Day 2 and Getting a Guillotine Style Broadhead to Fly.

Shooting during spring season end at noon here in Vermont. Opening Day was eventful but not yet finished. For the past two weeks, a lot of time has been spent trying to get the Magnus Bullheads to hit where they have been aimed. Mechanical broadheads and fieldpoints hit the target together. The bareshaft tune is also very good so the errant flyers must be some issue with the arrow spine or fletching.  It is possible to tune the bow to the Bullhead but shooting field points becomes not possible without a retune. During the season I try to shoot to keep in good form and retuning beyond a few clicks of the windage knob is too much. More time will be spent setting the bow for a specific point then actually shooting.

In an effort to get the Bullheads to fly correctly a variety of arrow spines and fletching combinations were tried. Nothing really worked well. Every arrow impacted to the left of the point of aim (POA). I shoot left-handed and the thought is the spine is too stiff.

The head bent just above the threads and one of the blades is broken. I think the off center contact didn't dissipate the impact force along the shaft so it also bent and failed under the applied load. The broken shaft pieces are in the back ground of the photo.

In addition to the Bullheads, I had the local bowshop (Kevin’s Custom Arrows in Vershire, VT) order a package of Muzzy M.O.R.E. heads. The Muzzy heads have the advantage of folding the blades in for storage and then folding out for shooting. Maybe the Muzzys will shoot? The first Muzzy was loaded onto a 400 spine GoldTip arrow. A fiberfill pillow is an awesome broadhead target. The arrows have all become entangled into the fibers and don’t pass through the pillow. The pillow is hung from an A-frame allowing it to swing helping to dissipate the energy of the impact. The arrow flew about 18” left and one blade impacted the post of the A-frame bending the broadhead and shattering the shaft. The pictures tell the story better then the words. Not sure if the Muzzy is any better then the Bullhead. I only took one shot and destroyed the arrow.

The idea with the guillotine style heads was upping the odds of a kill when I just barely miss the birds neck. My intention had been to use technology to buy performance. Turns out I should just practice more and improve the archer.

On Day 2 of the 2015 season my son Nate came along. We met my hunting buddy Steve at 4:30 and drove to a spot which had proven worthwhile in the fall. We setup and sat hearing only a few far off gobbles. Temps were in the very low 40F range and by 6:30 we were all cold and changed to a more active run and gun tactic. An hour’s walkabout only produced nothing. The only calls we heard were generated by other hunters so we altered our track back to the car to give them a wide berth.

Nate and I headed home to eat and warm up. Hunting does not give us a free pass on weekend chores and before heading out for a more local walk we cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed the rugs, and began putting away the skis stored on the porch for easy winter use.

The local run and gun produced a few gobbles but nothing worth filling space with.   We had a response from calling but each response was quieter and quieter. The church bells rang out noon so we unloaded Nate’s shotgun and headed towards home.

Nate asked about setting up and finding a good spot to hide. We experimented a bit with a camera in order to examine how each of us look with the idea of learning to "see" from a turkey's point of view. 

So far this season we have had encounters but nothing within shooting range. There are still 28 days of the season.

Where's Kevin?

The red circle.

Closer up and the eyes are visible.