Fixed vs mechanical broadheads

[johnschwab22]

I know there are spirited opinions on both sides of this. I am still a novice in the archery world. Trying to get into it more this year. A couple years back, I shot a doe with a grim reaper expandable from 20 yards. It did not expand, but I luckily spined the deer. She dropped, and I put another arrow in her, that to my shock; also did not expand. Was shooting a compound Mathews bow with a draw weight of 60lbs. Ever since then, have been a little sketched out on the grim reapers. Any thoughts on why this happened and/or favorite expandables to shoot?

 

[themcfarland]

I have dealt with this myself.
I went with fixed after similar shoot and losing one.
I felt bad..
As anything with me I did a deep dive into this and how I can do better to ensure that I do my part..
Even with fast bows and super good gear, the success rates are low if everything else is perfect.

I found research from Ashby .
This may be overload, but it will be a good reference..

the take away, if we hit a bone with most of the stuff we have available at retail stores , lighter and faster is less likely to work.
His research indicated, heavy with a forward center of gravity is the way.. with fixed, beveled and sharper angles.

hope it helps.

Ashby Bowhunting Reports — Ashby Bowhunting Foundation

Dr. Ed Ashby has provided us with decades of critical research focused on arrow and broadhead penetration. This work stands alone and provides global leadership in the areas of bowhunting lethality and ethical hunting practices.

www.ashbybowhunting.org

 

[YoungMarine]

Hopefully my experience can help you in your search. Twelve years or so ago when I was hunting with a compound, I was trying out mechanicals and using one of the popular Rage broadheads. Someone's rabbit dog had gotten onto the property I was hunting and spooked a herd of deer by me. The last deer to walk by was a large, heavy mass 8+ pointer (I didn't even want to focus on rack or try to count tines as I knew he was wall hanger and had only seconds to get ready for a close shot). I drew as his head went behind a tree and I hit him right where I was aiming only 5 yards from base of tree I was in.

He took off and disappeared into a finger feeding into a creek about 40 yards away. Seeing blood on arrow and satisfied with the shot I got down around 30 minutes later and inspected my arrow to find lung blood, but also noticed that the blades had jammed and not deployed. I could hear some rustling and decided to climb back in stand so I wouldn't spook buck. As soon as I got back on the platform the beagle from earlier came back by and jumped the buck up at 40 yards away. I pulled a trusty Thunderhead fixed broadhead out of the quiver and sent another one flying. It hit him further back than intended (aortic artery area) in my haste to get a shot off before he bolted, but a ton of blood was spewing and left an easy blood trail to follow.

I followed the heavy blood trail to a neighboring property where it just disappeared in their gravel driveway. I knocked on the door to request permission to search property and no one was home. I then asked the adjacent neighbor that was out cutting grass if I could search on his property and he rudely told me to get lost. I'm not sure if the neighbor or other property owner saw the buck and loaded it up or if it just stopped bleeding and went elsewhere, but I exhaustively searched the other properties nearby the rest of the day to no avail. You feel terrible knowing you made a bad shot on one. You feel worse knowing you made a good shot and your choice in equipment caused you to fail. No doubt that deer would not have gone far after initial shot with a fixed head through the boiler room.

The lesson I learned from that hunt was that I could not count on mechanical broadheads. Fixed blades are always ready to work and had been good to me in the past and continue to work. Yea mechanicals work for countless hunters at times and shoot better out of the faster bows of today, but you don't need a fast bow to kill deer. Plenty of trad guys killing them with 40lb bows and 2-blade broadheads.

There are a lot of good fixed blade options out there so I won't suggest any particular brands or models. If they fly well out of your setup and are sharp roll with them. Good luck this season!

 

[drill sgt]

Some years ago settled on a fixed blade after seeing others fail to open for other hunters... Used a broadhead named "Snuffer" which was a 3 blade with a 1 1/2"cutting diameter and a grain weight of at least 150 grains..... Harvested a deer in s/w Mississippi and while transporting the deer in the back bed of my truck I encountered a Game Warden at a road checkpoint.... Because of the entry and exit wounds had to show the bloody arrow w/hair to prove that I had not used a firearm to harvest the deer.. Arrow length 26 inches / 2117 size / from a 82 lb draw weight from a round wheel (No Cam wheel) Quadraflex bow.... deer dropped about 10 yards after arrow impact...................................... drill sgt.

 

[Scrape]

I am an old Muzzy guy. I tied several mechanical broad heads during their infancy. The swacker I think was the cats meow during the days. Far better designs out these days.
I used to use a Jackhammer Wasp mechanical for shooting thru a window between me and my target because they shot so friggin straight without a hint of rotation down field. Took a couple elk with them in tight quarters.

I guided a bit while I lived in New Mexico, I was non licensed but assisted two licensed guide friends and put several out of state friends on good bills.

One in particular, a friend from Little Rock came out for a 3 day draw hunt he was successful on drawing a permit in unit 2b, a high quality - high demand unit I absolutely love in the 4 comers area.

He shot a double jointed Oneida bow with mechanicals. I had located a nice herd with a huge herd bull and 4-5 satellite bulls, 20ish cows 3 weeks before his hunt.

The second morning of his hunt I pulled the herd bull off the cows, hunter was below me in a meadow edge, I was above 50ft and 75 yards behind my hunter in some piñons.
It was on full bore. The big bull was 60 yards to my hunter and closeing, pissed off, busting brush and actually attacked a small bull that got too close.
The bull would have gotten within in 35 yards of my hunter given the route he was taking to me. Would have….

My buddy went to full draw, the bull picked him up and spun, I saw the arrow release, in flight , and watched it hit the bull right behind the left shoulder blade on a quartering angle. I’m thinking , dayumm, while he got busted at 60 yds… then again,,, dayumm, as the arrow hit made a perfect path,,, then said chittt as the arrow deflected upon impact and basically bounced off the bull.

I stopped the bull with a tubing squeal and cow calls. I could see with my binos there was no damage.

When I got to my hunter, who thought the bull was surely dying ,,,,I got all over his azz for not waiting for a 35 yrd broadside shot. He told me after the big bull rolled the smaller one , he was actually too scared to have it closer to him,…
The blood pool was muscular damage. The arrow opened but at the angle with the hair thickness it punched then deflected out . No real damage. I tracked the bull and got sight of him and his herd after he had crossed over onto private land.

I let one of my guy buddies know of that bull, habits and shared my topo info with him.one of his hunters 2 weeks later killed that bull with the arrow wound healing up. The bull green scored 398ish. Pretty large for that area.

I never used a mechanical broadhead again nor allowed a hunter to have them in the field on my hunts.

There’s more tuning required to get a fixed blade to fly true, flat and straight.
I feel people use the mechanicals more frequently because either they do not know how or too intimated to learn how to make a fixed blade perform properly.

Long story,, I see it like it was yesterday all over again….

There’s another story or two why I do not shoot polymer tipped bullets and would not allow them in my camp during hunts….