First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Last day for deer archery here in Ohio was yesterday (Sun. Feb. 3)
Harvesteda decent buck last night around 5:25. Been hunting pretty hard every chance I got all fall & winter... it finally all came together. He came out with a dozen does and he was chasing them around like they were in heat. Kicking at them with his front feet, harrasing them, etc. It was awesome. I watched from about 80 yards, then all at once, he kept harrasing this doe and she had enough. She took off running away from the pack and he followed. She ran right past me (~20 yards) and he followed at the slow trot. I grunted at 20 yards and put a bolt right thru him... a little far back. Got one lung on my side and the liver on the exit side. (Thunderheads 100g) When he was running away from me, it looked like someone with their thumb over a garden hose... he ran about 50 yards, slowed down and fell over. I found the bolt about 20' past him laying on top of the snow (winter wheat field) It's been a long, hard hunt this year. I'll clean everything up when I get home and enjoy the rest of my winter in front of the woodburner! Thanks for all the great stories this year, it feels good that I was finally able to contribute. Take care, Jeff

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

WTG Jeff......Congrat's

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

congrats Jeff! dont you love it when a plan comes together.

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!
Nice buck!
Snow? Down here by the Ohio river we had plenty of mud to walk inyesterday!

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Congrats! Nice deer! I got til the 29th of Feb.

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

great buck! Nice mass.

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

i enjoy seeing a nice buck on tailgate.
very nice healthy deer.

your seasons are really long, ours stopped a while back.
we are trying to reduce season even more.

this year, you can only hunt BUCKS the first week in WMU2G here in pa..

i do wander off ,a little at times:D

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Congrats. You earned him. Way to go.

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Congratulations! Any deer with an arrow is a trophy. This one's pretty good! Good going!

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

nice deer! gratz to you.:D:D:D

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Damn fine buck Congrats!!! Any deer witha CB is a trophy and a nice buck is even better.:)

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

U da man! Excellent!!!

Thanks for the report. How did the Thunderhead look afterwards?

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Last day...gotta love it!! Congrats!!!
Wyvern

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

Thunderhead pretty much looked like I just got it out of the package... I have to wonder if these broadheads "float" or "plane" a little bit. I was having issues earlier this fall with not very good groups out of the Exocet. I got it to the point where I felt confident I could make a humane shot at 30 yards or less. I put the dot just behind the front shoulder and ended up catching the last rib and the liver. Besides a straight down spine shot from a treestand, this deer died fast as could be, but it wasn't a double-lunger. Now that season is over, I'm going to spend some time with different combinations, etc. I must be cheap because a while back I bought about 10 packs of Thunderhead 100 replacement blades for about 25c each (spring closeout of a sporting good dept) I thought if I could keep from losing the original 6 heads, I could just replace blades for the next 10 years or so! I didget the broadheads that came with the package, I could try those I guess. I've also heard a lot of good things about Slick Tricks.

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

I think the exact same thing...

I've used 85gr thunderheads for years with my vertical bow setup and love them andthought I'd be just as happy with the heavier(and unfortunately, bigger) version, but my findings have been pretty much the exact same thing your experincing in that I often get very irratic flyers(and even groups) without any real cause for it which I've pretty much narrowed down to the broadheads...
I shoot 125gr thunderheads in my phoenix andalthough I havent messed with them too in-depth yet I have messed with them enough to form an opinion, and IMO the bigger, wider 100gr/125gr thunderheadstend to plane fairly easy, and often, with the shorter crossbow arrows(wether or not they do it as bad with a longer vertical bow arrow Idont know, I wouldnt think they would)...
they seems to perform boarderline exceptable under perfect conditions but throw a slight wind at them(or anything outside "perfect")and you might as well forget it...

I was actually shooting them today out in the windy snowstorm we had(I had to test out my DNK string :D) and couldnt getthem to hit on target consistantly to save my life, where as the field points grouped pretty much like they always do...



I actually missed a nice buck somewhat like yours this last fall(I had my son with me, his first bowhunt), I did hit himand took alot of hair off him but there was no blood and unfortunately, no deer either...we weresitting on the ground and I hadthe crossbow braced on my kneesso the shot, which was around 20 yards,was well placed and good,it was just bad arrow flightand alot of disbelief that it happened and that I didnt get him...

that eventpretty much wrote them off for me...I havent given up on them entirely yet though, I actually like the thunderheads and when the weather gets warmer I'm going to sit down and do some veryin-depthbench testing before I write them off completely, although with what I've dealt with them so far, I dont have much hope I'll see any difference in performance, or thatI'll stick with them...


I think my next try is going to be some spitfires,there seems to be alot of good things being said about themin crossbow arrows, and if I dont like them I'll just have to try something else...

I have all summer... ;)








nice buck by the way... :D

RE: First blood for Exocet... finally!!!!
 

In my experience I've found that Thunderheads like speeds well under 300 ft/sec. The addded guidance of a longer shaft with fletching way behind to give the ability to steer more leverage makes them work better in a vert bow. Try Slick Tricks, G5 Strikers, G5 Montecs and the 4 bladed Magnus Stingers. The Stingers and Strikers work well if you want to push the arrow faster.
Awshucks and I were talking the other day and we both agree that slowing down the arrow below 300 ft/sec is the ticket to better accuracy and forgiveness.