Rage Hyperdermic +P for elk

Had a good talk with my outfitter

He agreed to let me shoot the 1.5” rage. This is great news

20-40 yard shots and 280-320” bulls are the plan
 
The Rages will definitely work for elk. I use the fixed blade Slick Tricks myself. Despite their smaller cutting diameter, they are devastating on elk. I have only killed two elk, both with the Slick Tricks and neither of them made it out of my sight. One went 35-40 yards and the other about 60 yards. Hit the cow call immediately after the shot and the bull will most likely either slow down or stop to look back. My buddy killed a stud 340 class bull with a Rage two years ago. Going out west hunting elk is like taking all the best parts of whitetail hunting and all the best parts of spring turkey hunting and combining them into one. It is awesome and I can't wait for opening day and my return to the Rockies each year. There is nothing better IMO.
 
Have you tried a high-quality two blade such as a grizzly stick monarch or silver flame, or a cutthroat single bevel? Good two-blades fly extremely well—like a Rage—penetrate extremely well and open up every time. Furthermore, I’m convinced that I’ve made some some shots (bad shots) with a heavy set-up single bevel (550 g total arrow/broadhead weight) that resulted in clean kills that would’ve resulted in lost animals with mechanicals—and I’ve killed some big animals with double blade single bevels! IMO, the reduced cutting area of a two-blade is more than compensated for by increased accuracy vs a 3-4 blade, and I’d take a 1” “open-all-the-time” fixed blade over a 1.5” “bound-to-fail-sometime” mechanical head any day of the week. Seriously, give the old two-blades a try: They may not be the latest gimmick, but they work extremely well due to inherent accuracy and penetration, even with light draw weights—I can tell you a story or two about my wife and kids with respect to low draw weights double-blade broadheads if you’d like. Plus, it’s really neat to be able to pluck an arrow out of the dirt, resharpen a broadhead and kill a few more deer with it!
 
Oh yeah, there is at least one elk outfitter in New Mexico that has a wounded animal policy of “one-and-done” with mechanicals but allows a second chance with fixed broadheads. There’s a reason for this
 
I have not tried 2 blades. Sounds logical

Do you have a recommendation?

Monday I go on my first of 4 spring hog hunts. Hope to test a muzzy trocar 1” again (0-2) and a 1” slicktrick
 
Yes,

Go to the “Grizzly Stick” website. We’ve tried the 150g Silver Flames (double bevel) and the 150 g Monarchs. Both fly great and penetrate well. Have killed some big animals in Africa with them and some big deer in Waupaca Co. Worked very well. I’ve got to admit that it was hard to ignore the hype about the extra cutting diameter of the mechanicals ane 3-blades, but these things are accurate and deadly. Funny thing is that the animals don’t seem to realize they’ve been hit most of the time: flinch and then walk off and die vs death run w rage. Try on targets and hogs—you will be converted
 
Shot the brown one on the left last evening. Hit was 4” behind leg right in center of body. Complete pass through with 1” muzzy trocar.

The camp I’m in doesn’t put much effort into retrieving the hogs since most get thrown out. They just want them dead

Horrible blood trail. We tracked about 100 yards in this thick nasty stuff.

I’m 100% confident the rage would have had her down

These 1” broadheads are tough for finding animals. I’m not a fan
25670FA1-4419-4BD1-AA89-EC999DCD8861.jpeg
 
Bullwinkle said:
Shot the brown one on the left last evening. Hit was 4” behind leg right in center of body. Complete pass through with 1” muzzy trocar.

The camp I’m in doesn’t put much effort into retrieving the hogs since most get thrown out. They just want them dead

Horrible blood trail. We tracked about 100 yards in this thick nasty stuff.

I’m 100% confident the rage would have had her down

These 1” broadheads are tough for finding animals. I’m not a fan
View attachment 11411
Click to expand...

Apparently you don't make much effort either, is that what you're saying?
 
Spanked one this morning with a 1.5” rage

Unreal difference. My hit last night I guess was within 3” of this one

Not kidding. This hog made it 150 -200 yards pouring blood like I’ve never seen before. Rage made a. complete pass through
4E28A472-29DA-4C80-BF9E-AE129C07A090.jpeg
 
You ever have a rage fail to open? One of my friends made a bad shot and hit a nice buck in the neck. Complete pass-through and the blade failed to open. Deer lived. A few weeks later he arrowed and killed the same buck. He was able to confirm the first rage really didn’t open.

