Wensel woodsman for elk

[Red Beard]

#4832

Ive been doing alot of reading about broadheads, and it looks like two blade single bevel and so on is best. I come from a compound background and have always shot 4 blades because the blood tril is easy to follow. I have no experience with traditional equipment and figure 4 blade will probably kill penatration. Has any one consistantly killed elk with the Woodsman? Or had any problem with two blade holes sealing, or is that a hoax.

[Kegan]

#35175

The two blade hole sealing up is indeed a myth. Made when folks who couldn’t hit didn’t recover their game- and was told over and over again ever since.

Does a paper cut stop bleeding when the skin touches again:wink:?

Oh, and I haven’t used the WW, but several fellows have mentioned that one heavy arrows they had no issue getting good penetration.

[David Petersen]

#36130

Ashby’s tests show that single-bevel two blades leave superior exit wounds and rich blood trails. But broadhead design is secondary to penetration and shot placement. An arrow that stays in of course won’t allow blood to escape like a two-hole pass-through without the cork removed. And low in the chest cavity provdes great blood while high often won’t bleed externally at all. And finally, if a shaft stays in, with elk at least the muscles, after a very few minutes, will contract and seal tight around the “cork” so that you often have some blood at first, then it totally stops. I have some big Woodsmen someone gave me that I use for turkey hunting and can testify that while they are easy to sharpen and absolutely wicked looking, the tips will blunt or bend on contact with a hard surface, like an elk shoulder blade.

If you’re hunting only whitetails and smaller pigs, you can get away with almost any good head so long as it’s sharp. For bigger, tougher game I recommend a single-bevel two-blade, long and narrow rather than wide, with a Rockwell hardness of at least 50. There are now a great many such heads to choose from and some, like the Tusker Concord, are no more exensive than soft-steel heads. My experience, mystory and sticking to it. dave p

[Jason Wesbrock]

#36604

Red Beard wrote: Ive been doing alot of reading about broadheads, and it looks like two blade single bevel and so on is best. I come from a compound background and have always shot 4 blades because the blood tril is easy to follow. I have no experience with traditional equipment and figure 4 blade will probably kill penatration. Has any one consistantly killed elk with the Woodsman? Or had any problem with two blade holes sealing, or is that a hoax.

It’s difficult to look at Ryan Rothhaar’s trophy room and consider stickbows and 3-blade cut-on-impact heads anything but effective. He shoots the original Snuffers, by the way, which are over 1.5″ wide. They make Woodsmans look like a small game head.

A couple years ago he put one (possibly two, I don’t recall exactly) through his bull moose. Brett Cagle ran one through another bull moose on that same trip. A few weeks ago Ryan put another through a very nice bull elk. There’s a thread about it on TradGang.

In reference to the specific head you’re considering, I used them for two seasons (2001 & 2002), and stopped after seeing too many of them go through whitetails and end up with bent blades. Personally, if you want to shoot a head of that type, I’d look for something stronger. From everything I’ve read, the VPA Terminators seem very well made.

With respect to blood trails, I’ve killed game with 2-, 3-, and 4-blade heads. Honestly, I haven’t seen much of any difference in blood trails with any of them. Maybe the large 3-blades will leave more blood on the ground than a narrow 2-blade, but any of them should leave more than sufficient sign, provided the hunter does his/her job correctly.

[dlbarr]

#37619

So, Dave, I’m sorta new back into trad archery & bhing….I had some grizzley broadheads that I’d been totin’ around for years. Sharpened those up and put them on some cedar shafts for elk/deer hunting. In your opinion, do these past muster for the kind of broadheads you describe above?

[mswickard]

#37963

dlbarr wrote: So, Dave, I’m sorta new back into trad archery & bhing….I had some grizzley broadheads that I’d been totin’ around for years. Sharpened those up and put them on some cedar shafts for elk/deer hunting. In your opinion, do these past muster for the kind of broadheads you describe above?

Those Grizzly’s will do the trick!!!!!!!!!

[dlbarr]

#37969

OK, thanks there MS. It’d be bad to be out there thinkin’ I was properly armed only to find out I was under-armed!:D

[tucsonbowhunter]

#54282

WW have killed lots of criters they just arn’t ideal becuse of the fact they are 3 blades. Two edge single bevel will definatly out preform when something goes wrong.

[bruc]

#54625

tucsonbowhunter wrote: WW have killed lots of criters they just arn’t ideal becuse of the fact they are 3 blades. Two edge single bevel will definatly out preform when something goes wrong.

