I've been keeping an eye on this interesting post just to see what the different opinions are on broadheads. Here's mine.

I run a blood dog tracking service along with my other main business. I track well over 100 deer a year, & I charge the hunter regardless of whether we find the deer or not. Since I charge to track, almost all of the deer I put the dog on are good bucks that are hit bad (mechanicals are the exception to this rule). Many of the deer I track that have been shot with mechanicals are actually hit pretty good, but there is often times no exit wound making for a poor blood trail. We find or bay almost all of the deer we track, & often times a follow up shot is needed. We don't get them all, & I believe most of those deer make it unless infection gets em later on. I keep up with all of the deer I track & what they are shot with. I've found over the years that deer shot with mechanicals more often than not only have an entry hole & no exit (penetration problems) they are also a lot more likely to tear up than a fixed blade. Of the deer that we have not been able to recover the majority of them have been shot with mechanicals. Last year I tracked 106 deer, 49 of them were shot with bows, the rest were gun. Of the 49 bow shot deer 32 were shot with fixed blade heads, & 17 were shot with mechanicals. Of the 32 shot with fixed blades we found 27 of them, 84.4% recovery. Most of the deer recovered also had exit holes from the fixed blade heads. Of the 17 shot with mechanicals 11 were recovered, 65% recovery, & over half of the recovered deer did not have exit holes.

I personally have never tried mechanicals because of the reasons listed above. I have had extremely good luck with fixed blades. I shot Muzzy 115gr. 4 blades for years, then I switched to the shorter ferrule Muzzy mx4's. Since then I changed to the Grizz Trick 100gr. 4 blades because they are built on a similar design as the muzzy's just better in my opinion. The blades are sharper & thicker, they have a larger cutting diameter, the ferrule is short (flies great)& a one piece design. I don't see changing from them anytime in the near future, great heads! I've shot 7 bucks since switching to them & only one made it out of sight, I shot all seven with the same head & arrow, just changed the blades.

OFFICIAL DAMAGE: fixed blades do more damage because they penetrate & hold together a lot better than mechanicals.

Zack that's true, but when a deer is hit bad is when broadhead damage is most important!! More penetration=More damage. The point I was making with the above pictures, is that both deer were shot in the gut, which should result in a pass through with most bow setups, as this is the softest area of the body. Both deer were shot broadside at close range. The reason they didn't get a pass through on either deer is because their bows don't have enough energy to push the big mechanical heads through the deer. The result is less damage due to poor penetration.

Do you know what heads they were using?

I have no experience with the rage broadheads, but all I have heard is how they fall apart. Usually before they are even used.

-Dave