I shot my first deer thanksgiving morning, and my aluminum arrow only went in about 10 inches and she broke the broadhead off. My friends tell me i need to switch to carbon for the better penetration. I would like to try carbons, but the price is just not cheap enough for a teenager.
Any suggestions?

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Avid,

Carbons will NOT give you any better penetration - infact many argue they may hurt penetration.

There are a number of factors that can effect penetration that you should look into first.

If you hit any bone - even the best setups may get poor penetration
If the bow is out of tune penetration can be greatly hurt
If you shoot low pondage with Large cut mechanicals - bad things can happen

Tell us about you setup

10" penetration into a deers chest is still a dead deer - Did you find her?

Good Luck

I am shooting easton 2314 superlite's with 100 grain steelforce cut-on-contact broadheads. I have my bow set at 55#. She didn't run, in fact she dropped and started kicking like a gerbil. But it took almost an hour for her to die. I waited 45 min and finally got down and went and got help. Luckily she was dead upon our return.

Did you do a post mortem and track the wound path? That would tell you a lot about what the head encountered and why you didn't get more than 10" of penetration. What condition was the head in when you recovered it? Still straight or was the tip rolled (the one thing I don't like about Steelforce heads is their weak tip).

Just something else... and I'm not faulting you at all, just making a suggestion... if the deer dropped on the spot and lingered for that long, I would have put another arrow into her chest to speed up her death. Something for you to consider if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

You hit her in the spine - and a bad shot like that can stop any bow.

Your setup is fine.

BTW - there is no reason to let a deer suffer like that for an hour. Maybe next time it happens you could put another shot in her and end it quick.

Good Luck

I did try to shoot her again but she must have heard it and moved her left leg back and i shot her right in her leg and broke it. My tip didn't bend on the first arrow but the second was broke all to pieces after it hit her leg.