If you ask a trophy hunter and a butcher how long you should wait to recover a shot deer, you may get different answers. Each has different goals, and there are pros and cons to the advice of each. But you need to be aware of both sides to help determine what is best for you.
Trophy Hunter. You’ve seen them on TV, YouTube or elsewhere; professional hunters who shoot truckloads of bucks every year. They have a very admirable quantity; they want to recover the deer at all costs. It is a good philosophy, one that many hunters need more of. But the big question is what do they define as recovering the deer? Recovering the antlers at all costs is one thing, recovering the meat is not the same thing.
Butcher. The deer processers and professional butchers are not often on TV, few people ask for their advice, and few people even think about what they have to say. Butchers do their job after the deer is recovered and professional hunters are recovering the deer so why talk to the butcher about it? The answer is obvious, the butcher will handle and process more deer than the professional trophy hunter ever will. No one cares more about the meat than the butcher and no one has more to say about when you should recover a deer than a good butcher.
Listen to this episode as I share insights I have gained after hearing from several professional butchers who are also hunters.
December can be one of the hardest months to hunt deer, but if you know how to leverage the unique elements of this phase of the season to your advantage, you can be very productive! On this episode I talk about what you need to know to have success hunting deer in December.
Come December and the rut is over, bucks are worn out from the rut and spend most of the daylight hours bedded down resting and eating. Does find themselves scrambling to put on pounds for the winter. Deer are behaving differently and are harder to hunt. If that were not enough, many states place their firearms deer season at around this time frame putting tremendous hunting pressure on these deer.
Cover is also changing and as grass dies and leaves fall, the places deer can hide well become more and more scarce. Couple that with shorter and shorter days and deer can much more readily wait out the shorter daytime in order to move and feed at night. They become food focused and cover obsessed. By the second or third day of the hunting season, the entire deer herd can seem like it has become nocturnal.
This is the most difficult time of the year to hunt whitetails. But hope is not lost. If you know what to do and how to hunt you can still find success and maximize the time you spend in the woods to get the best odds for your hours.
The trick is to know when and where to hunt. Because going to an October or November spot or hunting at September hours will not produce results as well in December. Deer can become like a different animal at this point in the season, some of it is natures timing and some is the result human pressure and influence.
Listen to the podcast episode to get the tactics and strategy you need to make the most of December hunts.
Jump hunting ducks can be tons of fun, inexpensive, and a great way to use the middle of the day to bring home some birds. On this episode I share 7 keys for being more successful hunting ducks on foot.
Jump hunting is the practice of trying to sneak up on ducks to get “the jump” on them. It involves stealth with the intent to get into position and then ambush birds on the water or flush them and to shoot them out of the air.
Hunting ducks on foot dates back to the dawn of duck hunting. It is both challenging and effective and enables you to bring home ducks while requiring only minimal gear and time spent scouting.
Your goal is to get as close to the birds as possible before taking a shot, within 30 yards is the target. It is easy to underestimate the distance, in fact most people do. So, you must get closer than what seems necessary, especially since birds will instantly flush and move further away from you the moment you are detected.
Using terrain to close that distance is key, this will help you avoid being seen or heard by the ducks. Another key factor is wind. Wind creates noise and motion in the woods, masking you approach. Then if you move when the wind blows you can become nearly invisible.
When shooting at birds on the water you want a long-range range setup, ideally with a very tight choke tube and denser than steel shot. I like to use an extra full choke with bismuth shells. Steel can work just great at short to medium range but it loses a lot of power at long range. Bismuth retains energy further out enabling you to hit harder at range.
Similar to turkey hunting, your goal is to hit the ducks in the head and neck so you want a very tight pattern with a lot of pellets. Bismuth #4 shot is ideal. HEVI XII in #6 works even better but is much more expensive. Consider carrying a handful of high-grade shells and a tighter choke just for these kinds of hunts.
Note, you do not want to use actual turkey loads and chokes because then you will not be able to shoot birds when they flush. But that kind of setup can work ok shooting geese on the water or the ground due to their long neck.
Listen to the podcast episode for all of the tips.
Hunting map apps have made things drastically easier for new hunters and all hunters really. Being able to clearly see where public land is, where each parcel border is, and who owns private property is incredibly helpful for scouting, hunting, and tracking game. And the top two apps in the space are onX Hunt and HuntWise. So which one is the best?
That question is not easily answered. The two apps have a lot in common, but they have a lot that is unique as well. Each offers different features and different price points, I have used both for a couple years hunting deer, waterfowl, turkey, pheasants, crows, predators, and more. In this review, I will give you the strengths and weaknesses for each app to help you decide which is best for you. This review is NOT sponsored, and I have no relationship with either company. These are my unbiased observations from years of use.
The first major hunting app to gain market share seems to have been onX Hunt, one of the variants of onX Maps, a company that flavors their mapping engine around a variety of pursuits. I have been a paying customer of onX Hunt for around 5 years at this point. They are one of the only apps that I pay for.
The big focus of onX Hunt is their mapping. They are all about creating the best, easiest, most intuitive map experience with numerous options just beneath the surface that do not clutter or confuse the user. They have all of the standard info like property boarders, who owns the land, how much land there is, what game management unit it is, and lots of other info. In fact, they invented what the standard info is.
There are lots of other features packed in to onX Hunt like weather, wind direction, crop info, tree types, access routes, and dozens and dozens of map options, overlays, 3d maps, and location specific data points. You can go as deep as you want, or if you are like me, keep it nice and simple. There are extra tools to mark hunting spots, make notes, measure areas, and my favorite, a line distance tool to help you estimate distances. And much more.
