Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Bow Talk rage shooters?

The broadheads thread got me to thinking so I got a question for you guys using the rage. Are yall getting pass-throughs????? Im not knocking rage as Ive never used them, but one thing Ive noticed on the hunting shows where celebrity hunters are all using rage is................. most are not getting pass-throughs.

Reason I ask is because part of the marketing strategy with these heads is "Huge Entry Holes".
Personally, I could care less about the entry hole, to me an exit is more important. Ive tried mechanicals several times and always had the same problem, no blood trail because of non pass through. True, these deer died and were found, but it turned what should have been an easy tracking job into an ordeal. Sorry for the rant, just wondering.

I posted the exact same question last year.
I watched a popular TV show, Hank Parker, shot a buck and they found him 3 days later, a mile away, with the help of circling buzzards.
Then he had the audacity to brag about the huge entry hole of the "fantastic" Rage Broadhead.
Thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with Muzzy's and a guaranteed exit hole.

I was wondering the same thing the other day. I purchased a pack of the 2-blade rages but after watching some footage on youtube I also became skeptical of the rage, so I decided to do some testing for myself at the expense of a few broadheads. I took a steel lid off of a 55-gallon metal drum and shot several broadheads into/at it from 17 yards using a swithback with a 28"draw set on 65 pounds. The arrow I used, if anyone is wondering was a goldtip XT 55/75. Notice I said arrow, I was able to shoot the same arrow for all the test. Goldtips are tough. I know I could have probably found a better test media but my main concern was penetration and I figured if the broadhead could pass though a steel drum lid then it should do the job on a deer. Anyway the results were suprising. First I shot the 2-blade rage, which did open on impact, but the blades failed to cut through the backside of the lid, virtually zero penetration, only the tip penetrated the lid. Next I shot an older model 4-blade muzzy and it almost passed completely through the lid. The muzzy stopped within an 1/8 of an inch of passing completely through the lid, and the broadhead remained intact and one blade broke but did not come loose. The tip of the muzzy and the rage were as sharp after the shot as before the shot. Next I shot a tri-loc and it penetrated about the same as the muzzy but two of the blades seperated from the broadhead and the tip was rounded and dull. I then shot a cheapo over the top allen expandable broadhead from Walmart. Sparks flew and the broadhead blew up on impact with virtually no penetration. Last but not least I shot a shuttle-t head, which penetrated the lid and stuck 8 inches into the block target behind the lid...wow. The shuttle-t looked the same before the shot as it did after the shot. So I Shot the shuttle-t again with the same results. Moved back to 30 yards and the shuttle-t passed throught the lid and into the block. Moved back to 40 yards and the shuttle-t penetrated as far into the lid as the muzzy and the tri-loc did at 17 yards. For the record, I believe if I had shot a 3-blade muzzy it would have passed through the lid at 17 yards but all I had were 4-blade models. I'll post pictures of the lid later with the broadhead (minus the shuttle-t)still stuck in the lid. But the lesson I learned is now I have 2 brand new never shot 2-blade rage broadheads for sale and if I buy any new broadheads (I have a stock pile of replacement blades for Muzzy MX4s)it will be a shuttle-t. The shuttle-t was the only head that could be shot again afte the first shot. All the other heads were in too bad of condition to be shot a second time. I shot the shuttle-t 5 or 6 times throught the lid and it looked the same at the end as it did before it was shot throught the lid. The rage would probably work 90% of the time but its that 10% when you hit a shoulder blade or dead center a rib that concern me. I will NEVER shoot a deer with a rage broadhead!!

My brother shot a buck in Illinois last week in the shoulder with a 2 blade rage. It only penetrated about 5" and completely tore up the broadhead. He did not find the deer.

I've mentioned on here before that they do real well and really increase recovery rates for gut shot deer, but are terrible if you hit heavy bone.

