The bobcat came by broadside at 8-10 yards. He even stopped a couple of times. I could have killed him, but they are not in-season on the base I hunt. The bobcat actually scared away two doe that were 50 yards away and coming my way...they saw him after he came out of the brush and then snorted and ran off! I actually drew my bow to practice but he never saw or heard me.

I 100% agree with you Rob! Dull blades push things out of the way while it goes through.

It absolutely, 100%, positively matters on sharpness of the bladeswhen it comes to cutting and blood trails.

Somebody earlier said "sometimes you can't fix stupid". Well, here is a perfect example of that.

Man, do you have a lot to learn. What you said IS the most idiotic thing and this whole thread.

I think a pass through is what it is.

If the arrow was really dull enough to not pass through when normally thats what you have happen.
Then, maybe that is what i would call too dull of a blade.

Far as the talk about talk about,sharp smoother cutting or dull ripping and tearing.

Think about this.
If you dont think it is efficient to have the blades sharp. Then why do most broadheads come out of the package sharp. There has to be scientific study proving sharp blades are more efficient then dull ones.Either that or common sense would make the decision anyways.

This whole thread is idiotic. I can't believe that this was even brought up.

Todays bows have enough stored energy toforce even broadheads with practice blades through a deer and into the ground on the other side so the question is pretty much pointless with full power adult bows of today.Yes it will kill the animal and yes there will be blood there for you to follow.

However, a razor sharp broadhead WILL, 100% of the time, given the exactly the same shot, cause more blood loss and produce a better blood tail for you to follow.

A cut that was made with a razor sharp blade will flow blood and not clott for hours and will produce blood on the ground for far greater distances than a dull head would. It will cut tissue that a dull blade will simply push out of the way, remember that arteries and other tissues in the body are elastic and strech a great deal before tearing just like a rubber band... not so with a sharp balde,these elastictissuesand arteries will be cleanly cutopen and blood will flow and not clott.

Serrated blades aredesigned to saw through bone. They are not designed to slice easier through elastic animal tissue.

I don't think the thread is idiotic. I just thought of this last night when someone said they were not having good blood trails with Muzzy's because they were not "razor" sharp. I countered and said I have had complete pass throughs and excellent blood trails with Muzzy's even though they are not "razor" sharp. That is why I made this thread. It was not advocating using "dull blades" at all....those that know me know I have never thought like that and never will. In fact, the first two deer I shot were with mechanical heads that probably not worth a dang...cost me alot of time and energy trailing and finding those deer. I moved to COC contact heads and have been a BIG believer in them and their abilities. I kind of feel bad now even bringing this up...it was just something that popped into my head so please don't judge me on this thread...it was just a thought about a pass through, it really was that simple. After the mechanicals failing on me I have always used the sharpest heads I can find and will not shoot anything that does not feel sharp to me...never will. Not advocating any does....

I believe you that you weren't actually promoting the use of dull blades butyou might not want to start out a threadthat is promoting (intentionally or not)the use of dull blades, despite what your second line says.

And more to point ofthe idiotic comment is that there were people hereactually defending the use of actual dull blades. The very first response was promoting dull blades.

Let me post a picture of my new broadhead... under the line of thinking by a few folks here..... I am anticipating having to scrape bloody morsals off the trees directly into gallon zip lock bags with a putty knife.... a mortar attack couldn't leave a more grizzly scene than this!!! Forget no tracking... I'm not even going to need to field dress!







Seriously now.... we've been over the rubber band test... and its a good one. Another related test... try cutting a rubber band with a knife... and they try pulling one apart with your hands.... see which one takes more effort....

I hate to admit this, but I think it is pertinant to the example at hand here. I HAVE personally.... ME... not a friend, not a cousin, not big John at the bait shop.... ME... I have shot and killed a deer with Muzzy PRACTICE blades. Yes I recovered it... and no I didn't do it on purpose. The simple truth of the matter is that I got extremely lucky... I center punched the heart on that deer. It is no big suprise of course that it went about 80 yards and quit. I missed it the first time, and blindly grabbed another arrow from my quiver... deer was cooperative and held still.... lesson learned.... never carry anything other than real, sharp, functional, hunt read heads in your quiver (I do carry a bludgeon though... but it is dressed and fletched differently than my broadhead arrows). I would say that the blood trail was fairly normal of a well shot deer. The difference is.... ALL blood has to go through the heart... its grand central station. The lungs are big... and some of those capilaries and arteries are a lot bigger than others.... the lungs aren't exactly like a ballon like some folks might think.... to collapse a lung you have to take out one of the bronchial tubes... that stops the air from entering the important part of the lungs where the alveoli put oxygen in and take CO2 out. You don't just get pink foam from any old part of the lungs.... you get pink foam from hitting one of the major tubes in the lungs.

Will a dull broadhead go through a deer? Hell... just look at lead round balls or buckshot... they zip right through a deer... so will non-expanding, "armor piercing" rifle bullets. And all three of these in my experience (save the armor piercing which are illegal dang near everywhere) leave terrible (bad terrible, not good terrible) blood trails. They push their way through. Expanding bullets form sharp edges, and leave larger wound channels. Granted, they still push their way though, but there is some seriously cutting done by expanding copper and lead. Why bother with hollow point or soft tip expanding ammunition if that was not the case?

Bullets, with only certain exceptions, do in fact kill just like arrows do.... unless you hit the animal with a bullet in exactly the right cardiovascular cycle, which creates a back-flow of blood to the brain and blows out the blood vessels in the brain, or severe the nervous system... a bullet is really little more than a device which lets blood flow from the body... the more blood lost, the lower the blood pressure, and soon you have unconsciousness, blood carries oxygen which the brain needs, brain shuts down... dead. There is no "shock wave" of energy, though it may appear so... that is little more than incompressable fluids rippling from the impact... like ripples on a pond. Look at a slow motion video of someone getting punched... same effect.

Ok guys you got me..I was playing devils advocate and thinking about a specific scenario I was thinking about..IE Muzzy heads not leaving a good blood trail because they are not "very very sharp"...later all.

Thanks for setting the record straight on that one Burnie. I felt my blood pressure start to rise.

Anyway, I read everything and find these topics interesting. And for the record, my broadheads are as sharp as I can get them. Someone mentioned 30 degree angles, but I alter mine.

There is usually one point that is usually left out though. A lot of the old timers believed inonlyusing a file to get their broadheads sharp (there is a technique to it).Is was most definetely not because they could notget that smooth polishededge. But they believed that their broadhead would be dull before getting through the hide on the entry. Suposively the file dressed head would retain a better edge. They had extremely fine serations (need a magnifying glass to see). I never tried them but I still know some people who swear by them.