ace hex not tough enough for a squirrel UPDATE

[Romans3]

Well, I had a chance at my first trad kill today. Took a shot at a squirrel in some woods next to my house this afternoon. I shot a brand new ace hex blunt at it. Drilled him perfect in the ribs or shoulder broadside. It flipped him over twice with the arrow in him. He Jumped up and ran off. The arrow fell out. I couldn't believe it. What a downer. That was supposed to be my first trad kill. It was a beautiful shot. About 17 yards. My wife saw it and couldn't believe it either. I could hear bone cracking loudly on impact. Wow! Only old broadheads for the tree rats from now on. I had heard they were pretty tough, but to take a drilling from a 520gr arrow out of a 60# bow with a brand new hex head...yikes.

[stumpsniper]

I bet he'll feel it in the morning

[tradtusker]

He's dead for sure Iv killed a heap of then with the Hex blunts, but old broadheads are better

Tuff luck

[tarponnut]

They are tough little suckers. If they were our size they would probably toss grizzly bears around!Nice shot, though. I killed one deader than dead last year with a judo point.Keep shootin'.

[hill boy]

Take a field point and put a game getter on the back of it.They sell them at 3 rivers.I also seen my hunting partner nail one with a blunt the other day and it killed him dead in the tree.Just about couldn't get him out.

[jonsimoneau]

WHOA....You made a good shot.  I'm surprised to hear he ran off, but I bet he is dead.  I have killed a truckload of tree rats with the ace hex head.  It's all I ever use for 'em.  I even worked for Ace Archery a little while.  I made a bunch of the hex heads.  If you one you used did not kill the squirrel, it's not one I made! HA! Broadheads work great for tree rats but they get stuck in trees too easily.  What happend to you is a rare thing.  My squirrel arrows are Blaze orange cedars with blaze orange feathers and a hex head.  I've never lost an arrow yet with this combo....although I have broken a bunch.  I made one of the best shots of my life last season when I shot a tree rat about 40 feet up in a tree and hit him dead in the eye socket with a hex head. He barely even moved and just flopped out of the tree.  Squirrels are under rated game animals.  Lots of fun.

[vtmtnman]

I've only shot one so far with a 225gr hex head.About 10 yards into the boiler room.It was half dead by the time I got to it.All I'll use from now on.    

But I'll agree that they are tough critters to kill.I've shot them with other stuff and they don't kill easy.      :eek:

[Hawkeye]

My standard thought is that if they weighed 200 pounds... we wouldn't DARE go into the woods!   :eek:      :rolleyes:  

Killed two with two shots one afternoon last week- one with a judo, one with a Woodsman.  Both quite dead, but the Woodsman was certainly quicker!

[Shane H]

I have had the same thing happen with both hex and the new hammer. Great on rabbits but squirrel skin too tough. I agree with the field point and grabber. The squirrels are too light with no backstop.

[coaster500]

Next time aim higher and knock his cape off...

 

[George D. Stout]

I've killed them with rubber blunts already, but they are tough to kill at times.  I'm going to try some Hammers this year.  Squirrel season doesn't come in here till mid Oct.

[Tom Leemans]

I keep tellin' ya... exploding heads!

[StanM]

Give me a couple of months and I'll have a squirrel killin' head for you.  Just got done with a patentability study and got the green light.  When everythings a go I'll post some on here after I become a sponsor.  Initial testing has been impressive  

[Jeff Cooper]

A rubber blunt slid over a .357 case...bad medicine!

[Old York]

Squirrels are  tough , when I can't kill one dead,
I send my mother-in-law out after them.

[buckeye_hunter]

I still like a broadhead for 'em! I HATE watching an animal run off after being shot. I can see the benefit of hex heads though, they don't stick in wood ....often. LOL

-Charlie

[2fletch]

"Squirtals" (that's my spelllig) are tough. Last week I saw one behind the shop and grabbed my primitive bow and arrow. He was low on the trunk of a large oak and at about 12 yards. Well, I missed just an inch or so and the rivercane arrow with it's knapped rhyolite point stuck into the tree. Since I had only brought one arrow, I quickly pryed it loose for another shot. He had moved up the tree but was still in shooting distance. This time I pulled only to half draw and let fly. The arrow caught the "squirtal" in the broadside and both went through the air landing at about 10 yards from the tree. He might have been too tough for steel, but he wasn't too tough for rhyolite.

[larry]

hex heads work good if the squirrel is between you and the tree, that way they take the full impact of the arrow, if they are on the ground, or on a limb with nothing solid behind them, unless it's a head shot, there is a good chance that they will get rolled by the impact of the arrow, and you loose alot of that blunt force.

I use old broadheads for ground shots, and try to work a shot in the tree with blunts so as the squirrel is right infront of it.

[Romans3]

yeah, i think larry is right. When I hit him he was sitting about eye level on top of a stump. I sent him flying right off the top of it, but his tumble and light weight helped lessen the impact probable. Still, it hit hard, I heard it!

[Longbowwally]

Results with the hex blunt on squirrels has been mixed. I hit a squirrel in the ribs when he was on the side of a tree - it knocked him off the tree but he managed to get up the tree before I could get to him. Had one take the same kind of hit on the ground and run off. I killed one squirrel with a grizzly head and a scorpio behind it. The arrow penetrated to the fletch and hung up in the squirrel, but the scorpio tore up my fletch so I won't use that one again.
The last 4 squirrels I shot with my longbow and hex blunts, 2 were clean kills and two were as stated above.....
I think for serious squirrel hunt'n you need a slotted blunt with a blade in it or something like that.