Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

I am still on my quest to kill 10 doe off my friend's farm where depradation tags were issued for such, though I am only half way there.

Technically, I've still got 4 weeks of season left, but with various Christmas parties that my wife wants to attend (she is a real trooper in not nagging me about hunting in all my spare time for the last 2 1/2 months, its the least I can do in return), taking myson snowboarding during his school break (thats his real passion)and the holidays in general, my hunting days will be fewer and farther between from this point forward.

So with the rut winding down and nothing to show for itand this 1 1/2 yo doe presenting me the perfect shot opportunity, I took it. 19.5 yard broadside shot. Good shot placement. Arrow falls out approx 30 yards from impact. Doe piles up about 100 yards from impact. Blood trail was excellent not that it was needed as I was able to see doe go down.

I mentioned this the other day. I am getting more and more comfortable with the Rage once I accepted the fact that I probably wasn't going to get a complete pass thru. But a partial with the arrow ready for inspection 30 yards down an excellent blood trail that continues all the way to the deer is a good trade off, IMO.

This one is for you Big Country. #5 and I hope to add to it before the season is over. My ego is not yet satisfied for the year.

This one was so young I decided to keep this one for myself so I was extra careful about minimizing the amount of hair that got on the meat.;)

This is the exit hole. It measured just over 2.75". I am not sure how a 2"blade does that, but I measured it twice to make sure.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats on the fine doe jackflap

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats, I bought up on the hype this year with the rages and went with the three blades. I dont know if you have tried them or not but out of the four does I have shot this year I have got complete pass throughs on point of impact. On was a large maturedoe and the other three were all 2 1/2 year old does but still got complete pass throughs on all. Have you tried the three blades?

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

awesome hole!
Keep it up... I'm jealous... love shooting them baldies!

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats. Keep at it.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

thats an amazing hole the rages put through a deer. i bought a pack of 2 and 3 blade rages this year but i yet have to shoot a deer with them and see the hole for myself. so far the rages are looking good

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats on the doe.
20 yard shot and the arrow doesn't pass completely through.
How much KE does your set-up produce?

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

I see it as another Almost failure. Really, less than 20 yards and no pass through. I'd say you don't have enough KE to really be shooting these heads or two, your bow is so far out of tune it's a wonder you kill anything. At the distances you're shooting you should have to use both hands to pull the damn arrow out of the dirt. I haven't had a deer go 100 yards when properly shot in ... well never. I don't think I'd be ranting about the virtues of the broadhead. You're treading on a slippery slope it seems. And this was a little deer. What if the thing weighed 200 pounds and was healthy.[8D] Not trying to start a fight, but I wouldn't accept those results. I'd change broadheads or tune my bow.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

No I haven't.

My set up only produces 61-62# KE. Between last year and this year, I have killed 6 deer with the Rage. Not a complete pass thru yet though all but one have been partials and all deer were easily recovered including two that were fairly long tracking jobs that I believe the Rage and its blood trail benefitted greatly.

Prior to the Rage and including two deer this year, I have used the Muzzy 3 blade and have always gotten a complete pass thru except one time. But the blood trail with the Muzzy is sometimes pretty sparse. I plan on using both for a while as I am not yet 100% sold on the Rage because of the pass thru issues (at least with my set up) but I sure like the holes and the subsequent blood trail.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congratulation's Mike!! Great shooting!!

If you have confidence In what your using, stick with It. Confidence Is huge, specially In bow hunting. Well done again Mike.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

congrats on a great doe

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

You may be right. When I first used the head last year that was my thought as well. I am confident that my bow is tuned properly (if you believe in the results of paper tuning) but I don't produce a lot of KE, about 62#. I decided that was not enough but then I began to find out from others that shoot over 70# that they also have fewer complete pass thrus than most of the "Rage advocates" will usually admit.

But I have come to the conclusion that a partial is as good as a complete other than arrow inspection. I have shot enough that I usually (almost always-maybe because my arrow speed is slow) know what kind of hit I made on the deer and the goal after the shot is to find a dead deer not necessarily an arrow sticking in the ground.

I have shot a mature buck with this broadhead last year with same results- partial but not complete but easy recovery.

Not arguing that 100 yards seems excessive with a good double lung hit, but as long as I got a partial pass thru, how could that have anything to do with the recovery yardage as compared to a complete?

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

I've killed 16 deer with mechanicals, my arrows typically carried about 60# KE. I got a pass through 13 out of 16 times. The 3 times I did not get a pass through? Twice I used a 2'' cut mechanical and once I hit spine. If I used a head like the Rocket Miniblaster, Steelhead, or Sidewinder I always blew right through. (I also shot 6 more deer with fixed heads and got pass throughs). I'm not using 2'' mechanicals (Rage); I'll stick with conservative 1 1/2'' - 1 1/4'' heads; 60# KE is sufficient.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats again, Mike!!! You are laying'em down! :)

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Congrats jackflap!!

I used to kill 12 to 15 a year, but that turned Fun into work so I am not quite so Gung-Ho on killing anymore. I've only killed 3 so far this year.;)

Dan

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

Were you there? Do you know all the circumstances of what happened? Was the deer moving, ducking or turning when he hit it? What did it actually hit? I hope you understand that just because a shot is 20 yards or less doesn't mean you are always going to get a passthrough, no matter what BH you use.

You know none of these answers but come on here and say nothing but negative things. Why don't you worry about what you shoot at let him worry about what he's going to shoot.

By the way, I've shot three deer, 280lbs-330lbs live weight with the Rage, all passthroughs and I'm shooting around 260fps.

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

I've shot a lot of passthroughs with mechanicals. In fact most of the 30 to 40 deer I've killed with them, but IMHO you will have more consistent passthroughs on game with a fixed blade Broadhead.
To each there own!
I've walked both paths and even though the mechanicals are tempting. I canNOT take the chance. I'll stick with my tried and true.

One thing to remember. Whether you shoot a 1" cut, a 1 1/4" cut or a 2" cut, a Bad shot will always be a Bad shot. I think that's been proven many times on this board alone.

Dan

RE: Doe #5 - Rage-another partial pass thru but a success
 

x 2. Individual circumstances attribute a great deal to results.