Ramblin' Outdoors: Finding the right arrow will help with deer

Jul 08, 2023

By Jerrod VilaFor The Leader-Herald

The shrill cries of blue jays have begun to permeate the tranquil morning air as I vacate the confines of the house each morning. As September knocks on our door, the fall looms strongly, and with fall comes hunting season.

As you grow older and more experienced as a hunter, your views on certain things change. I have bowhunted for 26 years. At 14 years old, tied into a tree by a short length of rope around my waist, I started off with 75 grain Rocket Miniblasters in my quiver, an over-the-top blade deployment mechanical broadhead. I thought they performed well at the time, but in reality, I knew nothing. I was just a teenager flinging arrows at any deer that wandered into range and offered a good shot. I had taken a fair number of deer with this setup, including my first buck at age 17.

Somewhere along the line in my early years of bowhunting, I hit a small buck right square in the shoulder one morning while hunting the early Northern season. After tracking him over half a mile, it was clear that there was not going to be a recovery made. At the time, I was shooting Carbon Tech Cheetahs, which were a nominal 5.3 grains per inch (gpi), paired with 75 grain Rocket Miniblasters, the entire arrow weight was not even 275 grains total. Little did I know this was not even a safe arrow to be shooting out of my setup at the time. They are more geared towards 3D target archery. These arrows screamed out of my bow, registering on the chronograph at a whopping 353 feet per second (fps). But speed kills right? Wrong. I found this out the hard way yet again halfway across the country. Long story short, I shoulder shot an absolute giant in Kansas late one morning. The buck was easily Booner status, 15 yards, broadside, certainly an arrow traveling at 353 fps would penetrate at such close range? Nope. I released, watched the arrow impact the shoulder area and also watched said arrow bounce out of the massive buck half the distance back to me. It achieved approximately 1 inch of penetration, the arrow was cracked at the insert and just the threads of the broadhead remained. I was disgusted. At that point, I came to the realization that something had to change.

The following summer, somewhere in the mid 2000s, I built a new set of arrows utilizing Gold Tip arrows coming in at 8.2 gpi, and paired them with a slip cam mechanical broadhead. Perhaps one of the most popular broadheads in existence still to this very day, the Rage. My total arrow weight now bumped up to 383 grains and was traveling at 324 fps. I changed up the arrows to Carbon Express Blue Streak Selects that were the same grain weight in that time frame, too. I stuck with this setup for more than 15 years and had never lost a deer with it. It performed well, but had room for improvement. As my archery mentality shifted focus to targeting truly mature bucks something notable had taken place. The last five bucks I have taken have been 4 1/2 years of age or older and have all been over 200 pounds. Shooting this arrow combination with a Rage Trypans. I never had a complete pass through. Granted most of them were hard quartering shots in some way, shape, or form, but still, a truly mature buck is a completely different animal than a 1 1/2- to 3 1/2-year-old buck or any doe.

My next move was to build a high front of center (FOC) percentage arrow with a bit more overall weight. I chose Gold Tip Black Label arrows at 9.3 gpi, augmented them with 50 grain brass inserts up front and paired those with 125 grain, Rage Hypodermic +P broadheads. The overall build was 525 grains and coming out of my bow at 288 fps. I shot a few does for meat with this setup and it blew through no problem, one even exited out an opposite shoulder blade and lodged into the ground.

Then came a day where I had an opportunity at a 5 1/2-year-old buck. It was a steep quartering angle, the shot was good. Yet again, there was no exit. I did recover the buck and he dressed out 234 pounds. The arrow was lodged in his opposite side shoulder.

The next step. I am making a huge change this season. For the first time, I am switching from a mechanical to fixed blade broadhead. For those who have not checked out Lusk Archery Adventures on YouTube, I highly recommend doing so: https://youtube.com/@LuskArcheryAdventures?si=EbCPx0f_HL8lrviw. John Lusk gives a complete and unbiased review of almost every broadhead on the market, the channel is professionally done and is just a pleasure to watch. He utilizes the same testing procure and protocol across the board, the only thing that changes is the broadhead.

After doing weeks of research, I settled on the QAD Exodus. My decision was narrowed down to two heads, the Exodus and the Slick Trick Magnum, both of which have been around for some time and not new at all to the hunting scene. They both offer excellent penetration, but given the Exodus has a stouter ferrule and shorter overall length which helps keep a consistent spine within the arrow shaft, my nod went to the Exodus.

I selected two broadheads to use for flight testing. When shooting any new combination, a hunter must make sure the point of impact is the same as regular field points. After a short session of shooting the Exodus, I am confident in saying they fly exactly like field points. I had a feeling they would though. I think most poor or erratic broadhead flight can be attributed to a poorly tuned bow. Jeff Frasier at Black Street Archery is top notch in the bow tuning department and will never let a bow leave his shop without being 100% paper tuned.

Everything is ready to go. The only thing left to test is the true on game performance. The clock is ticking as we grow closer to opening day.

Speaking upon that fact, we are less than a month away from archery season in the Northern Zone, which opens Sept. 27. This means it is time to get your ducks in a row, overhaul your archery gear, and start practicing. As a friendly reminder, if you are in need of new arrows, a new sight or rest, or really any other conceivable work done to your bow, do your favorite local shop a favor and head over there very soon. The week prior to the season is not the time to pick up a new dozen arrows, or demand your bow be tuned up. Do not show up immediately prior to opening day and expect miracle work. September is by far and away the busiest month for archery pro shops, so do your due diligence and make it a point to get there in the next week or so