Blood trail 2 blade SB vs 3 blade woodsman

[TimRadke]

Gentlemen!  I have a very hard time seeing blood  being red/green deficient for color blindness.  Therefor the more blood on the ground the better for me.  Have always used 3 blade broadheads but I'm real interested in going to a 2 blade single bevel for penetration. Id have to believe that the 3 blade (woodsman elite) would allow more blood to escape the body all else being equal... So give me your opinions please... Would the woodsman elite outperform an abowyer single bevel or the other way around (penetration, blood trail)?

Looking at around a 200 grain head and a 100 grain insert leading an AD trad lite arrow for alittle over 600 grains total out of my RER 49# @ 26 inches.

(wouldn't mind shooting the abowyer brown bear head on a 75 be adapter but that would bring my head weight up to almost 300 grains and my finished arrow to almost 700 be which I really don't wanna go that heavy, and I don't want to go to any aluminum adapted or insert... Any input here is appreciated too!)

Thanks in advance.

[jacobsladder]

My 2 cents would be to shoot what you feel most confident with... both are excellent broadheads that will kill quickly with proper shot placement. The larger hole of the woodsman would most likely allow for more blood , but the 2 blade may penetrate better....a pass thru would most likely provide more blood on the ground ..especially hunting from a tree stand with the exit hole low........i shot a buck off the ground this year with a 2 blade with a pass thru and had squat for blood....

[TimRadke]

Note the "be" in that last paragraph should be "gr" for grains.  iPod doesn't like my fingers for some reason!

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Here's the question: are you having penetration problems with your three-blade heads? If not, there's no need to fix what isn't broken. If so, and you want a little better penetration and are concerned about getting every drop of blood possible on the ground, I'd suggest a four-blade head like a Zwickey Eskimo or Delta.

Something I'd highly suggest since you're red/green color blind is to carry a spray bottle of peroxide when you blood trail. When in doubt, must the area in question. If it foams, it's blood.

[Fishnhunt]

My best hunting buddy is red/green colorblind and we've tracked lots of game together.  My advice would be the 3 blade but I'm relatively new to trad heads.  

More important I would say is getting down the system of info processing that happens right after the shot. Listen hard after the shot for direction, crashing, etc.   DO take the time to shoot that field tip to mark the area where the wounded deer entered the brush again so you dont have to rely on your memory. Do carry binos.  On more than one occasion I've hit deer to have em run 100-200 yards and stop/stand/bed. Wish I WOULD have had binos then! I do carry em now. The more info you can gather right after the shot the better. This year a buddy told me he was watching @ 100 yards his arrowed buck bleeding from mouth with blood running down leg ..yep he was wearing binos w/o em he would not have been able to see that detail.

I also put a lot of importance on finding the arrow and that can be hard sometimes, thats why I always use relfective wrap on the nock end, hit it with a  flashlight and it lites up like a diamond.  Other ideas:  bring a kid they have great eyes.  Bring a woman, they do too!  
Having 2-3 partners helps so much in the blood trailing game so long as they know what they are doing.  I always carry food and water so if someone tries to 'back out' of a tracking exercise 1/2 way thru b/c they are hungry/thristy....they have no excuse.

Another idea....get good at tracking footprints. Thats what I wanna do next.

[30coupe]

I've gotten better blood trails with three blade (Snuffers and Woodsmen) broadheads than with two blade (Grizzly and Zwickey Delta). The Zwickeys zip right through whitetails though. Your deer won't be far away with a double lung shot with either one. Unless you stick the shoulder blade, penetration isn't much of an issue with whitetails no matter what broadhead you use.

[Fishnhunt]

How has penetration been so far?
 
My current setup is 40# @ 28, 590 grain arrow from 125 grain WW + 75 grain adapter + 100 grain brass.  

I have only shot 1 deer w/ this new setup and it was sligthly quartering towards, blew in and out at 17.5 yards. Single lung shot and no hard bone was encountered. Wont be taking that shot again. There was a blood trail but it was not needed as I saw the deer go down in sight 179 yards later (previously thought it was only 100 yards...they can cover alot of ground quickly). In my opinion the more blades the more blood so long as you get passthru.  I'm gonna try the unvented woodsman as soon as I move up in bow weigth to 45#. The unvented woodsman looks stronger to me.  But its a toss up, every once in awhile I will start thiking 'what ifs' when it comes to single bevels.

[wingnut]

It's about getting an exit hole.  Shoot the head that will provide an exit hole all the time you will have more blood on the ground.

I've had real good luck wth the woodsman on deer and elk.  Switching to BrownBears for hogs and our moose hunt.

Mike

[bornagainbowhunter]

I know that this is not one of your broadhead choices that you mentioned, but here it is anyway.  Zwickey Delta 4 blades.  I am also color blind, badly.  There are several different levels and types.  I am red green deficient.  That means on those charts they show you, I see nothing.  The delta 4 blade, as earlier stated, zips through deer.  That leaves a great blood trail for my 5 year old boy to track.      He has been tracking my deer for 2 years now.  I shot one in early november 2 years ago, seen it fall, and he wanted to go with me to find my arrow.  He immediatly spotted the blood trail and walked right to the arrow.  I knew he just got himself a new job.  Anyways the delta 4 blade has always done me right, I would reccomend it to everyone.

