I shot muzzys in the beginning of my bowhunting career, then followed the craze, and went to mechanicals. I had a run of about a dozen whitetails with lightweight carbons, then fmj’s and 75gr inserts, paired with spitfire’s. They were devastating in every case. I watched as other friends lost deer or had crappy recoveries with them, and began to wonder if I was just testing the odds.
Two seasons ago I began to really consider keeping with heavier arrows and going to fixed blades again. I took notice of folks who said deer didnt seem to run away with a fire underneath them when hit with COC fixed with heavy arrows. Every single deer I shot with the spitfires took off in a dead sprint, though all had good blood trails and were recovered. I shot a doe in Missouri, and the arrow entered exactly where you’d want to hit with the deer at 25 yards and broadside. I saw it exit pointing up, and reached about 20-30’ in the air before hitting the ground. She hauled butt, and then I watched her lay down in thicket and take about an hour to die.
I thought that exit was really odd, until I came up on the deer. The arrow entered perfectly, but deflected/redirected and angled inside her chest towards her neck, rode up her neck, and exited about 6” below her jaw on the opposite side. Two blades were missing. The path the arrow took through her should have meant death within seconds, as it basically followed plumbing to the brain. But it was essentially a field point on the path through the neck.
I recovered the deer, and all was well. When I got home I tuned up fixed points and haven’t looked back. I firmly believe the broad head had a lot to do with the deflection, but even if it didn’t, a fixed cut on contact with thick blades would have had that deer on the ground in seconds taking that path.
Since then I’ve taken five deer with 510-575gr coc fixed blades. None have traveled more than 50 yards. Four stopped within 15-20 yards to look around and see what happened, before tipping over. The fifth trotted back down the trail he came in on and crashed right at about 50 yards, but still had no idea.
Sample size is small for me, but I’ve watched way too many deer suffer or walk away from friends or other hunters. Sure, the extra cutting diameter may save a shot here and there. And millions of deer and elk are killed with them. If you accept the added risk for deflection/damage, it’s your choice. It’s certainly not the worst thing you can do. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me.
I have a pile of spitfire 100’s and 125’s I’ll make you a great deal on if you stay the course!
