I was running late getting to my stand yesterday. Finally about 7:30 I got settled in. At 7:55 a big mule headed doe walks right to the base of my tree. I pull back, line the sight pins right down her spine and let the Shwacker broad head fly.

The arrow hit just left of her spine and zips thru her brisket. Immediately the leaves turned red. I stayed seated for an hour and had a few more deer pass by but nothing worth messing with.


I follow the beautiful red leaves to the dried up creek bed at the bottom of the hill. There she laid. The broad head did its job and made a 3" slice on its way out.



So I've got her deboned and I'm down on my knees stuffing meat in the backpack when something moves beside my thigh. I glance over and a see a really nice looking copperhead. Pretty sure I jumped about 8 feet backwards.

He crawled under my backpack to hide his face while I cleaned out my underwear. If you look close you can see him at the bottom of my pack.

good job! You don't have to look close to see slithery, he is right there sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
Glad he didn't nip you.

Congrats on making meat! Back strap on the grill today? You making a hatband outta that snake?

Nice shot!
Never have seen a copperhead and sure don't want to be that close to one.

Excellent post and what a day!

Always thought the copperhead was the most handsome snake in NA. They can be gregarious, however.

Nicely done. [bleep] copperheads.

I am in treestand now.......

Yes,after I cleaned my britches,I would've used said swacker to decapitate said copperhead....

Nice shootin also.

Any venomous snakes in Two-Hearted country?

Backstraps will be on the grill tomorrow. Those copperheads do have cool colors.

Friend of mine was out working on stands a few days ago and found a rattler...

No. But the lower peninsula has Massassauga rattlers. The DNR talks about them like they are fairly commom, but I have only seen 2 in my whole life, and they were dead ones that other people killed. I don't think they get anywhere near the size of the snake above....

Thats for sure.

Guy I work with got some stuff together to have a party on a friday night at his place, down in the woods.

They killed something under 10 that night.

Next night, night of the party, they killed 17 more.

They had a generator running, and were only guessing that the vibrations may have had something to do with them coming out.

OTOH when they bulldozed all the trees from our 100 acres in teh 60s, when .gov decided that trees sucked for raising cattle and helped in the costs... I recall grandpa saying the dozer operator hit a "nest" of copperheads, I don't recall the numbers but that he turned the dozer off, and came back a week later...

Yikes! I hunt big blocks of public land timber in the Ozark's. Depending upon the activity I often walk miles back in cross country. There is no cell service and getting bit by a big rattler is one of the worst things that could happen. I'm not sure if a guy could climb out of the Ozarker Mountains several miles after taking a hit from a big snake like that. And we certainly have both timber rattlers and copperheads here. Cottonmouths are found around some of our lakes, rivers and streams also but shouldn't be far back in the timber where I'm hunting. It is something to consider...

Looks like the guy in the pic has on snake boots. Probably a very wise decision.

Poisonous snakes are something I don't have to deal with, and am very happy to say so.....

How was the entry hole from the shwacker? My hunters have had little more then shaft diameter holes, but when they exit it's just like your photo.

Entry hole was 1-1/4". It was a big mature doe. One of the blades cut a rib bone into then sliced thru the brisket bone and bounced about 8'. Both blades and the entire tip look like it just came out of the package. Shot a big nanny last year broadside with same results. She was 28 yards. Entry was 1"+ and exit was 3". It cut ribs in and out and will still shave. I've been a Muzzy guy for 25 years but I'm really liking the Swhacker. I'll test them on hogs in a couple months and see how they pan out.

Tell us about your power system? ( your bow specs)

2011 Hoyt Maxxis 31 (Back-up bow is a Mathews Switchback XT rigged out the same)
Rip Cord rest
63 lbs with 29.5" draw
Beeman ICS Hunter 340
280ish fps
Swhacker 100gr - 2" cut
2" Blazers
Arrow with tip weighs 416 grains
Pic from a couple years ago

I don't know everything about every mechanical broadhead - but I think the Swacker might be the best design .
The fact that it doesn't dull the blade on the entry seems like a better idea than the Rage making a big entry cut then -maybe- having dull or damaged blades for the rest of its trip through flesh.

I already mentioned it before -about a month ago I was walking back to lock the gate at our hunting lease -not watching where I was stepping. Saw movement right under my feet -recognised it was a snake -did a little two step and off crawled a good size cotton mouth . Came VERY close to stepping right on it .
Wear your boots folks - a bite from one wouldn't be any fun.
Told the members in our lease the story only to find out a member was bit by a pygmy rattler through his shoe . Didn't even know he was bit -thought it was a briar or something then got very sick later and spent 6 days in the hospital. Wear some snake boots ..

Having seen both used many dozens of times. I'll take the hypodermic every time.

A guaranteed 2" entry cut trumps a maybe exit to get that big bloody slice every time.

Seen too many shwackers without an exit and only a small entry with minimal blood flow. The same hit with a rage hypodermic would have a 2" entry every time, blood flow is significant, the exit is a bonus although typical with a heavy arrow. Critical from elevated blinds or tree stands. Shooting down puts entry holes up higher. Without an exit tracking is a struggle.

Either way you need enough power and arrow weight to drive that much blade width deep into an animal. The majority of tough tracking and lost game with mechanicals is from light weight arrows which the hunter chooses to get high speed.

The shwackers are stunning killers when they exit. Exactly the same performance as the rage. However those exits especially on game bigger or more solidly build then deer are not frequent.

I don't even choose the hypodermic on this bigger animals. I choose a slick viper trick 125. If I was shooting 30" draw at 70 pounds with a 500 grain arrow I would never use anything but the hypodermic. Unfortunately I have a 28" draw and no longer shoot such heavy draw weight.

Hell, in Texas its against the law to kill Canebrake, Timber, velvet tail, whatever you want to call them rattlers. Though I doubt very many people worry about that law.

JJHack ,

I'll take your word for it , you have certainly seen more hits in person than I have seen on the internet.

I'm dialed in with two blade rage 125gr this year -first year to give them a try [had them a while] going to give the 100gr. ST standards a little vacation time.