HuntWise Overview
HuntWise is a bit late to the party and has been trying to encroach upon onX’s market share. However, HuntWise did come to play. They have many of the standard features you will find with onX but they double down in one big specific area and that is weather and their feature called HuntCast.
HuntCast is their way of forecasting the best hunting days and times of day based upon the weather, time of year, breeding info, migrations, and various other factors for most types of game. I’ll talk more about this later. But if there is one big thing that sets HuntWise apart, this is it. And it is significant. They are trying to help you find the best day(s) of the year to hunt deer. I also did a podcast on this subject that can help you for free: The Best Day Of The Year For Deer Hunting?
There are also some other unique features like gear deals and a bit of a social network type environment for those interested in such things. Their mapping engine looks and feels a little different, but it does many of the same things at a surface level. Overall HuntWise is a very robust app.
How To Compare Both Apps
It is worth noting that neither app has a good concise comprehensive list of features, the list would be too long and too painful to read let alone try and compare with other apps. I hope to give you the specific details you need by synthesizing my actual use of these apps as I compare them section by section.
I am going to spare you the painfully intricate details of each app’s minute details and give you my general feedback instead. If you want to look through the magnifying glass at every option and feature, your best bet is to get a free trial of each app and run them side-by-side to see not just what they can do but how easy and intuitively each app can do it. But trying to do all of that in a review would be too tedious for me and for you.
For the sake of brevity, I am going to be very frank, but fair. Some of this is subjective and amounts to my own opinion after using the same tools in both apps.
Maps & Layers
First and foremost, the mapping features for both apps are excellent and will do all that most people need and want. The biggest thing they do is help you find public land to hunt. Below is a video I did on the subject to help you beyond just a mapping app.
Is one better? I would say that onX Hunt does have slightly better mapping capabilities. It is not so much that their maps are better but that their mapping interface is more intuitive and less glitchy. I can find places and do what I need to do easer with onX Hunt than with HuntWise. Also, onX Hunt seems to work better on phones that are older or with slower processors.
Property Boarders & Info
Again, both apps are great and give you everything you need. Both show you where property boarders are, how much land there is, public or private land, who owns it, what wildlife management unit, ect. This matters a lot when hunting near property boarders or on small parcels. Hunting on small properties has become a hot topic, here is a podcast episode I did that goes more in depth: How To Hunt Deer On Small Properties.
onX Hunt seems to have more consistent and reliable data but HuntWise sometimes has more data. So, it is a tradeoff. Is one really better than the other? I am going to say it is an even draw for this one.
Weather & Wind
Both apps provide current wind and weather data, as well as forecasted data for any parcel you want to look at. They give you the ability to visually see the direction the wind is blowing and with what level intensity. HuntWise goes above and beyond though with their HuntCast feature. They show more granular data, further out, and it is more intuitively accessed.
Both apps give you everything you need but HuntWise specializes in the weather and wind area and they have developed a better offering for that.
Markers & Way Points
As you might expect, both apps let you mark stands, sign, locations, notes, etc. And both let you share that information with others. But I think onX Hunt does better in this area. They provide more features with more intuitive and less glitchy use than HuntWise does. onX Hunt also has the very simple but supremely useful line distance tool which I cannot find in HuntWise even after years of looking for it. If it’s there, it is definitely not intuitive.
The line distance tool lets me scope out how far a hunting spot is to other houses, how far a hike might be, or how far I covered in a day if I retrace my steps. I use this tool all the time and I deem it critically important for my hunting style. It’s so helpful for determining if I am far enough from houses to hunt with a bow or firearm. But even aside from this tool, onX Hunt still feels better in this category.
HuntWise’s Gear Feature
HuntWise’s has some functionality that is unique to them such as their Gear tool. The gear tool is a really interesting idea that essentially compiles a list of discounts from HuntWise partners. The more expensive your plan is, the larger the discounts you have access to. It sounds pretty cool.
But in practice I have not been impressed with it. None of the deals have ever been helpful to me or they were the same or similar to other deals the companies were running anyway. HuntWise just compiles them for you. In my opinion it is of some benefit but not much. Certainly not worth upgrading your plan for.
HuntWise’s HuntCast Feature
HuntWise also has HuntCast. This feature is fairly impressive. You can select whatever you are hunting, deer, turkey, waterfowl, bears, etc. And the tool will forecast what coming days and time of day provide the best prospects for hunting that game. It considers weather data, breeding seasons, and more to calculate the days the times game is most likely to be moving. If you have the free version you can see two days out, and the more you pay the further out you can see, up to 2 weeks in advance.
Is HuntCase really accurate? In my experience, yes, as accurate as such predictions can reasonably be. They double down on this feature for Whitetails, partnering with Jeff Sturgis, one of the most prolific authors and content creators on the subject to adapt his weather algorithm to the app. I have followed Jeff for years and consumed well over a thousand pieces of content from him and other researchers that he follows like Dr. John Ozoga. I boiled much of it down into a simple podcast episode you can listen to here: The Best Weather Days For Deer Hunting.
In short, Jeff Sturgis’s work predicting deer movement and optimal hunting days and times is the best I’ve seen or heard of on the subject. I have learned and been employing his weather algorithm for years now and with great success. HuntCast captures that, along with providing a library of videos from Jeff, directly in the app, to guide and equip deer hunters. This could be the single best tool on the market to help new hunters find the right times to hunt deer and learn how to hunt them more effectively.
For me, it doesn’t really matter though because I have internalized these weather algorithms and the library of Jeff’s teachings. So HuntCast doesn’t add anything to me. But I know I am the exception and not the rule here. This is a great tool for the majority of hunters. I should mention that HuntCast is not as robust for all other game species outside of Whitetail Deer. They do not have as good of algorithms or industry leading experts infusing lifetimes of knowledge into any other game seasons like ducks, turkeys, bears, small game, etc.
