Hunting archery equipment is designed to cause massive blood loss – quickly. This results in a humane kill with minimal suffering and stress to the game and better quality meat for the hunter. However an arrow passing through the vitals of a critter doesn’t necessarily result in massive blood loss – especially external blood loss that leaves an easy trail to follow.

As a bow hunter I use the sharpest broadhead that flies straight from my bow and results in total penetration, a G5 Striker.

Have you ever heard of the hormone Thromboplastin? It’s known as the clotting hormone. It is released in deer (and humans) if the critter senses trauma. Wow – this is getting technical.

An easy way to understand the clotting hormone is to think back on when you had a paper cut. It’s usually tough to stop the bleeding from a paper cut. That’s because there is no or very little trauma and therefore no Thromboplastin is released.

On the other hand, when you mash your thumb with a hammer, etc., the bleeding usually stops rapidly. That’s because the body senses trauma and releases the clotting hormone.

The sharper the broadhead the less likely the critter will release the clotting hormone so the blood will flow freely without clotting. This is the primary reason I only hunt with the sharpest broadheads I can find.

My broadhead selection is based on good arrow flight (if it doesn’t hit the mark the sharpness doesn’t matter) and secondly the sharpness. I’d much rather have a smaller and very sharp cutting surface that results in less trauma than a larger cutting surface that results in a lot of trauma (which will cause the release of the clotting hormone).

I’ve tried several broadheads and have found G5’s Striker to be the sharpest. I’ve had great results with this broadhead on bucks!

Remember that bullets are designed to kill due to massive structural damage where broadheads kill as a result of blood loss. The best tool to insure rapid loss of large quantities of blood is by using the sharpest broadhead that flies straight from your bow and results in total penetration.

Just as every bow hunter spends hours practicing for the kill shot he/she should also carefully consider what’s on the business end of the arrow. My two criteria for a broadhead are that it flies straight and is extremely sharp.

Growing and hunting deer together,

Grant