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Iron will blood trails

What are peoples real life experiences with blood trails shooting iron wills deer, elk, etc

18 feet

Was that placement across the top or the bottom?

Plenty of blood from the vented 125s except from one big buck I shot at ground level that had hide plug the entry and fat/gut plugging the exit. Not the fault of the broadhead as it got complete penetration. The buck swung toward me as I shot.

Jaquomo I’ve had that happen with bucks especially with other fixed blades they tend to carry an abundance of fat especially earlier in season never much issue cuz they have most times expired in sight

I’ve shot half a dozen deer, one elk, one Aoudad, one black bear, one brown bear and a wolf, all with IWs. All of them fell in sight, 30-50 yards, except the two bears and the wolf. The wolf and black bear went a short distance in thick cover. Both had fair blood trails. The brown bear made it about 80 yards and had a great blood trail. Overall, I think they’re the best BH made, but blood trails are very dependent on the location of the exit hole, fat layers etc.

Maybe 15 drops of blood in roughly 450 yards ….glad in was open terrain

This is the exit hole… bull was alive 35 minutes. They shoot great easy to sharpen but this was a real head scratcher for me.

That’s with a S100

Not tooooo surprising that you didn’t get a great blood trail exiting through the meat of the shoulder like that, but I would probably have lost big had you opened up a “how far did it go?” thread….

35 minutes is a long time on that placement, you’d think, but somebody raised a good question recently: if you give them the time-tested 45 minutes to expire and you find them in their first bed or tipped over somewhere along the trail, would you ever know the difference whether they lived 20 seconds or 20 minutes or even the full 45? Or would you just assume that they expired quickly because it was an easy recovery?

Ive shot several deer that died quick but had poor blood trails. Its been fairly surprising.

Shot a doe she ran 15 yards stopped then fell over. Shot a buck he ran a long ways on a bad shot but I was able to follow the blood trail all the way 400 yards or more. The doe I didn’t notice the blood as she fell in sight.

I shot a bull elk that fell in sight after about 40 yards. Head was sticking out the far side as he ran. Not a drop of blood and I could not use the blood trail to find the head. I shot a huge whitetail that bailed out down a steep slope. Some blood that was pulled out by the complete pass through then not a drop. The steep slope may have had a lot to do with that and he was dead at the bottom. I have shot 4 does with them with very mixed results. Two I saw make their final death lunges down slopes. The heads have been deadly, and it is amazing how they can bury into the dirt and when washed off be sharp with no chips or rolled edges. The one broadhead has gone through 5 deer and except for some slight discoloration is still perfect. I like them. The only concern is the blood trails, 6 hits is not enough to draw a lot of conclusions. The entry and exit holes appear to be small. I wonder if the heads are so sharp that the skin and tissue does not stretch before it is cut. Of course, not having to blood trail is always best.

Goyt ^^ yes. They do not stretch the skin. Very valid point. Kills em dead, but the entry and exit are only as big as the head.

Hole in my poorly shot buck seems big enough to me. Both deer were shot with the same head which was still razor sharp after the first deer and zero damage to blades. The doe ran 15 yards stopped and fell over and the buck ran like 15-20 and stopped and blew at me. I really like the fact that the head zips right through and the animals almost don’t even know what happened.

Ttt

It is the only downfall of the head, but that is inherent in the design. Compact fixed heads will fly better. If IW was to make a 2" wide head you'd have amazing blood trails, but you've also got bigger feathers on the front of your arrow than the back. This is exactly why mechanicals were invented. To have the ability to fly well, yet open a big hole.

When it comes to flight characteristics for the size, toughness and durability IW is the best IMO. Are the blood trails less than other heads? Yes. But no less than a slick trick IMO. I've shot both, and would choose the IW every time because of its other characteristics. In its category, I think it is the best. But if you choose that category, you are choosing the likelihood of less blood dumped on the ground. It's not an IW thing. It's the size and blade configuration of the head.

IMO, Just not that much cutting width to open up a big hole.. Many of todays heads have this same problem. Great head, super sharp, just not enough width to bleed out of, all the time. I experienced it or saw it with other heads too, not just this one....

There are performance tradeoffs with every style of head. I'm in the APauls camp now with IWs. As I've gotten older and have more physical issues, and have dropped my poundage down, I traded in wider multi-blade heads for the flight, toughness, durability ability and penetration of Iron Wills.

I shoot Ram Cats since they came out. Great blood trails. Never failed. IW obviously is a good head, but I don't like the design.

I see holes, don’t see 1 picture of a blood trail?

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