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Rabbits - Broadheads or Small Game Heads

So to you seasoned rabbit hunters out there, do you prefer broadheads or small game heads when hunting these creatures?

I just put a small washer behind a field point. Works great on cottontails. I use a light weight recurve.

PECO, I used to use beer bottle caps, but they were noisy and wrecked on every shot.

I really like the G5 SGH’s but they are expensive and rocks do wreck the prongs. But great for longer range shots. If there’s snow, then flu flu’s and blunts.

Judos in the open, Ace Hex blunts in brush.

And not that it should be necessary to say so, but broadheads and dogs don’t mix!

Ace Hex or even better VPA small game thumper. I shoot quite a few rabbits every year and these two work well with my recurve. the spring arms on judos catch to much hair and I don't like cleaning them. The G5 SGH break of arms in my experience.

I end up using broadheads since I usually have a bunch of old ones, dull knicked, etc that still work on small game.

Rubber blunts such as HTM brand or similar. Here in NM the background of any natural targets (cactus, yucca) or small game is typically rocks and the rubber blunts greatly help reduce broken arrows.

When I lived in Alaska where most background was moss, rotten logs, and other mainly soft stuff Judo points, washer behind field point, etc. all worked just fine.

Used replaceable blade heads or G5 SGH's or judo's. The G5 SGH's are my new go-to

VPA Small Game Thumpers are by far best small game judo style head I've used

Rubber blunts. For marginal hits the shock power is way better than anything else.

I used to use Montec SGMs, but they do too much damage, and are often one shot and done. Now I just use old dulled and nicked up fixed blade broadheads that I don't mind trashing. Heck, even field tips do the job on rabbits.

Matt

Yup. Back before broadheads cost $40 apiece, a dubbed broadhead was a standard option.

But not if your hunting buddy is a retriever ;)

I use a Rage. They tend to not get a pass thru

lol cnelk

Rubber blunts, although cnelk has a point! Ha!

I have bunny hunted with up to 100 folks at a time. I mean real hunting like kicking and jumping piles of brush, not just walking around shooting them like folks do in Texas and such. Actually put on the hunt every year for close to 15 years. All with traditional bows and we found a regular field point or blunt worked best. Seen many bunnies take several hits to kill them as well. Anyone doubt it, I have the videos. Shawn

I shot one square in ribs with a judo point and 60 pound compound bow at 5 yards and watched it run away!

I liked using 23/64" dia wood shafts (80-90# spine left full length) from my finger shot 70# compounds. The best tip (factoring cost and efficiency) was an empty .38 special or .357 Mag case with 4 each .177 cal pellets compressed into the tip (more FOC, shot a bit better). I'd press the cartridge case over the wood arrow end, then center punch it twice at 90* offset about mid case, drill 1/16" holes thru the cases at the center punched index location. I'd drive sturdy 1-1/4" finish nails through the holes letting some nail stick out each side of the case. Then trim off the finish nails to a uniform protrusion with a pair of side cutters. Sounds complicated but was really fast to make up 15 or so of these arrows. They were basically a cheap judo type head, minus springs, just nail shafts sticking out each side. There were really deadly on cottontails and usually would not pass through entirely, staying in the rabbit, tangling up in the sage brush until you caught up with him and dispatched him. Field points passed through too easily and allowed the rabbits to make it down their holes too frequently for my tastes. Broadheads were good, but I was too cheap to use them on anything but jack rabbits. MA3s were cheap back in the 80s and 90s and were my preferred jack rabbit head. Rubber blunts would often bounce off a jack and he'd just lope away. A .38 case/nail equipped woodie was better, but not up with a broahead as they often didn't penetrate either.

I've shot many & with a BH they can run & run. Almost any blunt works best. Washer behind the field point is cheap/easy & works great.

SGH for rabbits, squirrels and birds.

Adder Points work really good for rabbits.

.38 shell casings have been in constant use for 100 years, so no lack of proof of their worth!

Some guys will use tin snips to make 4-6 little slits in the mouth of the case; those can be bent outward a bit - similar to an Adder or the bleeders on a Zwickey 4-blade...

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