[indianalongbowshooter]

Try the Simmons Treeshark or the Centaur Battleax 2 blade, havent shot anything w/the Centaur yet but shot a huge doe with the Treeshark and anyone could of followed the blood trail, at the hit blood sprayed 3 ft. out both sides and looked like someone followed her for 60 yds. spraying a hose out both sides... plus entrance hole you could stick 3 fingers in and exit you could put your fist in, brought a ball of fat out of it with broadhead as big as a softball.

[Bush]

Just shoot the biggest broadhead you can get a complete passthrough with.

[RC]

I shoot close to your setup and have no trouble with pass throughs on deer.I`ve shot about every broadhead there is and I`m convinced most all of them work if sharp and PUT IN THE RIGHT PLACE.
  If I was worried about 2 blade bloodtrails I would`nt shoot them. The woodsman is a fine broadhead and I can`t see you going wrong. My choice in a two blade is the Magnus I. I`ve used the centuar,all kinds of Simmons and the zwickey delta. They all work good but the Magnus is easiest for me to sharpen.I believe a good head to try would be the Zwickey no mercy in 4 blade . Right now I hope to kill my next deer or pig with a ss phantom 4 blade. I`ll let you know how it works out but I am conifident and thats what matters most.RC

[amicus]

In my opinon, there are too many varibles to be able to say one broadhead will leave a better blood trail than another. Whatever broadhead you choose make sure YOU can shoot it well and that it is very sharp. For me, I have been using 190 grain El Grande grizzly with great results.

Gilbert

[Bill Kissner]

Its amazing how opinions change over the years. Back in the early days of modern deer hunting everyone thought it was better for the broadhead to stay in the body cavity "to do more damage while the deer was running off". A hunting buddy quit hunting with me in 1969 because I bought a 57 pound bow. He said I was going to shoot through everything and not recover my animals. He was a very ethical hunter and honestly thought I was being unethical for getting "such a heavy bow". Most everyone shot 40 to 45 pound bows in those days.

[RC]

Bill, I have heard that as well and it probably does more damage rattling around in the body cavity but back to the question...will there be more or less blood on the ground? In my experience and I have no scientific reaserch or journals I`ve kept to prove it but I believe a deer with the arrow still in it seams more panicked and will run farther and hard whereas a quick clean pass through the deer will sometimes even bound a few jumps and fall over.But, they all tend to react different and I would much prefer a hole coming out the other side. Good comments guys...this stuff is cool.RC

[greg meyer]

I shot a buck this fall with a 4 blade Magnus Buzzcut broadhead and it was the best blood trail I have experienced.  I have no experience with 3 blade broadheads but have shot multiple deer with 2 blade heads.  I will be using the 4 blade buzzcut again.

Greg

[Zbearclaw]

I got my first trad deer Friday here in CA, shot her @ 30yds with a VPA Terminator 200gr (AKA the non-vented WW Elite @ 3Rivers).

   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=081428


She was about 10ft above me vertically, spot and stalk, and my arrow entered a tad too tight, shattering the bones in the lower leg just below the elbow, going through the heart and lungs and stopping in the offside shoulder before being broken as she ran off.  

I have no doubt that even though I hit bone going in, the only reason it didn't pass through the opposite shoulder was that she jumped and broke the arrow as it hit her, but that is my opinion.

She only made it 20yds, but every 3 feet was a huge spray that I could see easily from a distance under the canopy of trees.

I was very impatient and got to the spot of the shot to mark where she went into the thick brush, only to find her stone dead 20yds away.

Maybe a 2 blade would have cut through faster and passed through, but that blood trail was as good as I have seen with a pass-through and a 4 blade head.

That broadhead is still good-to-go, and is in my #1 spot in my quiver.  I will hopefully give it a shot at a bear in the next week.

Good luck.

Also, upon inspection the broken section and the broadhead had worked to the top of the lungs in teh top of the chest cavity in that short 20yd dash she made before dying.  

FYI BW PSAII #55 @27", 27" draw.  200gr VPA Terminator with CE Heritage 250's.

[The Great Jashu]

An arrow placed well with 2, 3, 4 or 10 blades results in plenty of blood and dead animals. I am using 2 blade Eclipse this year with great results. What the broadhead passes through, and shot angle determines how much blood you will get. Stevie Wonder could have followed the blood trails from the Eclipse this year. Last year I shot one with a Woodsman that left very little blood. That deer was dead in 100  yards, but the arrow hit back and excited forward leaving little blood. So, in conclusion its not the broadhead its the hit.

[straitera]

Shoot the head you have the most confidence in. Just make sure its very sharp and your shot is as good as you can make. Experience will refine your setup.

[Bonebuster]

I agree with Jashu.

Location, location, location.

I find it MUCH easier to get a two blade head hunting (RAZOR) sharp as well as much faster than a three blade, and have never really had an issue with a lack of blood.

I also believe a two edge head zips thru with much less resistance providing no heavy bone is encountered, creating much less reaction from the animal. I have killed two hogs with arrows, and both of them ran till they dropped, so it does not matter with some animals, but for skittish whitetails, I believe the quicker they stop to survey what happened, the easier they are to find.

I have alot of friends who bowhunt, and my bloodtrails (if you want to call them trails) are significantly shorter than any of them who use multi blade heads. I rarely have a deer out of sight or hearing when it goes down. I also do not shoot at alerted deer, this may actually be a bigger factor than I realize.

I might use a cut on contact three blade, IF I could get them as sharp with as little effort as a two edge.