How Much Do onX Hunt and HuntWise Cost?
This is the great equalizer between these two apps that provide various features. You might be thinking that HuntWise gives you more despite onX Hunt being better in some areas, and you would be right. But HuntWise also charges you more, alot more. As of this writing the pricing is outlined below, I should also mention that I do not believe the prices have changed in the last couple of years, though there are periodic sales from both companies.
onX Hunt sells for $30 a year for 1 state, or $50 a year for all states.
HuntWise has a PRO plan that is $20 a month or $60 a year.
HuntWise also has an ELITE plan that gives you the full suite of whitetail deer hunting tools and longer HuntCast for $40 a month or $120 a year.
So, at best you can get the cheap version of HuntWise for double what onX Hunt costs. However, if you want the PRO version, you probably want the ELITE version too and that is a lot of money to spend on an app.
Conclusions & Recommendations
So which app provides the best mix of features for the cost? It is going to depend on what is most important and valuable to you. I currently only pay $30 a year for onX Hunt and now use the free version of HuntWise which has limited features, including only 2 days of HuntCast. I have had the full version in the past but $120 a year is just more than I am willing to pay for an app right now. And onX Hunt does everything I need and want.
For me, onX Hunt is better because its mapping and map features are a little better. The most compelling elements of HuntWise are not as compelling to me because I’m well studied in those areas. But I think for most deer hunters, HuntWise could be the right tool, if you can fit it into your budget. If you are considering HuntWise for game other than whitetails, a lot of the allure fades.
Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!
George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.
The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.
The Rage Hypodermic Crossbow Broadhead is one of the greatest innovations in modern archery hunting in several areas. That said, it may not be perfect for everyone, but I’ve found it to be my favorite tool in my broadhead toolbox thus far. I just finished my fourth deer hunting season exclusively using these broadheads, and I have alot of insights to share.
I’ve seen plenty of reviews where people talk hypothetically and scientifically about these broadheads, quoting all the marketing materials or synthesizing other online reviews and it’s obvious they have never touched let alone shot one of these broadheads.
That isn’t going to be this review. I have four sets of antlers that these broadheads have brought home for me, not to mention some does the Rage’s have put in my freezer as well. And I have bought every single broadhead with my own money. This review is packed with information and insight that the cookie cutter reviews can’t provide.
How They Work
The rage hypodermics are a mechanical broadhead, which means they fold up neatly for storage and shooting. But upon impact, the cutting blades expand outward to drastically increase the cutting diameter. One some models the blades are held in place by a collar, other models have no collar, more on that later.
These broadheads are simple to work with, safe to handle, and thus far in my experience, 100% reliable. The goal of mechanical broadheads is to provide a larger cutting diameter than is feasible with fixed blade broadheads while being more aerodynamic and accurate. Do they achieve this goal? In short, yes.
Rage boasts a lot of big colorful words to describe how impressively effective these crossbow broadheads are, along with the non-crossbow versions. Do they live up to that hype though? Are they really that devastating on deer? My experience with archery hunting is that if you hit a deer in an ideal location, that deer is going to die. And if you hit it in a bad location, it may or may not die, and you may or may not recover it. Shot placement is everything to achieve a quick humane kill.
These hypodermic crossbow broadheads are no exception to that simple truth. I have botched a shot and lost a deer. But if the hunter can do their part and place the shot in a good spot, these things are amazing. The stories below illustrate that quite well.
Cast Studies Of How They Really Work
The first shot I took with a Rage Hypodermic Crossbow Broadhead dropped the deer to the ground, in place, at 30 yards. The deer couldn’t go five feet. The wound was so impressive, and deer bled out so much and so quickly that it was a little bit nauseating to me. I kid you not. The deer was unconscious within seconds, it dropped right to the ground and couldn’t get back up. I was immediately sold on these broadheads. They were unbelievably effective.
The second deer I shot was a nice buck walking at 23 yards. I watched it run less than 50 yards and pile up right in front of me. This shot was not as gruesome as the first, but it was impressively effective. The deer was not conscious for more than a few seconds.
The next buck I shot ran 75 yards or so but left such a large blood trail that I could not believe there was any blood left in the deer by the time I found it. Far more blood than with any rifle kill I’ve had on a deer. Again, a very fast and humane kill.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this. Every deer where I was even close to a vital area was on the ground within seconds and didn’t go more than that one at 75 yards. The blood trails were always easy to follow when I didn’t watch the deer go down. Sometimes the blood trails were excessive and other times they were average. But each time the deer went down fast, humanely, with minimal suffering and was easily recovered.
How Well Do They Penetrate?
When it comes to arrows, everyone wants a pass-through shot, myself included. A pass-through double lung shot will quickly kill a deer 100% of the time and provide the most trackable blood with the largest margin of error. Plus, a pass through arrow is most easily recovered and reused. These Rage broadheads have not always given me a clean passthrough shot though.
I would say 60% of the time the arrow has gone through the deer and cleanly come out the other side. The other 40% of the time the arrow has poked through the other side of the deer to some degree but remained lodged in the deer. I hate this, because almost every single time the arrow has been broken, usually sheared off when the deer runs next to a tree.
However, the effectiveness of the broadhead has not diminished at all in these situations. The deer do not run any further or bleed any less. The broadhead does its damage, its game over every single time. What keeps the arrow from cleanly leaving the deer? I cannot tell. These things tend to go right through rib bone like nothing. I am wondering if the bow I’ve been using needs the string replaced and is losing some velocity. But the bottom line is a 100% fast kill rate on all deer shot anywhere close to a vital area.
