Rage 3 Broadhead debate - lost deer

[centerpin_drift]

On Wed Nov.26 I made a post of the buck i downed at 6 steps using the Rage 3 Broadhead and the devistating entrance wound and blood trail that resulted from the 2" cut diameter. Last night, I was back in my stand trying to fill another tag when a beautiful 8 point came running in to my rattles and I stopped him at 26 yards and slipped an arrow behind his left shoulder. When I went to get my arrow it had some solid blood on it, but it appeared that only two of the three blades opened, now the third blade may have closed when the buck kicked and tossed the arrow into the snow, but i defintally know i hit him hard. An hour later we went to track him and found some nice solid blood for 500 yards where he layed down a couple times, but snowmobilers in the area kept pushing him from his bed. After an hour of tracking it was time for my buddy to go to work, so we decided to resume tracking at at midnight. When we returned later that night we noticed coyotes had been all over the blood trail and actually bumped the buck over and over again. We tracked for miles as we watched the tracks of the buck fleeing from the coyotes untill the buck eventually met back up with his heard and gained safety in numbers so the coyotes had backed off. Just befor 3am I was stil on his blood trail hard when i eventually bumped him from a bloody bed in the apple orchard, so we backed off and decided to resume tracking this morning. Apparently this deer is still running around out there with one lung because we tracked him for 3 hours this morning and lost him where he crossed a river to another property.

 

So it turns out that at 26 yards the rage 3 did half the job it did at 6 yards. What happened to down range kenetic energy? At that distance the

2" cut diameter was to much surface area to punch through his ribs hard enough to keep going through his body, ending up with a lost deer. There was enough blood out there to expect that this deer would be down by now. How long can a deer live on one lung and still bleeding?

 

Tonight im going to give my G5 Montec another go and see what kind of punching power they have compared to rage.

[richyb]

Did you see the arrow go in ? sounds to me that you hit low and just nicked him because i have never seen a deer go more than 100 yards when hit through the vitals .. even with 1 lung gone he is going to bleed into the other one and die so i dont think you got a lung.. Even with just a field point and a vital hit that deer would be dead. So either you just touched him enough to bleed or you have a dead deer in the bush right now ..

[bassjnkie]

What happened to the "love of the rage"?

 

Personally I get my heads sent to me for testing. I tried the Rage and here is my review, sorry it's late but I can't argue with a big Rage fan. There are no broad heads that fly exactly like field points "FP". I have tried the Montec, spitfires, Rage and so on. I personally don't like mechanical, sometimes open in flight and times never open, testing the Slick Tricks, I noticed they can very close to my FP even at 50 yards. I am glad you learned that the Rage will not be dead on to PF. My testing of the Rage showed, shooting at 290 FPS, that 10 Yards are close to FP, 20 yards are off by 4", 30 yards off by 7" and it gets worse the farther you shoot. The Montecs, well ain't any better. Spit fires are ok, but they don't always open.

 

When I stared shooting at bow at 15, I was taught by a archery pro, he said "sight in what you are using for hunting, FP's don't equal the same arrow flight". Meaning if you are using broad head, then practice with them and you will be sure of a perfect shot.

 

Sorry for the late review, but it seemed the Rage were your best friend. I wasn't looking to argue.

 

Daniel

[bassjnkie]

My dad's buddy shot a deer in the lung, we finally found him a K away. Only one lung was punctured at the base. Lot's of blood.

[buckster]

From what ive heard deer can go a long time if u just clipped a lung up high. He wont come out of this alive. But it would make for some serious tracking. Personally i dont like broadheads that open on impact. Im currently shooting G5 montecs............ They do the job just fine!

[centerpin_drift]

I watched that arrow hit him in the left lung quarting away, and he did duck the arrow so it hit him a bit forward and high, 100% a lung shot but it could have just clipped it and obviously didn't take him down, but the blood we were trailing was frothy lung blood and lots of arterial spray and some thick jelly blood in spots he layed down.

 

and thanks for the review dan, its much appreciated

 

Mike

[johnnyb]

I have no experience whatsover in this, but, from the sounds of all the blood, I don't know how this animal could still be alive.

[misfish]

All I got to say is,get back out there and look HARD. It,s got to be down with that amount of blood.

Wish I could just a shot.

[Sinker]

Did you cross the river and look there too??

 

Did he just walk the edge of the water up or down stream??

 

I couldn't give up on that deer. It sounds like you hit it well enough, but they are one tough animal!!

 

Do you have a dog, or know someone with a dog?? I've seen an untrained jack russel track and find a wounded deer......any dog will do!!!

 

If you don't get it, the yotes are gonna have a field day on him!!!

