My Bullhead thoughts...

[fido dog]

Lately there has been an influx of threads regarding the Magnus Bullhead. I just don't feel it is a part of traditional archery. It just seems so "gimicky". Not to say it's not effective, just seems to go against the grain to me.    :rolleyes:  

Just a thought and no offense is intended.    

[Rodd Szmania]

I agree! Plus you can not shoot through a screen on a blind.

[kadbow]

How many turkeys have you killed with a bow? Turkeys are tough. I've lost three over the years to good hits with big broadheads and would like to give the bull head a try.  I don't see it being any less traditional than hunting out of a blind (which I do sometimes).  There have been purpose specific broadheads since the bow came about.

Fido, we had a good trip to TX although not too productive.  I missed two shots   :confused:   .

[reddogge]

No less tradional than the Snaro point from back in the day.  Killed a flying chuckar partridge with one in the early 70s.

These specialized points are no different than any point designed to do a specific job like a fish point.

[Jeremy]

Originally posted by fido dog:
I just don't feel it is a part of traditional archery.

There are traditional Japanese and Korean heads that have nearly the same cutting diameter and blade angle as the bullhead (zero), just 2 wide blades instead of 4 narrow blades.  Those heads predate gunpowder and were designed with a purpose - no gimmcks.  
The bullhead is just an update, just like the Magnus II is an update of flint heads  

[Oregon Okie]

I will agree they don't look like something a native would have put together.. unless they had the ability.. that would be some knapping right there, but...

The reason I shot / shoot the bullhead is simple logistics. I read so many threads about tracking turkeys after solid hits. I am hunting turkeys very near a rural community. not a town but enough houses close that I don't want to deal with getting a turkey out of someone's yard after it flies 200 yards. Yeah, I could go somewhere else but the landowners I am on want me to get the birds or at least to stir em up because they are bugging them and their gardens. So I need a miss or dead and when I shot my bird last year.. DEAD. no question. no muss. no fuss.
Will I shoot a turkey with a broadhead? sure. If you want old school dig a narrow trench and throw some feed in there and then walk up and grab turkeys because you made your trench too narrow for them to get their wings up. That's how some did it "in the old days" or so I've read.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Traditonal not really.  Ethical?  Totally.  They are flat out hte most effective head for killing turkeys in my book.  We owe it to the animals we hunt to use the best head for the job.  Quick humane kills are always my main goal.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

I say shoot what you want.... We still wear camo and not Loin Leather...hmmmmm

[Bowmania]

I've killed 4, one with a recurve and 3 with a longbow.  Have not lost a bird since I switched to a String Tracker.  

Turkey shots are close and there's no neeed to compensate for the tracker until your at about 18 yards.  At least, with my equipment.

Bowmania

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by kadbow:
How many turkeys have you killed with a bow? Turkeys are tough. I've lost three over the years to good hits with big broadheads and would like to give the bull head a try.  I don't see it being any less traditional than hunting out of a blind (which I do sometimes).  There have been purpose specific broadheads since the bow came about.

Fido, we had a good trip to TX although not too productive.  I missed two shots    :confused:    .

I agree with Mark, I to have lost several birds with what I thought were good hits with large broadheads. Birds are dead fairly shortly I know but cutting down on the time they have to fly away is ideal. A wounded turkey crawls up under stuff to stay away from predators and finding them is very difficult.

[KSdan]

Popcorn time!  

Use a rock, spear, or trap if you really want to be traditional.  

I will stick with my glass laminated curves and LBs along with carb arrows, modern heads, camo, decoys, calls, and treestands.  Power bars work a bit better than dried fat too.!        

[bolong]

To each his own, I don't have a problem with them.

[EricW]

Look at the kill zones we are talking about. The vitals are about 3"x3". That's 9 sq inches. Look at the neck head shot. 2"x9" (roughly) 18 sq in. I am going to take my odds at the neck/head shot. Plus if you miss it's a clean miss and not a wounded bird. Trad or not it is the most lethal.

[Over&Under]

I don't have a problem using them with "trad" equipment.  The friend I hunt with has lost 3 birds in as many years with big fixed blade broad heads after seemingly good solid hits.  

I on the other hand have hit and killed 4 birds in as many years, with 4, 3 and 2 blade heads without a lost bird, and they all died in sight, no not a great feat, but it all just depends on the shot and the bird.  

I do have to disagree with the idea that with a Bullhead it is either "a dead bird or a miss".  There is still that possibility that you could just slice the bird in a non fatal fashion and it flies off wounded, or fatal  fashion (and still fly off) and loose that bird if later he bleeds out.  

My point is, there is no fail safe method, but using a Bullhead may improve your odds of bagging that bird...no different (as already said) than using a modern blind and modern bow to up your odds.

[fido dog]

Originally posted by Ragnarok Forge:
Traditonal not really.  Ethical?  Totally.  They are flat out hte most effective head for killing turkeys in my book.  We owe it to the animals we hunt to use the best head for the job.  Quick humane kills are always my main goal.

Good point.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

When I think traditional I guess I am thinking something different.  I am thinking Pope and Young or Howard Hill, Fred Bear and the rest of the folks (I know I am forgetting) that reinvented this sport, to other people it means something different.  When Howard Hill did a try out for the shooting of Robin Hood he used a Japanese style Frog Crotch arrowhead to cut a rope.  It is shaped like a "U" pointing towards your target.  When he hunted fish underwater (he shot a bow under water) he made different arrows and different heads.
When I think traditional I guess I am thinking something different. I and thinking Pope and Young or Howard Hill, Fred Bear and the rest of the folks (I know I am forgetting) that reinvented this sport. When Howard Hill did a try out for the shooting of Robin Hood he used a Japanese style “Frog Crotch” arrowhead. It is shaped like a "U" pointing towards your target. When he hunted fish underwater (he shot a bow under water) he made different arrows and different heads.
I hear compound bow hunters say that hunting with traditional gear is unethical, I hear rifle hunters say hunting archery is unethical, I hear vegans say hunting is unethical so I don't want to use that argument. We hunt because it's who we are, we use what we need to fill our souls and our freezers. I am sure lots of turkeys have been taken with broadheads, some of those were taken with traditional gear... I would like one of those to be mine someday.

Just hasn't been yet.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[varmint101]

Oh please.  It's as traditional as sitting in a portable blind.  

Use what makes YOU happy.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I second that, just didn't say it as well... What I was trying to get at (poorly) is that if they would have wanted something like this, they would have made it.  We have the luxery of buying it.

[Overspined]

Not traditional??? I beg to differ. Once you have seen the hundreds of broadheads mfg in the past 100 yrs on display at some of these trad events like the K-zoo expo, you realize that the new ones have almost all been done before. Expandables are an old design, as are fish points, as are bird points, etc.

Now a pop up blind and a string tracker are not truly traditional in my mind...

but who cares?? Use what makes you proud to be shooting traditional equipment and challenge yourself where you get personal satisfaction.

That is really what matters. Ethical kills and reaching your personal goals.

[John Dill]

I think that Fred Bear, Howard Hill or most all past time archers would use them all day long. They used the most modern equipment in their day. I use the most modern equipment in my day "today" that I can  based on clean kills instead of what looks traditional. Looking the part is more of a mindset than actually using what works in the field. Good luck. I'll keep loping heads off.