Well I took my first bow kill yesterday. Have spent alot of time reading on the boards here in search of the best choices, i.e. equipment, etc. I was outfitted with mechanicals since I was so incredibly concerned about accuracy. My bow is plenty fast and I shoot 3-4 times every week.

The deer I took (a fat solo doe) was broadside but angled slightly toward me. Because of this I aimed just along the rear edge of the shoulder to maximize vitals contact. Well I was about an inch forward of where I wanted to be and caught the back age of the shoulder bone. I was using an NAP Shockwave. Long story short, had no pass-through and the deer went a long long way to the lake (saw no blood). When I gutted the dear the piece of arrow was inside and when I pulled it out only one of the 3 blades was opened. (I do have a pic but no way to post it) Was lucky to recover since I hunt property with a lake and a club member out fishing saw a deer in bad shape laying in water in the edge of the lake. It was dead when we got back to retrieve it.

My question: Is this to be expected with a mechanical? Does the improved accuracy come at a price of requiring only "perfect" hits? Would a fixed head have fared any better? Luckily in this case the tip and one blade did enough lung damage to complete the kill. I'm torn about going to a fixed head now or not.