I’m going to be extremely blunt with this post. Let’s pull aside the ridiculous biasness which floats around the archery world WAY too much as we tackle the most over discussed, over argued and over played topic EVER: broadheads.
What broadhead do you use?
What is the best broadhead?
Who makes the best broadhead?
All are questions we’ve heard, read and perhaps even typed or asked ourselves…if we’re honest.
It’s true we’ve all been there, young and new to the world of archery and whether we were asking these questions to total strangers on a forum or our father or mentor the question still occurred in some form.
So let’s get the answer out of the way once and for all; the best broadhead is:
The one that just went through a deer’s vitals and stuck or laying on the ground with blood from tip to fletching.
The above image shows the lighted nock, center of picture, of an arrow that just passed through both lungs of a doe opening day 2014...the best kind of broadhead tipped it.
Wait…Ty, that isn’t fair!
That’s not really an answer!
You are an idiot….okay maybe not that one (maybe).
Well, while it isn’t the answer you all were expecting it is in my honest opinion 100% true. The only broadhead I truly throw my 100% support behind is the one I described; one that has just passed through a deer’s vitals. Narrowed it down for you huh?
Now yes, various broadhead designs can and do perform differently through different mediums like bone, fat, skin and muscle. However, how a broadhead performs through bone like a shoulder or an organ like the stomach is only a factor when the hunter messes up…it is never the broadheads fault for not impacting the vitals; yet far too many times you read opinions of broadheads doing just that.
The above image is of 2013 buck Kicks, he expired just seconds after the shot and within 15 yards from where he stood when shot occurred. However, that is more attributable to the shot location than the broadhead which cut through his lungs and clipped the heart.
Sadly though those hunters miss the obvious; the whitetail deer is honestly very easily to kill if the hunter waits for a good shot opportunity and executes a well-placed shot. Even a field tip which passes through both lungs will cause the deer to expire swiftly as no deer can survive for an extended amount of time with no operable lungs. So it is rarely the broadheads fault for stories of non-recovery, instead it is often times poor shot choice/execution or improper after the shot choices.
Now obviously I’m not advocating one to hit the woods with a field tip to hunt with…however I am saying so long as you have a well manufactured broadhead on your arrows you more than adequately equipped to get the job done.
So than how should you decide what to use?
Well, that my friends is up to you. Anything I tell you is going to be completely opposite of someone else, and neither one is going to be entirely correct or entirely incorrect. I just stress that people think through their selection process without letting fanboys or advertising BS (yes, I said it) distort your view on things.
However, no matter what you choose remember no matter what broadhead you choose in the end doesn’t matter if YOU DON’T DO YOUR PART with shot selection, execution and post-shot decisions.