tschammel

Lone Wolf,

I feel the same as you do, practice is key. Ive been hunting since I was 12 and am now 27. I shoot my bow all year around and come August shoot it in the back yard every night I can. Ive shot my plenty of deer, two every year since then. And over those 15 years of hunting things don't always go as planned. I've learned over those years that I just can't trust expandables. Ive also learned that you have to limit things that could possibley go wrong and this is one the things that I have eliminated.For example two years ago I started usingthe Tyken II. I shot a doe with it at 15 yards and it didn't open at all.I shot her through the heart so she only went 40yards, But with no blood trail at all.When I gutter her it looked like you shot through the heart with a 22 caliber. What if I would have one lunged her she could have went for a while with no blood trail. Or worse yet what if it wasa big boy that Ive spent allyear going after.I've since moved to slick tricks and theyfly just like a field tip!Plus like I said have wentthrough two shoulders on my last two deer on the exit wound.

From my experience with the Jack Hammers my (opinion) is that they are junk. Not for just one experience but from others. Ive seen the head completely shattered for hitting bone.I really hopethis head doesn'tcostyou abig deer down in Iowa.Shoot a slick trick into a cinder block, it won'teven fold over the tip. Like we've said any head works great though the bread andbutter spot, but not even youcan garantee that thats going tohappen every time, be realistic.

WKP Todd

Everyone is entitled to they're own opinion. I'm telling you about my experiences, and you have obviously had other experiences than myself. I've only broken a furrel on a Jak once, and that was when I missed a ground hog, hit a log with a blade, and essentially "peeled" the back of the furrel open. But it was still not damaged beyond function (if it was travelling through an animal). I've now been using them for like 5 or 6 years, have shot many animals, and spent many hours in the back yard running them through my own cycle tests, in-order to feel confident using them.

I'm an engineer and designer by trade. I only use the products that make sense from the design standpoint, and products I've tested myself, in my own back-yard. I must feel confident if I'm to use them in the field. I've shot a half-dozen brands of mechanicals, and the Jak's have FAR outperformed all of them (if they didn't, I wouldn't be using them). Half the brands of mechanicals won't hold up after a few shots into a block target or dirt, let-alone into a hard bone! In-fact, I've had different heads shear (2) blades on the first shot into a block target. Now that's quality! Of the last 4 or 5 bucks I've killed only one was perfectly broadside. The rest of the shots were hard quartering and I hit the opposite side leg each time, either breaking the leg or bending the blade back. Never once, out of all of these hits has the head failed. I could have simply replaced the blades, and kept using them. I'm using the bucks as examples because some of them dressed close to 250 lbs., and were about a "worst case" in-regard to tough bodies. The buck I killed last year had a massive body, and only made it about 40 yards before piling up, in pouring down-rain, sleet, and snow. The date, November 15th, I'm sure many of you can remember the weather on that day last year. You-bet I want them to die fast, I wouldn't have wanted to try to track that buck if he made it 100 yards, you should have seen the creek bottom he would have gone into!

Why do I like the wide cut? Well, in my opinion, if I get a bad shot, and hit bone it doesn't matter what's screwed into the end of my arrow. However, if I get a shot into flesh (outside of the chest), I want to cause maximum damage from point A to point B. The extra cutting diameter could be the difference between hitting an artery, liver, spinal cord, etc.... I also enjoy killing deer fast, and laying down a trail a blind-man could follow. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right!

They're are several guys each year who tell me "just wait until something happens" in-regard to "mechanical failure". Well, most of these guys wound deer every-year with they're fixed heads, so I kind-of just turn my head and do my own thing as my record speaks for itself. Then again, I'll shoot a few thousand arrows between now and October, and probably another thousand during the season; everyday, before heading into the field. Accuracy is KING, and some people will just never get it! This isn't directed at any "one" person here.

