In this review I tested the Arachnid broadhead from Black Widow Innovations.
Now, this is a really cool head!
So, let’s check out this Arachnid and then put it to the test.
I’m using Bowtech SR6 set at 72 pounds and I’m using Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the tests. But, on the really hard impacts tests, I’m using the Bishop FAD Eliminator.
A close look at the Arachnid Broadhead from Black Widow Innovations
Below is a good look at the Arachnid. Now, it doesn’t make a really wide hole but I imagine it’s going to cut a lot of tissue and open up that 1″ hole fairly well in an animal.
This is a cool-looking head and it has got some really unique features. First of all, it’s 6 blades with a 1-inch cutting diameter, giving you a total cut of 3 inches.The blades are made out of stainless steel.
The tip is made out of A2 steel, which is much more resistant to impact than typical stainless steel, about double the resistance to impact. So that’s going to make that tip extra durable and strong.
Now, another neat thing about the Arachnid heads is that they come with 3 extra beefy chiseled tips that are made of A2 Tool Steel, just like the blades.
And they are really big!
The Arachnid comes with three heavier tips made of A2 tool steel.With these you can up the weight from 100 to 125 grains.
So, you can either shoot it in a 100-grain or in the 125-grain, just by unscrewing and screwing in the other beefy, chiseled tip.
So, I like that modularity, and I like that 125-grain head makes up that weight not just by adding a heavier washer, which really doesn’t do anything to strengthen the head or make it fly better.
The blades are also single bevel, on the front and the back of the head, which is really interesting. It’s probably done so that they don’t get too narrow, too thin. If they were double bevel at 0.027″ thick, they might be too thin.
The ferrule is made out of 7075 aluminum, so it’s a pretty short ferrule and it’s a pretty stout aluminum. So, I thought the durability would be relatively good.
Now, one thing I will say is, when you’re putting the head together or when you unscrew it from your arrow, those blades can fall out really easily; a lot more easily than a lot of different designs.
And so, you have to be extra careful. They come with bases that you can screw on when they’re not in the end of your shaft just to keep the blades in place.
And, you really want to use those because it is pretty frustrating trying to get them all lined up and get them snagged on your arrow.
Here’s the head after 2 shots through a .22 gauge steel plate.
It held all of its blades perfectly. None were lost. None were bent. The edges did get pretty mangled up as you can see. And, the tip got a little bit blunted. But again, they all held in place and they made really nice holes in the steel plate (that’s pretty cool hole with those 6 blades and a really round circular hole in the center!)
In the final test, I shot the Arachnid into a concrete block. Below is the Arachnid after that test.
Now, at this point, it had already gone through the MDF 3 times and the 22 gauge steel plate twice. There was a bit of a wobble to it after the concrete test. The ferrule also got a little bit bent.
But, other than that, man, it held together very well in this zero penetration test.
Finally, I shot the head into a concrete block…. The tips got bent somewhat and it had a slight wobble in the spin test.
Let’s talk about some bowfishing tips that every bowfisher should know for this new-age of the “eOutdoors” (the term is a slight exaggeration, but hopefully it drives home the point).
Check out the bowfishing tips below as well as what you’ll need to get started bowfishing!
A big step in this growth process of bowfishing is gaining acceptance and coordination within the outdoor community before broadcasting to new audiences. To do this, we need to improve our reputation collectively.
Some farmers or local zoos may be interested in fish harvested while bowfishing. Never dump them in public areas of boat ramps.
These first two tips (“rules”) are dedicated to improving the reputation of the sport of bowfishing. And, if you’re new to the sport, these first two are especially important. But, even if you’re a seasoned bowfisher, a refresher is certainly always helpful.
Tip 1: Don’t dump fish in public areas or boat ramps.
Dumping fish in these areas gives bowfishers a bad reputation. Additionally, doesn’t help make the public water access points smell particularly inviting.
One alternative solution would be to find local farmers who may want to use the fish for fertilization purposes. Another option is to dump them on a large plot of personal private land where the smell would not bother anyone.
There are plenty of legal pitfalls when it comes to bowfishing, and you want to make sure all of your ducks in a row so no one is enjoying the sport illegally.
If you want to get really creative, look for a local organization that may be interested in taking on the fish. For example, some local zoos encourage bowfishers to donate excess fish to feed birds and other animals.
You could also eat the fish. But, if the sound of gar fish doesn’t exactly sound inviting to your taste buds, it’s good to know there are still options.
Tip 2: Know the laws in your area regarding species, bag limits and seasons
Be sure to call your local game warden, and they will (usually) be more than happy to let you know what the bowfishing laws are in your area before you have the chance to make a mistake.
