Are 4 blade broadheads for real?

[traditional beagle]

Example: I've killed 1 elk, 1 black bear, and several deer in the last 14 years using 2 blade cut on contact broadheads ( Zwickey,Magnus, Grizzly) ( single bevel, double bevel). Anelope and a couple deer with 3-blade Woodsman. Most were good shot placement (lungs)and most had very minimal blood trail. I know dead is dead but I really don't think that trailing should have to be a crawl and look for the next spot of blood. My Point: After reading Terry Green I decided what the heck. I've got a few days left in the season. I sharpen some 4-blade Zwickey (125 grains) attach to arrow and head out. Christmas Eve I get a 23 yd shot at a doe in its snowy bed. The arrow was true through first shoulder/chest/off side shoulder. #51 selfmade longbow/goldtip 35/55. Now the good part. The mature doe went 40 yards wide open. The area where she dropped looked like a butcher shop. I backtracked to where the deer was shot in her bed and the blood trail started immeadiately and looked like I took a garden sprayer and sprayed blood the entire distance. I mean Ray Charles could have trailed this deer. I don't know if this is out of the ordinary for 4-blades or not but I am a believer now and will try again next year if at all possible. Oh, the first doe I shot this year was a double lung going down and out low on the opposite side and I found only 15-20 small drops of blood the whole entire 200yds. to recovery site. I know a lot of people have good trails with the 2 and3 blades but I have not on an average. Just my thoughts.

[ChuckC]

Was the first deer in snow ?  Snow changes everything.

Trailing means looking for the sign left by the critter.  In some cases it is easy, in others it isn't.  That is just a part of the game.

Glad that last one was a great trail for you, but they all aren't, no matter what head you use.  If you don't get lungs or have a bottom hole, it is sometimes really lean trailing. Again, just part of the game.  I have had trails that look almost like a continuous line of blood and others where I could find almost no blood, using 2 and 3 blade heads.  

ChuckC

[Bill Carlsen]

I've killed a number of animals with 2 blade heads from the slim Hunter's Head to the wide Mag I. Never had a blood trail that I liked. I now shoot 3 blade Razorcaps and think they are the most lethal head I have used since I started this game in the mid 50's. Most of the time a blood trail is not needed as the game goes down in sight.

[Kris]

Congratulations, always nice to hear about excellent performance and a good outcome.

Blood trails are a highly variable/unpredictable thing.  Opinions of such things tend to be selective.  With any BH you can think of, there is someone that can report of an excellent blood trail...or otherwise.

I heart shot a late season doe in the snow with a 4 blade Zwickey Delta, side to side pass through, a couple years back.  She died in 65 yards but the blood trail was marginal.  These examples are anecdotal at best.  Every situation is uniquely different.

I do like Bill's post above though.  Keeps it interesting for sure.

Kris

[Bob Stager]

I have used 4 blade Eskimo's for years and have awesome luck and blood trails with them.

[BOHO]

early on I shot quite a few deer with 2 blade heads. Never got what I would call a decent blood trail. The only 2 blade I will shoot now is a big one like the simmons. usually I use a 3 blade or 4 blade or maybe a 2 blade with bleeders at the smallest.

[longrifle]

Out of the 23 deer I have killed with a bow all but 5 were killed with a 2 blade head. 1 snuffer,2 woodsman and 2 bear razorheads with the bleeder blades.I can't say that any of the multi-blade kills left any better blood trail than the 2 blade kills. some were good and some sparse. But oddly enough I shot a 6 pt. with the Bear  greenie and it ran hard for about 4 or 5 seconds stop, and fell over and never even flinched again, it was almost comical at how quickly he died,I couldn't believe my eyes.

[screamin]

I've shot animals with 2, 3's and 4's. If I had good hits, generally through both lungs, the trails were good. If the shot was less than ideal then the trail tended to be sparse except in one case where I heart shot a buck with a 4 blade stinger that passed through. That buck went 30 yards and fell over dead, there was no blood trail but its hard to argue with the results. My last animal was taken with a single bevel, no blood trail, it dropped where it stood.

[D]

My blood trails are always hard to find...CAUSE I ALWAYS MISS.  Pretty easy to find my arrows though just sticking in the ground. lol...

