Iron Will’s issues

[LegenW84itDary]

I recently added a fixed blade (Slick Trick Viper Trick) to my quiver. I took a good buck with it a week ago, but didn’t find much blood for about 30 yards of tracking. I abandoned the trail for a grid search that quickly led to a recovery. I found plenty of blood when I back track about 40 yards. I attributed it to a high chest cavity hit on a hard quartering away shot. I’ve lost deer with mechanicals too. It’s all about shot placement, sharp blades, and what the animal does.

That being said, I will keep the Slick Trick, but I’ve also a set of Solid Legends on order. I’m considering the IW 100v. I went through the bare shaft process to assure my bow and arrow setup were well tuned. I also moved to a 4-fletch Bohning Heat rather than my 3-fletch Blazers, both left helical. I tend to think that it’s hard to have too much vane. At best, there’s only a minor difference in helical vs. offset. Did you actually shoot your broadheads out to 40-50 yards? If not, why the lack of confidence?

If you went through lungs and heart, I’m surprised there was no blood unless the holes closed up. I think your issue is mostly “misfortune”.


@StraightWayOutdoors
Straight Way Outdoors, Fulcrum Archery, Elite Archery, Upwind Odor Elimination, Wicked Twisted Bowstrings, Sevr Broadheads, Pine Ridge Archery, Bloodline Fibers

Ya I usually shoot to about 65 that’s where my yard kind of maxes out then I’m in the street. I just noticed with those iron wills they would get less consistent around 45 or so, they seemed to catch and steer inconsistently. That’s why my thought is maybe the vanes need to be a little bigger or helical to help spin the arrow and avoid that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LegenW84itDary]

Unless you bought the broadheads used or shot them into a target 50 times, I would bet that sharpness was not a factor. IW is famous for its attention to detail. Their heat treated A2 tool steel holds an edge incredibly well and the broadheads are known for coming RAZOR sharp. Possible you got a bad batch, but based on personal experience and their reputation I would bet not. I have hit animals in places that I never would have expected.. animals move constantly and do CrAZY things in the last 5-8 yards before the arrow gets there. A slightly high shot on a moving whitetail could be a back strap hit. Lots of research has been done on this topic, very little correlation between broadheads and blood trails... it ends up being mostly shot placement on the animal. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree as your experiences may vary from mine.

I felt like I agreed with you but after this I’m not sure, just having doubts. Our guide wouldn’t stop about the size of the cut and hard to argue a bigger cut wouldn’t have a better chance. Deer down south texas are pretty small so maybe the penetration from it isn’t as needed. I’m not ready to just throw out using them just was curious other peoples experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LegenW84itDary]

Never shot Iron Wills so can’t speak to blood trail, but for the distance issue, before you change up your fletching, maybe your bow isn’t tuned as well as you think, and now a fixed head is just making some other issue you have amplified??

Maybe not but might be worth shooting a little paper.

Could be, i broadhead tuned it to my field points pretty good but as I got further back it wasn’t as consistent on where it was hitting which is why I think the broadhead is more driving a path rather than the back end kicking out. But I could be wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jnd1959]

Blood trails are a function of shot placement, animal blood pressure and broad head sharpness. A high shot on an animal can seal up regardless of the broad head used. Or if pressure isn't enough to blow blood out if the wound channel it will just pool up inside until it reaches the entry/exit point. I hit a hog a coup!e years ago. Downward heart shot with a mechanical and no exit wound. I didn't see blood for 70 yards and then a lot of blood just before he died. The blood had to pool up to the point of entry. It's just my opinion but there are too many variables regarding blood trails to assign success/failure to the broad head.

[Planopurist]

Every time I look at the Solid website it says sold out? Is the website just not current?

It’s current. I ordered mine several weeks ago when I caught them showing stock. The inventory was short-lived, so my order turned into a backorder basically. They won’t be in stock until January!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Planopurist]

Ya I usually shoot to about 65 that’s where my yard kind of maxes out then I’m in the street. I just noticed with those iron wills they would get less consistent around 45 or so, they seemed to catch and steer inconsistently. That’s why my thought is maybe the vanes need to be a little bigger or helical to help spin the arrow and avoid that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Go for it!! Try a helical/offset four fletch in a vane of your choice. Again, I use Bohning Heat. I kind of “super tune” my arrows as best I can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MIHunter]

Iron wills also? Ya I figured 1 inch plus bleeders would be decent for would channel. Mine blew through. Glad you were successful. What vanes, arrow setup were you running?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

150 gr, Iron Will solids, Day six arrows, 4 fletched, 60lb Elite Ritual bow.

[Briar Friar]

In one of his broadhead sharpening videos, Byron Ferguson made a good case for not having broadheads surgically sharp. Nuts and bolts…A rougher edge leads to more tissue tearing which leads to a more uneven wound channel which leads to the wound channel staying open and more hemmoraging. Purportedly, Surgeons use super sharp scapels to lessen hemmoraging. We as hunters want the opposite…we want more hemorraging.

