One of my buddies shoots a 50 lb. Fred Bear Element with a 27" draw length. I don't think he even gets 230 fps out of his Easton Excel 500 series arrows - but still seems to get good penetration. I'm wondering if you don't have some sort of a tuning issue where your arrow is going into the deer at a bit of angle? You might also consider going to the Axis FMJ arrow. These arrows seem to penetrate better than just about any arrow of the same weight.