First Archery buck, modern tag, Shuttle-T toughness

[RadSav]

I really like the Muzzy 3x, they are tough and sharp. I get a good clean cut and a pass thru, if I don't hit the shoulder on the other side. I personally retire each broad head that kills an animal so I don't worry about replacing blades.

Do you know that high carbon stainless steel does still rust?  It's not called "rustless" steel.  It's called stainless steel.  Many people make that mistake.

The Wasp reviews on cabelas aRe quite good ill have to pick up a pack. About every brand has a handful of negative reviews hat caused an animal to be lost.

It used to be Rocky Mountain that had the best stainless blade on the market.  Now I do believe it is WASP.  Hard time going wrong with them.  Good people.  Good product.  I should have bought that company when I had the chance

Remember - It's a lot easier to blame the broadhead for a lost deer than to blame the shooter.  Every head I mentioned and the Shuttle-T will easily take down any North American animal (excluding Walrus) when placed in the right spot.  Sort of hard to blame a broadhead for a "Lost" animal.  Unless you have evidence of the ferrule breaking on impact with the sweet spot

[Jellymon]

The deer will not die quickly if not hit in the heart, lungs, or solid spine hit no matter what broadhead you use. Shot placement is EVERYTHING in archery. It took a while to die because no vitals were hit, which is not the broadheads fault. Sorry if this sounds negative, just trying to pass some info. You should be proud of just getting that close! Great first blacktail with a bow!!!

[klikboom]

Absolutely I agree. I'll be practicing a lot more on 3d targets I haven't tried those yet. I was aiming big, as far as point of aim on this deer and it showed in my shot placement. Luckily the broad heads did their job well enough and I was able to punch enough holes to get the job done. I'm glad I decided to try for a deer with the bow before I rush into an elk. Definitely lessons learned. Thanks for all the input my poor ol .308 needs to get a bear so she doesn't feel neglected.

[LeeMajors]

There are lots of websites with good info out there.  I found this to be a simple, straight-forward guide.

http://www.dundeesportsmansclub.com/dundee%20pic/elkshotplacement.pdf

[klikboom]

Great site you linked I've gone over the anatomy quite a bit already but it's still a jump from target to animal. With a gun the transition was very easy but the bow has so much more involved, I started skipping steps with the adrenaline. What is crosshairs and squeeze is now rangefind, knock arrow, set arrow rest, draw, aim, check level bubble, re aim, squeeze release.

 Strange for my first shot I truly do not believe the buck to
Have been quartering toward me, rather full broadside but when I did the autopsy so to speak it was definitely a quartering toward shot. Perhaps he jerked when I shot or I was not payin close enough attention.

[LeeMajors]

I'm still in the learning phase myself.  My buddy tells me all the time that if you have a loud bow, you will startle them and they can move before the arrow hits.

Also, not sure what kind of rest you have, but with a full capture drop away like the QAD ultra or ripcord Code Red, you can have your arrow knocked and walk around with it, and skip all those steps at game time.  (just don't do that in harsh terrain)

If you're set in an ambush spot, you should range your shooting lanes and figure out distances to every little bush, log, or other convenient markers, so that when an animal comes through, you won't be fumbling with the range finder.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

Nice first archery harvest.

To answer your question, when in doubt, back out. That is to say if you are not sure of the hit and it is getting dark, you are way better off to come in the next morning. The meat will be fine. It is amazing how you can track a single animal with no blood. I have tracked a deer I thought I hit for 300 yards with not a single drop of blood. I know it was that particular deer because he puked up apples after running off and I did not hit the buck.

If you have to track with out blood. Just go super slow and look for twigs, leaves, branches that have been broken. You will find his track and be able to just follow the direction of travel.

As you can see with your initial paunch shot, the buck didn't go anywhere. Had you not seen him and just left him, you would have found him there the next morning dead as a door nail.

If you have shots after the initial shot, yes, take another. You did the right thing.

I shot a small blacktail with my longbow in 2010 and he appeared quartered away and I figured a solid hit. We tracked him 30 yards and then bumped him. We left him over night and found him the next morning 10 yards from where we bumped him. Sometimes lite arrows ricochet off of a rib and it appeared to in my bucks case. My buddy was like, "I thought he was quartered away" and I told him I thought he was, but the arrow entered like a quartering too shot and took out a lung, liver, and paunch.

The moral of the story is that if you are not sure, leave them. Also, always wait a half hour or more to track.

[lokidog]

I also agree with the if it's still breathing, shoot it again crowd.  I shot a bull elk once five times, with four arrows.  The first arrow punched a lung at 15 yards, second arrow stopped in his shoulder blade at about 18 yards, third arrow hit low brisket when he circled and walked past me about 30 yards out (used 20 yard pin), fourth arrow double lunged him and fell out the other side.  As he walked over the crest of the hill, I picked up the fourth arrow, reknocked it, and followed him over the crest to where he was standing with his head down, shot him again, but hit his leg bone just below the scapula.

Turns out I didn't need to shoot him again after the first as he probably would have laid down and died but I still could, so I did.

I did retire these broadheads though as they were obviously not super effective on elk sized animals (blades were an old style, 1984 or so, that had a spinning cartridge with a thick plastic center).

[klikboom]

Hah! That is a great story, you really had him doing circles.

[hardkorrhunter]

I now shoot the 100 grain muzzy four blades and like these very much as for those t-shuttles i have shot a few deer with them all slightly quartering away and hit them right behind the near shoulder and with everyone that arrow would take a u-turn and come out the guts i couldnt quite understand it either all i can think is its that curve on the blade that turns em i dont know just a thought but i havent had any issues with the three or four blade muzzys............

[lokidog]

My wife and I really like the Muzzys as well.  The MX-3's have the largest cutting diameter of any 100 gr tips I've seen.  The also fly really well with their short profile blades.  And yes, Bow45, the Wasps are good broadheads as well with a similar short profile.   

[klikboom]

Is there some running joke about Wasps? I've seen it in a couple threads now and I don't get it!?

[lokidog]

Is there some running joke about Wasps? I've seen it in a couple threads now and I don't get it!?

PM Bowhunter45 and tell him Wasps suck.     He likes them, a lot!

[cowlitzkiller]

Your shot placement is everything.  I shoot t-locks and the cow I shot last year took 2 steps and fell on her nose and didn't hardly quiver.  I cut the upper edge of her heart and it was lights out.  I only began shooting shuttle T's because my college buddy does and he has killed every elk he has stuck with one.  The other reason is they fly like field points and I don't have to adjust my sights on my Matthews what so ever with them. 

|'d start by working on the range a little more.  You admitted yourself how excited you were.  Concentrate on the shot, calming yourself down, and squeezing the trigger on your release.

Good luck with another broadhead if that's where you're headed, but I think you're trying to blame it on faulty equipment when the shooter is 99% of the equation.

Good hunting!