I’ve personally had penetration issues on double lung shots with the 1.5” Rage 2-blades with a 70lb draw weight, and long draw length, but was using a 350 g arrow/broadhead combo at the time. I’ve switched to a 550g setup with a fixed 2-blade broadhead and have broken bones with the setup. Haven’t tried the Rage with a heavy setup. How heavy is your setup? All I know is that a lack of a pass-through sucks!
 
I shoot a 29” 10.8 gpi arrow at 70lb

Never have I seen a rage that didn’t open

I got 4 shots on this two day hunt. One I completely botched. The two described above then last night I hit a huge boar with a 1.5” rage. Right up against the leg that looked to be 4-5” off the bottom of chest. Didn’t get pass through - buried to fletching

Heard the hog death growl - or so I thought.

It was one of those shots I was sitting there after celebrating

Light consistent blood. We tracked it for 300 yards - no arrow or hog. I must have been too low and the blades opened up horizontal and didn’t touch anything important

These hogs are tough and fun practice. I’m going back in 9 days to do some more testing
 
You crack me up! Your posts are some of the least PC ones I’ve ever read. I really appreciate your frankness: You’re refreshing and totally unfiltered but I see why some members like to pound on you.
 
If anyone is worried about the pigs WAK they have no clue about pigs. The camp I’m on has to get rid of 300 annually just to stay even. The damage they do is unbelievable. The boars are basically inedible. They give away all the sows they can but a lot get discarded in spring and summer

You’re encouraged to do whatever you can to get a bullet or arrow in them. Yes they don’t spend a huge effort to receive hogs since most get discarded anyway. They just want them dead so what if they are left in the woods versus brought to a kill pit

They are by far and away the toughest animal I’ve taken with a bow. Darn things don’t stand still very long. They move on the shot just naturally sometimes and it messes you up. I drew on one 4 times last night alone. I’m finding because they move some much I rush my shot. I need to break this problem. To get a quick kill you have a very small kill zone on the big ones.

Lots of action make them perfect to get confidence with the rage. So far all my recovered kills have been with rages. 0 with small diameter fixed blades and I made some good pass though chest shots - no blood. They run a lot farther than a deer with a double lung or heart shot. Now most of the time I’m on the ground so the exit wound is higher than from a tree
 
Bull, as I’ve written before, I think a >175lb boar is far tougher to shoot through than a mature bull elk. I too have been astonished at times at how much blood a pig can leak in the woods and still go several hundred yards. However, after killing dozens of hogs, I think shot placement is much more critical, and because they never stop moving, more difficult. I’ve found if you place an arrow just above the knuckle, youll see many of them drop and very few go more than 50 yds. I’ve seen this with both slick tricks and hypodermics. Pig vitals are much lower and farther forward than deer—-I think that’s the primary issue for most hunters accustomed to shooting deer behind the shoulder. I’d be content to hunt with either broad head as they’ll both penetrate far enough....and are not likely to exit both shields of mature pigs. I shoot 400g arrows at 295fps which isn’t a particularly heavy combination.
 
I agree. Good advice. I seem to lose everyone with a whitetail typical double lung shot

I’ve only found two with a quartering away shot. A 140lb sow dropped in its tracks and a 248lb boar I hit where you described, he still made it 150 yards.

Most of the time I’ve had plenty of time to take the shot. The hard part is being patient and not rush when you have constant motion of multiple pigs moving or one pig feeding facing you and jumps around quickly when your at full draw

Fun stuff. Very challenging. I can’t wait to get in a stand and try again. I’ve been on two bow hunts for bears, on the ground these beasts are crazier excitement than bears in a tree. I’m glad they can’t see well.

I was with a bunch of gun hunters on this trip. They didn’t do much better than I did. Lots of blood trails without finding the hog. They are tough. I figure any set up I can get to work on hogs will surely work on elk. I think I’m going to try a thunderhead, slick trick and 2” rage on my next hunt.
 
[QUOTE="Bullwinkle, post: 65902, member: 816". Rage hits where I aim. I have huge confidence in them[/QUOTE]

Sometimes the spot where we aimed doesn't stay stationary (the animal moves) and we hit somewhere less than ideal.
I wouldn't want to depend on a Rage to penetrate through heavy bone like a shoulder. Not saying that they can't do it, but the odds of it holding up aren't as good as a heavy duty fixed 2-blade. I like single bevel heads, myself.
 
Just finished a great hog hunt. I went 7 for 7 on shooting and recovering hogs. Biggest 210lb boar

Shot 6 with rage and a 50lber with a slick trick

This picture is a 195lb boar I shot last evening. This is the exit hole. The 2” rage punched through and went through the shield. The hog made it about 60 yards. I’m sold.

1C1D5063-95C9-4B1C-ABA6-616247B97EBC.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top