Mechanical Broadhead Recommendations (Sevr, Deadmeat, etc.)

[WapitiBob]

I've killed a handful of Bulls with the spitfire mechanical at 60#, and will be using one again this year but at 52# draw weight. Many others with a variety of fixed heads. Last years Bull went 50 yards, shot with a slick trick standard. Last years antelope was shot with a thunderhead 125 and went maybe 25 yards.

I'm a believer that shot placement is way more important than the broadhead.

 

[NYyotekiller]

All I use a mechanical on is turkeys. I use a Rage 3 blade. After seeing what a turkey does to those blades, there's no way in hell I'd shoot a big game animal with one.

Same here except I use the NAP Gobbler getters for the turkey birds.

I’ve heard and seen way too many horror stories about mechanicals either not opening, or ricocheting off to feel confident enough to use them in my setup for big game.

 

[ccc23454]

Got checked by idaho g&F Saturday one of things they looked for was fixed broadhead, keep state laws in mind if u travel

 

[KipCarson]

I'm a believer that shot placement is way more important than the broadhead.

A lot of good advice on this thread but WapitiBob probably covered it all with this statement.

That being said, I personally prefer a large diameter expandable. If the shot is perfect it won’t matter, but when the shot isn’t perfect is where the larger cutting diameter and larger exit holes shine. Living in a place where I get 6-12 bowkills a season I’ve had opportunity to make a lot of great shots... and a lot of not so great ones. On the great shots any head on the market would’ve probably worked, on the marginal shots I’ve definitely benefited from big cuts. On really bad shots, well, no broadhead would’ve made up for the human error behind it.

I read your antelope story, sorry you had that experience and it’s a tough pill to swallow. There’s always a lot of things we could all do differently, you’re trying to learn from your mistakes which is the correct path forward. You got bucked off, but get back in the saddle. A large diameter expandable may have cut more tissue and slightly changed the outcome for the better, then again maybe not. The IF factor is a hard thing to pin down.

The heads I can remember I’ve killed with are NAP thunderheads, Muzzies, NAP spitfires and spitfire max, satellites, rage, NAP Doublecross, gravedigger cut on contact, gravedigger chisel tip, gravedigger extremes. My favorites hands down are Spitfire Maxx by NAP, and the Bloodsport cut on contact Gravedigger. Those two have always had the best blood trails imo.

Good luck and don’t quit!

 

[targetpanic]

We have had very good luck with Rage Hypodermics on Eastern/midwest whitetails

 

[Goosebrooke]

If I use mechanical, I use the NAP Killzone Crossbow head with my vertical compound bow. They fly better and have thicker blades than the regular killzone broadheads (Shorter ferrules). Every animal I've shot has died with these. Big blood trails every time. Down sides: expensive, and for the most part there is some sort of failure that leaves the broadhead unusable. The reusable factor and the integrity of the blades is why I've gravitated back to a fixed blade. All things being equal, if the blades are sharp and they cut through the GOODS, you'll have a dead animal, the one thing you can't control is how far an animal will take off (or not takeoff) after being shot, regardless of broadhead or bullet. You also can't control if they paint the turf red with their insides. They could bleed like crazy internally and leave nothing on the ground for you to follow. Maybe i'm wrong, but I've skewered a squirrel with fixed blade, and that tough fur-ball took that 29 inches of arrow running through its body to the top of tree and died somewhere in the tree crotch 60 feet up, so i think anything can take a run or climb no matter what it's shot with.

 

[Indianajoe]

I have had bad experience with g5 products being sharp, hard to sharpen to my liking, and not staying sharp. Like others have said shot placement with a sharp head is more important than mechanical. A fixed blad will not fail to open.

 

[Trial153]

I am not a mechanical fan however I have used raptor tricks for several hunts the last three years. I have killed a caribou, mule deer, two whitetails and an Antople with them. All where simple recoveries.
For frame of reference in that same time period I have killed more then twice that number with fixed blades heads of various makes. Soilds, ironwills, and viper tricks


They raptor tricks have performed very well. All pass through. all arrows except one were recovered and there was no damage to any of the heads. Entrance holes have been quarter size , exits holes have been over two inches. They are stupid accurate, and really shine in the wind. They will retake an edge pretty easy as well with a fine mill bastard file.
There are two negatives I have seen, neither are insurmountable.
First the blades are pinned. You maybe able to remove them with a small punch but I havent tried. I think that adds to the durability of the head, however if you going to resharpen you will have to do it with the blades attached.
Second they come with practice heads. They are junk. They don't spin well or fly well. Toss them in the garbage.

