What is the best head for bowhunting pheasants?

Hunting pheasant with a bow

What is the best head for bowhunting pheasants?   Not a common question, but for those of us who wish take a pheasant in flight, an important one.  When your practice pays off, you want meat on the ground, and you deserve it.  I have tried them all from a 50 lb recurve and I know what works and what does not.  I also have a new head made with the aerial archer in mind I will cover at the end of this blog.  We can help if you are asking “What is the best head for bowhunting pheasants.”

What is the best head for bowhunting pheasants when using dogs?

A regular field point has proven to be the best bird point when hunting with dogs.  They suck at best when going through the wings, or whistling past a birds head, but they work well on body shots.  If you are feeling cocky they are all you need, but are not the best head for bowhunting pheasants all the time.

While I have successfully used regular 2 and 4 blade broadheads to take pheasants in flight, dog handlers frown on the tip.  Often the arrow stays with the bird, and upon retrieval, odds are good the dog may injure itself on the sharp head.  The broadheads excel on body hits, but do not do much to a birds wings unless you strike bone directly.  A nice wide 2 blade head takes a body shot bird quickly, but is not the best head for bowhunting pheasants when using dogs.

What about judo points?

You won’t kill many pheasants with a recurve or longbow and a judo point unless you are shooting some very aggressive poundage.  Those springs are made to grab grass and leaves and stop the arrow, and your judo style heads will grab feathers and push the bird forward, injuring but not killing it.  Unless you are shooting 65 plus pounds, I would steer clear of these frustrating catch and release hits.

So what is the best head for bowhunting pheasants?

Traditional 3 or 6 inch Snaro’s are the best head for bowhunting pheasants at breaking wings, but will simply bounce off these tough game birds on a body shot.  I figured if I could add the dog friendly features of a field point, the wing breaking hoops of a Snaro, and the cutting power of a broadhead into one package, we would have the best head for bowhunting pheasants.  So I did it.  Gonna call it the Snaro Spearo.   Might make a good song as well, but testing shows this head excels at taking pheasants, and even duck and goose sized birds in flight.

If you want to test a few of these new heads drop us an email, and no they will not be free.   They won’t be commercially available until next year, but we could use some testimonials and pictures or video to help spread the word.  There are not may of us who chase pheasant on the wing, but those who do deserve to use the best head for bowhunting pheasants.