If the hit is to far back I feel the three blade would be more lethal. All things being equal as far as sharpness goes More cutting edge so it should do more damage. The pyramid design of the three blade should make it very strong and less prone to bending. Think I saw a commercial once where one was shot into a concrete block:!:
I have never used a single bevel head so I am not talking from experience. I am thinking they would be harder to sharpen:?: Bruce

[Cottonwood]

#54641

I have two poeple on here that I read and listen to the most… Dr Ed Ashby and Dave Petersen. I’m not saying no one else isn’t in the know, but these two gentlemen are always spot on.

[Ireland]

#54675

Cottonwood wrote: I have two poeple on here that I read and listen to the most… Dr Ed Ashby and Dave Petersen. I’m not saying no one else isn’t in the know, but these two gentlemen are always spot on.

Cottonwood has said it best!!! Read what Dave Petersen has to say and READ AND RE-READ the Ashby reports. These reports are based upon great research. Apply that wealth of knowledge/information in your own personal set-up and you will be successful.

Ireland

[David Petersen]

#54783

Alaska Bowhunting Supply (ABS) now has a carbon touch-up sharpener for single-bevels, set at 25 degrees. It works great on super-hard heads like their Ashby and the Grizzly, once you have the bevel set. I wish it were larger for a better grip and didn’t cost so much ($30) plus shipping, but darn that things puts an edge on and I’ll never be without one henceforth. Just google ABS and go to sharpeners. This thing is so new that I doubt Dr. Ashby has had time to check it out, but if you have Ed, whatchathink? dave p

[Cottonwood]

#54856

David that is probably the BEST sharpener around for a single bevel with a lifetime warrenty. I’m ordering this very sharpener for some Grizzly 200 gr broadheads I’ve got coming.

http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/

[Ed Ashby]

#54903

David Petersen wrote: This thing is so new that I doubt Dr. Ashby has had time to check it out, but if you have Ed, whatchathink? dave p

Dave, I had one of the very first ones, for testing. It works GREAT for quick touch-ups in the field, though I still ‘finish the job’ with (at least) some brief stropping. If I have my small “surgical black” Arkansas stone along, I use a few passes on it after the sharpener, then strop briefly. Back in camp I usually use the KME knife sharpener, then strop lightly. At ‘home’ I use mechanical sharpening as much as I can, but have got to where I finish that off with a few light strokes with the KME before stropping.

Ed

[Stephen Graf]

#55651

David Petersen wrote: Alaska Bowhunting Supply (ABS) now has a carbon touch-up sharpener for single-bevels, set at 25 degrees. It works great on super-hard heads like their Ashby and the Grizzly, once you have the bevel set. I wish it were larger for a better grip and didn’t cost so much ($30) plus shipping, but darn that things puts an edge on and I’ll never be without one henceforth. Just google ABS and go to sharpeners. This thing is so new that I doubt Dr. Ashby has had time to check it out, but if you have Ed, whatchathink? dave p

Hmmmm…. I remember some bozo from north carolina brought this up a couple of times during the spring and summer in response to your sharpening threads…. The guy is a real yahoo, but every now and again he’s worth listening to.

[Jeremy Holden]

#64136

Red Beard,

I’m glad you asked this question. These just happen to be the heads I shoot because I can get them the sharpest. I’ve tried two blade, single bevel and four blade. I’ve tried this sharpener and that one. But a file and a Wensel Woodsman and I just get along. Now if you look at their website I believe one of the Mitten brothers took a rather large moose with their head. Is a moose different than an elk? I’d like to think it comes down to sharpness of the broadhead and accuracy when it’s all said and done. I’ve never had the chance to hunt/shoot one though…

-Jeremy

[John Carter]

#8447

I used single bevels throughout the 70’s,,never noticed any difference in performance between them an the Bear Razors I also shot back then.
Two blade heads leaving lesser blood trails compeared to 3 blades on less than perfect hits is not a myth,,it does happen.
Today I don’t take any notice of wheather a head has double or single bevels,I shoot animals ranging from 25-150kg an none of them are what you would call tough skinned,so I mostly just shoot “big” heads.
I’ve used the larger Tuskers on an off for about 25 years,long before they were called “tusker”,, snuffers about the same.
I do like two blades with small bleeders like the stingers and older Bear Razors which I also still use now an then.
I like to go by the old an well proven adage of “it’s not how much blood you let out that counts,it’s all about how much day light you let in”,,,,one comes well before the other.:wink:

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