Rage performance

[SW]

:)My son shot a button buck(by accident) with a Rage 2 blade a couple of weeks ago. They have a 2" cut. The wound was devastating. I think it went about 10 yds.
Yesterday, I shot a large doe with a 3-blade Rage(1 1/2" cut). It was moving fast and from the time I saw it to the shot was less than 2 secs, I mis-judged the range slightly and got a bad hit - just behind the shoulder and only 1/4 down from the top of the back. This is a terrible place to hit a deer. That said, the deer took off and was obviously hit(frantic running and unsteady). It went appx 70 yds and piled up - I heard it go down. No blood trail - all in the deer. The wound was devastating also. The Rage certainly has excellent terminal performance in either version.

[petev]

SW my buddy hit a doe with a rage broadhead Monday, in the hindquarters because he jerked due to nerves. He gave the deer 1 1/2 hours to bleed, and then looked and found it 40 yards from where he shot it. The wound was huge, and even the butcher was impressed, so my buddy is very impressed with the Rage broadhead.

[Kevin B.]

Oct 25, 2008 6:35:44 GMT -5 SW said:

:)My son shot a button buck(by accident) with a Rage 2 blade a couple of weeks ago. They have a 2" cut. The wound was devastating. I think it went about 10 yds.
Yesterday, I shot a large doe with a 3-blade Rage(1 1/2" cut). It was moving fast and from the time I saw it to the shot was less than 2 secs, I mis-judged the range slightly and got a bad hit - just behind the shoulder and only 1/4 down from the top of the back. This is a terrible place to hit a deer. That said, the deer took off and was obviously hit(frantic running and unsteady). It went appx 70 yds and piled up - I heard it go down. No blood trail - all in the deer. The wound was devastating also. The Rage certainly has excellent terminal performance in either version.

Congrats to you and your son's success!!!

[DW]

Congrats to you both. These things are getting great reviews by everyone it seems.

[dougedwards]

I used the 2-blade Rage last year with devastating affects but had some of the blades come loose from the o-ring while being transfered in the quiver. I was bothered enough by that to make a change to fixed blade broadheads which I have not regretted.

There really was no question as to whether the Rage blades opened up on time as the entrance wounds were pronounced. What bothers me about the Rage and other mechanical broadheads is the possibility of them opening up before they hit their target. If that could possibly happen then the broadhead may never reach it's target at all.

Doug

[rons]

I too prefer the "fixed broad heads" I shoot Montec's and have never had a deer go far at all,with good hits! My Safari Magnum seems to prefer the 125gr. broad heads best. Ron

[SW]

:)Late this evening, my son killed a doe at 15 yds: Rage 2-blade. Went 10 yds. Awesome entry and exit. We're both doe'd out so we'll see their effect on bucks now - hopefully.

[Kevin B.]

Oct 31, 2008 20:42:21 GMT -5 SW said:

:)Late this evening, my son killed a doe at 15 yds: Rage 2-blade. Went 10 yds. Awesome entry and exit. We're both doe'd out so we'll see their effect on bucks now - hopefully.

Congrats to your son again!

[hse87]

New to crossbow hunting but a long time conventional bow hunter. I have about 27 kills with the conventional bow and now my first crossbow kill. I opted for the rage bh but also bought some 100 gr thunderheads just in case. I am not real impressed with the rage. 20 yd shot, entry behind the last rib and exit through front shoulder. Quartering away, straight through the liver and caught the back of one lung. Let the deer lay 90 min. 1 hour later and about 175 yds I found the deer still alive although it died shortly after. Seems the bh worked all blades deployed and a pass through, but very light blood trail and the animal still alive. I pride myself in taking high quality shots to insure a quick kill and will not shoot past 25 yds so I must say I was very unhappy to find the deer alive. The jury is still out on this bh. I may switch or may give it another go. Great site here, be safe and good luck.

