I grew up in the '70s shooting bows with heavy aluminum arrows and have never found the killing powers of old school broadheads to be lacking. I don't even know the brand of Mechanicals that I was using, one of my customers that is an avid elk Hunter with a bow gave me some. They're the type you wrap a rubber band around and they spread out when you make a hit. I only tried out mechanicals a couple of times and then switched back to what I'd always used. I have no doubt that there are some good ones out there, I just don't have enough experience with them and don't really plan on starting. I think the broadheads that I have I bought from K-mart more than 25 years ago.

whitetails -large cutting diameter mechanical or hybrid

Mule deer-any broadhead

Pronghorn-low profile mechanical (and skinny arrow)

Elk-fixed

hogs-cheapest broadhead in my quiver.


mechanical-sevr or rage
hybrid-Evolution Outdoors Hyde
Fixed-GR hades micro, Exodus, ironwill, day six evo, vaylkerie

I will caution people on the higher end broad heads like Iron Will & Day six, they are hard to field sharpen.

Bobo, why the difference between WT, MD and pronghorn. Especially the MD.

From my experience with each

Mule deer will watch an arrow go throw them or bound 50 yards, stop and look back. They just arent wired all cracked out like Whitetails, so massive blood trail isn't as important

WT are hardwired much more strung out. More cutting surface the better for better blood trails, IMO.

Pronghorn(I only hunt spot and stalk) and at my ranch the wind is 15-25mph on any given day so less profile less wind drift.

with todays modern bows and ease of tuning, penetration on <300lb animals now a days is a non-issue. KE transfer to arrows is pretty high on every bow made. If one takes advantage of that with a touch of momentum you dont need a broadhead designed for max penetration. You look for the happy medium of penetration and blood trails via cutting diameter.

Just my opinion and experience and is worth what someone pays for it

Thanks Bobo, makes sense.

Whitetails are a very cagey animal by nature.

The only North American big game animal that comes close imo is an Elk.

Mule deer, Sheep, Antelope, Bear, Buffalo, etc. all pale in comparison to how jumpy a whitetail can be.

there is always the exception but just what I've experienced

I will agree with you on that assessment Bobo. Tuning for different size arrows is easy once you know the settings for the rest to change.

Whitetails are not only spookier than the others but are often near very thick cover and the better the blood trail from a larger cut helps.

I switched to skinny arrows when shoulder problems required lighter poundage since they also have less shaft drag going through the animal in my experience, I know a true straight arrow flight is a large key to penetration but I have seen some deflection from clipping bone on one side r the other and less shaft size gives less drag resistance on the shaft.

Plus using one diameter arrow less tuning for proper flight.

Just my .

Shot in a match in the early 80s and guys could not believe the penetration I was getting with a 60lb bow sinking the fletching consistently in their new targets when they were getting 10 to 12 inches in the targets with their 70 to 80lb bows. Difference was straight arrow flight and the 1918 Easton AL arrows I was shooting while they were shooting mostly 2416 or 2414 AL arrows

Fixed, not saying it has to be, but fixed cuts down room for error.

Explain this to me when they have a smaller cutting diameter?

I assume by 'error', he means mechanical malfunction.

Fixed are best but the Sevr mechanicals do pretty good

Here is a guy that kills a lot of pigs. Also the subject of a lot of contention on the web. But seems to know his way around a pig. Maybe the most archery pig killing content on the web. He is strictly a heavy arrow fixed blade type of guy.

https://youtube.com/@RanchFairy

Anyone that takes advice from the ranch fairy on any subject other than making stupid faces and annoying YouTube content needs their head examined.

He is just regurgitating the Ashby stuff, he isn’t innovative or cutting edge.

