cheap, bladed, squirrel killers ???

[macbow]

Snubbed bodkins and Ma3's work great, have had good luck with the ACE's. No luck at all with the wingnuts.
I have a bunch of .38 casings waiting for some band saw material.
Ron

[IB]

The age old QUEST for the best. For over 30+ years I have had the pleasure of being party to some of the best garage small critter head building there is. Charlie Lam"o" has NO DOUBT tried everything out there at one time or another.

In the 60s We to thought that the "nutter" would be the answer. Didn't take long to find out they "WERE" great on Beer cans and shatterin windshields on old cars(our test medium at the time)at the dump. On small game they SUCKED.

As time went on the search continued. The Magnus Blunt is a product of MR. Lambs quest for the best. That in and of it's self should speak to many of us.

If I can't afford to give my quarry the best humane kill I can, I very well need to reevaluated my inside man.

All the above mentioned with the exception of "the nutter" work well and have been tested true for many many years      

[GingivitisKahn]

Well dang it all!   Thanks for the anti-nutter feedback.   That actually helps a good bit.   Guess I'll stick to the Ace hex heads after all.

I had to perform a coup de gras on a cottontail last year with one and it entered behind his right ear, went through the skull and into the dirt on the far side.  That'll do.

[Kingstaken]

Screw on a wingnut for real cheapo.  Will also takeout a rabbit..

[Aram]

Never had any problems with nutters/ wingnutters. Both my son and I used them to skewer cottontails. Hard to imagine them running away considering the damage. I never hit a squirel with one so I can't speak to that. I got full penetration on a squirel with a judo. That squirel didn't go anywhere either. I'd worry more about using broadheads, though if you use screwons you can always add a washer behind the BH as suggessted.
GL,
Aram

[GingivitisKahn]

I'm neither arguing for or against nutters (though this is the first thread where I've seen them get bad press - heh) but I am curious about something.

For those of you that have had bad experiences with them, what do you think the problem is?  Just thinking through it this morning (while waiting for legal shooting time - woot!), it seems to me that assuming your nutter weighs the same as your Ace Hex  Head, both arrows ought to fly at roughly the same speed and ought (I would think) to transfer the same number of foot-pounds of energy into the target.

Is the issue that they are less accurate, or that they create more drag (slowing the arrow and reducing the hitting power) or what?

[Terry Green]

The problem is that animals don't die...and they don't end up in your game bag.

60# bows and a 500 plus grain arrow should kill a rabbit or a quirrel more times than not wouldn't ya think?

Yeah Vance....I remember visiting Charlie and seeing his 'experimental' barrel....lots of arrows and heads from years gone by.

[vermonster13]

Hex heads do more than just hit, they are shaped different and there is no protruding end from a hex-head like can happen with a nutter. You can save $4 or $5 if you use nutters though (on a half dozen arrows).

[BigRonHuntAlot]

I have seen a squirrel take an Excellent hit from a 500+ grain arrow and when he hit the ground he took off running, climbed another tree and UKBowman and I never saw him again. Adam made a beautiful shot on him right in the crease of the shoulder.  I use Broadheads ONLY... besides you may see a deer when you are after the squirrels and then you dont have to switch       Good Luck with your decision.

[paleFace]

just ask Adam aka UK Bowhunter about the tree rat that took his 180 griz and still made it to his hole in the tree.  he was talking crazy stuff like the next squirrel will get an arrow tipped with a grenade.

[Tom Mussatto]

I can't address the effectiveness of the nutter itself as I've never used them. But I have used several styles of oversized blunts like the HTM blunt, Black Diamond Shockers, and washers behind field points. You'll definately lose squirrels with these types of heads.

I'm still looking for the perfect squirrel head, but until I find it the bladed blunt (whether homemade or boughten) is by far the best. With squirrels I think it is important that the arrow stays in the animal. Helps keep'em from getting up a tree and out of reach before they die. And unless you make a direct head shot (in which case type of head is irrelevant) they will have some life in them for a spell.

Broadheads alone generally won't stay in the squirrel, many times will zip through a squirrel without knocking it out of a tree, and even with a solid broadhead hit they can get somewhere quickly where you can't retrieve them. Also very dangerous to be shooting these heads up in trees.

[vermontrad]

I have had a squirrel take a 600 grain arrow with a blunt from a 50# bow square in the shoulder against a tree and fall to the ground howling about his broken shoulder, didn't even break the skin. I am not sure if the tree backing the squirrel caused the blunt to bounce off him or what but he didn't go far with a broken front shoulder. Most of the time they pass right through and leave a dead squirrel behind...

[BigRonHuntAlot]

This one only went 5 yards...  :D  



Shot with Hope and a Arrow Dynamics with a Muzzy Phantom. It was a complete pass thru but I was in a treestand when I took the shot. Mr Squirrel never knew what happened.

[Terry Green]

Yeah Tom....for squrrels in trees, I like the hex!..on the ground I liek 3 and 4 blades.

[vermonster13]

The hex makes a pretty good wound to boot.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

That is what Adam had on the end of his arrow and it didnt phase that particular squirrel... LOL  

 Does anyone alter the hex head in anyway?

[Tom Mussatto]

I don't alter the Hex blunt but I do keep them sharp. Keep the hollowed out part cleaned out and file sharpen the six sides. Really makes a difference.

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Tom Mussatto:
I don't alter the Hex blunt but I do keep them sharp. Keep the hollowed out part cleaned out and file sharpen the six sides. Really makes a difference.

Yep!

[BigRonHuntAlot]

A small round file I presume? Are you sharpening the inside or the outside edges?

[Tom Mussatto]

Originally posted by BigRonHuntAlot:
A small round file I presume?

No, a 6" mill bastard file, same as I use for broadheads. You can also get one of those little cone shaped grinding stones of proper size that go in a drill, make a small T handle for it, and use to ream out the hollow point and remove the burr inside the edges after you file the outside.