A friend of mine had invited me to hunt his property this past week, and I excepted his offer New Years Eve day. (Dec. 31st.) He already had stands in place, and hunted the evening before I arrived. Him and his buddy saw 54 deer, as they were yarded up. They were doe hunting, and filled their tags, but reported seeing several bucks. Boy was I charged up!
I received directions to the stand, and set out just as dawn was breaking. It was snowing, and a strong wind was coming in from the west. The stand was set up in a cleared out woods between a swamp and their feeding area. As it got lighter I noticed quite a few downed trees (deadfalls) in the area. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, and several sets of tracks went just under the stand.
To make a long story short I stayed in the stand till 10:30a.m. before the cold unforgiving wind whipped my frozen butt! You’d think I’d know by now it’s better to be overdressed, as you can always remove, but you can’t add to what your wearing. I felt positive as I left the stand, because I’d seen several deer, but all to far away. They seemed to be moving back and forth, and I assumed they were looking for something to eat. Well that is what I did! I went and ate breakfast at a little restaurant a few miles away, and didn’t get back in the stand till 12:00 o’clock noon. I had to be home no later than 4:00p.m. for our New Years family get-to-gather, so a few more hours was all I had.
At 12;30 I saw deer heading toward me from my right. If they kept on course they were going to pass 20 yards in front of me. There were four does in the lead. I tried to pick out the largest one, until I saw more movement behind them. A buck was trailing about 20 yards back, and it looked like he had a pretty good set of horns. The does didn’t stop, as I drew back in anticipation of the bucks appearance. He came through the same area, as I put my 20 yard pin on his chest. To my surprise he stopped right in front of me, and I let-er-fly. The new expandable Rage broadhead hit perfectly in the lung area, as the loud crack of ribs breaking resonated through the still woods. To my horror the arrow almost “dangled” as the deer headed after the fleeting does. I watched the arrow fall from his chest, about 60 yards away, but thought I saw the deer stumble as he disappeared into the blowdowns.
I waited a half hour before getting on his tracks, but could not pick up any blood. You’d think with a fresh snow on the ground, and a lung shot deer there would be a speak of blood! Nothing! Now the tracks joined with the other deers tracks, and I started to worry. I found the arrow, and it had blood about 8″ up the shaft. I knew that didn’t mean I had eight inches of penetration, but 4 inches would still give me lung! The blades were deployed and the arrow seemed to be fine! I backed off and went to get my pal Robert. This is his turf, and he knows it better than anyone.
By the time we got back to the spot I found the arrow it was 1:45p.m. We zig-zagged through the woods trying to cut a blood trail to no avail. Now I’m really getting worried! Robert told me to use a different broadhead, but I was already two steps ahead of him. I had a Razorback, cut on contact,2-blade, with bleeders locked and loaded if I got a chance for another shot. Robert had a hunch that the deer might head in an area with several blowdowns, close to a fence row with heavy grass cover.
I was walking abreast from Robert about 60 yards away, when I saw him wave, and put his hands on his head, signifying deer horns. He motioned for me to make a half circle toward him, but from his gestures, he couldn’t tell if the deer was alive or dead. For the life of me I could not see what he was looking at, till I saw a small puff of steam rise from the ground. The deer was laying down, in between two logs, and was totally camouflaged. Except for his rib cage moving in and out, he was frozen on point! His head was on the ground facing Robert, as he monitored his every move. I was sneaking up behind him trying to get a clear shot, but one limb was in my way. I was able to get within 4-yards of this buck, but still wasn’t sure I could safely clear the limb. I had to shoot instinctive, as the Razorback hit its mark! The deer jumped from it’s hiding place, and ran about 80 yards before piling up on the edge of the woods.
Upon inspection, the rage broadhead had failed to make it all the way through the rib cage. The lung was punctured, but just barely. Rage promises a two inch hole, and by golly there certainly was, but penetration was totally unacceptable. I shoot sixty pounds, and the shot was as good as a hunter can hope for. My second shot went totally through, at a quartering away angle.
I’m not here to bad mouth this product, but this is the third mechanical broadhead I’ve tried, and the third time they have failed for me. They cost me a bull elk, a very nice Kentucky 8-pointer, and could of cost me this deer also. I’m just like the next guy; I like to experiment with all the new archery products, but from here on out my trusty two-blades will always grace the end of my arrows.
You’ll see in the pictures of the deer that the “rage” wound is on the right side lung area. The wound to the left, is the exit wound, from the two blade that entered from the right side of the deer. That arrow went through both rib cages, and kept on going! Well that’s my long winded story, and I’m sticking to it!
Mike