[SW]

hse87,
Welcome to the board. Some thoughts: I am in my 52nd year of bowhunting(still use recurve,compound, and x-bow) and have used a variety of broadheads. When expandibles first came out many years ago(Puckets - surely not in existance now since they were pretty marginal) I tried them. Not very impressed but never lost a deer. Then to various expandibles primarily 2-blade and 3-blade Spitfires(great success-but lost 1 deer to 2-blade expandible, likely my hit was the problem) and have used Spitfires since they came out and now the Rage 3-blade for me. I have over 70 bow kills with about 1/2 with expandibles. The fixed blade models used were Wasps,Thunderheads(still bear hunt with them), and earlier Super Razorheads. I've never had any type of malfunction (I've know of) with any of the expandibles. I have lost 2 deer to fixed blades broadhead(but also that could have just been the hit). Even out of my 341'/sec x-bow, the Rages seem to fly accurately and not open. Bottom line, is that most, if not all, mainstream broadheads, fixed and expandible, do very good jobs IMO.

[Swede]

I have not been able to convince myself to use the mechanical bh. although I like the idea of the 2" cut, I have a fear of the o-ring faling.

To my embarrassment, I have wounded a few deer in my deer hunting years with firearm and bows that took several hours of tracking to finally put them down. I'll stick with the fixed blades.

I've use G5 Montecs 85 thru 125, Muzzy Phantom 125, Thunderhead 100s and a few others with success.

[rons]

This yeart(and last year) I'm using the Montec's (125gr). They fly like a dart out of my XBow. I allways used Muzzy's in my bows,and I'm thinking for shooting some in the Safari after season is over,to check them out. The Montecs are no doubt one of the toughest broadheads out there,but kinda a pain to sharpen (not really,I'm getting lazy). I've had many bow kills with Muzzy's and there never was much tracking after the shot (seen most fall from the tree stand). All broad heads work well (if sharp) and shot through the vitals. Some hold together,some don't,but 99% will do the job in the right place. Ron

[hse87]

Ok well I will give the rage a little credit. Just got finished skinning bow kill number 2. Double lung at 18 yds. Deer went about 60 yds but it was down for the count this time. The only complaint is light blood trail.

[killahog]

I used a rage 2 blade to take a buck at 25 yards last week the shot was a double lung and the animal expired in 40 yards, The picture is of the actual blood trail.

[hse87]

Well the jury is back out on the rage. My daughter shot her first deer with a bow at 20 yds using the rage. Now keep in mind it was a pass through both shoulders not exactly ideal but nevertheless a decent hit. The blood trail was quite a challenge, in fact we lost it 5 or 6 times but picked it back up. We literaly followed nothing but very small drops for over 200 yds in the dark. After 2 hrs we found the deer and I was relieved to see that the deer had expired. Had it been alive it probably would have ended my daughters hunting career. After we skinned the deer we did in fact pass through the body cavity. All bleeding was internal. I guess persistance paid off, I know alot of hunters would have given up after losing blood once or twice. If you could have only seen the determination that my daughter showed in wanting to recover that animal, I was prepared to spend the night in the woods if thats what it took. Be Safe and Good Luck

[dougedwards]

Your daughter would have been very discouraged not to find the deer that she had mortally wounded. Great determination on the part of both of you! Shooting arrows with broadheads through whitetails we have to depend on hemorrhaging as our method of kill and although it is very effective it can be frustrating when all of the bleeding occurs within the animal.

Shot placement reigns supreme in bowhunting but we still can have a big problem even when we place the crosshairs right where we want them because the whitetail is quick enough to react to the sound of the bow before the broadhead reaches him. Thus sometimes we cut into veins and muscle missing any major organs or arteries. That is the frustration of the bowhunter and has been for as long as men have hunted with arrows.

A broadhead change might help but it isn't the cure all solution. Congratulation on your resolution to stay with the hunt even after there was no decent blood trail to follow. Your daughter undoubtedly learned a valuable lesson from Dad.

Doug

[hse87]

Doug thanks for the kind words, I can tell by the way you speak that you are as passionate about this wonderful resource (hunting) we have as I am. Good Luck my friend and most importantly Be Safe. Ty

[killahog]

congratulations to your daughter and well done on the tracking. In your post you describe the shot as being through both shoulders, did your daughter actually penetrate one or both of the shoulder blades?.

[hse87]

I made an error in my last post. We did not penetrate the body cavity on her deer, however I did on the first one I shot. In behind last rib and out the shoulder hitting the back of one lung. That was the deer that was still alive when we found it. So to answer your question yes we blew through both shoulders. If I can get someone to show me how to post pictures I will do so if it is allowed. Ty