Arrows fly. Sharpness matters.
A magazine for bowhunters who care what a shaft actually does in the wind, and what a broadhead actually does through a scapula. Reviews written after the arrow, not before it.
Slick Trick Magnum vs Iron Will S100: the fixed-blade problem
On paper the Slick Trick Magnum is a 1 1/8 inch fixed head at 100 grains, flat-ground, thick-ferruled, and cheap enough to hunt with confidence. The S100 is 1 inch, one-piece A2 tool steel, honed like a scalpel, and roughly seven times the price. Under a broadhead target most shooters call the Slick Trick the sharper cutter out of the pack.
Then you put both through a scapula. The Slick Trick will pass a broadside whitetail all day; on a quartering elk shoulder, bowhunters on Rokslide and Archery Talk consistently report the blades rolling or the ferrule stopping short. The S100 keeps driving. That is the honest split: Slick Trick for the shot you want, Iron Will for the shot you get.
We shot both from a tuned 70 lb Mathews at 20 and 40 yards, into a Rinehart target and into ballistic gel backed by a green-cut cow scapula. The full test, GPI-matched shafts, entry and exit measurements, and photographs of every hit are in the reviews.
The three lists we would hand a hunting buddy.
The 10 hunting bows we would shoot in 2026
From the Mathews Lift X to the sleeper Bear Whitetail Legend, ranked on real draw feel, real hold, and what shows up on the string a season in. No spec-sheet worship.
The 10 hunting arrows we would shoot
Micro-diameter penetration monsters, standard-diameter workhorses, and the one budget shaft that keeps beating them all on straightness. Every entry tested for spine and GPI in-house.
The 10 broadheads we would trust on a whitetail hunt
Fixed, hybrid, mechanical. What actually flies at 60 yards, what actually holds an edge, and what actually leaves a blood trail you can follow at dusk. Ranked, not lumped.
Six shafts, heads, and bows on the bench.
Mathews Lift X 29.5
A short, quiet 29.5 inch axle that shoots like a target rig and hunts like a hatchet.
Slick Trick Magnum 100
The four-blade budget cutter that keeps embarrassing heads three times the price on entry.
Easton 5MM Axis
The all-hunt shaft: forgiving spine, honest straightness, and a cover-blowing FOC ceiling.
Iron Will S100
One-piece A2 tool steel. Costs like jewelry, cuts scapula like a gut hook. Bury it in an elk.
Bear Whitetail Legend
The sleeper $500 rig that hangs with $1,400 flagships on hold, quiet, and grip torque.
Victory VAP TKO Elite
A .166 inch shaft that punishes wind and rewards a clean release. Not a beginner bar.
Paper-tuning a hunting arrow: the honest six-step routine.
Paper does not lie, but it does mislead. Here is how to walk from a lawn dart into a clean bullet hole at six feet, then twenty, without chasing your own tail through rest and cam-lean adjustments. Bring a shoot-through, a marker, and coffee. Give it an hour.
What actually kills a whitetail cleanly.
The floor is roughly 40 foot-pounds of kinetic energy at impact, a broadhead cutting at least 1 1/8 inches, and an arrow that stays straight in the wind between the treestand and the deer. Everything above that is preference. Everything below it is a recovery you do not want to run in the dark.
Shot placement covers most of the rest. Broadside, tight behind the shoulder, low third of the chest, waiting for the near-side leg to step forward. We break down the anatomy, the angle math, and the head-and-arrow pairings we would trust in the guide.
Independent since 2019. Reviewed since day one.
HuntingAXS is written by hunters who buy their own gear. We do not take manufacturer freebies before a review is filed, we do not front-load promotional links on first-pass writeups. If a broadhead is not on the site yet it is because we have not shot it through enough targets to say something honest.