Do They Always Work?
Yes, so far. I have not had one fail to deploy, deploy improperly, or malfunction in any way. I shoot, the broadhead opens, and the deer quickly expires. I have full confidence that these are going to work every time. I’ve shot deer as far as 40 yards and have never had an issue with the broadheads. They just work. As they should.
Can They Pass Through Bone?
I hate this question, because it is not often asked responsibly. No archery hunter should ever fire into the shoulder or at any bone other than a rib. It is irresponsible and unethical. No broadhead, no matter what it’s made of, fixed, mechanical, titanium, or weighing 600 grains can reliability pass through the thickest part of the shoulder of a gull grown deer, let alone with enough power to humanely kill the deer. Often the arrow will deflect, sometimes it will bounce off, if it goes through its trajectory can be greatly altered. It is a not a shot hunters should take or try to find special equipment for. Stop it.
Stop chasing this foolhardy idea, it is wounding too many deer. Never aim for hard bone and don’t try to build a heavy arrow setup that gives you a better change of taking the deer if you do. You will focus on the wrong things and botch more shots because of it. These broadheads and all broadheads will do what they are designed to do, go through both lungs and kill a deer quickly. If you want to shoot through the shoulder, then use a rifle. For more, check out my podcast episode Heavy Arrows Vs. Fast Arrows For Deer Hunting.
Can You Shoot Through Mesh In Ground Blinds?
This is a hotly contested subject! Shooting through the mesh of a ground blind with any broadhead, let alone a mechanical broadhead like the Rage Hypodermic is greatly debated. Rather than quoting arguments and articles, I’ll just tell you the truth. It works, its fine, and it works great. 80% of the deer I’ve shot with these have been from ground blinds and through the mesh. I have not noticed any difference whatsoever of shots going through the mesh vs. those not through the message. It’s a non-issue.
I believe the benefits of the mesh to conceal the hunter outweigh any theoretical cons about shooting through mesh. It does not seem to impact the velocity, range, accuracy, or penetration of the broadheads. And no, they do not deploy when shooting through the mesh. This debate is waged largely by people who have no experience. I can tell you first-hand, the mesh hasn’t hurt me one bit.
Collar vs. No Collar
Rage makes a version of the Hypodermic crossbow broadheads with a collar and without a collar. If you are unfamiliar, the collar is just a little plastic ring that holds the blades in place. When the broadheads hit the deer, the collar snaps off and the blades open. The no collar version uses a newer mechanical mechanism to replace the collar.
There is alot of debate about broadheads that use a collar being inferior because the collar requires “alot of energy” to break and that energy is not able to go into the deer. I talked to Rage about this very point at length, and according to them, the people who make the broadheads, this is completely untrue. The amount of energy required to break a collar is inconsequential.
People accidently snap collars when brush touches the broadhead in a quiver, which is one of the main reasons they created the no collar version. The collar and the no collar broadheads perform almost identically.
Keep in mind, it is in their best interest to push the no collar models because they cost more. So, to say the cheaper and older collared models have the same performance is just plain honesty. I personally prefer the collar version because it is cheaper than the no-collar.
The Best Part – They Fly Like Field Tips
Hands down, the best feature of theRage Hypodermic Crossbow Broadhead is that they fly just like a field tip. I can practice with field tips as much as I want, and then put on a broadhead and will have the same accuracy at every range that the field tip has. This means I only need to practice with one set of ranges. I am able to hit what and where I am aiming much more easily.
Because shot placement matters more than anything else and everything else when it comes to deer hunting. And these broadheads help me place my shots better. That is the number one reason I like them. The better the hit, the cleaner the kill, the faster you can recover the deer and the better quality the meat. Here is a short video I did about how long to wait to recover a wounded deer from two different perspectives.
Can You Re-Use Them?
People sometimes also say the no collar version of the broadheads is better than the collar version because you won’t run out of collars. Well, neither of these broadheads are very re-usable. They are essentially a one-shot tool. The arrows you can easily re-use, the broadheads rarely are. Rage does make replacement blades you can swap out, so if you do that and sharpen the point of the arrow and nothing is bent, you could re-use them.
But for the trouble and cost, I just throw on a new broadhead every time so I can have peace of mind than I am at 100% for the next deer. I do save my used broadheads that are still in good shape for small game or even turkey hunting. I asked Rage directly if the broadheads were typically single use items and they agreed that they are.
Mechanical vs. Fixed Blade Broadheads
I will not go into the same level of detail describing any specific fixed blade broadheads, but I want to mention the general pros and cons of them. The biggest three benefits that fixed blade broadheads have are less complexity, better able to break through bone, and are more easily re-usable. The cons are that they often drop faster or fly different than field tips, may have less range, and do less damage to the deer.
For me, and only me, I value the mechanical broadheads much higher than fixed blade versions. I prize the ability to accurately hit the deer above everything else, and the Rage’s excel in this area. I have not seen any reliability issue with the Rage’s despite their greater complexity, and I would not likely take the time to straighten and re-sharpen fixed blade broadheads after use anyway, so they would still be single use items for me. In terms of ability to “smash through bone”, you shouldn’t be doing anyway, as I noted previously.
So, for me, it is no contest. Accuracy trumps everything and being able to more speedily dispatch a well hit deer trumps any theoretical potential to break through bones I shouldn’t be aiming at. You may have different priorities and ways to rate the value of these tools for your use. Always use what fits YOU best.