That is my primary reason for shooting a mechanical head in the first place, it surely isn't because I like the idea of adding complexity into anything, as I insist on simplicity in every-other-aspect of my hunting equipment. As soon as someone invents a simpler way to get consistent accuracy, that causes the same type of damage, I'll be using it.

WKP Todd

Actually, we did shoot a slick-trick into the 1/8" Cold Rolled Plate 2 weeks ago, as well as a Jakhammer. Slick tricks tip bent-in, and didn't penetrate as deeply into the plate as the Jakhammer, using the same bow, same arrow, etc.... I have the entire test on-video to prove it......

This will be my last post on this topic. Over the years I've learned these discussions never really go anywhere, so I'll leave it at that.

We all have our own way of doing things, whatever kills em dead is the point! Different paths to that point, so-long as you reach it, that's the key!

stikbow26

Well i know i will be useing the jackhammers when season rolls around again, of the 4 deer i have killed while useing them not one has gone over 80 yards. I shot thunder heads for 18 years with no complaints but where i feel the jack has a advantage over a fixed blade is when you make a bad shot and everyone does at some point i want that big cutting head. As far as the shoulder blade when i was younger i was shooting 80lbs bows and i have to admitt i only made it through one shoulder blade i ever hit. Now before you go thinking i must not be able to shoot i have over 80 bow kills on deer and shoot year round my self... Walt

tschammel

This thread is going no where fast, I admit. But I just want to point out that from an engineer point of view it should be obvious that any expandable that has the blades in the frontal possition that have to catch hide and flip all the way back to its cutting capacity has to slow down penetration.

LoneWolf is right though. Expadables are greatbecuase they fly like a field tip andthis particular headgives a great cutting diameter. I shot expandables for years and loved them untiltheyalmost cost me a couple of deer.My dad had a bad experience before I did and tried to get me to switch back to a durable fixed blade but I was too stuborne becasueI didn't have a problem with them. I hope it doesn't take some of you a wounded deer or a expandable not opening or not penetrating well to reconsider. Why not shoot agood fixed blade like a muzzy, slick trick orstinger and get field point accuracy and not have to wory about contact with bone or quartering away angels. Not to mention good penetration andHuge Holes.

DougE

There's no reason for not getting the same pin-point accuracy with fixed heads.The only time I ever had a double lung shot deer travel more than 80 yards ,I was using a steelhead and two blades completely sheared off.That deer went about 200 yards.

waltwittman

i used that damn jak-hammeron one deer that ishot at 20 yards quardering away hard. the arrow impacted far enough back to go threw the guts, one lunged it, then cut the heart in half. the doe ran120 yards before she fell in the open field where i was hunting. i get down and look for blood and nothing. not a single drop the entire path of the deer. once i dressed her out i realized that the blades didn't open util the broadhead had penetraded 6-8 inches. Had i shot her in a swamp where i usually hunt i would have never found her. had that been the buck of my dreams i would have sued that damn company for lack of sleep and moderate to severe depression!
i just don't understand why people continue to use expandable blade broadheads when one can achieve excelant arrow flight w/ many of the fixed blade broadheads on the market. those such as wacum, slick-tricks, muzzy, and the magnus stinger are all supiour in strength & durablity and maybe not in cold forged steel, but on real creatures their penetration can not even be compared to a fixed blade. I shot another doe last year w/ amagnus stingerat thirty yards. ishoot 70pounds; i was aiming right behind the shoulder and missed 2" right and endedup going threw both shoulders and my arrow still stuck8" into the ground. the deer looked at me and, i swear togod, winked and took her last breath.
do yourself a favor boys, don't let others failure allow you to fail too. stand up for yourself, shoot everyday, scout smart, and use fixed blade broadheads to bring those beutiful creatures to their greener pastures and hot grills of america!!

tschammel

Wow Waltwittman has a little bit of Nuggent in him. He's right though, the mystical flight of the arrow isclearly more mysticalentering the brown beast with a fixed blade.