Magnus 1, footed carbons and a 51# bow for deer

[Friends call me Pac]

I'd like to state up front that this is the results I have experienced and your results may vary.  I truely do hope they vary better for you.

After 20 years or better I got to deer hunt back home in the pine thickets of costal NC with my Dad and Brother.  My arrow/broadhead of choice was a footed CE Carbo Express at 30 1/4" and a 175 gr Magnus 1 4 blade.  Total weight is 525 gr.  

The heads and bleeder blades were razor sharp, the hair on my arm hasn't grown back yet after two weeks.

The first afternoon hunt I shot a spike broadside at under 15 yards.  The hit was a little high and the broadhead did stick out about 4" on the off side.  I honestly believe the hit was above the lungs and below the backbone. I wasn't able to get help looking for the deer until after dark and even with 6 people looking in the thicket we never found any sign.

I watched for buzzards for the next 10 days but never saw any in the area.  I'm hoping I hit the non vital spot between the back bone and the top of the lungs and the deer will survive.  

The Magnus 1 wasn't a factor in the recover since it was a bad shot but the penetration was nothing compared to my 125 gr magnus 2 blade I used last year.

Two days later I am lucky enough to have another spike at 12 yards.  I watched him about 20 minutes and waited for the absolute textbook shot.  12 yards. quartered away and front leg forward.  His rib cage was as exposed as it ever would be.  The shot was beautiful.  Problem was no exit hole on the oppisite side.  

My brother and I tracked a scant blood trail while crawling on our hands and knees through the thicket.  Just a few drops about ever 10 feet for about 50 yards then nothing.  Never found that deer either.

I felt so bad about loosing these two deer I almost didn't hunt anymore.  I spent the next day checking every variable that I could control.  The heads were stil hair shaving sharp but I did remove the bleeder blade in hope of improving penetration.

Now that I am back home I will be changing out the hunting arrows that I made up for this year for the same thing I used last year.  My footed carbons with the magnus 1 w/ bleeder will be replaced with 2016's and 125 gr magnus 2 blade.

The only thing I really wonder about is if 51# was enough bow for the magnus 1 4 blade or was the footed carbon a factor or was it a combonation of both?  

My 2016's and 125 gr magnus 2 blades weigh in at 504 gr and made holes on both sides of the two deer I killed last year.  One was at 12 yards and the other at 25 yards.

Any suggestions or ideas?

[George D. Stout]

You probably hit bone socket on the opposite side of the buck with the second deer.  There's no way you wouldn't penetrate a whitetail with that setup unless you hit something solid (not ribs).  If you hit ribs, behind the leg on the fore side, you should have taken out both lungs and the deer wouldn't have went far, even though you didn't penetrate the far side.  

As for the first shot in no man's land, that is all muscle where you hit and the deer may recover from that, so you can't compare that hit to one in the chest cavity, which will normally penetrate more easily.

[Mr.Magoo]

You got out the other side on the first deer and probably hit the socket on the far side of the second.  Seems fine to me.  Hard to imagine no blood from a Magnus I 4 blade chest hit, but stranger things happen.

I'm also not a fan of footing carbons.  It has to increase "drag" on the arrow and just isn't necessary.

[SlowBowinMO]

I'm sorry to hear of the disappointment on your hunt, I know you were really looking forward to it and had made a lot of preparations.

I won't try to make a case for or against the "void", but the only deer I ever lost was hit there with a Zwickey 4 blade.  That deer was running around the next day with the same group of does as before.

The other one I don't get...like you I would have expected an easy recovery pass through or not.