that and the other had to happen. Throwing your FACTS around. I'm tired of it. So either STFU, or we can meet wherever you wish and settle this one way, or the other.

I don't like to shoot "between" pins, and any deer here is going to jump the string.

fair bet??? what the hell are you smoking???? Pumpkin??????

Not this horse s### again. Get over yourself. You lost a deer. Man up and deal with it.

Don't want your blood on my shoes. I'd rather have your money in my pocket.

Thanks man. Makes me sick to lose one. Such a waste.

Because many times a deer ducks down when a bow goes off.

When I started shooting a compound, late 90's, I learned quickly to tune the bow(Hoyt) to get perfect broadhead flight. I also learned that prolly 90+% of bowhunters bows are NOT tuned properly.

I shot the big wide Simmons heads and they sure as heck won't fly true out of an untuned bow. I got perfect flight out to 50 yards, as far as I shot them. My Hoyt turned about 270fps with heavy hunting arrows.

Quote from BowtechDan
"Because many times a deer ducks down when a bow goes off."

Especially with longer shots,deer react more.
As usual Bowtech is right on !

Fred, I shot the big Simmons for a couple years back in the early to mid 90's. You're right, you dang sure have to be able to tune a bow to shoot them with the same POI as a field tip. I shot 4 different types of old fixed blade heads I had today,both 100 and 125 grain. They all flew great and there was no noticeable drop with the 125's over the 100's until 40 yards or further. I even dug an old Sattelite head out of an old bow box. The ones that had the helical blades.

That a lot of drop when you add the angle of being in a tree.

Perch, I shot at a buck one morning, maybe twelve yards. He squated all the way out from under the arrow! He came back two hours later and stopped to smell the arrow. Same distance. I "aimed" at his bottom hair line and released. He never moved. Broadhead cut hair under his chest!!! I hit within 1/4 inch of where I was trying for...the buck just never got there......

oh yeah, that bow, a 1969 Bear TD, shot a blistering 155fps.....

troy

About 2 inches with my bow. Plus, I was only 12 feet up in a ladder stand.

That should have been money Furflyin.Hate you lost the deer.I shoot a 165gn Land shark out of my Black Creek.48lbs on a gt35-55 and it flies just like my field tip.When I hunt with my compound.I shoot a 100gn Gator on a Easton lightspeed 500.

Now I don't have to defend Todd, but he is a good size fellow as a matter of fact. Fur, I hate you lost the deer, but I would bet my next check that the broadhead opened! That sound you heard is common with every broadhead that folds backwards. Now I can't figure out why you are hung up on the broadhead itself not having blood on it, yet you say your fletching was, and I quote, "soaked" in blood. I would bet you hit one lung, liver, and gut. With the intestines plugging the hole on the exit wound. Back to the broadhead being found close. It's called momentum. Imagine driving down the road at 55 mph and hitting a wall. What will your body do when the car hits the wall? It will continue forward. This is what happens when the arrow stops. The blades continue forward and close back up. By the way, exactly which Grim Reaper were you shooting? If it's the ones I shoot, I'll be glad to take them off your hands. I would hate to see a perfectly good head be thrown away or sit in a bow box.

I've had Muzzy 100 grains not kill a deer. It was MY fault for poor shot placement.

And I think that may be the case with this thread.

Poor shot placement is almost always the reason for a lost deer. But you know us humans. Show us an out and we will take it.

As I recall the blades for those heads were the absolutely sharpest blades I have ever seen come out of a manufacturer. Used the 125 grain broadheads a couple of years but had trouble with them messing the threads up on the aluminum inserts, then I switched to Muzzys. The LaserMags always worked for me, great heads!

That deer was hit good

Can someone please explain one thing to me? If the deer was hit good as the above quote from the OP says, why was said deer not recovered regardless of whether the broadhead opened or not? Most everyone on here claims even a field point with a "good hit" will kill a deer.

I rest my case your Honor.

I don't shoot Grim Reapers but a friend does and he's 18 for 18 on hits/recoveries.

Sometimes my Rage heads are closed when I get to the arrow but once I get to the deer it's obvious it wasn't closed when it ripped it open.

I think BOHNTR has the case solved

I can only comment on my experience with Grim Reaper Broadheads. Let me say that yours may have indeed not opened, however as a rule those broadheads will close after a shoot through. I have killed a doe, and two 8 pts with mine. The 8 point I killed Saturday was a shootthrough that was too far back (a gut shot). The broadheads were closed and very little if any blood on fletchings. I left the deer overnight. It only ran about 75 yards and bedded down and died. All blades opened up and ripped through the stomach. The deer probably bled to death where it bedded. Maybe you pushed that deer before it died and perhaps if you found that stomach waste, you too hit the deer a little back. Again, I can only attest to my experience, but those are deadly broadheads. Sorry for the loss of deer.

Sorry you lost one bro...get back at it!

This same discussion is had every year, and what do we learn...Not a darn thing. Fixed blade shooters think they have the only tuned bow on the planet and that MH's just don't work consistantly. Same ol' same ol'.

Most lost deer are from poor shots period... If you hit the deer right, a field tip will kill it in fairly short order.

I do think fixed blades are better, but I shoot Reapers as well. I also have slick tricks that I get out on occasion. Both shoot fine, and I have not lost a deer with either. COme to think of it, I haven't lost a deer in a long while, but I have seriously restricted myself on high quality shot opportunities.

I find it unlikely that the head failed, but I can't say that as I was not there. I have seen failures on multile MH's but they did open, they just broke upon impact with bone, which is plain poor quality metal IMHO.

This argument will never end...

Sorry you lost your deer but I've shot both Grim Reapers and Fixed. I do like shooting fixed better but if I choose any mechanical it will be a Grim REaper Razor Tip. I shot 4 deer with the Reapers watched all fall within sight got down found my arrow all the blades were closed EXCEPT the deer were torn to peices inside where the blades opened. I don't know if it was the design or what but I've had 100% recovery rate with a Grim Reaper. But I have lost deer with fixed and mechanical so it's a never ending battle. With a fixed you don't have to worry about blades opening.