Schwacker Broadheads - Beware

[bgleaton]

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to shoot an old cull buck on our place. I have always shot either Spitfire broadheads or Rage broadheads and have never had any issues. The reason I changed to Schwackers is because I saw the videos and heard testimonials, so I wanted to give them a try. Before I go into detail about what happened, I'm sure there are a lot of people that have had success with Schwacker, but I just wanted to share my experience. This old cull buck came in and gave me a shot opporunity at 40 yards and I drilled him right in the lungs, but I noticed my arrow did not penetrate that far, so I was immediately questioning where I hit him. I waited a good 1.5 hours until tracking him. There was very little blood and after tracking him for a good 200 yards or so, I saw him standing up at 52 yards, so I knocked another arrow and placed this one right behind his shoulder and thought that he was for sure done for. I gave him a good 30 minutes after that only to find that he was still alive, so I finished him off the quickest i could. I felt absolutely terrible, but I found him and killed him as fast as i could. After investigating, I found that I only got 7" of penetration on the first shot and the second shot only got 4" of penetration and it didn't hit his shoulder blade. I was very disappointed how these broadheads performed. Also, the second broadhead didn't even expand. I shoot a Mathew's Drenalin and I have never shot a deer that hasn't had a full pass through. Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you all.

[boh347]

Dang that sucks

[jjaimes]

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=556063

Here's my experience with them!

[gingib]

Sweet buck!

Had him on camera? been following your ranch posts

[bgleaton]

Yes, we have had him on camera for over three years now. He has had the same three main beams on his left side and the main frame 4 on his right. I wanted a buddy of mine to shoot him, but with the high fawn crops this year, we have to start removing some mouths from the herd.

[Rubi513]

Maybe I have been fortunate, but I have had nothing but good luck using Swackers.

[NF HUNTER]

That's not a good experience on the Schwaker blades. I wanted to try them, but not now after seeing your thread. I shoot The 125 gr Spitfires also and they cut through shoulder blade bone and two ribs coming out. I was 32' up in a climber the deer was 13 yds. Go back to the Spitfires. Good blade!

[HoustonHunter]

Show me any broadhead and I'll show you someone saying it didn't work for them.

Sorry for your experience but all I've ever used is Swhacker and they have been extremely lethal.

Killed a buck last week that went 30 yards and a doe Sunday that went about 4. This is my third year using them and zero complaints.

A ton of variables go into what happens when a blade hits a deer.

Btw, that's one heck of a buck!

[NF HUNTER]

.

[DOUBLE.A]

i killed 2 with a shwacker. Great blood. The third deer the arrow didnt exit. No blood. I swapped back to muzzy and slick tricks.

[DOUBLE.A]

Yes, we have had him on camera for over three years now. He has had the same three main beams on his left side and the main frame 4 on his right. I wanted a buddy of mine to shoot him, but with the high fawn crops this year, we have to start removing some mouths from the herd.

What poundage are you shooting?

[PondPopper]

It's all about KE with expandables.

I shoot them and love them. 125 gr.
They blow through every time on deer and hogs. Never experienced what you have.

I shoot 72 lbs. 31" draw. 425gr total @ 289 FPS.
They work as advertised if there enough power behind them.

[bm22]

Could it have something to do with the range? A light arrow has probably lost a lot of steam at 40 and 50 yards compared to the 20 yards most people are shooting.

I am not questioning your skill, You clearly have the skill to shoot those ranges I am just wonder if you had enough KE to open the blades at that range.

I would guess a heavier arrow or a COC fixed blade would have passed through.

[bgleaton]

I don't want to discourage anyone from using them and like I said in my originial post, I'm sure a lot of people have had great experiences with them, but I just wanted to share my experience. I don't like watching deer suffer. The two shots I made were right in the wheelhouse and I would have bet my house that he would have been dead within 10 minutes. Again, I'm not trying to say they are bad broadheads, just wanted to share.

[bgleaton]

That's a good question bm22. I'm not sure, but i would have thought that 40 yards would have been fine since I have shot a lot of other deer at these same ranges. Who knows what happened, I just found it odd that each one of my arrows didn't penetrate that well even the third and final arrow which was at 15 yards. Just an odd experience.