Travis Davis
Bow Pro
Mickie's Place Outdoor Gear

It was a cool, foggy, late September morning in 2003 when I sat beside my son near a pear tree in Southern Kentucky, hoping to get a shot at one of the bucks which had been feeding there regularly for the past month. Just after daybreak, I noticed movement over my right shoulder in an overgrown fence-row. A quick look through my binoculars revealed a small 5-point buck making his way toward the pear tree. I whispered to my son, who was trying to take his first buck with a bow, to shoot the 5-point if a shot presented itself. Luckily for us, the nervous little buck circled the pear tree at about 60 yards away and never came in to feed. A few minutes later, a wide, heavy, 7-point with a nice, high racked 8-point in tow appeared in the fence-row. Before I had a chance to whisper any instruction to my son, both bucks had crossed the 40 yard distance of open field to the tree and begun to feed on the pears. By this time, several other deer had appeared in the fence-row too. The two bucks fed for several minutes but it seemed more like several hours. I have taken many deer with a bow and arrow, but none had I ever wanted more than I wanted Josh to take one of these bucks, his first with his bow. Finally, after several minutes the 8-point presented a broadside shot at 25 yards. Josh drew smoothly, anchored, and released, sending his broadhead tipped carbon arrow straight through the deer’s heart. He turned dejectedly toward me and said, "I hit ‘im too low." My reply was, "No, you just took your first buck with a bow." Thirty minutes later, we recovered the nice buck at the end of a very short blood trail. The broadhead Josh was using was razor sharp, resulting in a very quick, clean, and humane kill.

Of all the bows, sights, rests, arrows, and any other gadgets and gizmos that bowhunters can choose from today, no choice is more important than your choice of broadheads.

There are a great many brands of broadheads but there are only a few basic types. Among them are fixed blade, cut on contact heads, fixed blade heads that have replaceable blades, and "open on impact" heads.

Fixed blade, cut on contact broadheads usually have 2 or 4 blades with sharp cutting edges that go all the way to the point of the broadhead, thus the description "cut on contact." These heads usually have one main blade which attaches to a ferrule which either screws into or glues on the arrow shaft. Some also have 2 smaller "bleeder blades" attached on to the ferrule, mainly for more cutting surface. Cut on contact heads are usually preferred by traditional bowhunters because they offer extremely good penetration. Most tests which I have read and studied tend to say that "cut on contact" broadheads penetrate better than the other types. These can also be re-sharpened and used over and over again, sometimes for many seasons, making them a very economical choice.

Replaceable blade broadheads have a ferrule with grooves or slots in which individual blades are placed and held in place by a locking mechanism. The ferrule is usually made of aluminum with a hardened steel point attached to the tip. If the blades on these heads are damaged or become dull, they can easily be replaced. These are probably the most popular broadheads available today because of their convenience.

Expandable or open on impact broadheads have hinged blades which fold forward and lie in a groove or slot in the ferrule during flight, and then open to their full cutting width on impact with the animal’s skin. Some of these offer very wide cutting diameters. The advantage that these heads offer is supposedly good arrow flight with less work than other broadheads. This is sometimes true, but some mechanical heads recommend that the arrow needs to travel 280 fps to open properly. If you choose to use mechanical broadheads, be sure that your equipment is properly set up and tuned for them. This can sometimes be more costly and time consuming than tuning your set-up to shoot conventional broadheads. The disadvantage is that mechanical broadheads don’t always open properly. This can result in poor blood trails, poor penetration, and unrecovered game.

Several factors are critical in tuning broadheads for optimum flight. The speed craze in archery today is probably responsible for more tuning problems than any other factor. Many bowhunters want to get maximum speed from their equipment, so they go away from the fundamentals of tuning in search of more speed. In my opinion, this is detrimental to the sport of bowhunting in the fact that: (l) Shooting very lightweight arrows is damaging to equipment and makes it very difficult to keep in tune; (2) Trying to pull too much draw weight makes a bow uncomfortable to pull, leading to less accuracy, less practice, and more frustration because it makes the goals we set for ourselves more difficult to accomplish. Proper tuning of equipment has more to do with broadhead flight than any other factor.

A few recommendations when choosing a broadhead to hunt with are:

(1) First, be sure the arrow you are shooting is matched in spine and length to the bow that you shoot;

(2) Choose a broadhead of proper weight to match your set up. It is best to experiment with different weights of field points to determine which shoots best for you, then match broadhead weight to the weight of the field points;

(3) Buy a good quality broadhead. As with everything in our market place today, there is good quality and there are cheap imitations. Always buy the best quality that you can afford;

(4) Never buy saw-toothed or serrated edge broadheads. These will catch lots of hair on contact and severely limit penetration. The hair which is pulled into the entry wound can also block the wound and keep blood from escaping, resulting in poor blood trails. Always remember, a clean pass-through shot is the best shot a bowhunter can make. Two holes are better than one, as they let much more blood escape resulting in a better blood trail;

(5) Wind planning – the two most dreaded words to a bowhunter trying to sight in his bow with broadheads for the upcoming season. If the bow, arrow, and broadhead weight are properly matched, the phenomenon of wind planning can almost always be eliminated by using offset or helical fletching. In 25 years of bowhunting, I have never had a problem with broadhead flight. I have also never shot broadheads on arrows with straight fletching. The turbulence caused by broadhead blades can push straight fletching (effectively, the tail of the arrow) out of line with the point, making it fly in all sorts of crazy directions. Offset or helical fletching will effectively "grip" the turbulent air much the way a spoiler on a race car grips air in a draft, stabilizing the car. This also makes the arrow spin, much the way a rifle bullet spins, making it much more accurate.

Remember, when you take a shot at game, the broadhead is the most important piece of equipment you have. If it doesn’t do its job properly, all the other equipment you own can’t help you. Whichever broadhead you choose, be sure that they are razor sharp, fly straight, and penetrate well. Then, if you pick the right spot, and shoot true, your broadhead will finish the job it was intended to do.