Recently started hunting with a crossbow. I have a Excalibur x-bow and and looking to get some broad heads. Are the Bolt Cutter 150 grain fine for deer? A little searching says that some folks think the 1 1/16 inch cutting diameter is too small and will result in lost game. I see some of the mechanical broad heads are sometimes over 2 inches in cutting diameter. Is it a big deal or is good placement the key? Thanks.
Don't ever kid yourself. Put the bigger head through the right spots and you'll do more cutting. More cutting means more bleeding. More bleeding means more blood on the ground, eventually.
Lots of bow hunters use small heads like Slick Tricks and they work superbly. When you punch an arrow through the chest of a deer a number of things happen. First, you creat a pneumo-thorax which means that Bambi's lungs now are not working much at all. The diaphragm pulling forward is pushing air which s now inside the chest as well as air in the lungs out. Some of the air in the lungs is now going into the chest which collapses the lungs some and when the diaphragm pulls back it sucks outside air into the chest collapsing the lungs more. The blood flowing into the chest pressurizes the chest more collapsing the lungs more. The blood flowing into the lungs drowns reduces lung function more.
OBVIOUSLY A BIGGER CUT GOING THROUGH AGGRAVATES ALL OF THE ABOVE AND MAKES A BIGGER HOLE FOR BLOOD TO COME OUT OF.
The down side of a bigger cut is that it takes more power to push it through Bambi. A 300 FPS + crossbow will drive a heavy enough arrow completely through Bambi with even 2 inch cut blades paired with 1 inch plus blades like some four blade heads.
No matter what you do to Bambi in this manner, rifle or bow, you have to expect Bambi to make it 50-80 yards. The only way to shortcut that is CNS shots with a rifle, something not advisable with a bow or crossbow. Last year I shot one doe very tight behind the shoulder and just above the heart. 2 inch Rage. It severed the heart loose from the lungs, punched both lungs and exited. She made it 200 yards + and when she crossed a mowed lawn 100 yards wide I could see the huge blood spurts almost all the way across. But... It took me about 2-1/2 hours to find the first blood because she went north at the shot and then when I couldn't see her dd a 180 and almost straight south until she tipped over.
Stick with a simple design like a Rage and mechanical failures are virtually nonexistent. Use a heavy arrow like an FMJ and it buys you some insurance to punch bone coming and going and still pass through. Personally, I prefer fixed three blade heads and 2/4 blade mechanicals like the Rage or NAP spitfire. Steel shanks won't break on hitting heavy bone. I punched a three blade fixed through the chest and then through the heavy shoulder joint cutting bone and the head still made it through the deer this fall.
