AK

I've killed deer with both, but stopped using mechanicals years ago due to lack of penetration, fragile construction, and proneness to field failures. Of the three deer I killed with Rocket miniblaster mechanicals and a 65# cam bow, two were broadside passthroughs on small does from close range (3 yds on the ground and 25 from a tree). However, I only achieved about 3" or 4" of penetration through the ribs of a 180# buck (20 yds from a tree). I've also hunted with friends who had similar (or worse) penetration problems, including arrows bouncing off shoulder blades. In each of my mechanical kills, the blades came through badly mangled or broken off. In two cases, the broadhead's ferrules were bent and the chisel points were ripped off to the side. Other problems occured with the rubber bands breaking off broadheads in the field and blades flopping open with the arrow in hand. Finally, the blasted things are terribly expensive, and for all purposes they are once and done disposable.

With fixed blades (especially one piece cut-on-contact heads), I consistently achieve much better penetration and do not experience such problems. I shot through both shoulder blades on one particular buck with a 2-blade head, picked up the arrow, and simply touched up the cutting edge to return it to service. I can even stump shoot with one-piece heads and just resharpen the blades with a file to restore them for hunting use. In simplest terms, fixed blade broadheads are better penetrating, stronger, and more reliable.

For the last 3 years I've been strictly shooting longbows and wooden selfbows. With these bows, mechanical heads aren't even a consideration due to their poor penetration.