Broahead Cut Measurements (picture)

[TxAg]

These are a few broadheads I've been tinkering with this week.

It's crude and imperfect....The heads were dull from the target...My penmanship and denominator consistency is lacking, BUT....

I found it helpful and thought others might as well.

 

[David Yukon]

Interesting for sure!!!

[Zradix]

I often find it very interesting to do the math....and get away from what the eye perceives.

Thanks for sharing!

[Guru]

Originally posted by Zradix:
I often find it very interesting to do the math....and get away from what the eye perceives.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm just the opposite!

I prefer to "see" exactly what they can do.

I don't need measurements on a piece of paper to tell me anything about the effectiveness of a broadhead.

I guess I'm just not a numbers guy...

[Tim]

15 yrs ago I watched a buddy shoot a nice 3 yr old buck from the ground at 15 yards with a Magnus II head.  That is one of their smaller 2 blades.  He put it right behind the shoulder,  the arrow slammed into the opposite shoulder and backed out 30 yards into the blood trail.  The blood trail was terrible and we fortunately found his deer 150 yards from the shot.   Basically zero blood on the trail.  I vowed to never use a two blade.  

Fast forward one week.  I made the exact same shot with a Magnus II four blade.   I too hit the opposite shoulder and the arrow backed out and was found 25 yards from the shot.   I watched my deer go down in an open field.  My blood trail was non-existent!   All the bleeding was inside the cavity.  Again, the deer was shot from the ground.

I understand these results are rare but I've been on enough blood trails to know every blood trail is different no matter where you shoot them or what you shoot them with.  Sometimes the trail is heavy other times touch and go.   I live in a deer rich area and have shot quite a few over the years.   I prefer 3 blades because they tend to leave a little more blood on the ground when the shot isn't perfect and just a little more can make a difference.

I will say on behalf of 2 blades the Simmons heads are the exception.  I've been on at least a dozen trails with deer shot by the interceptor, tiger shark and tree shark....wow!

[Zradix]

I hear what you're saying Curt.

I'd MUCH prefer to compare blood trails..lol
I just don't get much chance to do that.

I guess what I had in my mind..and didn't get down in black&white very well... was when I look at an ace super for instance with a 1 7/16" cut it looks BIG. When I look at a standard VPA (which I use) that VPA "looks" pretty small in comparison at 1 1/8"

Though when you do the math, the VPA actually does 1 11/16" of cutting.

I know a tiny head will do the job if I do mine.

I also know the head that does the most cutting while going all the way through a critter will do the job faster..lol

To each their own and all. Just after e-reading what I wrote I didn't feel I expressed my though very well.

By the way Curt. That is an outstanding looking mount you did for your Son. The eyes looked incredible!

[TxAg]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, this was just for kicks. I'm not trying to prove that one head is better than another.

[Zradix]

me either Jeff.
I understood what you're doing.

I too, will no longer use a narrower 2 blade (1 1/8") broadhead. After use on several animals it got to where, even on perfect shots, blood trails were horrible. I now use an 1 1/2" wide two blade and the difference that 3/8" extra width makes is incredible! I really believe that you should use the biggest broadhead that you can consistently get an exit hole with.

Bisch

[Kris]

Nice job and it does bring a fundamental awareness to the amount of cut per head in a 2 dimensional perspective but this only tells part of the story.  Blade length acts on wound channels in a complex, 3 dimensional way as well.  Tissues stretch around and over broadheads thereby making cuts potentially larger than their 2 dimensional foot print.   Long broadheads entering on the skew (not perpendicular) to the animals side can make “raking gashes” much larger than their perpendicular cut would suggest.  Same goes for any length broadhead, of course.  

In short, a BH passing through an animal is a dynamic environment, all sorts of things happen.  I fully agree with Tim, every situation is different & blood trails are unpredictable.  

