smaller 3 blade vs. larger 2 blade

[RUTANDSTRUT]

wondering what you guys thoughts were between a 3 blade like the woodsman elite or 2 blade like centaur big game regarding penetration and ability to put blood on the ground.  penetration is my biggest concern but have been disapointed with sparse bloodtrails on heart/lung shots with average 2 blade broadheads.  thnx in advance.

[cbCrow]

I don't know about the woodsman but have used snuffers for years. They do a great job at penetration and leave a hole that really lets the blood flow. Keep them real sharp and you will have no problems.  

[rastaman]

Broadhead Penetration secrets by Charlie Lamb unveiled here!  

Sharp and tuned.  Either one will work for whitetails and hogs.  

[mrpenguin]

Personally, I'd go with a 3 blade like the Woodsman that is design with a 3:1 ratio profile for penetration or a single bevel 2 blade.  The Abowyer heads look pretty nice.  But I have never shot one to comment any further than that... You may also want to go with a Woodsman that is NOT vented.  Some guys (including myself) have found they whistle when in flight.

[rastaman]

The Centaur is available in either single or double bevel. They are similar to the Simmons Landsharks?  They leave a wicked hole but can be tough to resharpen (for me).  The VPA terminator (a non vented WW) is easier (for me) to sharpen and resharpen and leaves a pretty impressive hole also.    

[texbow2]

Just my opinion....I've found the low profile 3 blades are a little less finicky in flight than the large two blades.

[Chris Surtees]

I shoot 2, 3, and 4 blade heads all the time and cannot complain about any of the blood trials I get on deer and hogs.

I really like the Simmons 160 Land Shark and the VPA 250 Terminator and that is what you will find in my quiver 90% of the time.

It is great to have so many choices but my new favorite is the VPA Terminator...not just for the awesome blood trails it produces but it is extremely tough, easy to sharpen, and very well made.

I would suggest you get yourself a couple of each and do some hands on testing to see what works best for your setup.

[SuperK]

Don't rule out Zwickey 4-blade Eskimos and Deltas.  The 4-blade Eskimos penetrate great and leave a LOT better bloodtrail than the 2-blades IMO.  If you're pushing enough horsepower, the Deltas might be for you.  Ask Terry Green what he thinks about them!  Oh yeah, he also has a great thread on how to sharpen them.

[LimbLover]

If you want more blood and are going to a 3-blade because of it, it would seem like you would want a 3-blade that had wider wings for more cutting than the WW.

The VPA Terminator looks like what you may be searching for.

I would tell you to go Snuffer but the Terminator doesn't have ventilation. Nothing to slow it down once its inside the body.

[frassettor]

Originally posted by rastaman:
 Broadhead Penetration secrets by Charlie Lamb unveiled here!  

Sharp and tuned.  Either one will work for whitetails and hogs.      

That is a classic read in my book!  

[James Wrenn]

Simmons style heads fly much better than anything in there size class.They also penitrate on the type game most of us hunt as well as a smaller 2 blade.They just do a lot more damage when doing so.The VPA or Woodsman style are the king of penitration in a 3b blade head.Great for light weight bows when you want a little more damage that the smaller 2 blades offer.Both the Simmons and VPA fly as well as a feild point on a properly tuned arrow when they are mounted straight.Nither might not be the number one choice for hunting a buff but they are excellect choices for the more popular game like deer and hogs most of us hunt.The good thing is it don't take a lot of bow weight to send them through such animals.     jmho

[kennym]

"You may also want to go with a Woodsman that is NOT vented. Some guys (including myself) have found they whistle when in flight."

So has anyone found vented snuffers to whistle?

[Big Ed]

I am with Kenny, the vented models do a bit of singing. I really like the unvented Woodsman Elite.

[Bonebuster]

I used the big Thunderhead three blades for years when I used a compound. They usually left lots of blood.

When I went back to a recurve, I started using two edge heads, and noticed my arrows passed through without even slowing down, and the blood trails were not noticeably different for the most part. I also found out that the skittish Michigan whitetails didn`t run nearly as far before they stopped, when I began using two edge heads. My recovery distance went down drastically with two edge heads. They usually fall within sight, or at least hearing.

A big, easy to sharpen two edge is my favorite.
If I could get a big Snuffer as sharp as a Magnus-1, I might think about trying them.

[Doug in MN]

I will also vote for the none vented Woodsman. They do seem to work well and you will have no trouble finding the blood trail.

Other than the Woodsman.

I have found the STOS 2 blade head to work very well. I can get them stupid sharp, they fly great and hold up as well as any head I have ever used.

I should have added I use the KME on the STOS HEADS.

DD

[Fletcher]

The idea of more/wider blades leading to better bloodtrails sounds good in theory, but IME, shot placement and sharpness are the two big factors with bloodtrails.  My best bloodtrails in recent memory were the courtesy of a two blade Ace Express 165.  Two deer and a pig shot with WW's/VPA Terminator left little or no blood, but nothing went over about 50 yds, either.  An exit hole thru the front leg muscle just doesn't bleed much.

[string bean]

I always figured the amount of blood on the ground was from what ya hit, how ya hit it and what it had to go through to get to there.

[RC]

Its hard to beat a Simmons but my favorite broadhead is a Magnus I. They sharpen easy and cut a fairly big cut of 1 1/2". I recently took four and turned them into single bevel with a file. After I got the angle like I wanted they were extremly sharp. I killed a pig yesterday and they made the s cut people talk about. I`ve never been impressed by all the single bevel talk but I gotta tell you they do make for a better chance at a bllod trail because they do not cut just a straight slit . As others said its really where you put them. I`m not trying to turn this into a single bevel debate so don`t jump on me please.RC

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Originally posted by Fletcher:
An exit hole thru the front leg muscle just doesn't bleed much.

Exactly! Good for shot placement, but not so much for exit wound blood.

[Rob DiStefano]

terry green said all there is needed to know about cut on contact broadheads ...

" ... all this Bhead discussion is much less important than accuracy and sharp heads. Get those two down and you can pretty much pick your poison on N American Game."

,,, and charlie lamb hit the nail square on the head with how to get yer broadhead and knfie blades scary sharp so easily that even my 13 year old granddaughter has become a knife sharpening expert ...

"The KME Sharpening System"