Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors O/T Dead Deer or Not

I shot this 10 point at about 18 yards with a crossbow using a Rage type Broadhead. I have a video camera with 5X lens mounted on the crossbow so I was able to retrieve this photo. As you can see in the photo the broadhead left about a 2 inch slice behind the front leg. The shot was lower than ideal but did I get the Buck? The shot was taken at ground level and the crossbow shoots about 330fps. Care to take a guess? Tom

Tom,
I will be the first to bite. I would say you found him piled up within 50 yards of the feeder.

Wait a minute! Did you shoot a deer as he was coming up to a feeder?

I will give the answer tonight about 5 PM Texas time. Stay tuned.

When you say "rage" type. I am assuming you used something else. I would have expected a bigger entry from a rage. Looks like a very possible heart shot but I think it could go either way. Hopefully there was a blood trail from a pass through. I'd say it's 50-50.

I refuse to pay $13.00 apiece for Rage Broadheads and wanted to try some Chinese knockoffs that I bought for $2.00 each. The only difference I have noticed is they need to be sharpened and they use a rivet VS a screw so blades cannot be replaced. Otherwise they are identical to Rage. These are 100 grain and have a 2 1/4 inch cut when deployed. Tom

I'd say no....but just ask my wife. She would confirm I have wrong many times......

Brisket. He lives.
Nice pic.

Low heart shot... he's dead... he just didn't know it at the time.

You possibly got the bottom of one or both lungs as well, but the "hit" seems a might low for that... but where there's HOPE, there's a possibility.

Regardless, the low heart shot did the "job"... possibly hitting the lower part of the heart and/or cutting one of the major arteries to the heart.

If you got an artery only, he "bled-out" on-the-run.

There's also a possibility that the arrow hit bone and glanced upwards taking out one or both lungs and possibility even hitting the spine. If he dropped like a sack-of-rocks, you got a spine-hit!!!

Anyway... good shot. Enjoy the venison. Jus' my 2�...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Looks like a killing shot to me.

I'm trying not to say anything about the feeder and the Chinese broadheads.

Rod

Phil I get what your hinting at. This is Texas and on a military installation to boot. I get to go through a lottery to hunt, pay additional $250 if picked and a 600 yard circle to hunt within. Also get to compete with 140 other bow hunters with feeders.

It is what it is and believe it or not I have hunted every Fri, Sat and Sunday since the last weekend in Sept and this is the first legal (must be 13 inch inside spread) buck I have seen.

I was born in Maine and know what real whitetail hunting is supposed to be. But when in Rome etc. Tom

Are the Rage broad heads not reusable?

You smoked him! Good shot!

The ones made in the USA are replaceable via a set screw. The Chinese knock offs have a rivet to hold the blades in place. You can pay $39.99 for 3 that are USA made Rage or as I chose, pay $20.00 for 12 of the Chinese knock offs. In this shot on the buck I had a pass through and the blades were intact when I recovered the bolt. Tom

When in Texas, you hunt with feeders. When in Nebraska, a huge number of folks hunt out of blinds. In the east, lots of folks still do drives with large numbers of folks pushing deer.

Lots of folks that bash each type of these activities. "That ain't real hunting".

I got bigger things to worry about.

PS: I say the critter's dead.

Shot looks good to me, BUT Im not a fan of the rage heads used in a Xbow there too light, my buddies use them and have lost deer or we have to track a mile, or the yotes have gotten to them, before we find them I use 170 grain slick tricks never lost a deer and I can shoot thru about anything, proved it to one on shooting thru pine planks this summer! the short Xbow bolts dont have any weight behind them. I wouldnt hunt with a chinese 2.00 head, a deers life is worth more to me than 2 bucks! I have used the same head to shoot 7 deer, till i lost it but I sharpened the blades or replaced them. I used to used the 100 grain slick tricks out of a compound bow. Hope you found your buck.

I agree with what Rory said. Just watch some of the hunting shows on Outdoor Channel or Sportsman Channel. A majority of the deer hunts filmed in Texas show hunters hunting over feeders. Does it make it right, it's not for me to judge if it is right or wrong. I think TomA called it right, "When in Rome do as the Romans do."

Might be that long before you find him!

From you camera angle and you being at ground level and not in a stand, that entrance looks plenty high enough for the heart, especially at 330 FPS. I would say he piled up within 100 yards. From an elevated stand I would say marginal.

Saddlering, the price I paid for the broadhead has nothing to do with it's effectiveness. If it puts a 2 1/4 inch hole through a deer it did it's job. Everybody has their own opinion of what they prefer and why but the same can be said for rifles and calibers and so on.

I have been bow hunting for over 45 years and have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. I normally shoot a regular compound bow (Bowtech Destroyer LE) but my for these small bodied Texas deer and popup blind I prefer a crossbow. My broadhead choice for over 30 years has been a Muzzy 4 blade, 130 grain. Have taken deer, pigs, black bear, elk and so on.

With the speed of todays crossbows, about any sharp balanced broadhead will get the job done. Point being that I sharpen, spin balance and zero with these broadheads and believe they are about as good as the $13.99 Rage, Tom