Well, I had a chance at my first trad kill today. Took a shot at a squirrel in some woods next to my house this afternoon. I shot a brand new ace hex blunt at it. Drilled him perfect in the ribs or shoulder broadside. It flipped him over twice with the arrow in him. He Jumped up and ran off. The arrow fell out. I couldn't believe it. What a downer. That was supposed to be my first trad kill. It was a beautiful shot. About 17 yards. My wife saw it and couldn't believe it either. I could hear bone cracking loudly on impact. Wow! Only old broadheads for the tree rats from now on. I had heard they were pretty tough, but to take a drilling from a 520gr arrow out of a 60# bow with a brand new hex head...yikes.
I bet he'll feel it in the morning
He's dead for sure Iv killed a heap of then with the Hex blunts, but old broadheads are better
Tuff luck
They are tough little suckers. If they were our size they would probably toss grizzly bears around!Nice shot, though. I killed one deader than dead last year with a judo point.Keep shootin'. (http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/tarponnut/ArcadiaNov08010.jpg)
Take a field point and put a game getter on the back of it.They sell them at 3 rivers.I also seen my hunting partner nail one with a blunt the other day and it killed him dead in the tree.Just about couldn't get him out.
WHOA....You made a good shot. I'm surprised to hear he ran off, but I bet he is dead. I have killed a truckload of tree rats with the ace hex head. It's all I ever use for 'em. I even worked for Ace Archery a little while. I made a bunch of the hex heads. If you one you used did not kill the squirrel, it's not one I made! HA! Broadheads work great for tree rats but they get stuck in trees too easily. What happend to you is a rare thing. My squirrel arrows are Blaze orange cedars with blaze orange feathers and a hex head. I've never lost an arrow yet with this combo....although I have broken a bunch. I made one of the best shots of my life last season when I shot a tree rat about 40 feet up in a tree and hit him dead in the eye socket with a hex head. He barely even moved and just flopped out of the tree. Squirrels are under rated game animals. Lots of fun.
I've only shot one so far with a 225gr hex head.About 10 yards into the boiler room.It was half dead by the time I got to it.All I'll use from now on. ;)
But I'll agree that they are tough critters to kill.I've shot them with other stuff and they don't kill easy. :saywhat: :eek:
My standard thought is that if they weighed 200 pounds... we wouldn't DARE go into the woods! :eek: :rolleyes:
Killed two with two shots one afternoon last week- one with a judo, one with a Woodsman. Both quite dead, but the Woodsman was certainly quicker!
I have had the same thing happen with both hex and the new hammer. Great on rabbits but squirrel skin too tough. I agree with the field point and grabber. The squirrels are too light with no backstop.
Next time aim higher and knock his cape off...
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/supersquirrel.jpg)
I've killed them with rubber blunts already, but they are tough to kill at times. I'm going to try some Hammers this year. Squirrel season doesn't come in here till mid Oct.
I keep tellin' ya... exploding heads!
Give me a couple of months and I'll have a squirrel killin' head for you. Just got done with a patentability study and got the green light. When everythings a go I'll post some on here after I become a sponsor. Initial testing has been impressive :thumbsup:
A rubber blunt slid over a .357 case...bad medicine!
Squirrels are tough , when I can't kill one dead,
I send my mother-in-law out after them.
I still like a broadhead for 'em! I HATE watching an animal run off after being shot. I can see the benefit of hex heads though, they don't stick in wood ....often. LOL
-Charlie
"Squirtals" (that's my spelllig) are tough. Last week I saw one behind the shop and grabbed my primitive bow and arrow. He was low on the trunk of a large oak and at about 12 yards. Well, I missed just an inch or so and the rivercane arrow with it's knapped rhyolite point stuck into the tree. Since I had only brought one arrow, I quickly pryed it loose for another shot. He had moved up the tree but was still in shooting distance. This time I pulled only to half draw and let fly. The arrow caught the "squirtal" in the broadside and both went through the air landing at about 10 yards from the tree. He might have been too tough for steel, but he wasn't too tough for rhyolite.
hex heads work good if the squirrel is between you and the tree, that way they take the full impact of the arrow, if they are on the ground, or on a limb with nothing solid behind them, unless it's a head shot, there is a good chance that they will get rolled by the impact of the arrow, and you loose alot of that blunt force.
I use old broadheads for ground shots, and try to work a shot in the tree with blunts so as the squirrel is right infront of it.
yeah, i think larry is right. When I hit him he was sitting about eye level on top of a stump. I sent him flying right off the top of it, but his tumble and light weight helped lessen the impact probable. Still, it hit hard, I heard it!
Results with the hex blunt on squirrels has been mixed. I hit a squirrel in the ribs when he was on the side of a tree - it knocked him off the tree but he managed to get up the tree before I could get to him. Had one take the same kind of hit on the ground and run off. I killed one squirrel with a grizzly head and a scorpio behind it. The arrow penetrated to the fletch and hung up in the squirrel, but the scorpio tore up my fletch so I won't use that one again.
