Archers: Broadheads, bolts and arrows. Reuse or replace?

[27hand]

I've been lucky enough to get a fair amount of deer in my archery seasons.

Quite often, I would attach the broadhead to the mounted antler for reasons I don't even know.

As the prices of arrow's, bolts and broadheads have risen to the point of being well over $10 a head, do you guys and gals ever reuse the heads, do you resharpen or replace the blades, or just buy new?

When I did hunt with a compound bow, the arrows were never reusable but I bought an arrow spinner to determine if they are straight and found that my aluminum bolts are still perfectly straight after scoring 4 deer with my crossbow.

Although I bought replacement blades for my NAP Spitfire 100's, I have yet to rebuild one and use it in the field.
So, at this point I only take factory new heads into the woods.

A friend on mine resharpens and replaces blades but has told me he loses deer occasionally. I'm not sure if that is due to his arrow placement or taking shots he should not. He gets upwards of 7 to 8 deer a year from 2B.

How about you hunters? Replace or rebuild?

[bigandy1966]

the old bear 145 grain I would resharpen, they flew good out of my recurve. I don't think they make them any more. On my compound I use the nap expandables now and they're cheap enough to just replace. When they go on sale at the end of the season I buy a new set and use the older set for practice. Never lost a deer using those

[STBear]

I usually just replace the blades unless the tip is bent. Then it's a new head. Some of the blades are resharpened if they don't have any nicks in them and are just dull. I reuse arrows. After checking for nicks and structural damages Carbons are usually good to go after washing off.

[Steve_NEPhila]

I have one broadhead, a Montec G5 that has killed three deer and is still in my quiver. Construction of the broadhead and damage after the shot is what matters. I was never a fan of the multi-piece broadheads but we all have our biases. Shoot, inspect and decide.

[toadyoforangeville]

165 grain ace standards, shoot pick it up run the file across it. Back in the quiver for the next miss

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

I change them out entirely ! I buy Walmart broadheads,Have consistenly taken deer humanley,and paid less than $10 for packages of three,three bladed,over 40 years experience in archery hunting and in the early years paid a lot for designer broadheads.The money saved on broadheads alone paid for gas on hunting trips.Not everyones idea of wally worlds products but they work for me.Side note I took a 683 lb black bear in 2004 with one of those heads and only one shot. JMO/MDT

[bman1187]

I replace slick trick blades after every harvest. I have shot 6 deer with the same bolt and broadband.

[Snuff]

I have fixed broad heads with blades you can take off, If the are straight I can usually fix them with a sharpening stone and they are good as new.

[God's Country]

I always use new blades and replace the entire broadhead if it gets dinged.
I use the old one's for practice, but since I went x-bow there doesn't seem to be much need for broadhead practice. They fly pretty true for me.

[jerkin]

This is what happens when you reuse carbon arrows. This is an arrow that had a weak spot or crack in it from a previous hit and fractured upon release. You can look up "arrow through hand" on google and you will find a few instances of this happening.

While this image is graphic I don't consider it gore but if the mods feel different pull it and I will post a link instead. I just think the picture speaks volumes and people should know what they are getting into using carbon arrows after they may have been damaged. Many people now shoot with a kevlar glove because of this happening. I've never reused one since seeing a picture like this for the first time, not worth saving $6.