shoulder shot with a rage

[Bow Only]

It's hard enough to get a fixed blade through the shoulders much less a Rage. That's why I plan for the worse case scenerio when hunting and shoot a fixed blade. Not saying it would have done the job, but you've got slightly better odds with a smaller cutting diameter head. Maybe it was slightly high and he'll get another chance at the deer.

 

[The Arrow Guru]

Sorry to hear it man.

 

[KMckie786]

Im not here to bash but I had the exact same shot Sat. evening on a doe at 30yd shot with a rage. Didnt hit the bone, but did hit the tendon right above the elbow. That was enough to keep the rage from passing through?? After I shot I saw the arrow hanging out, and as she turned to run I saw it fly in the air. When I recovered my arrow it had only penetrated about 12". It was a well placed shot and got both lungs. Thank goodness I put a good shot on her and she only ran 40yds. The blood was great around the impact area, but the closer I got to her it was dwindling fast. If there had been an exit hole the trail would have been a little easier to follow (I do believe). If she had ran any further Im not sure I would have found her. In my honest opinion, after trying the rage, I think that Two 1-1/4 holes (Entry and Exit) are better than one 2" hole. I tried giving rage a fighting chance, but after shooting 4 deer with them, two NON-pass throughs, and one that was put in the boiler room and had to trail it 150yds with a spec of blood about every 20yds, then add in this instance from Sat. Not to mention that every one has been damaged so badly that the blades had to be replaced, they are just too high maintenance and expensive as well. I have 5 rage heads for sale HAHA, all have been shot except for one (I believe), and have a few replacement blade as well. PM Me if interested. Oh yeah, the reason I dont have six is because one is still laying in a creek bottom (from last year) after the deer took off with the arrow. I found the cheap end, but not the rage end.

Im with "bow only" on this one. I am going back to a fixed head for now and will be experimenting with some smaller diameter expandables.

Im sorry to hear about your lost deer. Live and learn. Thank the Lord I havnt lost one yet! (Fingers Crossed)

Disclaimer: (LOL)
As mentioned above ... Im not bashing the RAGE head, but simply voicing my experince with them. Also anybody that knows me, knows that I tune my equipment to the best of my abilities, and am OCD whenit comes to my equipment. I am not satisfied with "Good Enough" so please keep all of the "your bow isnt tuned properly" comments to yourself.

 

[captainhook]

This is purely an observation but if you watch a lot of the hunting shows that are sponsored by Rage guess what you see? A lot of deer running off with the arrow hanging out of them without passing through. When they do go all the way through they sure do dump a lot of blood. It only makes sense that an expandable with a huge blade is going to be more likely to succumb to loss of energy and penetration more quickly than a head with a smaller cutting diameter. I have shot deer with expandables but I have faith in fixed blade broadheads. I want two holes consistently. I have killed 95 percent of my deer with a Muzzy which I have set aside for this season. I am shooting Ramcats and killed my first with one Saturday. They fly just like my FP's and based on all the research I have done even low poundage rigs are getting pass throughs on big hogs. A deer is much easier to shoot through than a big boar. I certainly would feel more comfortable shooting a low poundage rig with fixed blades. I have never failed to achieve great penetration with a Muzzy but I have lost deer with them due to shot placement. It is my experieince with Muzzy that if you do shoot a deer through both shoulders with a decently weighted arrow (400 plus grs) at 270 fps plus that the arrow will blow through both shoulders at 30 yds or less.
I wish your son the best of luck on the next one. Tell him to keep his chin up! Maybe he'll get another shot at her later.

 

[stuckbuck]

I helped my cousin track a small buck he shot last sat. with a rage 2 blade. Now, I will say we found the deer but he shot it slightly quartered to him, and he had a good entry hole through the ribs and the exit behind the ribs on the opposite side was the size of the arrow! blades broke off somewhere inside, with no shoulder bone in sight!! I don't trust them. It seems they need to shorten the furrel and thicken the blades to make these more durable.

 

[BASS1FUN]

Shot placement is always the key, the one i shot saturday dropped in his tracks on a high shoulder shot and he was quartering in front of me. Pictures are posted on bowhunting forum under bow buck

 

[superman1275]

shot a nice 8 pointer last sunday morning and never found it hit high shoulder and think i hit the opposite side leg didnt get a pass thru but broke off 12 inches of arrow in him, trailed him for 4 hours and quit bleeding i needed a dog

 

[BornToHuntAndFish]

When I was younger, I shot my 2nd deer with a recurve bow in the shoulder almost straight down below me. When the 4-ptr. ran off, half the wooden arrow was sticking out as it did a 30 yard wide loop past my pine tree father's homemade climbing stand that only had a bottom feet platform which you had to bear hug a tree to climb it like the old aluminum Baker stands. When it quickly returned by the other side & almost rubbing it's side against the pine tree I was in, the arrow was no longer sticking out but a big red silver dollar spot of blood puddling high on it's shoulder as it headed into a swamp. Unfortunately, we followed the blood trail into the swamp & never found it. Best of luck you ya'll finding the deer.

 

[huntrat]

i had the same thing happen yesterday. i have watched a good many walk by and finally let the rage slip cam fly. the doe jumped and ran out at a decent clip. i believe i may have hit the shoulder. i waited 30 minutes and went down to the shot site to look for the arrow. no sign of arrow or blood. i waited an hour and walked the trail the doe went out on. after 25 yards or so i started finding pretty good drips and occasional large pools of blood. the blood trail ran out in a creek bottom after about 100 yards. i decided to pull back and give it some time. the shot was 3:45 and this was about 5:00. at 6:00 a friend and i went back in to where i lost the trail and managed to pick it back up for a bit but the drops were getting scarce. we circled for 1.5 hours and couldnt find the deer or pick the trail back up. im gonna go look some more today but with the rain last night the blood will be gone and i am not too optimistic. bow hunting is tough.

 

[childers]

Yall need to start calling these tracking dogs!