I’ve killed 5 deer, all with double lung or heart shots. Not because I’m an amazing archer, but I practice and have been fortunate. First deer was shot with a razor sharp expandable, opened a 3” gash in him and he leaked for a whopping 10 yards before he piled up. Next deer, what I thought was a razor sharp head, passed through both lungs but didn’t bleed for 40 yds then opened up and died within another 40. Next deer, another supposedly sharp head, both lungs but lodged in her far shoulder and she also didn’t bleed for 20-30 yds, then most of her exsanguination came by coughing. She drowned in her own blood flooding her chest cavity, and i followed her gags to a dead deer, again within 60 yds. Her wound sites were relatively clean. Next deer, big old buck, this broadhead was sharpER and I put it right through both lungs and clipped his heart, not a pass through but again lodged in a far shoulder bone. No blood for 40 yds, then dribbles for 150 yds, then barely drops for another 150 yds, then a pile of dead buck with yet another chest full of blood and clean wound sites. Likely I was following blood from his mouth. All but the first kill were hand-sharpened fixed heads.
Fast forward to this year’s doe: I know for certain my broadheads are sharper than they’ve ever been. I passed through right above her heart, and there was a healthy spray of blood right at the shot. Blood splatters every 3-5 yds, right up to a very Shakespearean death scene less than 50 yds from the shot. Blood all over the woods. All over trees, logs, and all over both wound locations.
You can have an accurate broadhead, a strong broadhead, a heavy broadhead, whatever, but making it scary sharp is the one thing you can do as a hunter to make that broadhead the best it can be.
TLDR: SHARP broadheads cause instant and extreme blood loss. Almost-sharp broadheads will kill deer but make you work harder to find blood.
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