 

Sinker

[centerpin_drift]

the edge of the river marks the edge of my hunting property. The deer crossed into private property and also into the town limits so I gave up tracking for the moment. Also i was in a snowmobile accident last weekend and my knees are cracked, making walking in the deep snow hard. Im faced with a difficult decision

[richyb]

notify the landowner and go get your buck !!! im pretty sure its law that they have to give you permission to track wounded game.

[buckster]

If the landowner gives you a hard time. call the mnr. Im with sinker on this one my friends boxer tracked a downed buck for him last fall

[steelhead hunter]

The land owner has to give you permission to track the animal. and as for your knees why are you shooting an animal if you can't track it come on you jusy put an arrow into the things lung and it is dead you have no choice but to track it out

[Sinker]

Yup, talk to the landowner and see if they'll let you track your deer. 99% of the time, its no problem. That deer is 100% dead somewhere in there. I couldn't give up yet.

 

I lost a deer once and it will never happen again!!!

 

If you were close by, I'd offer to come help you out!!

 

Sinker

[maple_leaf_drifter]

we tracked this deer for 6.8 km for over 8 hours by the end we were only picking up little drops of blood every few hunderd yards. once he crossed the river he s in to heavy swamp and marsh area, i would have followed him threw there too if the blood trail was more soild and if a couple houndred deer hadent walked all over the same trail that this buck took.

[ch312]

The land owner has to give you permission to track the animal. and as for your knees why are you shooting an animal if you can't track it come on you jusy put an arrow into the things lung and it is dead you have no choice but to track it out

 

actually, the landowner does NOT have to give a hunter permission to come onto their property to track and/or retrieve a deer. calling the mnr will do nothing to help you as they wont be able to help you in any way. sucks but thats the way it is.

 

it doesnt happen very often, but a deer will drop on the spot when hit with an arrow in the spine. sometimes a deer "jumping" the string works in your favor.

 

as to the broad heads failing. i think you are just asking for trouble when using mechanical broad heads. they are much more prone to breaking than a fixed head and you always run the risk of one not even opening. a deer shot with a mechanical wont die any quicker than one shot with a smaller fixed head and i dont understand why people even use them when we have broad heads that fly like field points.

 

crimson talon fixed broad heads are the best ive seen. my dad shot a doe at 30-35 yards through the heart with one of these and the blood trail was ridiculous. there was so much blood it was like someone took a blood soaked towel and swung it around on both sides of the deer as it was running. she made it 30 yards.

 

deer is likely half eaten by yotes by now...

[Carp]

I'm not a fan of mechanicals. I've always used fixed 130 grain Wasp broadheads and don't have any trouble with them.

Most deer I shoot have 2 holes in them. One entrance and one exit.

I've lost a couple because of bad shots due to the animal jumping the shot.

It happens. Someone ate well on those deer, but it wasn't me.

I'm much more careful about shot placement now and would rather pass up

on a deer than take a chance on losing it.

 

Keep after that deer. As long as you have a blood trail, you keep tracking.

Ask permission to go retrieve the animal. I'm surprised you didn't already do that.

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

deer is likely half eaten by yotes by now...

 

What a WASTE!!!

[Smokey]

Sounds like a poor hit to me and with all the problems and the deer not being able to lay down it's gone. Things like this happen, it's part of hunting.

 

I use the rages and montecs, both work and work well. I find it hard to believe that only one blade would open on the rages as the activate so easily. Maybe you just grazed the animal. Who knows but all you can do is try your best.

 

Mike

[fawwzy55]

it happens to the best of hunters i myself know of a couple guys who have been hunting for years who have shot big deer and never found them it a part of hunting i know its sucks ive been there walking for miles and miles only to find myself lost in the bush thankgood for my gps. i also have a bad knee and leg but i know you walked hard to find this deer in deep snow that is probably wet and heavy in some areas. swamp and marsh areas can be tough areas to track deer. i believe you did a fine job son looking for this deer i would have done the same.

[centerpin_drift]

thanks fella's to all your responses. We did never find the deer, and it is part of hunting. Maple_leaf_drift helped me look for the deer for hours and hours and hours across many kilometers and eventually we had to give up search. I feel like poop for hitting a deer that i was unable to recover, but im not the first to lose a game animal, and im certainly not going to be the last. I still do have a beauty 8 point hanging in my garage that piled up within 100 yards, so at least thats a little proof i can bring down an animal cleanly. poop happens.

 

Mike

[rickster]

actually, the landowner does NOT have to give a hunter permission to come onto their property to track and/or retrieve a deer.

 

 

Ummm yes you do need permission from the landowner

doesn't matter if you are tracking an animal or going for a stroll in the woods

it is still considered tresspassing if you don't get permission

 

 

too bad about the deer but like you said sometimes stuff happens