Interestingly enough, I was speaking with E. Donnell Thomas Jr. at K-zoo and all he primarily uses is Magnus II's (1 1/8") or Zwickey Eskimos on wood arrows.  He has likely killed more animals than most of us can imagine.  

I go back forth on this one but am tending back to wider 2 blade (> 1.5") or 3 blade (VPA) heads, at least for deer.  Very frustrating to hit a deer so well and spend forever trying to find it.  Considering a blood tracking Dachshund.

Kris

[Tim]

Great subject Jeff and I too have done the same test before.  Their all great heads when you put them in the right spot.  It's just sometimes our shots go astray and a bigger opening may help us take the trail an extra 50 yards, sometimes just enough to recover the animal.  

We still have to choose the head best suited to the critter where after and the equipment were shooting.    

[ohiodoeslayer]

Last year I put an arrow thru a 9pt buck at 15yds
arrow completely covered with blood however due to fading light I was unsure where the buck was actully hit. We waited 4hrs before taking up the trail which lasted for 100 yds and 4hrs later. we gave up until daylight still no blood. the deer headed for a timber cut from the previous year which was completely over grown and all the tree tops interwoven. We continued our search for two days as this was a very good deer.  We never recovered the deer the broadhead was a 4 blade magnus stinger.
 This year I used woodsman elites and spined a very large 11pt over 200lbs hanging weight at the butcher shop how ever after being a spine shot I had to place a finish shot. I got below the animal because he was draging himself down hill the second shot was placed just behind the left front leg about 5-6 inches above briskit and going up hill exited center of chest on the far side. He never bled a drop of blood on the ground where he died.  The second shot was a magnus stinger I had in the quiver as a small game/coyote/or whatever arrow I figured not to waste a sharpened elite.
The conclusion I came to was the 2 blade with small bleeder blades did not leave a big enough
hole on larger than normal deer due to fat(shot early in the season)and larger than normal muscle mass. I had killed smaller deer with the magnus stinger with great results. I truely believe I would have recovered the 9pt had I been using a three blade or possibily a larger 2 blade But 3 blade will be the only arrows in my quiver from now on.

[TxAg]

Originally posted by Kris:
Nice job and it does bring a fundamental awareness to the amount of cut per head in a 2 dimensional perspective but this only tells part of the story.  Blade length acts on wound channels in a complex, 3 dimensional way as well.  Tissues stretch around and over broadheads thereby making cuts potentially larger than their 2 dimensional foot print.   Long broadheads entering on the skew (not perpendicular) to the animals side can make “raking gashes” much larger than their perpendicular cut would indicate.  Same goes for any length broadhead, of course.  

In short, a BH passing through an animal is a dynamic environment, all sorts of things happen.  I fully agree with Tim, every situation is different & blood trails are unpredictable.  

I completely agree.

I also agree with several comments above, both using our eyes to tell us what works AND using our brain to crunch a few numbers which provides us another observation point.

[TexasStick81]

Our Texas deer are smaller so maybe that's why it's never mattered much which BH I use on deer but our hogs are another story.  Terry got me started on the zwicky no mercy 4 blades.  I couldn't say enough good things about these BH's.  it's hard to tell if its the design of the BH cutting surface that has led to such great blood trails or not.  What I know for a fact is that I can get these sharper and I routinely get pass through a on big hogs.  To me sharp and good shot placement is key and after that 90% of the issue is whether or not you can get a pass through.  I shoot about 55# at my draw on an AD tradlite with a 250 front (insert added).  My success rate has gone up tremendously since making the switch.  Just my own observation with these BH's on my set up.  

Oh, the best part is they are much more affordable and since they actually pass through and I find the pigs I get to use them again:)

[wingnut]

Bisch hit it on the head.

"I really believe that you should use the biggest broadhead that you can consistently get an exit hole with."

The exit hole is the key to a good bloodtrail.

Most bad bloodtrails I've been on have been the result of a single hole and the great ones have all been as a result of two holes.

Any quality BH will do it if you have it sharp and match it with a bow that will do the job.

Mike