If your game warden isn’t accessible, or the thought of doing so seems like too much of a hassle, there are tons of online resources you can find on the subject with a quick Google search.
The final tip relates to all bowfishers both old and new. This is one that was relevant years ago, but it is especially critical now.
Not only does it involve preserving a positive reputation for bowfishing in the outdoor community, but it involves setting a positive example for the rest of the world as well.
Guess what? With the rise of smart phones, everyone has a camera on them all hours of the day, and the internet loves to amplify bad choices.
We lecture kids on this topic quite a lot, but they are growing up in a social media-centric world and it’s just modern-day life. To be honest, adults need a refresher in this course just as badly as the younger generation does.
Those who bowfish should always be sure to be courteous of other boaters and those who may live nearby.
All it takes is one video of someone doing something they’re not supposed to for public opinion to shift on an outdoor activity like bowfishing.
This tip has a second relevant component as well. Try to avoid fishing heavily populated areas (especially at night). And, if you must be near houses on a crowded lake, try to be conscious of where you are shining your lights.
The same can be said about music. By all means, play whatever you like until your heart is content, but be sure to turn it down for temporarily when you are near houses at night, or when passing another group of boaters.
These things are simple, common courtesy. And, as human beings, we should really try to bring more of this back into this divided world. Lead by example and don’t follow the norm, especially if it’s not the standard your parents raised you by.
Now that we have covered the “dos and don’ts” of bowfishing in this new age, let’s talk about what you need to get started.
What you need to get started bowfishing
If you’re already an avid bowfisher, you can probably skip this next section. But, if you aren’t already bowfishing on a boat surrounded by LED lights and a pricy bow, you may want to stick around.
One of the big concerns we hear with bowfishing is that it’s expensive to get into. However, this is not necessarily the case. Below is another three-step process for getting into the sport.
You can get started by bowfishing from the banks of lakes and waterways in your area. But, should you decide to invest in a boat, you can start by searching Facebook or Craigslist.
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03/07/2024 03:45 pm GMT
Next stop: A boat
Secondly, once you and your buddies are comfortable with the sport of bowfishing and know it’s something that you will continue to enjoy, you can start the process of looking for a boat.
Obviously, boats can be expensive. But, you can keep things pretty cheap if you hunt for deals on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
Once you have acquired a boat, all you will need is a trolling motor and some cheap LED lights you can buy off Amazon to put on your new boat (even if it’s used, it’s new to you, right?)
A quick search shows us you can get a two-pack of 40-Watt LED lights for around $40. Buy three of these, and you are all decked out and ready to go!
The great thing about the evolution of technology is that you can get your start creating content with your smartphone.
You don’t have to start off with fancy cameras and GoPros. Just download some editing software onto your phone and start making movies about your life. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with this, then you can invest in some nicer equipment.
Here’s how you can spread the word about bowfishing:Create great bowfishing content and share it with the world!
If you make videos, we guarantee it will be worth the investment.
When we started 573 Outdoors, we sat at a kitchen table and realized that documenting our lives wouldn’t just be for other people. All of our biggest catches, failures, and unforgettable experiences in the outdoors could be for us to cherish forever as well.
It is something we can show our kids someday and say, “look how ridiculous we were.”
You can’t put a price tag on documenting memories with your best buddies.
You can still send in your favorite clips to different pages to promote (and we definitely love to see that content pour in), but it is important for you to start stitching together your own videos as well.
Our fans are who have built us up so rapidly, But, we feel like it would be selfish to suggest you should send all of your experiences only to us. We care more about the longevity of the sport of bowfishing than we do our own business.
Today, you can flip on the Outdoor Channel and see all sorts of activities. From bass fishing to buck hunting, the new age of technology has done wonders for the outdoor community via television and online streaming.
Some of the critics of the sport of bowfishing think that it’s too barbaric.
More money and notoriety continue to flood these sports which when coupled with new-age platforms, allows content creators like LunkersTV, John B, Lojo Fishing, and many more to reach audiences one would have never thought possible until recently.
In the early 2000s, most people were only going to discover hunting or fishing was if their family member or friend introduced them to it.
Now, you can type “fishing” into the YouTube search bar and learn all about traditional and lesser-known types of fishing from scratch within hours. This opens up an entirely new world of possibilities for kids who aren’t fortunate enough to grow up in the great outdoors.
While these are certainly exciting times in the outdoor industry, one outdoor sport has been slower to gain an online identity… bowfishing.
Kids are starting younger than ever to learn the sport of archery, which positions the sport of bowfishing for future growth.
This is not to say that bowfishing content isn’t accessible, but the people who are primarily posting online content about it are hunters and bass fishermen who try to shake things up for their fans while enjoying the occasional bowfishing outing.
