Big-game seasons are opening across the West. If you’re like me, the prospect of an elk, mule deer, or other adventurous hunt is mind-boggling.
By now, you should have your bow tuned, gear organized, and in decent shape for the challenge. However, the best broadhead may still be in the experimental stage, especially on elk, moose, or other large animal.
I’ve been bowhunting for 50 years and broadheads are the one thing that still causes me internal debates. Most mechanical heads fly like target points and make practice a breeze, whereas cut-on-contact heads penetrate better with no potential for mechanical failure.
As an example of my ambivalence about the subject, two years ago, I arrived in elk camp with both kinds of broad heads: NAP’s Big Nasty and their two-blade mechanical. I had used the Big Nasty in Africa a few weeks earlier with excellent success, but I only had two heads left for the elk hunt. My bow was tuned to perfection and I took one practice shot at 40 yards the night before the hunt, nailed a 12-ring and found little deterioration in sharpness after shooting the foam target.
To make a long story short, opportunity “nocked” at 40 yards the next evening. I shot completely through a bull elk at 40 yards (using the same broadhead) with my bow set at #60 and using Easton Carbon Deep Six Injexion arrows. The bull went down within 75 yards.
A year earlier, I had taken a bull with a single arrow at a longer distance; it had sliced through the ribs on one side and exited through the shoulder on the far side.
Physically, I can’t shoot more then #60. The combination of a sharp, cut-on-contact head and the Easton Injexion shafts has created excellent penetration.
This fall, I’m headed to Wyoming again, but this time I’m using an Excalibur 310 crossbow and their specialized Diablo carbon shafts. Since the Big Nasty are designed for the Injexion shafts, I’m switching to the Hell Razor cut-on-
contact heads, looking for that same penetration and an exit wound to aid in trailing. Excalibur suggests using 150-grain heads for added accuracy and offers an expandible head in that weight, yet I’ve learned that the 125-grain Hell Razors fly identically. I’m really pumped about the prospect of an exciting and successful hunt.
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