I dont sweat having a razors edge on my broadheads. Sharp but not crazy sharp.

I like what MrJND1959 said.

Good luck MrDary.

[Aggies96]

Could be, i broadhead tuned it to my field points pretty good but as I got further back it wasn’t as consistent on where it was hitting which is why I think the broadhead is more driving a path rather than the back end kicking out. But I could be wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I recently had an issue pop up that I wouldn't have noticed without using a lighted nock on my arrow. Got back from and Africa trip and I turned my bow down 3-4 pounds. I shot my field points and redid by sight to adjust for the downturn - no problem. I like to shoot 40 yards plus when practicing.... don't really get up to 20 that much. Before a hunt I put on my lighted nocks and just did a few practice runs and noticed a pretty decent fish tail on the arrow. Went back to paper tune and had to do some adjusting to get it back in line. I've turned my bow down/up before and it's not gotten out of tune. Either I knocked something out of whack on my travels (40 hours in a plane cargo hold.... good chance) or maybe my string stretched... who knows. Good practice to maybe check paper tuning occasionally - especially during the season - and especially if you shoot a lot. I'll be doing mine from now on prob once a month. Just because your arrow hits the target in practice (especially at longer yards when it has more time to correct itself) doesn't mean your arrows are flying like they should. A fixed broadhead will really show that as well.

[Aggies96]

Blood trails are a function of shot placement, animal blood pressure and broad head sharpness. A high shot on an animal can seal up regardless of the broad head used. Or if pressure isn't enough to blow blood out if the wound channel it will just pool up inside until it reaches the entry/exit point. I hit a hog a coup!e years ago. Downward heart shot with a mechanical and no exit wound. I didn't see blood for 70 yards and then a lot of blood just before he died. The blood had to pool up to the point of entry. It's just my opinion but there are too many variables regarding blood trails to assign success/failure to the broad head.

This brings up a good point. Did you get pass throughs on the deer? If you were shooting out of treestand and did not penetrate the other side the body cavity would have to fill up with blood before it would come out for the most part. With a treestands higher entry placement I've had deer with double lunch shots run 50-75 yards with no blood till then.

[JWF]

I shot a buck last year at 30 yards from a pop up and didn’t have much of a blood trail. 125gr solid IW 525gr arrow 80lb bow. Passed through and was in the dirt 50 yards behind him. Buck went 60-70 yards and piled up and was full of blood. I am famous for making midline and high lung shots and this one was about mid line. I am still shooting the IWs because the quality is there and I want to shoot something from a tree and see what the blood looks like. Hopefully I can report back after this weekend. Just my experience.

[ag111]

In one of his broadhead sharpening videos, Byron Ferguson made a good case for not having broadheads surgically sharp. Nuts and bolts…A rougher edge leads to more tissue tearing which leads to a more uneven wound channel which leads to the wound channel staying open and more hemmoraging. Purportedly, Surgeons use super sharp scapels to lessen hemmoraging. We as hunters want the opposite…we want more hemorraging.

I dont sweat having a razors edge on my broadheads. Sharp but not crazy sharp.

I like what MrJND1959 said.

Good luck MrDary.

Can neither confirm nor refute these claims, but that is interesting to hear. Can you provide any more info on this as it is a new concept to me and I would like to learn more.

I do want to point out that there is a strong correlation between sharpness and penetration though. Sounds like the OP had pass thrus so not necessarily a major theme for this thread, but still worth pointing out the advantages of broadhead sharpness for others tuning in.

[jds247]

I disagree with Byron on the rough edge being better. Rough edge will collect fat and tissue causing the blade to clog up so to speak.. allowing veins to roll instead of cutting. A razor sharp blade will slice through instead of pushing through.
I'm not a fan of Ironwill heads because they whistle or hiss while flying.. I want my arrows as close to silent as possible.. a 1 1/8 inch wide essentially a 2 blade broadhead doesn't cut much of a hole so unless you hit the deer just right you won't get much blood.. I bought a couple packs of Ironwill heads but Exodus are 1/ 3 of the price and are in my opinion a superior design.

[JWF]

I disagree with Byron on the rough edge being better. Rough edge will collect fat and tissue causing the blade to clog up so to speak.. allowing veins to roll instead of cutting. A razor sharp blade will slice through instead of pushing through.
I'm not a fan of Ironwill heads because they whistle or hiss while flying.. I want my arrows as close to silent as possible.. a 1 1/8 inch wide essentially a 2 blade broadhead doesn't cut much of a hole so unless you hit the deer just right you won't get much blood.. I bought a couple packs of Ironwill heads but Exodus are 1/ 3 of the price and are in my opinion a superior design.

Not to hijack the thread, but do you like the swept or regular blades on the exodus?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[critter69]

Every time I look at the Solid website it says sold out? Is the website just not current?

I shot solid heads for a while, they seem to be very brittle. Broke a number of them on animals. Other then that they were good heads.