Both the deer (does) I've shot with a rage have been pass throughs. Both were broadside less than 30 yards. Rage broadheads are not my first choice, only because of price. I shoot the Rocky Mountain Gators, which operate very similarly to the rage, leaving a devasting entry hole and penterating well. I've shot several deer with the gator, and with the exception of one spine shot doe(that deer dropped in it's tracks of course, so entry/exit wound was irrelevant), all have been pass throughs. All except one were does, but I did shoot one eight point with a gator, and got a clean pass through on a 10 yard broadside shot. The Gators cost about 1/3 less than the Rage, so I shoot them. However, if I'm out of sharp Gators (like I was this past Sunday), I don't hesitate to shoot a Rage.

If you haven't seen the performance or the entry hole they leave on a deer in person, you really shouldn't comment on how well they work or don't work.

You probably do lose some amount of penetration because of the huge cutting diameter of the Rage vs. a 1" or less fixed blade. But, the incredible difference in the wound makes up for it. I've shot deer with fixed blades and gotten horrible penetration. If you stick an arrow into a big, hard bone, you'll probably do the same with any broadhead, fixed or mecnanical. At least that's been my experience. In fact, I get better penetration now with expandables than I did when I shot fixed blades. That is because when I shot fixed blades, who knows where I was going to hit the deer. I had several run off with over half the arrow sticking out of them, with no exit hole and a high entrance hole. That made for very, VERY poor bload trails usually. Now that I've gotten better with shot placement, it's not like that anymore. I get a huge entrance hole, and on the far side of the ribcage, I get a huge exit hole. I get a massive blood trail, which I don't need half the time because the deer fall within sight. Deer just don't run as far with a huge hole in them as they do with a little hole in them.

I've shoot deer with Muzzies, Thunderheads, Steelforces, NAP spitfires, steelheads, Gators, and Rages. I've stuck with the Gators and Rages, and will until I find something better.

As for hunting steel drums, I find that regular field tips work the best. They are cheap, and the drums don't usually run very far. Of course, they don't bleed very well either, and taste horrible. But, I wish everyone luck in their steel drum hunting endeavors, and hope you find the perfect broadhead for it.

If you really want to be confused come work at an archery shop. I have had DOZENS of people come in already this year and complain about broadheads. Alot switch from Fixed to Expandable and just as many switch from expandable to fixed. I have heard it all. There is not a broadhead on the market that will preform the way you would like it to everyshot. I have personally killed deer with numourous kinds of heads all have pros and cons. I had very good luck last year with the rage. I have had great luck with the Muzzy's. Just pay attention to the angles of your shot and you will be fine.

This is the entry hole of the deer my friend shot last Sunday. It was a pass thru and there was a good blood trail. It made me a believer, I went and bought a pack.

They DO NOT penetrate heavy-bodied animals like they do smaller ones....period. I could care less how big the hole is when it opens up. What matters is what it does going out, and if it doesn't go out the other side it is worthless. I haven't seen a complete pass through by an expandable of any kind on a midwestern deer yet. The few times I have had the opportunity to go to Illinois not a single time were we even allowed to use them up there. They told us first hand...."If you have expandables, throw them away". They might work fine on 100 does, but I am not sending one through a buck.....personally I won't be sending one through nothing.

NAP Spitfires!

I got a two inch exit hole...@45yds. When I opened her up it cut thru 4 rib bones that I saw and the exit hole looked like a gun shot.

I must say that can a muzzy break both shoulders..yea...can a rage break two shoulders..dunno yet.

Excellent post! I don't know why people want to shoot deer in the shoulders with an arrow?!? I don't have any concerns with and expandable breaking ribs (flat bones).

To answer your question, I shot two deer last year with Rage 3 blades. First one was opening day, doe broadside at 25 yards. Complete pass through behind the shoulder. Watched here fall 40 yards away. Wounds were awesome. Blood trail (not needed) was ridiculous! Second, was an 8pt. that was ~35yards. Deer was quartering away and lunged forward at the shot. Arrow entered in the back ham, made a mess of the reproductive parts, and exited in front of the off side ham. Needless to say, I was sick when I saw all of that unfold from the tree. However, when I got down to retrieve my arrow, there was bright red blood everywhere. We decided to go ahead and take up the blood trail after an hour wait. We walked straight to him ~ 100 yards away. No hunting for blood on him either. So, I believe their statement that the broadhead expands the kill zone to be true.