[Friend]

The following are results derived from Muzzy's Slash Factor Equation which
 takes into account blade width and/or dia, # of blades and    
required depth of penetration for a pass thru.   
        
Note: Ex.. Estimated  12" for complete penetration on deer   
        
        
       
BH for Deer……………………………………..........Slash Factor       
Magnus Stinger 100 gn 1 1/16"…………….......12.8      
Eclipse 125 gn  1 3/16" 2BL………………….........14.3      
Magnus 140 gn 1 1/4"  2BL………………....…......15.0      
Woodsman 150 gn……………………………............18.0      
Simmons 'Land Shark' 165 gn 2 Bl ……....…..18.7      
Zephr 160 1 9/16" 2BL………………………........…18.7      
Terminator 1 1/8" 200 gn 3BL……………...…....20.3      
Centaur 'Big Game Head 202 gn 2Bl……..…...21.0      
Terminator 1 1/4"     gn 3BL…………………...........22.5      
Magnus 125 gn 1 1/8 + 7/8 BB………………......24.0      
Simmons 'Tree Shark' 190 gn 2Bl.………….....24.0      
Centaur 'Battle Axe' 214 gn 2Bl……………...…..25.5      
Eclipse 145 1 5/16 + BB 7/8"……………...……...26.3      
Zwickey Delta 1 3/8" + 13/16"BB (4BL)….....26.3      
Magnus 'Snuffer' 185 gn  1 15/32" 3Bl……......26.3      
Big Jim's 'Big 3' 300 1.5"gn 3Bl…………….....….27.0
Magnus MA150-4  1 1/2" + 1 1/4"BB(4BL).....33.0      

Note example: There may be up to a 112% increase advantage in slash factor by selecting the Big 3 (1.5") over a 1 1/16" 2BL BH.

[FerretWYO]

Been shooting four blades for years. Congrats on your Deer.

[wigeon]

The only four blades I have shot where Magnus Buzzcut and they did a nice job.Congrats on your deer

[Terry Green]

Either they ARE for real....

or I've been playing 'make believe' for 30 years.

Since the internet, lots of folks have been swayed to believe that our bows and arrows are somehow borderline inadequate. That we MUST somehow search out everything we can hoping that miniscule measurements, charts and graphs will somehow miraculously help us kill something.

Lets give the bow and arrow more credit for its true lethality, and spend more time getting them tuned and getting ourselves accurate.

Top of the mornin to ya.....    

[RkyMtn Joe]

I have always shot Zwickey Delta 4-blades and  have taken more than 50 deer with them---always had a good trail with ne'er a single problem related to the Zwickey.

Joe

[Sirius Black]

[Hess]

I love 4 blades, I've been shooting the Eclipse witht the bleeder before there were bleeders on them.  Blake was gracious enough to use the dremel and cut the slot for a bleeder.
This blood bath hasn't been rivaled with any broadhead I've ever used on 100+ animals shot with a recurve.  
As of late, I've been using the new two blade Werewolf and the holes aren't as big but every bird loosed has been a pass through with is nice just for the exit hole, which doesn't always happen with a big 4 blade...my 2 cents.
 

[traditional beagle]

I agree with you Terry. I truely believe that a sharp broad head in the vital area is  about the quickest and most humane way to kill an animal. To me it is amazing that an animal shot through the lungs is down and out in as little as 5 seconds.

[gordydog]

After shooting 26 deer and a bear with almost all 2 blade broadheads(4 with 3 blade) This year I shot 2 deer with Zwickey Delta 4 blade.  Tons of blood on first deer for the entire 65 yard blood trail. Second deer trotted 20 yards and dropped and was dead in 6 seconds with no blood trail but heaped up gobs of 3D blood on the ground where it lay. Best blood trails seems to be when hide and cavity hole line up as opposed to the hide pulled to the side of cavity hole.  Best blood also seems to be from an active, higher heart rate deer....given the same shot placements.

[Walt Francis]

My preference is the Eclipse 145 grain with the bleeder blade.  

The Magnus I with a bleeder is an excellent broadhead too.

[Stumpkiller]

I've got nothing against the extra bleeder blades if you can get them sharp and shoot enough weight to push them out the off-side of the deer.  Plain 'ol single blade - two edge - heads bleed pretty well and usually out two holes.

   

   


LOTS of good heads out there now.  Sharp and well placed trumps the number of edges.