While technology has allowed many hunting and fishing content creators do a great job, the sport is really missing its own creators dedicated solely to bowfishing, just as there are many YouTubers, bloggers, and podcasters dedicated to bass fishing or deer hunting.
This could be due to stereotypes that often plague the sport, or simply because no one has taken that leap of faith yet into uncharted territory.
So, let’s talk about why bowfishing has a bright future and why it should thrive online.
If you’ve heard about or seen videos of bowfishing, but aren’t familiar with the sport, you may be thinking “It’s far too barbaric to last; especially as society’s attitudes shift.”
However, bowfishing is better prepared to survive than it may seem at first glance.
Most of the pictures submitted to us are from kids who are still in high school or are recently graduated.
In addition, archery is one of the fastest growing high-school and college sports in the United States. So, although archery has been around for thousands of years, the younger generation is developing the skills needed to bowfish more than ever before. This bodes well for the future of a sport that relies on archery technique. Bowfishing is a much more daunting sport if you don’t have an archery and/or bowhunting background.
“Okay, so we know people can do it, but it’s just so brutal. I mean, modern media can handle hooking some fish, but we are much more environmentally sensitive now, right?”
We are certainly more environmentally sensitive than in the past. But, that’s exactly why bowfishing can find acceptance.
Many of the fish we shoot are invasive species that pose a threat to the balance of the ecosystem. Even many of the other “non-invasive” targeted fish need some level of population control so that the “game fish” we all love to reel in can thrive.
Much like with deer hunting, bowfishing can serve as a means of maintaining balance in our waterways. Since bowfishing can be a powerful tool for conservation, there are not many restrictions in place currently pertaining to the number of fish one can shoot.
This is something we think people could get behind and support, or at least accept out of necessity.
“If bowfishing can grow with the times, and has a built-in future generation of capable participants, why can’t we just leave it be and hope this will be enough to carry the sport?”
In the early 2000s, bass fishing was doing well, but there was a pretty clear divide between recreational participants and its professionals.
Instead of being a passion that someone could pursue, it was deemed more of a hobby for country folk after a hard day at work or in school.
But, then YouTube came along, and before you know it, content creators emerged from the woodwork and took the sport by storm.
One of the benefits of bowfishing is that it helps to control the populations of invasive species.
Many individuals from different walks of life took up the sport. (Remember what we said about archery being one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S? Well, bass fishing is right there as well, thanks to these YouTubers and many others in the sport).
In fact, the founder of our company got into bass fishing, not by watching professionals on TV, but by watching ordinary people take on the sport with a camera in their hands or on their heads.
Sponsors have taken notice of this trend, and more attention is on the sport than ever before. Many of the tournaments can be watched on a live-feed, and before you know it, we are going to have a generation of kids that saw fishing for the first time on a phone screen.
Just like traditional fishing and hunting exposure has grown with the rise of social media, bowfishing will continue to grow as the outdoor community continues to be exposed to the sport.
But, regardless of how fast bowfishing may grow during this generation, we must be careful not to lose that peaceful connection with the outdoors that makes it so special in the 21st century.
We started 573 Outdoors to celebrate our friendship, become a part of a fantastic community, and to start a revolution in the world of bowfishing. To do that, we can’t be the only ones out here. We want to create a lasting impact on the sport.
While we love amplifying other people’s content in conjunction with our own, we don’t want to be the only ones (or one of an elite few) shouting to the masses forever.
If we can get people on board with this and gain some traction, the money will arrive and be put into the sport, leading to more popularity and more eyes.
Maybe there can even be a Major League Bowfishing tour someday as there is with bassfishing. It all starts with this next group of content creators, and if we leave a good reputation and try to make a difference, we can leave this thing a heck of a lot better off than we found it, and our sport can grow for the better.
Now, who is ready to jump into the sport of bowfishing with us?
In this review, I test a really cool, innovative, and crazy-looking broadhead to test here today. It’s the Project One by Mohican Sneak.
This thing is definitely weird-looking. But, I was wondering if it might end up being weirdly awesome!
I used my Bowtech SR6 set at 72 pounds and Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the shots. For really hard impacts shots, I used thee the Bishop FAD Eliminator.
A Closeup Look At the Project One by Mohican Sneak
Here’s a good look at the Mohican Sneak.
What a cool-looking broadhead this is! This is the kind of broadhead you just want to look at for a little while to try to figure out. It’s a 2-blade fixed blade broadhead. Those blades didn’t swing into that position. That’s their actual starting and ending position.
The cutting edges of the Project One head are staggered. So, it penetrates with the leading blade and tip, which is sharpened all the way around, and then the second blade begins to penetrate. They say that staggering the blades increases the penetration ability.
