Originally Posted By: cookstaxiI've been keeping an eye on this interesting post just to see what the different opinions are on broadheads. Here's mine.
I run a blood dog tracking service along with my other main business. I track well over 100 deer a year, & I charge the hunter regardless of whether we find the deer or not. Since I charge to track, almost all of the deer I put the dog on are good bucks that are hit bad (mechanicals are the exception to this rule). Many of the deer I track that have been shot with mechanicals are actually hit pretty good, but there is often times no exit wound making for a poor blood trail. We find or bay almost all of the deer we track, & often times a follow up shot is needed. We don't get them all, & I believe most of those deer make it unless infection gets em later on. I keep up with all of the deer I track & what they are shot with. I've found over the years that deer shot with mechanicals more often than not only have an entry hole & no exit (penetration problems) they are also a lot more likely to tear up than a fixed blade. Of the deer that we have not been able to recover the majority of them have been shot with mechanicals. Last year I tracked 106 deer, 49 of them were shot with bows, the rest were gun. Of the 49 bow shot deer 32 were shot with fixed blade heads, & 17 were shot with mechanicals. Of the 32 shot with fixed blades we found 27 of them, 84.4% recovery. Most of the deer recovered also had exit holes from the fixed blade heads. Of the 17 shot with mechanicals 11 were recovered, 65% recovery, & over half of the recovered deer did not have exit holes.
I personally have never tried mechanicals because of the reasons listed above. I have had extremely good luck with fixed blades. I shot Muzzy 115gr. 4 blades for years, then I switched to the shorter ferrule Muzzy mx4's. Since then I changed to the Grizz Trick 100gr. 4 blades because they are built on a similar design as the muzzy's just better in my opinion. The blades are sharper & thicker, they have a larger cutting diameter, the ferrule is short (flies great)& a one piece design. I don't see changing from them anytime in the near future, great heads! I've shot 7 bucks since switching to them & only one made it out of sight, I shot all seven with the same head & arrow, just changed the blades.
OFFICIAL DAMAGE: fixed blades do more damage because they penetrate & hold together a lot better than mechanicals.
Great post! I tend to agree with you on the mechanical issue and have noticed the lack of penetration (as compared to fixed blade) specifically on hogs. With that said I shoot a slower bow but there definitely seems to be a pattern.
