BTBowhunter

75+ whitetails, a mulie, abear, a boar, and a few assorted smaller critters over the past 20 yeras with Muzzy. Never a failure.


I've heard a lot good about Rage but had occasion to help a freind tune his bow a week or so ago and was not impressed with them. He had plenty of trouble keeping them from deploying in the quiver. Other than that, they did OK.

The big problem with mechanicals, which have come a long way since the old punchcutter days, is that they wind up being a bandaid on a porrly tuned bow. A shortcut if you will.

Mechanicals are fine IMHO, but only when the bow is tuned properly and should not be resorted to simply because the fixed broadheads wont fly right.

greeny04

Rage dislikes: dull tip, deploy easily in quiver.
rage likes: cutting diameter,fly great

muzzy dislikes: haven't found any
muzzy likes: great point,fly great,you know its open.
killed a buck at 60 yds last year and he didnt go 70 yds,but even the cheapest heads will down the animal if the shot is in the kill zone. my biggest worry with a rage would be down rage as we lose KE will they open? best point i have seen wasp hammer sst

spartaMIdlv

I had used Thunderheads for 15 years and shot many deer with them. Last year I shot an 8 point at 12 yards and had a perfect shot. The entry wound was high on the chest and the exit hole low. The exit hole got plugged, so the blood trail was lost after 60 yards. The deer somehow went over 300 yards and I only found it by dumb luck after 4 hours.

This year, I swithed to a Rage 3 blade. I shot another 8 point. This one was at 30 yards from a ground blind. The shot was just a fuzz high, but still through the lungs. He only went 50 yards.

I agree that the blades sometimes fall out of place, but if you just check them when you get set in your stand, you'll be good. I love them.

dmounts

Like I said, I was only commenting for people that watched the video and questioned the Rage 3 blade deployment issue....which was resolved in late 2007. I'm a fan of ANY broadhead that kills a deer! My bow is very well tuned, so I have shot both fixed Muzzy's and Rage mechanicals with no problems.

As for the two videos, being a mechanical engineer I can tell you the fixed blade broadheads will hold up much better shooting through steel and wood. Both the front and back side of the blade are attached to the main shaft of the head, which gives it greater rigidity on impact. It all depends what your shooting. I can't say for certain what will happen if the Rage hits a shoulder bone, as what would happen to any other mechanical. My only concern is hitting that deer in the boiler room. I will never take a shot (even if it a B&C deer) if I'm not 100% confident I will make a clean kill. Mistakes, tree limbs, jerked triggeres...they all happen. But every deer I have shot was hit in the lungs, heart or liver. In 20 years of bowhunting I have never hit a deer in the shoulder, unless it was on a quartering away pass thru that hit the opposite shoulder. I can only hope that if one day I do hit a deer in the shoulder with any broadhead, God will watch over me and make sure that deer doesn't suffer. As hunters we owe it to the animals of this earth to make our kills are as quick and humane as possible. Thats why I switched to the Rage 3 Blade last year. It has a larger cutting area than the Muzzys I have used for the last 15 years, and to me that just means if I do my job right, the animal wont suffer too long. I am absolutely without a doubt un-biased on this topic. Whichever you decide to use, make sure you keep them sharp. Don't shoot it 2 dozen times at your target and then put it back in your quiver for hunting. Lets all be ethical hunters, and make sure to pass the love you have for the outdoors on to our next generation. Good luck to all of you this season!

c_str

I shoot muzzies, 3 blade and 125 grains with a heavy arrow and no complaints. I keep my bow down to about 52 pounds, just for the ability to pull it back and wait when the deer pulls crap like stopping behind a tree, etc. (you know the drill) I've thought about trying out the rage just to see how it does, but then I would have to crank my bow up to 65 lbs or something like that just to be sure it penetrated enough. So that alone has stopped me because I don't have time to practice with the bow at that poundage. Plus I'm not 6'4 and 250 lbs... If you go with mechanicals, make sure your bow is putting out enough force to do it. I don't know what pounds minimum, but I would bet 60 at least. My arrows are slow and heavy, and I'm limited with my distance, but they are quiet and hit hard.

Just my rambling, but remember the most important thing is to hit the vitals whatever you use.