I disagree. To this day, I have never lost a deer with a Muzzy. I have had some run a long ways, but never lost one. (Knocking on wood as I type) so I'll have to say the Muzzy has, to this point, never let me down.

They don't aim for the shoulder, but you know (if you've shot many deer with a bow) that you will hit a shoulder on occasion. few deer are going to stand perfectly still for you shoot them, so you'll have the shoulder shot once in a while. When that happens, I depend on Muzzy.

I shot a doe with the 3 blade Rage two weeks ago. The deer was quartering away and I hit her about 4 inched behind the shoulder. The arrow passed through the opposite leg just above the elbow joint, completely breaking it. The deer ran 30 yards and dropped dead. Both the entry and exit holes were more impressive that the holes that my .270 leaves. Blood was not hard to find!!

I'm noticing a trend. People that have used a Rage say they work well. People who have never used them say they are junk.

I used the Rage 3 blade this weekend. Complete pass through... Some of the difference may be between the 2 and 3 blade versions. Rage claims that the 3 blade is more geared to deep penetration. My only complaint: the aluminum ferule. I broke one of the blade slots when the ferule ripped. The only bone contact was rib. Seems that the aluminum ferrule is either diecast, or very porous.

I also see a trend.......most are does and small bucks. Send one through a BIG GAME animal and report on the results.

shot rocky mountain snypers (virtually the same head as the rage minus 1/8' of cutting diameter or so) for 8 years...shot 22 deer in that time period with them...here are the stats

pass through shots - 14
all others did not pass through due to hitting either the off shoulder or the off leg bone in a slight quartering situation

deer recovered - 18
the 4 that were not recovered were all quartering away shots but one..and that shot was nearly shooting straight down trying for a spine hit...the 3 quartering away shots did not pass through...very little penetration on all 3...nearly half the arrow was still sticking out of the entry hole...

on perfect broadside shots when all the planets align and nature is in complete harmony and all that crap that very rarely happens in deer hunting, the rage (snyper) is deadly...nearly all the deer that were shot by me in that situation fell within 100 yards of the shot and left huge blood trails...

the condition of the broadhead after the shot on every deer was the same...no damage to the blades, tip, or the actual broadhead itself...although the screw that held the blades in place did sustain some major damage to it's threads at times because of the blades pivoting and pushing against the threads...i don't know if rage has improved on this or not, but the screw simply wouldn't come out after blade deployment, so changing the blades was impossible...

imo...if you are confident that every shot you will make on a deer will be a broadside shot, then you will have little to no problems with them

I'm not going to try them, I lost a really good 8 to a spitfire after I had 11 complete pass thrus.

To see how well the Rage works all you have to do is watch the outdoor channel. I have yet to see a complete passthru from all the celebrities on TV. A lot of times they come back the next day.

I've seen devastating holes from rages but I've also heard of lost deer. I know with cut on impact broadheads I will get complete passthrus 99% of the time with my bow setup.

I also never lost a deer to the 4 blade muzzy, blowing thru both legs a time or 2.

To each his own, but I like to remove as much margin of error as possible.

It doesn't matter if it is a 300lb. buck or a 50lb. doe. The fact is it is called hunting and not killing for a reason. The reason being that there are many variables when it comes to hunting. The deer may turn, duck, jump, or really throw you off and just stand still, and on top of all of that sometimes the darn things just seem to be invinceable. Ive seen a huge buck shot with a 270 standing broadside in the shoulder and we never found that deer after tracking about a mile. You need to shoot what you are confident in and that is what will be most deadly for you, because when the moment of truth comes feeling confident in your gear may be the difference in making the best shot. Ive shot a 200lb 9 point with a gator expandable and got complete pass through and great blood trail and Ive done the same thing with muzzies. Ive also lost deer to both but in those situations it was never because the broadhead did not do its job.