The last 4 squirrels I shot with my longbow and hex blunts, 2 were clean kills and two were as stated above.....
I think for serious squirrel hunt'n you need a slotted blunt with a blade in it or something like that.
I've always used feild points
You must have super big tree rats down south I kill them with judos or rubber blunts hit them any where in the body game over .. Broadheads for squirrels is just wrong in my books
QuoteOriginally posted by -Achilles-:
I've always used feild points
(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd71/xProRifleManx/S5030818-1-1.jpg)
I squirrel hunt a lot, and my quiver is full of a mix of homemade heads (.38 casing and banding steel) and hex blunts. I think hex blunts are one of the best commercial heads out there for squirrels. The plain fact is, and it's already been said here, squirrels can just be dang hard to kill. They're tough little buggers! Half the time the arrow's just for stunning 'em... then you gotta go hand to hand! :scared:
I like a blunt with a some sort of cutting surface. I have been using PDP Small Game points since I got some from Kim last year. They work great. Before that, I would split field tips with a hacksaw and put in a small blade made of banding material. Gotta watch out when you shoot up in a tree, I have had arrows bounce around and come down behind me. Bill
UPDATE, I connected again and this time with an old three blade broadhead given to me by a fellow tradganger. Right through the mid section of the body. Couldn't get pics onto photobucket for some reason. I'll try again. Darn thing still ran 30 ft up a tree with a hole through him before he fell out. Tasty snack yesterday afternoon!
Gordon, do you have gray squirrels up there? We hunt gray, fox and red squirrels. The red (pine) squirrels are about half the size of a gray, which is about half the size of a fox squirrel.
I had a grey (that's gray, in Northern terms) squirrel get away from me after a solid body hit with a hex-head. The same type of head killed two bunnies for me in NY. Squirrels are tough. BTW, I am using hex heads again this year, but will use a broadhead if the rat is on the ground. I won't give up on the hex-head with just one failure. They fly too well and are convenient in the quiver.
Here is a link to that hunt last year:
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=90;t=000382
Killdeer :campfire:
Killdeer, that was one of the most incredible stories I have ever read. Thanks so much for sharing (squirrel slayer! LOL)
Cool! Glad you liked it! You have given me a grin more than once, good to know there's been a payback!
Still curious about those Canadian squirrels.
(Gray, red, or a "Canadian blended"?)
Killdeer :wavey:
I think you need more arrow weight , I use 780 gr out of 48 # @ 30 bow . :knothead:
I can attest to the light weight of the squirrel not taking the full force theory.
I was a full blown runt in HS, weighed 65lbs my 9th grade year. I played football and wrestled all four years but until my senior year I never felt anyone hit me. I was so light they would hammer me and the only hit I felt was my head hitting the ground.
My senior year I was a huge 119lbs and could feel anyone under 200lbs hit me, but after that threshold I still hardly felt it till the thud on the ground. Kinda funny to get hit by the biggest guy on the team and not feel a thing.
The coaches thought I was nuts and tough as nails, little did they know I was so little I couldn't feel it!
I just got ahold of a few of these barta claws...
http://www.3riversarchery.com/Product.asp?i=5408
anyone ever use them? what head did you use a field point or a steel blunt?
I was going to try those myself Deadbolt. I was going to use a fp and try to sharpen the claws with a dremel tool. Hap
QuoteOriginally posted by Deadbolt:
I just got ahold of a few of these barta claws...
http://www.3riversarchery.com/Product.asp?i=5408
anyone ever use them? what head did you use a field point or a steel blunt?
Those are Adder points. They've been around for probably 20+ years. Guys used to put them behind broadheads for turkey hunting (why, I'm not sure). I used them behind field points in the past for small game, but they weren't nearly as effective as Hex Heads.
I heard the good Doctor was working his research down in GA. Maybe we could get him to set up a ancillary study looking at all factors that affect lethality on "kirtrles".
I shot a Rock Marmot in Idaho with the ACE Hex last spring, through the shoulders DOA at the den entrance. 60# Heritage Bridger Mountain Longbow and weighted GT Trad. My arrow broke both shoulders and stayed inside her.
Keep smacking them, they do die with a well placed blunt.
Deadbolt, those are replacement "blades" for the barta blunt. I am going to be trying that head this week. this is the link for the whole barta head: http://www.3riversarchery.com/Broadheads+Points+Glue%2DOn+Small+Game+Tred+Barta++%22Barta+Blunt%22+Head_c57_s43_p95_i5407_product.html
BTW, the claws would work great behind any screw-in blunt or field tip.
those adder points are all i use....combined with a field point up front for rabbits and i use a blunt and adder point for squirrels in trees, that way i get my arrow back:)