My Eastons are tipped with mechanical heads and have been for over 15 years. When it comes to tuning and performance, it’s my belief mechanical broadheads are second to none.

I’d been putting field points in the center-of-the-center for weeks. Ranges close and far, it didn’t matter. I had ultimate confidence in my bow and the arrows I’d selected to get the job done.

I hadn’t been bowhunting long but feared what was coming. I’d dealt with it for the past few years, and I was not too fond of it. It was time to attach my fixed-blade broadheads and start getting ready for the whitetail opener. Each year, I hoped I would get lucky — thread a fixed three- or four-blade head into my Eastons and not have to change a thing. Wishful thinking, but it never happened. There is a chance it was my fault — a lack of tuning knowledge at the time. However, it was more than that. You know that feeling as a bowhunter when you’re 100% dialed, and then you have to adjust a sight, rest or rotate a peep? It feels weird and throws your brain for a loop. That’s always the feeling I got when I threaded a broadhead with exposed blades in my shaft. No matter how good my bow was tuned, my broadheads were always right of my field points, and the farther I moved back from the target, the more right they were. Just the sight of the broadhead affected my bowhunter psyche. At full draw, I wondered things like: ‘How is this head going to fly in the wind’ and ‘It just looks so big and bulky.’

For the record, I’m not trying to discourage anyone away from fixed-blade heads. They have their place, and I know tons of bowhunters who pile up the backstraps with them every year. I’m just painting a picture of what I went through. Then, there was buying extra fixed-blade heads to use in practice. Of course, I shot groups. My bowhunting mind wouldn’t let me not shoot them, and this meant bent blades and ferrules with chips and knicks. I would shoot lights out one day, and the next, in 10- to 15-mph winds, fall apart and be tinkering with paper tuning and the like. In short, I was never confident shooting fixed-blade heads.

If the above resonates with you and you’re sick of tuning and tuning and then adjusting some more, stop. I’ve been bowhunting for 22 years. For 15 of those years, I’ve been sending carbon tipped with mechanical broadheads and have killed everything from whitetail to elk to bear to bighorn. The better news: These heads have only gotten better. Savvy broadhead manufacturers have gone to great lengths to prevent early-day mechanical broadhead problems like premature blade deployment, general durability issues, and the like. If you put a mechanical on the mark, it’s going to get the job done.

Mechanical broadheads like SEVR’s 1.5 and 2.0 require zero tuning. I’ve been shooting and testing these broadheads for three years, and these heads are field-point accurate out of a well-tuned bow. With that noted, I still recommend you practice with them. Why? As accurate as they are, they still have slightly exposed wing blades and sport a more extended ferrule, especially when shooting the 2.0. Bowhunting is all about confidence, and you need to prove the accuracy of your bow/arrow/broadhead combo to yourself. Best of all, both heads come with a threaded hole in the ferrule that accepts an included-with-each-head set screw. Use the included Allen wrench to thread the screw into the ferrule — don’t overtighten — and you can practice with the same broadheads you plan to hunt with. This past week, I shot my dream animal, a Rocky Mountain Bighorn, with a SEVR 1.5 at a distance of 64.5 yards. I’d fired that head into foam more than 50 times. Last season, I killed a Nebraska whitetail with a 2.0 that had been fired at least 100 times into foam. All I did before each hunt was remove the set screw and add a new band.

A knock on mechanical heads has always been penetration and a loss of kinetic energy upon impact. Bowhunters get worried about the shoulder. This is where understanding big-game anatomy comes into play. The shoulder bowhunters fear is a joint made up of the top of the humerus and the heavy, lower part of the scapula. Multiple muscles surround this region, and it’s very defined when an animal is standing broadside. It’s easy to see the point of the shoulder. This area should be avoided, regardless of what broadhead you’re shooting. I’ve seen gagger bucks and even does take a fixed-blade to the point of the shoulder and watch the head go in only an inch or two. However, the upper scapula is thin, and I’ve seen both fixed and mechanical heads smash through the scapula. With that noted, mechanical and fixed blade shooters should aim for the center of the lungs. Doing this keeps you away from the shoulder joint and scapula. You will be neither too far forward nor too far back. If you are forward, you’re still in the lungs, and you catch liver if you’re back a tad.

The last two bull elk I’ve taken have fallen to a SEVR 1.5. Both went less than 100 yards, and both expired quickly. Yes, I know this a whitetail piece, but I feel the intel is very relevant and will up your confidence. One bull was shot at 18 yards, and the angle was full frontal. The head blew through the bull and the head lodged in the hip bone. The second was on a broadside bull. I was more forward than I wanted, but at 61 yards, the head smashed through the upper scapula and broke a rib on its exit path.

I tell you this to show that if you pay attention to your bow’s poundage, speed and know the kinetic energy your bow/arrow combo delivers, you can kill any animal in North America with a mechanical head. When you shoot a SEVR, you get extreme aerodynamics and a swept-back blade design that pivots around the bone to deliver maximum arrow penetration. The blades are razor-sharp, and the ferrule features a robust needle-point design. The 1.5 is ideal for big, heavy-boned game as well as those who shoot lower poundage. The 2.0 is my go-to for treestand whitetails.

When you choose a quality mechanical, your tuning time gets cut in half. Heck, you may not have to tune at all if your field points are flying perfectly. You build shooting confidence quickly thanks to the streamlined design and hushed arrow flight. These heads cut the wind significantly better, and because there are no exposed blades, they fly much quieter through the air. No, they may not be for every archer, and I realize some states forbid their use, but if you give them a go, you may quickly become a new mechanical convert.

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