Fixed verses mechanical blades UPDATE

Spotlite · Sep 9, 2017

I don't really know what happened, other than two deer didn't ride home today. But, we tried mechanical blades today and lost two that were not hard shots. In both cases had a complete pass through with blood covering the arrow and very limited blood on the ground, and not all of the blades were opened up. I've gotten more blood on the ground from fixed blade and the arrow still in the deer. Just curious if anyone else has had this issue or if we just did it wrong twice today! These were 20 yard broad side shots. I'm really curious if the force of releasing the arrow is enough to partially open one, or all blades and not get a proper flight due to imbalance.

*******went back to muzzy fixed blade. Same shot opportunity out the same stand, clean pass through. She made it 30 yards and piled up.******** my son shot her but he lost one Saturday evening using mechanical blades. Pic later.

Hillbilly stalker · Sep 10, 2017

I have lost deer with both styles of BH. That being said, I now only shoot the old muzzy 3 blades or slick tricks. If your bow and also your arrow is tuned.. they will not let you down. Shot placement is key.

Rooster600 · Sep 11, 2017

Ok, so what mechanicals did you use?

Curvebow05 · Sep 11, 2017

What broadhead did you shoot the two deer with? There is unfortunately so much marketing hype that goes into hunting equipment now it is hard to pick quality stuff. There are a lot of really good third party reviews online. Slick trick, ramcat, muzzy, and montec are all great choices for fixed blades as are many others. As for mechanical, most of the new ones are junk. Cabelas Striker 2 is easily the best for the money. Spitfires, the original rage 2 blade (if you can find them), and grim reapers are all tried and true. Any of this new fancy stuff just doesn't cut it in testing for me. Magnus stingers are great for me on the traditional side. I am very picky about what I choose to take a life with and do not except failure from something so easy to control. Bad shots, twigs, jumpy deer, and other things like that happen, but if you do your part the equipment must do what it is designed to do.

bowhunter02 · Sep 11, 2017

Slick Tricks are the way to go!

Spotlite · Sep 13, 2017

NAP Spitfire XXX. I've went back to the Muzzy fixed.

Spotlite · Sep 13, 2017

bowhunter02 said:
Slick Tricks are the way to go!

I really looked hard at the Slick Tricks. The guy at the store didn't have anything bad to say about them. But I went back with the Muzzy since that's what I've had good luck with in the past.

ddd-shooter · Sep 13, 2017

I've never shot the xxx, but I've shot Spitfires for years. Never had one open in flight. Also, if you had full penetration with a broad head with only one blade deployed, I'd say you should have found the deer if hit in the vitals. If poor flight, I'd guess you never would have got a full pass through.
I'm guessing it was shot placement, angle, or some combination.
I've seen a couple of deer people swore they hit 'perfectly' and a week later you see a bare spot high on the back strap or low on the leg. It happens.

Spotlite · Sep 13, 2017

Hillbilly stalker said:
Shot placement is key.

Completely agree, but I'm wondering how much the shot placement is affected by the partial opening in flight? I'm not 100% if there was any partial opening or not, but I do know that with both shots, one blade was still in the closed position. These were two separate shots by two different people. But I did research a little and found a ten point forum discussion and it seems that there is some debate concerning cross bows and using the Spitfire that's designed for cross bow verses those not designed for a cross bow. I'm not an expert by all means and admit that I do most of my research after something fails. I don't remember if I bought the cross bow version or not, and it seems that it is a potential issue. I'm using a ten point crossbow and the other shot was made from a ten point cross bow. Playing it safe with the muzzy fixed blade now.

Spotlite · Sep 13, 2017

ddd-shooter said:
I've never shot the xxx, but I've shot Spitfires for years. Never had one open in flight. Also, if you had full penetration with a broad head with only one blade deployed, I'd say you should have found the deer if hit in the vitals. If poor flight, I'd guess you never would have got a full pass through.
I'm guessing it was shot placement, angle, or some combination.
I've seen a couple of deer people swore they hit 'perfectly' and a week later you see a bare spot high on the back strap or low on the leg. It happens.

Yup it does! Gut shot can be an easy pass through with poor flight. I've gut shot and wasn't surprised because I either figured out what happened (misjudged angle, distance, tapped a limb, etc) But this was cross bow sitting on an arm rest with a perfect broad side 20 yard shot. It could still be me pulling during the shot, but the blades failing was the alarm to me. Now, if I do it again with fixed blades....... facepalm:

Hillbilly stalker · Sep 13, 2017

Fixed blades will always out penetrate a mechanical. If a gut shot, you would think either would get complete pass thru. But that's not always true. I shot one with a shockwave, 70 lb bow and thirty inch draw with a 2315 Easton and didn't get a pass thru. Watched the deer run off gut shot and fall dead around 70 yards. No blood trail. Now that's a heavy arrow with a long draw. I have shot one with a spitfire quartering away, thru the vitals and hit the opposite shoulder. The deer ran off with the arrow flopping and it backed out. No blood and no recovery. A muzzy or slick trick would have pushed thru in either situation. Ive done it too many times to believe otherwise. Another advantage of the fixed blade no one mentions is if you don't get a pass thru, the blades keep cutting and enlarging the wound channel when the deer runs off, where a mechanical folds up and backs out.

Spotlite · Sep 13, 2017

Hillbilly stalker said:
Fixed blades will always out penetrate a mechanical. If a gut shot, you would think either would get complete pass thru. But that's not always true. I shot one with a shockwave, 70 lb bow and thirty inch draw with a 2315 Easton and didn't get a pass thru. Watched the deer run off gut shot and fall dead around 70 yards. No blood trail. Now that's a heavy arrow with a long draw. I have shot one with a spitfire quartering away, thru the vitals and hit the opposite shoulder. The deer ran off with the arrow flopping and it backed out. No blood and no recovery. A muzzy or slick trick would have pushed thru in either situation. Ive done it too many times to believe otherwise. Another advantage of the fixed blade no one mentions is if you don't get a pass thru, the blades keep cutting and enlarging the wound channel when the deer runs off, where a mechanical folds up and backs out.

I didn't think about the mechanical folding up. But I'm convinced on staying with the muzzy fixed blade.

Spotlite · Sep 14, 2017

Went back to the fixed blade Muzzy and it proved why it's "bad to the bone"! My son killed this one this evening.

Fixed verses mechanical blades UPDATE

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