mrbb

my point on broadheads is that pretty much every design when sharp and placed in a vital or damaging a vital organ, artery or likes will kill
' there is NOT a single one I know of that will not kill if placed right'
some materials are stronger, some designs are more adaptable to being rebuilt, and or blade/tips replaced.
these tings alone can cause the prices to vary, as well as the design and the costs to make them!
the more complicated they are, the higher the odds of one can fail, but most mechanical broad heads are pretty reliable these days

MY view again on a hunting bolt/arrow/broadhead set up, is when I SHOOT a deer with one, I retire it, its a personal thing, not a MUST do by any means

but every time a arrow, or bolt gets shot and impacts something, it can damage its structure, its a fact and science and physic's at work, sudden stops/impacts have effects on pretty much every thing in life!

NOW as again for bolts/arrows being deflected, yes it can happen VERY easy if your bolt or arrow hits something in flight and can be off a LOT or a little all depends on what and how it hits it

same things when you get a pass thru on a deer sized animal
some times they run truer to same traveling path, but not always it can be way off

as for if there are a lot of arrows and bolts out THERE< from pass thru on game that shooters didn;t find
I will say this, yes there are SOME< but there are a LOT more from those that shot and missed and never found there arrows, or in many places for other reasons as well
an example

I managed a farm that had an excessive amount of trespassers, but place was known to have a lot of game(deer mostly)
and folks would sneak in with archery gear(its quieter than a gun)
and shoot at things, the first 3 yrs I managed the place, me and the land owner found over a 100 different arrows and bolts, and we had a lot of deer running around with arrows sticking out of them! due to poor shot placement and or things being deflected or who know's the shooters would never stay wrong to be asked what happened!
over my yrs several decades, walking hunting lands in bunting and off seasons, I have also found many arrows, NOT many bolts, as crossbows were Illegal to use by most folks, only the past decade or so, they have been legal here, and have only found 5 bolts so far!
but I also don;t walk about as much as I used to on public lands, spend most of my time now on private lands with lower odds of finding them!

Nuggets

Bronko22000, well, smaller game really. I've always had the outlook, that if I ever killed something, it was either trying to kill me, or I was going to eat it. I want to go hunting for the sense of freedom, but I don't quite get the 'big' or the 'fun' aspect? I don't want to get into an argument with anyone, as each to their own but the 'fun' for me would be outside, being outside, seeing and just living it. The social aspect, and of course the unsocial aspect. Periods of calm, and periods of noise. I don't get the large head on the wall thing. So in answer, deer or game of that size. I will say that initially, before I started reading up on the internet (which I take with a pinch of salt sometimes), I did have the thought that it was stopping power, and pass through did not really occur to me, although I understand why this is important. Likely this initial outlook was due to me seeing crossbows, and bows and arrows being used in the movies. I'd even heard in the past, that a bolt could break up on entry to maximise force and damage on the target. I think that came from The Wild Geese film? Which is why I came here to get a good reference point. I will look at that brand you mention, as initially I looked towards the more expensive, mainly due to lightness and pack down portability. Over this side of the pond, I would be foolish to travel to a target shooting location with a 'T' shaped bag on my back.

Lemoyne, I didn't know that a lot was done from tree stands, although I was aware of that type of hunting. I totally get what you say.

mrbb, yes, I can well believe there are a fair few bolts out there from misses, and more than a couple from people accidentally firing them off in all directions. It happens with firearms, so I'm sure it happens with crossbows.

mrbb

keep in mind when your shooting a deer say, your not really aiming at anything with a one behind it to stop an arrow or bolt, your mostly looking at softer targets(heart lungs, arteries )
so a pass thru us a lot more common when the arrow/bolt is well placed
the times they tend to stop in a game animal is when they hit bone like a shoulder blade, spine or even some rib bones
hitting these things can also be the cause of deflection

and when watching MOVIES< remember most things they show you in them do NOT work that way in real life as in,
guns, bows, bombs what ever!
there typically glorified and exaggerated or just shown in very poor representation of them , as to how they work in the real world!
there made to be entertaining, and not so much based on factual showings of the devices!
not to mention so many MOVIE actors suddenly become experts making impossible shots for 99% of folks so that side of things too gets very exaggerated

very bad place to try and get any real; info on things, even many of the HUNTING video's and TV shows
don';t always show a lot of things in proper real life, average person abilities or hunting situations! and many LIE about how far a shot they took, or how far a animal ran afterwards, lots of fibbing going on , in TV shows as well
as again, there designed to be entertainment, and educational tools!

Nuggets

Oh I'm very aware of the movies, and how they can show things. I used to be into action and war films. Then I ran around in green for awhile, and realised just how far fetched most of them were. In the main, I stopped watching films like that, as I couldn't suspend my belief as easily. Over here, the phrase "it was this big" accompanied with a wide armed stretch is a known phrase heard sometimes jokingly, sometimes not. Such talk has now moved on-line, in forums and a fair few unnecessary online videos.

Oldtimr

This is one thing you should pretend you did not hear, it is garbage. Forget everything you think you learned from Hollywood movies and you will be much better off.

Oldtimr

This is one thing you should pretend you did not hear, it is garbage. Forget everything you think you may have learned from Hollywood movies and you will be much better off.