Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Preping for the 2020 bowhunting seasons

Ive dedicated the last 2 bowhunting seasons to using 250 grain, 3 blade Woodsman broadheads and enjoyed fantastic results and while my bowhunting season still has a couple months left, my results with the woodsman heads over the last 2 seasons have been 15 deer, including several P&Y whitetails, a big bull elk, a Russian boar and zero wounding loss (100% recovery rate) And in nearly every case, I watched the animal expire requiring no tracking. On top of that, I was able to take 9 deer with the same woodsman head (re-sharpen and re-use the exact same head) so, to say that I am impressed and pleased with the Woodsman head is an understatement.

That being said, I have broadhead ADHD (which explains why I have more than 500 diff. broadheads in my collection) and I usually dedicate a couple seasons to a broadhead to evaluate it before testing/evaluating another broadhead. Most recently I did exactly that with Slick tricks and Muzzy Phantom heads (both of those heads were also stellar performers that I wholeheartedly endorse and recommend) Over 45+ years of bowhunting and broadhead testing Ive learned a great deal about broadhead lethality and especially what happens and how wild game acts from the time the broadhead enters until the animal expires. (I average about 14 seconds from impact to a downed animal).

Ive found that he shorter heads with more steep blade angles cause game animals to run farther because they know they have been hit vs game hit with long and slender heads that seem to slide through game with them almost under-reacting and often times stopping after a short sprint to look back and what the disturbance was. Typically they fall where they stop to look back. Ive come to prefer the longer heads that slip through game with effortless ease vs those that deliver a audible "Whack" or "Thump" at impact as the "whackers" seem to cause longer run time and recovery distances. (just another reason I dont bother with mech heads aside from the obvious shortcomings of mech heads) as a guy that does suburban deer culling for my municipality, I need deer down asap and I must have a pass through so no mech heads for me.

As I prepare for the 2020 and 2021 bowhunting seasons and additional species and states I will hunt and perhaps even a bowhunting trip to Africa, I’ve just ordered 4, 3-packs of the next head I will put to the test. Once again I will stick with a fixed blade broadhead as I see no worth or value in mechanical heads for the obvious reasons. The twist on this broadhead selection is that even though its called the Palmer Extreme, its nearly a return to the Muzzy Phantom Ive had so much success with in the mid 2000’s. In fact, the Palmer Extreme is made for Palmer by Muzzy (Feradyne) but it has a few changes such as more weight (160 grains vs the 125 grain I used in the past) more width (1 7/16” wide vs the 1 1/8” I used in the past). Ive onlt recently learned of this head and have no prior experience with them.

Ive always been a fan of 4 blade broadheads and while the 3 blade Woodsman did a fantastic job for me, I like that 4th blade of the Palmer Extreme. My prior experience with the Muzzy Phantom proved that I could kill 7 deer with the same head (shoot and re-sharpen and re-use) and I expect the larger, heavier Palmer Extreme to be just as durable but I will send it through many many animals before I can prove that assumption.

I enjoy sharpening my own heads and in fact started an entire company based on broadhead sharpening so Ive got no issue with getting them surgical sharp, over and over since Ive done it with the Phantoms and other heads. I will swap out the aluminum inserts in my arrows with brass to boost the weight closer to 200 grain up front as I get improved flight and performance when my FOC it 20% or more. I'll stick with the same 500+ grain total arrow package and 65 pounds of draw weight since its a proven penetrator on all species. Time to start preparing for the next bowhunting season since it will arrive very soon. I hope to have these new Palmers in a week so I can begin to prepare for the fast approaching 2020 traveling hunts. The prep is almost as fun as the hunts I will go on.

those broadheads look great ! i went back to using Zwickey Eskimo`s with bleeders, i like to sharpen my own broadheads for deer. for elk hunting i have been using Elmer Broadheads and still have enough for a few more years yet. here in Minnesota i am still bowhunting i like the snow and cold weather,seems thats when the bigger bucks move better in the day light for me and i have the woods mostly to myself too.

Gurgle, gurgle...

such negativity and jealousy towards another bowhunter, some of you small boys need to grow up !

How are you able to talk with all that gurgling? You multi-tasker you...

Greg, they have to be the same guy no one with a brain cell would think Ronda is worth asking for advice or looking up to.

Petey sucky sucky.......he last long time.

yep the 3 brokeback mountain boys are keyboarding together,leap frogg`n and passs`n the luv lotion around= little tommie,frederick, greggie.

Pete, ole sharp things will likely let you shoot one of his yard deer if you ask nicely....

What I find funny is even with all that butt kissing there ole petey is shart things totally ignores you.
From my point I’m embarrassed for you.
But keep sucking up.......maybe one day it will work out for you two.
And you can both hunt in the same blind and maybe ole sharty will really let you make good sucky sucky.

Have you looked at Iron Will broadheads. I’ve used the 125 grain the last three years with great success on elk, brown bear, Aoudad, deer, and black bear. Like you, 500 grain total arrow weight, 65 pounds, and easy pass through.
They are expensive, but very effective.

Yes, in my line of work I have just about every broadhead out there and that includes Iron Will. They are a good head with very good steel but too short and small and too light weight for my tastes and since I kill a lot of game animals every year, they are not priced for a guy that kills literal tons and tons of animals.

Pete53 the Zwickey Eskimo`s with bleeders is a fantastic head for deer sized game but the metal is a bit soft or large or dangerous game for my tastes.

The 4 packs of Palmer heads arrived yesterday. These are some seriously big heads. (1 7/16" wide)

Here is the palmer 160 compared to some other heads.



I already have a means to re-sharpen them after I kill things with them.



A broadhead this wide has to spin true and these do.



When the wind dies down and the temps warm a bit I will flight test them. It was only 6 degrees this morning in God's country.

On a related note. Last week I took archery whitetail deer number 12 and 13 for the season with the woodsman heads. If I get time to get setup with the new Palmer heads I will try to take a Nuisance deer for the municipality still this year with these new heads.

Archery Deer #12



Archery Deer number #13

Aluminum ferrule?

sharp things, your are probably right about the Zwickey probably not good enough for bigger animals. but for deer i am still going to use them for this reason i have about 10 dozen Zwickey broadheads many old bowhunters gave me there Zwickey broadheads .and now days i might shoot a old buck every other year with a Zwickey broadhead. good luck in 2020,Pete53

Must have been luck, killing this bull with a Zwickey…….

Great bull Pat. Took my first bull with a 2 blade Delta.

No speakin from experience Pat. Not fair

And promise to bring the corn........

thanks for the thought

Pete, Zwickey has always made great heads. They have been around long enough to have proven their worth.

Last week I was able to try out the new Palmer extreme 160 heads while removing more deer for the municipality. (this was the 14th deer since Jan. of last year but my first with the new Palmer broadhead.) There were nearly 200 volunteers that signed on to help reduce the deer population in the municipality. As of this week we have taken about 90 deer. Ive been able to take 14% of the total deer killed which tells me there are a great many (perhaps the majority )that have taken no deer at all. It makes me wonder why they would sign up as they have put forth no results.


The results from the Palmer Extreme 160 head are impressive. This old gal was very noticeably limping on her right hind leg. I made a double lung pass through resulting in an 8 second run before this big old doe fell. The head provided a great and short blood trail. The 4 blade head is nearly an inch and a half wide so a massive wound channel is to be expected.













One dew claw was on the opposite of the foot.



The Palmer heads are the real deal. After the kill, I used my broadhead sharpener to return it to a razor's edge and its now back in the quiver to be used on my next game animal.