The Cheapest Way To Get Them
I have found the most cost effective way to buy the Rage Hypodermic Crossbow Broadheads with a collar and without a collaris from Amazon. The prices fluctuate throughout the year but when they are low, especially for the version with a collar they can be very inexpensive. Always be on the lookout for good deals though. You never know where you might find a great price. I will buy them anytime during the year to keep my stock up to an acceptable level.
Conclusion & Recommendations
Are the Rage Hypodermic Crossbow Broadheads the best option on the market? I can’t say that. There are lots of other options I have yet to test. But of everything I have put my hands on, these are thus far the best tool I’ve come across. Why? I can hit what I’m aiming at better than anything else, they work every time, and they do all that a broadhead can do to bring down a deer fast and humanely. So I give them top marks.
Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!
George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.
The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.
Hunting deer during the rifle season should be easier and simpler than it is, but there are two big things that complicate it. On this episode I share tips and strategies to overcome the big hurdles of the gun season and help you become one of the 20% of hunters that take 80% of the deer.
One of the challenges of rifle season is natural, it is habit and habitat change. This time of year cover has become sparse, feeding and bedding patterns are in flux, and deer find fewer places to hide and eat. They are more alert and have fewer places they can be secure. Combine this will the end of the rut and whitetail bucks are tired, less active, and more focused on resting.
The bigger challenge however is the orange army. The woods fill with hunters, deer are overrun, pushed around, shot at, spooked, and disrupted. Their paranoia is amplified and very quickly they will find themselves moving less and less, waiting for the safety of darkness. There is nothing we can do to stop this. But we can account for it, and even us it to our advantage.
Listen to the podcast episode to hear the 5 tips for overcoming these challenges to be successful hunting dear in the gun season.
As the seasons progress so does duck hunting, in fact each period of the duck season requires different strategies and focus points to be as effective as possible. On this episode I talk about the different phases of the duck season and what is unique about hunting during each of them.
Duck season can be divided into three phases in many states.
Early Season – This is when things are warm and green. You are primarily hunting local ducks or early migrators.
Core Season – This is what you often see on TV, the migration is on, and birds are flying through on a regular basis looking for places to stop and rest.
Late Season – The water is freezing up and ducks become more and more concentrated on open water.
Each phase of the season requires unique strategies to get the most out of it.
Everyone deer hunter needs to develop a basic and realistic ability to track a wounded deer. Some of it will come from experience but much of it can be learned and you do not need special powers or training to get proficient at it. On this podcast episode I share some basic principles for how to track a wounded deer for regular people.
Tracking a deer is all about looking for three main things, blood, tracks, and disturbed environment.
Blood: If you inflicted a mortal wound on a deer it will almost always cause a significant amount of observable bloodloss. There are a few exceptions, but most fatal hits will provide enough blood to follow.
Tracks: Deer have feet, no matter where they go, their feet will hit the ground, often leaving observable evidence they are there. And a running deer produces deeper footprints then a cautious or slow-moving animal.
Disturbed Environment: If a whitetail is fleeing it will often leave visible sign that it passed beyond footprints. It will disturb leaves and dirt, it will push over, trample, or effect grasses, weeds, brush, etc. Even on dry days with hard ground and no blood trail, it can be possible to see where a deer ran if you are mindful of what to look for.
Angles, sunlight, shade, and point of view all play into being able to notice these signs. If you see nothing, perhaps you need to look at things differently; get lower, get more light, use your nose, move more slowly, etc.
When all else fails, using intuition and a simple grid search can help you recover a lost animal. A systematic back and forth in a grid pattern can help you find sign and fallen deer when the trail has run cold. Not all deer are recoverable, but most are and with a little focus and some strategy you can often find your whitetail. You may also need a little courage to knock on neighbors’ doors and ask them if you can follow the deer’s trail onto their property as well.
Does your shotgun fit you? How do you fit a shotgun to your body? The answer to these two questions can determine whether or not you will be able to shoot well or be plagued with poor shots and lost game. Those who shoot sporting clays, trap, and skeet are more likely to pay attention to shotgun fit than hunters who do no sport shooting. New hunters are especially unaware of these principles. But hunters need to be aware of how their shotgun fits more than anyone else, since each trigger pull has the potential to wound or cripple game.
The good news is that shotgun fit can be very simple. It follows the 80/20 rule. You can gain 80% of the benefit with only 20% of the knowledge and work. In this article, I am going to cover the simple basics of fit, and then go into a little more depth on some of the finer points. I encourage you to read the entire article. The couple of minutes you spend reading this can improve your shooting for the rest of your life.
When asking the question, how to pick a shotgun for waterfowl hunting, or any kind of bird hunting, the fit is the first and most important thing to consider.
When To Fit A Shotgun?
The best time to fit a shotgun is BEFORE you buy it. Going off of written specs can be helpful but there is no replacement for holding the shotgun in your hands and seeing how it fits your body. You are better off going to several stores and holding dozens of shotguns to find one that fits you perfectly than buying the first one off the shelf that looks good.
In modern times however, more and more people are buying hunting shotguns sight unseen. Or they decide well in advance exactly what shotgun they want and go from store-to-store until they find it. I too am guilty of this. In these situations, we must be aware of how to adjust fit rather than simply choosing a shotgun with perfect fit. Thankfully, lots of quality modern shotgun manufacturers like Mossberg, Remington, Browning, Benelli, Beretta, Winchester and many others make modern shotguns with a variety of easy stock adjustments to help fit their shotguns to most shooters.
How Much Does Shotgun Fit Matter?
Having a good fit can make all the difference. I recently got a new shotgun, a Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl and ordered it sight unseen. I pickup it up at the sport shop, took it home, cleaned it and then went right to a sporting clays shoot. My first shot ever was at my first clay on a 100-target course. I ended up winning the event that day.
