IS HAVING THE SHARPEST BROADHEAD IMPORTANT?

IMO, placement is most important. Sharpness would be a close second.

Wow! I have never even attempted shots that far on a animal. Nice shooting!

I read somewhere that a razor sharp head leaves a clean wound that the platelets in the blood,which causes cooagulation, can't adhere to and stop the bleeding. This would create a better blood trail for a longer period of time on the not so perfect shot. So in my opinion it would be much better to have the sharpest head you can buy or create.

Well 6x6 Bull, I would have to say the reason when you cut yourself with a duller box cutter and bled more is because the edge of sharp blades are different from dull blades. The only way a person can physically see the difference is through a microscope. An edge has thousands of little bristle like metal fibers. When a knife is dulled these fibers bend and do not place straight in line therefore actually cut not as clean and especially not as easy. Take for instance skinning an animal, sharp and fresh knifes work so much better. So I would have to say the sharper the broadhead the better. Penetration is key along with shot placement. Don't want a dull broadhead resulting in poor penetration.

Huntin101

for me personally I never use a broadhead for deer,elk or bear that has been shot and hit the ground, target,etc. Just my view I want it to be the sharpest and straighteset it can be. I save those that are not really bent for small game, coyotes rabbits etc

You all have some great points! Lucky for me I have never had to track any of my bow kills I have seen all of them die within 30-40 yards. 6x6 bull you said that they bleed more and take longer to heal up on a deer when the broadhead is sharp! This may be right because to tell you all the truth I have never had a blood trail on any of my deer and no I was not looking to hard because i saw all of them die within view but I did surch a little!!! Thanks again for all of your input I sure do appreciate tham!!!

I can't remember where I heard/read it and I am just typing from what I can remember but the idea that makes the most sense to me is this.

The way it's been explained to me is that a broadhead is designed to kill by lacerating veins/ateries as it travels through the animal which causes a massive drop in blood pressure and ultimately results in the death of the animal.


Imagine that the veins/arteries running through an animals body are like surgical tubing. If you were to take the blade of a dull broadhead and try to cut surgical tubing the increased resistance of the dull blade may cause the tubing to push up and over the blade without ever cutting it. That will change as more tension applied to the tubing-- the more tension the easier it will be to cut. On the other hand if you were to take a well sharpened broadhead and try to cut the tubing it would be much easier and the cutting efficiency would continue to increase as additional tension is placed on the tubing.

In the end a well placed field point could kill an an animal but they would go further and be harder to track. The sharper the broadhead the less resistance it will encounter the more complete the laceration will be on pass through. Which results in more effective entrance and exit wounds, easier tracking. greater margin for error and cleaner more ethical kill.

I don't mean to be persneckity but, inyour first statement you wrote(every deer I shot was 73-89yrds). In your second statement you wrote(all of them died within 30 to 40yrds). So my question is do those critters run toward you and die or do you run toward them? (???)

johnyutah5---Your post makes a lot of sence to me! And by all means I am not saying to go buy some brand new broadheads and then go and grind them on the sidewalk to make them flat. But after your reply I think you sold me! either way I am always going to shoot Wac'em Tritons!

maintguy47--- ha ha I see how you could have gotten that! but I should have said they have died within 30-40 yards of where they have been shot! And to tell you the truth all of them except one have came 30-40 yards closer to me!

Thanks again for all of your input!

Animals or humans for that matter hardly ever die because of severed veins they usually die because of puncture to an artery. Arteries are under a great amount of pressure because they carry blood away from the heart. That being said, veins generally run more on the surface were arteries are deeper or under muscles. Having a sharp blade will help to have deeper penetration and still have enough sharpness to tag an artery.

Fred Bear was one of the most successful bowhunters I know of. He shot everything up to elephants with his Bear Razorheads. He kept a file in a scabbard on his belt and constantly touched up his broadheads to maintain a razor edge. He hunted a long time and killed lots of game so I believe he knew what he was doing.
Mark