# Rage question



## putzy (Jul 22, 2011)

Let me start by saying I don't want this to turn into the usual love or hate rage debate that usually happens if you can't help with situation move on...


This weekend my buddy shot a doe with his xbow and he was using rage broad heads. He hit her perfectly broad side and she took off running. After about 20 mins we meet up at his spot and grabbed his bolt. There was very little blood on it, almost none and the o ring was half way down the bolt and it had hair all wrapped in it. There was also a big chunk of hair stuck in one of the blades. We found a handful of hair where she was standing and a little more hair about 10 yards in the direction where she ran. All the hair was dark body hair. We found no blood at all anywhere.

My big question is did the blades open at all or maybe just as it was exiting the deer?


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## cast and tug (Apr 25, 2010)

I was using a 3 blade rage on my Xbow and thought I should have put a turkey down, where I found the bolt it appeared that it did not fly straight, I went home and shot a couple into my target and realized they were partially opening to soon and causing bolt to fly wherever it wanted. I switched to the Xbow rage that uses a plastic sleeve instead of o-ring and have no problems now. My brother uses the regular rages with his Xbow without a problem but his has less draw weight and speed than mine, I'm using a quad 400.


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## caffeineforall (Jul 6, 2011)

sounds like he hit its back. never had a 2 blade rage fail on me yet. the o rings have slid down the shaft like you said.

im almost betting it was a high hit that opened tge blades but didnt really connect.


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## hommer23 (Nov 20, 2012)

Can't help with the Rage part, but I have shot 6-8 deer with my crossbow and I have had very little blood on the bolts. The last deer I shot was quartering away and I double lunged him, he ran about 20 yards before I found any blood then at 25 to 30 yards there was blood spray 6 feet up on trees as he ran through, but very little on the ground. I can't explain why bolts are not covered in blood like arrows are, that's just the way its been for me.


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## aquanator (Dec 1, 2005)

putzy said:


> He hit her perfectly broad side and she took off running.
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Unless he has the shot on video, there's no way with today's crossbows that he knows he hit her perfectly. Mere inches behind the shoulder and the slighest of angles and the bolts goes behind the lungs instead of thru them. I have used my crossbow for three years and have killed 4 deer with it, it's REALLY difficult to know exactly where it hit untilyou're standing over the deer. It sounds like a his shot was not where it should have been. If the lungs had been punctured with any arrow, she would bleed out of the mouth fairly soon.


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## putzy (Jul 22, 2011)

As far as I know it was good shot he's not one to lie or embellish but I just have to take his word. We walked down the run she ran down and there was no blood on anything up or down on the ground we couldn't find a drop anywhere. I just found it to be really strange with no blood anywhere. My dad used a xbow for a while so I know you can shoot a deer and have little blood. Thanks for the replies so far I appreciate them.


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## putzy (Jul 22, 2011)

aquanator said:


> Unless he has the shot on video, there's no way with today's crossbows that he knows he hit her perfectly. Mere inches behind the shoulder and the slighest of angles and the bolts goes behind the lungs instead of thru them. I have used my crossbow for three years and have killed 4 deer with it, it's REALLY difficult to know exactly where it hit untilyou're standing over the deer. It sounds like a his shot was not where it should have been. If the lungs had been punctured with any arrow, she would bleed out of the mouth fairly soon.


I agree with you. What I ment when I said perfectly broadside was that she wasn't quartering at all


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## Cartermike41 (May 16, 2012)

get rid of the O-rings and go get the new shock collars, they fix all the problems.


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## aquanator (Dec 1, 2005)

putzy said:


> I agree with you. What I ment when I said perfectly broadside was that she wasn't quartering at all
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


I shot a deer two weeks ago and was positive it was broadside and not angling at all. When I found the deer, the exit hole was 6 inches further back than the entrance hole. Was the deer angling slightly and I somehow couldn't tell? Did a rib deflect the bolt? Did a twig defect the angle right before impact?

Again, it has nothing to do with the crossbow, the compound, the recurve, and not a lot to do with the broadhead. Puncture the lungs and they bleed out of the mouth. Blood is hard to find sometimes, we killed many deer that bled very little, but again it's usually the shot placement. After you've killed a few dozen deer with arrows I think my response will make a lot of sense to you


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## putzy (Jul 22, 2011)

aquanator said:


> I shot a deer two weeks ago and was positive it was broadside and not angling at all. When I found the deer, the exit hole was 6 inches further back than the entrance hole. Was the deer angling slightly and I somehow couldn't tell? Did a rib deflect the bolt? Did a twig defect the angle right before impact?
> 
> Again, it has nothing to do with the crossbow, the compound, the recurve, and not a lot to do with the broadhead. Puncture the lungs and they bleed out of the mouth. Blood is hard to find sometimes, we killed many deer that bled very little, but again it's usually the shot placement. After you've killed a few dozen deer with arrows I think my response will make a lot of sense to you


I have shot many deer and seen many shot in all different situations and ways and I get what your saying but this situation was just very strange to me and of corse all I have to go one was what he told me about the shot and that's why I posted the question to get a few options on the situation. I use a fixed blade so I'm not to up on mechanicals if they malfunction. 


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## putzy (Jul 22, 2011)

And of corse there is always the possibility that it hit a twig and he just ended up grazing the deer and shaving some hair off


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## UnluckyOne (Nov 17, 2012)

Anybody know if the shock collars will fit on the old rages that had the o-rings?


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## mydogisscout (Jun 24, 2005)

UnluckyOne said:


> Anybody know if the shock collars will fit on the old rages that had the o-rings?


 they do have a collar for the origional Rage heads, they're orange. I shot a deer Sunday with a rage Hypodermic....AWESOME blood trail to say the least.


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## bersh (Dec 9, 2003)

As with 99.999% of the threads blaming the head for a bad shot, this sounds like he didn't hit where he thought he did. It's very difficult to see the bolt hit and in the excitement of it all doesn't help matters. It's pretty much impossible the the head to not open on impact, and the fact the o-ring was down the shaft confirms it opened. Even in the extreme off chance it didn't open, it will still make about a 1" hole and tear/cut as it goes through. If he hit in the vitals there would be a dead deer.

This isn't a broadhead problem it's a shot placement problem.


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## outdoor_m_i_k_e (Feb 3, 2005)

Keep looking for the deer. It sounds like he hit high, and or further back than planned. A high shot will not have blood for a while, as the blood will build up in the body cavity before coming out onto the ground. 

Ive had deer with zero blood because of a high hit, broadhead doesnt make any difference at all in this situation.


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