Did I win because I was the best shooter there? No, I was neither the best nor the most experienced. Did I win because the shotgun was so amazing? No. Though it is a nice shotgun, and I did a full write up about it here:Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl Review. I was able to win because this shotgun fit me perfectly out of the box. Even better than the shotgun I had been using for years prior. Despite the gun being brand new to me and feeling different in my hands. I had gotten lucky, and no adjustments were needed. But fit makes a huge difference.
The Basic Elements Of Shotgun Fit
When shooting a shotgun your eye functions as the rear site, so proper fit is essential to make sure you are able to properly aim the shotgun. I will cover each of these items in more details but here they are in simple terms.
Length of Pull – What is Length of Pull? Often abbreviated LOP, Length of Pull is the distance from the center of the trigger to the butt of the stock where it fits into your shoulder. Having the proper length means that your eye’s position is comfortable along the sighting plane while the shotgun is held in a firm and safe position.
Comb Height (AKA Drop) – The comb height is the vertical position of where the stock contacts your cheek so you can see clearly down the sighting plane of the barrel, commonly referred to as the rib. If your stock comb is too low, then your eye will be below the sighting plane, and you will shoot low. If your cheek rides too high on the comb, then you will be above the sighting plane and will shoot high.
Cast – The cast of the gun is maybe the most complex of the three elements and exists in multiple dimensions. Most often it is referencing the cast of the stock and how it bends from left to right. Comb height determine if you shoot too high or low and cast determines if you shoot left or right.
About Length Of Pull
If the length of pull is too short, you will be scrunched up holding the gun. You will not have good eye alignment and you will not be able to hit targets consistently. You are also likely to be injured as recoil can push the grip of the stock or even the top of the receiver into your face. Some shotguns are better at managing recoil than others and may be able to help spare you a good smack in the face. Check out my article Do Semi-Auto Shotguns Have Less Recoil REALLY?But in any event, just because shooting doesn’t cause pain, does not mean it is ok to have a short length of pull. Your accuracy, consistency, and overall shooting comfort will suffer.
If the length of pull is too long, you will not be able to consistently mount the gun and your face will likely sink lower on the sloping comb thus effecting comb height. In either case, you will have to bend your neck in one direction or the other to see down the barrel and your shooting and aiming will be inconsistent and difficult.
The more consistent you can shoot the more accurate you will be. Length of pull is all about consistency. You want to be able to naturally, comfortably, and instinctively lift and shoulder your gun the same way, in the same place, every time.
One way length of pull is measured is by putting the stock of the gun into the crease of your elbow, if the tip of your finger rests well in the middle of the trigger, then your length of pull is said to be proper. This is often not accurate though, as we tend to compensate to put our finger in the right place of the trigger and it does not take body size, shape, and position into account. A better way is to measure the distance from the thumb knuckle of your shooting hand to the tip of your nose when mounting the shotgun. If you thumb knuckle is 1.5-2.5 finger widths away from your nose, then your length of pull is about right.
Adjusting Length Of Pull
There are easy and hard ways to adjust the length of pull on a shotgun. For older guns it was common to cut down the stock to shorten it or glue extra material onto the back to lengthen it. Adding some length can easily be done by adding a recoil pad or other extension to the stock. But many modern shotguns come with spacer or shim kits that will easily let you use larger or smaller spacers to adjust the length to what you want.
It is important to note that there is a 1-to-4 ratio for length of pull adjustments. So, for every inch you adjust your stock length, you adjust the length of pull at your trigger finger by four inches. This is why most length of pull adjustments are done in 1/4″ increments or even 1/8″ increments. Then you are adding or remove one inch or a half inch at the trigger finger.
If you are using spacers, you can try a few different lengths and settle in on the right one for you in a few minutes. If you are cutting your stock, you do not have any second chances. So be very cautious. In cases like that, you should probably visit a professional gunsmith or shotgun fitter who can observe and measure you as you mount your gun and can tell the exact amount to cut or add to the stock.
About Comb Height / Drop
Proper comb height or drop is critical to eye alignment. This is maybe the hardest factor to compensate for. If your length of pull is a little too long, you can often make do. If your comb heigh is too low or too high, you are going to miss shots and not understand why.
Having your eye at the right height and the same consistent height is the key to aiming or rather pointing a shotgun. There is almost no way you can make up for a significant misalignment in your comb height. So pay careful attention to this factor. Getting it right is not that hard but it is very important.
Your eye should be able to see straight down the rib of the shotgun to the front bead. You should be able to see the rib but not be looking down on it. If you can’t see the rib or are high above it, then you have a problem you need to work out before you start hunting or sport shooting with the shotgun.
Adjusting Comb Height / Drop
With older guns, comb heigh adjustments were achieved by sanding down the top of the comb to better fit your cheek or gluing on a piece of materials like leather to raise it up some. These work fine but they are not easily reversable. Another option includes a stock sleave that comes with extra or adjustable material to help with comb height. Some guns come with adjustable risers that can take the comb up or down.
The most common way to adjust new guns is again with a series of spacers and shims that can change the angle the stock drops at which adjust the comb heigh in a subtle, easy, and reversable way.
About Cast
Before getting into the details, I should state that as long as the cast of the stock is not opposite your shooting hand, you can likely make do. If you are right-handed and a gun is casted for a left-handed shooter or visa-versa, then you will need to make significant changes. Most shooters can get by with no cast or any cast that is correct to their shooting hand.
