What kind of broadhead are you shooting? Are you shooting a fixed blade broadhead for the reliability? Or, are you shooting an expandable for the accuracy? Does your set-up make enough energy to push an expandable all the way through an animal? This is a problem for bowhunters shooting lower poundage. How much energy is your arrow losing just opening the blades on your mechanical head? Worst case scenario with a fixed blade broadhead is one good hole; where as the best case scenario with most expandables is one good hole. The argument over fixed blade or mechanical has been raging for years. There are still states that prohibit the use of mechanical broadheads and others that regulate the use of mechanicals. Some outfitters don’t allow the use of mechanicals on their properties due to fear of poor penetration, and performance. Yet, the promise of field-point accuracy gives bowhunters confidence, and some expandables are capable of massive wounds.
I’m of the opinion that if your set-up is properly tuned, there should not be any issue getting a conventional broadhead to fly like a field point. If your mechanical broadheads and your fixed blade broadheads have different impact points, call a pro shop. The problem is likely your set-up, not the heads, providing you are using quality broadheads. Most broadheads retail for close to forty dollars for three heads; if you find broadheads that are ten bucks a dozen, chances are they aren’t going to fly well. You’ve heard the saying “You get what you pay for.” right?
Now, I’m not saying all mechanicals are bad. I have used a couple that performed flawlessly. Big holes and great blood trails, but ideally I was looking for a conventional head that offered superior flight characteristics, and massive holes. Something with a chisel tip to blow through bone, a big cutting diameter for great blood trails, and it would still have to be accurate enough to hit the mark at distances greater than twenty yards. Then I stumbled across the Ramcat from Fulton Precision Archery.
The Ramcat is touted to be the “most aerodynamic fixed blade ever designed!”, and the package also says “outpenetrates any broadhead on earth!” The Ramcat is a three blade head with an inch and three eights cutting diameter, and it has a chisel tip. That met my requirements; OK, I’ll try them!
I figured the “most aerodynamic fixed blade ever designed” didn’t need to be tested at twenty yards first, so I backed up to forty yards. This is the first shot I took with the Ramcat broadhead.
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Alright they’re accurate, and the penetration was fantastic, but why? Well, it turns out that Ramcats have a patent pending, deep lobed “Hydroshock” chisel tip. This tip drafts the air over the blades to prevent windplaning. I’m going to assume that this would also reduce the wind drag on the arrow, resulting in more downrange kinetic energy. The “Hydroshock” tip acts the same way when you hit an animal. It forces the mass outwards to result in greater penetration, but what about our lower poundage friends. For them the Ramcat has a special treat; if for some reason you don’t get a pass through, the blades “roll forward and create a backcut”. The back edge of the blades on the Ramcat are sharpened, so it cuts a path back out. Massive damage! Quicker recovery! Thanks Ramcat, time to hit the woods.
Any broadhead will work when you hit them perfectly, but we don’t always hit them perfectly. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I put a way less than perfect hit on a deer while testing the Ramcat. The deer was quartering away hard and I should have entered through the guts and out through the vitals. Instead I entered through the hind-quarter and out through the guts. Bad shot! In my defense, it turned out the limbs on my bow went bad. I know excuses, excuses. Anyway, the deer piled up in fifty yards. That really impressed me. I put a horrible hit on a deer, and still piled it up in sight of the stand. Here is a picture of the exit wound. I know it’s embarrassing, but it happens.
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After that I turned on a couple others of the Whitetailkillers to Ramcat broadheads. My buddy Jimmy answered the call, and shot this nice buck.
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This deer was just about broadside, and check out the entrance wound. It’s huge. The exit was just a little tighter to the leg on the other side. I could get my fists into both sides of this deer. I’ve seen holes like this when the deer was hard quartered, but not on a broadside deer. Unbelievable carnage, needless to say it was a short recovery.
My last concern was durability. I mean, I want the head to work well first and foremost, but it’s great if I can reuse them. Broadheads are expensive. I’m glad to report that all the Ramcats we shot through animals survived without any visible damage. Replacement blades are readily available, and all the ferules stayed straight and true.
The Ramcat performed better than I could have expected for us, so if you are struggling with which broadhead to shoot, I think you should give them a try. You can expect blood trails a blind man could follow, and short recoveries. Check out their website for more information at , there you can find videos, testimonials, and any other product information you need. I’m about a month away from taking the Ramcat broadhead with me to do a little pig hunting down South. With any luck I will have some more pictures for you then. I can’t wait.
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