My Dad shot a nice 9 point buck yesterday evening. Big bodied deer for AR, guesstimate around 175 lbs live weight. Dad was using a Q2, set to 55 pounds and a 5575 Gold Tip arrow. These broadheads were First Cut - the kind Wal Mart carries. He was 20 feet up in a pine, and the deer was quartering to him at 20 yards. The shot was a little far back, and Dad said there was a "thwack" when the arrow hit. The deer ran by him and out to about 60 yards and laid down. As the deer was running Dad saw quite a bit of arrow hanging out.

Enough time went by and the buck was recovered about 100 yards from the shot. The shot hit the last two ribs on one side, went through the end of that lung, through the liver and remained in the deer - no exit hole. The broadhead did cut through a bit, but the arrow only penetrated about 18"-20". The arrow came out the way it went in because there was no blood on the last 10" of the nock/vane end.

Anyway, heres pics of the broadhead. Looks much like a snyper I think. I think the head smacked a rib head on and immediately bent over as the pictures show. The head itsself it also bent pretty good. Remember, the arrow was pulled back through the deer the way it went in, no passthrough, no way the head could have bent after the shot. I think the very poor penetration was due to the head bending on the impact. The gut (pretty sure it took gut out too - he field dressed it, not me) might have slowed the arrow down a bit, but only 18-20" penetration from a 55# Q2 compound and Gold Tip arrows ?

I say failure because that tip shouldn't have bent, that head shouldn't have bent. Yes, the deer was recovered, but had the arrow smacked heavier rib bone, or shoulder bone, maybe only 12-16" of penetration or worse ?

Just FYI on a real situation with real pictures and real results. Any comments ?







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Edited by - stealthycat on 10/20/2002 16:32:50

Edited by - stealthycat on 10/20/2002 20:03:28