I am not a fan either but he is an advisor of the Ashby Foundation. He probably knows something.

https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/advisors

Ashby is the Elmer Keith of the archery world….heavy slow arrows all the way. He isn’t “wrong” and a slow, heavy arrow out thru the vitals will certainly kill any animal. But for every pro, there is a con. Single bevel heads do not leave great blood trails. If your too far forward and hit a shoulder blade, a heavy arrow with a single bevel stands a better chance of getting thru, but if your too far back they do not cause the damage that a 3 or 4 blade head does. The mechanical advantage does have merit, especially when shooting low poundage/low speed bows, such as a long bow. But a lot of it is a moot point with a modern compound bow drawing any appreciable weight. Also, a lot of his studies were done in Africa and Australia shooting buffalo, hippos, and other thick skinned, thick boned game. A deer or even an elk or moose is not built anywhere near as stout as a Buffalo.

In layman’s terms, he is suggesting everyone needs to hunt with a .416 rigby equivalent for all types of game.


Tens of thousands of deer and elk are killed every year with moderate weight arrow and multi blade fixed and mechanical heads. If you listen to him talk he makes it sound like these setups will bounce off an animal and that isn’t so. His information, while not false, is portrayed as being the only way. And there is nothing cutting edge about it.

Have to find the happy medium….you don’t want to go deer hunt with a .222 but don’t need a .416 either.

Ranch fairy is just a goon. He is trying to sell his YouTube channel and now some products. He isn’t even in the ballpark of what I would consider a respectable archer or anyone someone should take advice from.

20 and under on a feeder. Doesnt matter what you use, as long as its sharp. You dont even have to be that close to tuned at <=20

Yup,

The longer you extend range the more important tuning becomes.

The more FOC you put into the arrow the more tricky it is to tune, especially with a long draw and a fast, heavy bow. I just don’t want to push it much past a 250 spine shaft. Increasing spine from that point is adding so much weight, I just don’t want to even try.

I am already shooting a 600 grain arrow and all I did was put a 100 grain insert in a 250 spine Gold Tip Hunter XT. That and a 125 grain point, luminock, heat shrink vanes and I am already at 600 grains yet barely 13-14 percent FOC.

Am I really going to gain anything by turning my draw weight all the way down to tune a arrow with a hundred grains more in the tip for FOC? And will it really give me any advantage hunting deer? Somehow I doubt it.

first tune the arrow to the bow not the bow to the arrow.

the quicker your arrow recovers the more efficient it will be on penetration, BUT it becomes only more apparent at range. You can actually shot really good group at 20 yards with a very stiff over spinned arrow but as you open up your range its will become harder to have consistent groups, opposite is true for underspinned arrow great at range not good close.

Im at 478 or 503gr depending on what head I use.

If you are under spinned go to lighter head, no lighted knock and or cut arrows shorter


the below is what I use to get close.

https://www.archersadvantageonline....&view=article&id=15&Itemid=2

Regardless, my set up is tuned and i don’t see the benefits of increasing my FOC. I am pushing 600 grains over 290 fps, for like 111 foot pounds and 80 slugs. I’m cool with 13-14 percent FOC, what do I really stand to gain by boosting FOC from here. I’m hunting whitetails.

If anything I would probably put a big cut mechanical on there, I got the power to use it why not lol. But i like the annihilators and they fly so good. Annihilators and slick trick standard heads fly better than any other fixed blade out there.

I never even think about FOC, I think FPS window of 260-280, I just end up with moderate amount of FOC due to components I use for strength and overall arrow weight to slow my arrow down

You have a long draw so your are in the Midas range; heavy arrows and the speed is there.

I like a GOOD mechanical head for whitetails/mule deer and even elk. Wasp Jackhammers and a grim reapers for me, the reaper is a better built head imo. Rage 3 blades are ok, I’m not a fan of the two blades like the hypodermic and trypan.

Slick tricks are one of the best fixed imo and they fly like darts.

Here is a pretty interesting video summarizing a 30 year study of bowhunting for deer on a military reservation off the Potomac river. Apparently hunters using fixed blades lost twice as many animals as hunters using mechanical heads.

I know, deer are not pigs. But it is a pretty compelling argument for mechanicals.

https://youtu.be/Z109bERf2TQ