A stock that is “cast off” curves away from a right-handed shooter to the right, this is ideal for right-handed shooters. A stock that is “cast on” curves to the left and is preferred for left-handed shooters. Cast is always talked about from the standpoint of right-handed shooters. But for a left handed shooter, being cast-on still curves toward their body, they are just holding the gun on the other side of their body.
Cast has a lot to do with whether your eye is aligned over the sights to the left or the right.
Adjusting Cast
In the old days, adjusting cast was not easy. Either you carved cast into the stock, or you used steam and a vice or similar measure to moisten and heat up the stock and apply a lot of pressure to give it a slight bend. Today, basic cast adjustments can be added by adjusting a shim or spacer that causes the stock to angle away from the shotgun to the right or the left. Many modern shotguns come with a small but sufficient amount of cast built in and more can be added if needed.
The simple way to tell if you have the right cast is to mount the shotgun and see if your eye is right or the left of center as you look down the rib toward the front site. A little bit of misalignment goes a long way, being off by fractions of an inch with your eye can equate to missing by several feet at hunting range. So, you definitely want to make sure your gun fits you reasonably well.
Other Perks To Good Fit
Good fit will improve your ability to shoot accurate and consistently, it can also help improve your ability to handle recoil. People often go to great lengths to mitigate recoil that could be more easily managed if their gun fit them well. Ported choke tubes are sometimes used to reduce recoil, I did a full test video titled Do Ported Choke Tubes Reduce Recoil? to find out if there is any truth to that idea.
Good fit can improve your ability to fire more shots without wearing out as well. Competition shooters and some serious wing shooters can go through hundreds of shells in a day. Good fit is a big help. All of these things combined together also can make you a more confident and smoother shooter.
Perfect Shotgun Fit Is Not Worth It
A 100% perfectly fitting shotgun can be achieved, and competition shooters often have one. Hunters on the other hand are harder to get a perfect fit with because fit is a moving target. Hunters are often wearing different types and different thickness of clothing.
You wear a t-shirt for hunting doves and your shotgun may fit perfectly. You add a fleece layer and hoody for pheasant hunting and you may have your length of pull be a little longer than desired. Throw on a parka for hunting late season ducks and all of a sudden length of pull can be much longer than you remember. Add a balaclava for hunting geese in the snow and your comb height might not be perfect anymore because there is now fabric between your cheek and the stock.
The Simple Test For Good Fit
Absolutely perfection is more trouble than its worth, and then it changes based on your gear. Being close to perfect is plenty good enough for the average hunter. There is a test that you can easily do to see if you are close enough. Simply take a plastic drinking straw and some two-sided tape or masking tape and stick the straw right on top of the rib of your shotgun just above the receiver.
If you can see through the straw and see the front bead clearly, your position is pretty good. If you are too low, too high, or off to the side you won’t be able to see through the straw to get to the front sight. That is a sign that you need to make adjustments to get your shooting form close to where it needs to be.
Good for on your shotgun is very important but like I said, you can get 80% of the benefits with only 20% of the knowledge and work. Hopefully this article helped you make strides towards that. For more check out my video on the subject here:
Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!
George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.
The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.
There are very few categories of hunting ammunition or gear where there is a very clear best-of-the-best product with no close second. In fact, I can only think of one, and that isWinchester’s Long Beard XR(Extreme Range) turkey hunting shotgun shells. I have done numerous ballistics gel tests and pattern tests, some of which I will link to, examining many of the best turkey loads on the market. And in the lead shotshell category, I have found the Long Beard XR to be second to none.
They have been my top turkey hunting load for almost every season I’ve been in the woods. This ammo review is not sponsored or incentivized in any way. As of this writing I have used my own money to buy every Long Beard XR shell I’ve ever used.
Why Winchester Long Beard XR?
I bought my first box of Winchester Long Beard XR for my second turkey hunting season ever. There were only two or three different kinds of turkey loads in the whole store and I bought a box of each. I did not realize that I had put in my cart the best lead turkey load ever produced in the history of the sport. It took me years to understand that the Long Beard XR was the best of the best and that there was no close runner up in the world of lead shotshells for turkey hunting. I also decided to buy a Carlson’s Long Beard XR Choke Tube to go along with it because it seemed the obvious choice. Those two haphazard marketing driven purchases would prove to have been some of the best hunting gear decisions I ever made.
Long Beard XR Features
I personally have a low tolerance for marketing hype and for something to impress me it needs to have clearly scientific and demonstrable properties. Ironically, I noticed those high performing properties before I even took the time to consider the marketed features of the Long Beard XR. Turns out, the features are rather impressive. There are three main things that this ammo brings to the table.
1) Copper Plated Lead. Copper plating improves lubricity which means the pellets can cut through the air and the target with less friction. This results in tighter patterns, more energy at range, and better penetration. People often ask by how much, and that is the right question. Answering it is hard because companies that use it don’t tend to make the same exact load but with unplated shot. But my preliminary testing shows maybe 5-10% improvement across the board for copper plated shot. I did a full article on the subject titled Why Is Shotgun Shot Copper Plated.
2) Shot-Lok Technology. Winchester uses a special resin to keep all of the pellets together but not bumping into each other as they go through the barrel and choke. This also prevents shot deformation from occurring in the barrel. The resin shatters when the shot is fired but it stays in place until the pellets leave the barrel and separate from the shot cup. I’ll be honest, I do not know of any way to test and see if its accurate or even possible for such a thing to make any difference. But what I do know is that the performance of these shells is outstanding, far beyond any lead shell I have yet tested against them.
3) Specially Designed Shot cup. Winchester does not advertise this much but the shot cup, or the wad, is obviously specially designed for this shell to work with the resin and the copper plated pellets. It holds everything together as it goes through the barrel and then releases perfectly allowing the pellets to fly unhindered at their target in a tight pattern.