The blades are single bevel, but are sharpened on both opposite sides.
In addition, each of the blades are single bevel, and sharpened on the back and on the front. That single bevel is designed to hopefully make a maybe a circular wound channel. If so, it would make wound a bit more difficult to close up.
Now, the cutting diameter of the Project One is a full 2-1/2″. And that’s onimpact because these don’t open or close. This is a fixed blade broadhead. So you’re going a full 2-1/2″ of cut from the get-go.
The ferrule is aluminum (although I’m not sure what kind of aluminum) and the blades are stainless steel (0.040 inch thick). Being sharpened on the back in single bevel fashion will make them a little bit easier to pull out of a target.
Sometimes as an animal moves, a lodged arrow tends to back out of the animal. So, if that happens with this broadhead, it’s going to be cutting tissue as it backs out.
I will note that as I was looking at this broadhead, one of the blades was a bit curved, and the others aren’t like that. That’s not by design. That’s just some kind of quality control thing. So, I’m not sure what to make about that.
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Mohican Sneak Testing
I was really eager to put the this head to the test. I was also very curious about the flight and the durability.
Without a chiseled tip, and it looks like just one set screw holding the leading blade in place, I was anxious to see how it would hold up. So, let’s check out how this Mohican Sneak fared in the testing!
I had a few obstacles when testing flight that changed the way I did this test. First was the weather. I couldn’t get out where I normally do due to the conditions.
And, I was also down down to only one broadhead because the other two broke in some of the tests that you’ll see later in this review.
So, I was down to one head and I didn’t want to shoot it really far because I wasn’t sure how it would fly. So, I shot only one of the broadheads and one field point at 25 yards.
The first shot with the broadhead hit way to the right. But man, check out the gash that this thing made.
Although the first shot with the broadhead was really wide right, it made and incredible slash in my target. I mean it just cut like an axe through my target. Very impressive.
The second shot with the broadhead was better, but still pretty unforgiving. See the broadhead shot in the middle? The dot on the left is where I was aiming!I hit that same dot with a field point.
Penetration Test #1 (2/3″ rubber mat, 1/2″ MDF, FBI Gel):
The Project One penetrated 5-1/2″. Check out the entrance hole. The cut was 2-1/2″ as expected. However, the head didn’t rotate much in the gel, and it actually lost a blade.
The main blade was in perfect shape, but it broke off at the pin. So the pin that holds it in place at the top somehow broke off or got dislodged in some way, causing the blade to just fall out.
Here’s the head after penetration test 1. And unfortunately, it lost a blade in the gel after it passed through the 2/3″ of rubber foam mat and the 1/2″ of MDF. That’s really rare that that happens.
It’s rare that the first penetration test turns into the durability test, because it’s not intended to do that. However, since the durability test is actually shooting into a 1/2″ of MDF, that’s what happened and unfortunately it didn’t pass.
So, it only got a score of 2 points on the durability test because it did make it through that 1/2″ of MDF. The ferrule is in good shape, but it lost a blade.
Here’s a look at the entry hole when I shot the head into the foam matting/MDF/ballistic gel.
I wondered if the Mohican Sneak would be able to do well on the angled shot, and actually, it did. But, unfortunately, it lost a blade on that angled shot.
In this instance, it looks like the blade just completely broke off inside my target.
The angled shot test proved to be another “durability” test… and it didn’t fare too well. Once again, it lost a blade.
So, I had a 1/4″ of MDF followed by my target beyond that and I don’t know if it broke off when I was pulling it out, or it broke off as it was going in. But I just know when I pulled it out, it only had one blade.
The penetration test and the angled test are not intended to be durability tests and yet, in both of those different tests, it lost a blade.
It’s rare that I have a head break in penetration test #1, and it’s really rare that I have one break on an angled shot through just a 1/4″ of MDF. And yet, it did on both of those.
So, the durability was really disappointing. I couldn’t go on and do the other remaining durability tests because it didn’t even make it through those.
And, then the flight… it’s very rare that a broadhead does not fly extremely well out of my bow and setup.
Now, as I mentioned, I wasn’t able to go to my normal place to shoot because the weather is just so cold and there was a bit of a wind.
So, wind could have played a factor in that. There was a 15 mile-per-hour crosswind. Yet, I was only shooting out to 25 yards because that’s the maximum distance I could get in the spot and it’s relatively protected from the wind. And yet, I shot it a few times, and each time, it was quite a bit to the right.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t get it to fly well out of my bow if I really tried. But just testing it like I do all the other heads, it was quite a bit challenged in terms of flight forgiveness.
So, look through the score sheet and see what you think about the areas that matter to you the most.
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