All in all I like having one or two in my quiver and they shine in on some game in some conditions and topography

 

[Northwoods]

I like NAP killzone. The blades aren’t reusable but so far they’ve been very effective for me.

 

[elkhnter]

Best mechanical I’ve ever shot is the SlickTrick ViperTrick. Oh wait, it’s not a mechanical! Yep, there’s enough things that can go wrong, why screw another one on the end of your arrow?

 

[beagle001]

I was a Rage guy for years (all WI whitetail) and usually had good results.
I shot the Bloodsport Gravediggers for a bit and killed one buck with that head.
I like the looks of that new Zeus broadhead, and my buddy had tremendous luck with those old Meatseaker broadheads- I see there is a new head out with the same design.

The jury is still out on the Muzzy Trocar HB... I had good luck on a doe last year, but had a buddy that had a subpar experience (but still recovered) with them.

I switched because I wanted a fixed head on bigger and potentially further game out west and didn’t feel like switching heads... which has left me switching heads all the time as I play with new brands

 

[backcountry_sassn]

I’ll be that guy.....the best mechanical broadhead is a two blade fixed blade broadhead. But I did have my quickest kill with a rage hypodermic and it was an antelope. I also shot it at 15 yards and didn’t hit bone. The same setup in the same year didn’t not work as well on a cow elk. Because of that I have switched to fixed blade and now switched from a 3 blade to a 2 blade. Amazing how much better and 2 blade flys.

 

[SaskHunter]

I used to shoot plain 2 inch rage broadheads and have moved to the hypodermics. I've shot 5 animals with them and it all depends on shot placement. I've had some go 40 yds all the way to 600 yds. That last one was a shot I took last night on a mule deer, quartering facing shot at 40 yds, hit low at the 3rd and 4th rib and exited the other side through the paunch, I found him this morning, 600 yds away, thanks to the crows and magpies.

You can take the best shot and sometimes they just f'n run...

 

[Focus]

I used to shoot plain 2 inch rage broadheads and have moved to the hypodermics. I've shot 5 animals with them and it all depends on shot placement. I've had some go 40 yds all the way to 600 yds. That last one was a shot I took last night on a mule deer, quartering facing shot at 40 yds, hit low at the 3rd and 4th rib and exited the other side through the paunch, I found him this morning, 600 yds away, thanks to the crows and magpies.

You can take the best shot and sometimes they just f'n run...

Ugh! Well at least you found him. Did the crows and magpies tear him up too bad or were able to get some decent meat off him?

 

[SaskHunter]

Ugh! Well at least you found him. Did the crows and magpies tear him up too bad or were able to get some decent meat off him?

The coyotes found him first, then the birds. Giving a deer 12 hours in cool weather in Saskatchewan is always a gamble, sometimes you'll find a complete dead deer, sometimes you'll find nothing but the head... I was lucky to find my deer but I had nothing left but the head with 2 inches worth of neck meat. The coyotes were nice enough not to eat the nose and tongue and left me enough hide to take surprisingly good pictures (I used the terrain, my pack and bow to hide the carcass as much as I could and flipped the hide back onto the neck and meatless shoulder).

About the Hypordermics, I had 3 ribs perfectly cut on one side and a nice 2 inch cut through the hide on the other side. The broadhead performed very well, can't say the same about my shot though... One advice, make sure you have a two contact point quiver with hollow cover for your mechanicals. Those single contact with foam filled quivers are garbage when it comes to mechanical broadheads.

 

[MT Bound]

I've been shooting the rage 2 blades for more than 10 years, made the switch from fixed blade back then. I have been very happy with how they perform on deer and elk, but as others have said, it doesn't matter what you shoot it has to be placed correctly, bow hunting is a game of inches.

Also regarding sharpness, if it can shave the hair off the top of my hand/wrist, it's pretty darn sharp, I do the same with my knives when I sharpen them. Of course though, I walk around all fall w/bare skin on top of my hands and lower arms, and a few cut marks, but I never claimed to be the smartest guy out there either.....LOL

 

[Borny1]

I think penetration might get overlooked sometimes due to a bow being a bit out of tune. If the knock isn't inline with the broadhead there is no way yo will get the driving force you could be getting.