The Marketed Performance
Winchester is sure to state how impressive the performance of these shells is. Their marketing summary is usually something similar to the following.
Winchester’s most advanced turkey load – increased lethality at longer ranges
Heavier-than-lead load performance at a fraction of the cost
Shot-Lok Technology – increased shot stability for better downrange performance
Devastating terminal on-target performance
Tighter patterns – 2X the pellents in a 10″ circle up to 60 yards
Deeper penetration and devastating knockdown at longer ranges
Now I have read a lot of similarly sounding marketing and I usually just shake my head at stuff like this. But after I started testing the Winchester Long Beard XR shells, I did a double take on the performance claims.
The Real Performance
So how good is the performance of the Long Beard XR really? Does it have double the pattern density in a 10″ circle? Yes, yes it does, and then some. Often it has triple the pattern density of other turkey loads all going through the same choke tube. All lead loads of course. TSS tungsten turkey shells are a whole different universe and those do perform better, and they should at 400% more cost on average. But in terms of lead, nothing is even close.
Do the Long Beards have deeper penetration? That is harder to test because an apples-to-apples comparison is very difficult to arrange. But even the #6s have all the penetration you could ever want at 40 yards. With about 170 pellets in a 10 in circle, the sheer impact force is going to be devastating. Does this ammo live up to the marketing? I am going to say yes. Here is a video where I tested 8 different random turkey loads that I was able to get my hands on, and some non-turkey loads just for fun. The results are impressive.
What Choke Is Best For The Long Beard XR?
I have tested the Long Beard XR out of a few turkey chokes at this point and by far the best choke I’ve used is the Carlson’s Long Beard XR Choke Tube. According to the marketing this choke was designed expressly for these shells. Now does that really amount to anything engineering wise, or is it just marketing? I am not certain. But what I am sure of is that this choke works good with these shells. It’s the best I’ve tested. So, whatever they have done, they have made sure that this choke is tuned nicely to this load. If I ever find a choke that works as good or better, I’ll come back to this post and add it in here.
What Shot Size Is Best?
They make theWinchester’s Long Beard XRin three different shot sizes, #6, #5, and #4. I did a test video on this very subjectand the results were interesting. For every step up in shot size you gain about 15% more penetration but lose about 15% of the pellets on paper. So, the #6 has 30% more pellets and roughly 35% less penetration than the #4. And the #5 splits the difference and is in the middle.
So which is best? Well, in short you cannot go wrong with any of them. I think I prefer the #5 as the middle ground for long range hunting. The #6 is absolutely best for 40 yards and closer. Beyond 40 yards, I would want the #5 because it has a little more energy. I would prefer the extra pellets over the #4 myself. But like I said. You cannot go wrong with any of them.
Do You Need 3.5″ Shells?
If your gun shoots 3.5″ shells, your shoulder likes 3.5″ shells, and you think you gain an advantage with 3.5″ shells then by all means hunt with them. Personally, I don’t think the extra 1/4 of an ounce matters much. And I would NEVER buy another turkey gun just so I could use 3.5″ shells. I would rather shoot 3″ TSS shells. You would save a lot of money overall. But that said, the 3″ Long Beards are really all you need. I think for the average shooter they will shoot the lighter shells better and the gains from better shooting will exceed the gains from a few more pellets. But if you are a seasoned shooter and you have a gun that will fire them, more payload from a 3.5″ shell is more payload.
How Do They Work Hunting Turkeys?
This is all that really matters right? Well, it is, and it isn’t. I find people’s perception of how things work in the field is often skewed. One or two good or bad experiences and an opinion is stuck in their head regardless of any facts. From the previously mentioned data, you should already be able to tell how they work in the woods, and that is very well. But I since I was killing gobblers with theWinchester Long Beard XRbefore I ever did any ballistics gel tested anything, I can tell you also from experience that this stuff is potent.
If a turkey is within 40 yards and you can aim reasonably well, that turkey is dead. If the turkey is further than 40 yards and you can aim well, it is probably dead too. How far exactly can you take a turkey with the Long Beard XR? I have heard people quote all kinds of crazy ranges, so I am going to do some testing soon with long range shots. But suffice to say, it is the best lead turkey load on the market at any range. If you want more punch, you need to step up to some tungsten, here is an article I did on some: APEX TSS Turkey Hunting Ammo Review.
How Long Does The Ammo Last?
I hunted for years with the same box of Long Beard XR’s. Putting the shells in my gun, taking them out again, putting them in my vest, then back in the gun, and repeat over and over. I’d shoot one shell per year and repeat the process next year with the same handful of shells minus one. This subjects shells to moisture, vibrations, dirt, as well as general wear and tear. I never had one fail to shoot, fail to eject, or lose any noticeable level of performance. The words began to rub off the shell, but they seemed to last forever despite so much handling, year after year.
Final Analysis
TheWinchester Long Beard XRis one of the few hunting shotgun loads that has truly impressed me. These days they cost about $2.50-$3.00 per shell. They may seem expensive but a box of 10 might last you for several years. And it is a fraction of the cost of TSS which does perform better but not that much better. Ultimately if you are hunting turkeys at regular ranges, you have no need to pay for tungsten turkey shot because you cannot kill the turkeys any deader inside of 40 yards than with the Long Beard XR.
I recommend these shells to all hunters, new, experienced, prospective, professional, etc. For the cost, there is no reason to ever shoot anything else at a turkey. They are the best lead load out there, and they are second only to TSS loads that cost $10+ a shell.
Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!
George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.
The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.
