Shooting low on a 3D buck
Connecticut
Depends on the distance anything inside 20 yards with most bows now shooting 300fps I would just put it on the mark deer not fast enough to react inside 20 yards. If you are shooting 30+ yards then they can jump string and duck so best to aim lower third of the lung just in case they do duck.
Please remember that as a deer drops the shoulder/leg joint rotates to the rear. That is, the joint moves into that lower third of body. That's why a quartering away shot is most often recommended. Shooting for the leg on the opposite side of the body, on a quartering away deer usually produces a double lung wound. What I've just said is in reference to a level ground shot. From a tree stand, I believe that a string jumping deer is less able to block the arrow arriving from above. However, the point of aim is to the rear of the hump produced by the shoulderblades.
I once shot a buck a little too close to that hump and passed through the cartilage above the shoulder blade. I was using a three blade broadhead, and one of the blades slid along the bone and as a wedge caused a split to occur in the cartilage as the blade went down into the heart. It did not produce an opening on the bottom of the deer, but it fell within sight of my stand, and there was sufficient lung blood spurting from the top wound to leave a decent trail.
Shot distance is the deciding factor. 20 yards I aim for no movement, but 30 to 40 I wait until the buck is closer to 20. That eliminates the deer jumping the string as well as many other things that create a poor shot.
Bob,
Your bow is not faster than the speed of sound, and the deer reacts before your arrow reaches it. But I forgive you, sixteen years is a long time to remember small details like that.
WB, I appreciate your opinion, but I've never, and I mean never, lost I deer I shot in nearly 50 years, and the first 30 saw a lot of deer down.
I wasn't talking about losing a deer, rather, your suggestion that the deer did not have time to react to your bow sound traveling at 1125fps.
http://bowsite.com/BOWSITE/features/articles/deer/stringjumping/
You guys are too funny! Answering the post, I would almost always opt to aim low on a deer as I would rather shoot under them then to have a high hit. It is amazing how quickly a deer can react to the sound of the release and drop to turn away. The ones that drop the fastest are the ones that are alarmed or doing the foot stomp. It's real east to shoot over an alarmed deer at even close range. That has been my experience hunting whitetails for over 50 years.
WB, I also always aim low! A key piece of information I failed to share. Therefore I think we are on the same page.
Same page? I don't think so. Are you now saying that your shooting low eliminates deer jumping the string?
" I wait until the buck is closer to 20. That eliminates the deer jumping the string as well as many other things that create a poor shot. " - Bigbuckbob
Fifty years just about predates compound bows.
WB, wow! I guess I'm still not specific enough. Aiming low takes into account a deers ability to react to the string, something that has become instinctual for me after 50 yrs of hunting. I did it with my recurve and still do it with my compound. My comment about "eliminating the deer jumping the string and other things" refers to shooting at short distances (while aiming low). I hope that let's the hair on your neck settle down. :)
There are no absolutes (as with most things) but there is a decided advantage towards shooting at a relaxed deer versus an alarmed one (as Gene so correctly alluded to above).
A relaxed deer is much less likely to react (drop) at the shot (unless one is shooting a racket-producing bow that is) whereas a deer on high alert is likely to come out of their skin at any sound (not natural to the woods).
When I've encountered a deer with some serious jitters I've tried to wait it out; see if over time the deer calms down. One good likelihood of this is if a deer is coming into feed and something alarms it. Assuming you don't get busted and the deer commences feeding it may calm down.
Wherever you aim make sure it's a well-practiced point of aim to the point where you're on auto-pilot. There's really no downside to aiming for the heart; if the deer is relaxed and doesn't drop a heart shot is certainly fatal and if they do drop you're leaving yourself room for that and taking out the lungs.
WB does make a good point for consideration regarding the rotation of the shoulder; keeping in mind how large the lungs are you've got a good margin for error for holding back from the pocket, even on broadside shots.
Good luck to all in a few months!
To the op's question. No I would not at all recommend practicing shooting low on your foam buck. You are essentially training yourself to involuntarily shoot low that way. Usually when the moment of truth arrives, most of the shooting process is on autopilot. Whatever you routinely practice is going to be part of your shooting process. Practice shooting a dot, and work on tight grouping. Worry about putting that dot on a deer according to the given situation when the moment of truth arrives.
The most important thing is to read body language and determine if the deer is calm or alert. An alert deer will obviously react to the shot much quicker than a calm deer. Even at 20 yards that foot stomper looking straight at you can drop low enough before the arrow gets there that you wont even graze hair. Been there done that. A deer out at 40 yards calmly eating will drop like a rock when it hears a crossbow go off. The sound of the bow always gets to the deers ears faster than the arrow gets to their vitals. This is one of those things that it seems many hunters fail to take into account. My best advice is to only take high percentage shots. Calm deer at close range. Low percentage shots yield low percentage results.
WB - so I did a bit of research to see what the science is behind deer jumping the string and here's what the NRA American Hunter magazinbe says - "I film all my hunts now. After going back and watching the footage of those string jumpers frame-by-frame, it was clear that neither buck began to drop until the arrow was nearly 20 yards from the bow. I was shooting an arrow at about 290 fps, so it was a fast arrow.That told me that on shots less than 20 yards, it is possible to aim for the center of the kill zone without worrying about the deer dropping much. Past 20 yards however, I would have to aim low when shooting at alert bucks." One other point. In my younger years I have shot at deer that have had little to no reaction to the shot. Some continued to browse while others looked around for the source of the noise. Some would get nervous, but settle back to browsing after a few minutes. And yes, some ran for the hills, so Mike hit the nail on the head when he said there are no absolutes.
So Bob, are you saying that NRA hunter says that inside of 20 yards an aim for center is not a worry, but in your case you always aim low and inside of 20 yards, therefore the deer doesn't jump the string, but just in case, your arrow is where it is supposed to be?
The writer did say,"nearly 20 yards from the bow", which is an estimation and not absolutely accurate. Who was the writer?
Mike and Gene are correct about reading the deer body language and perhaps that, more than the distance, should determine whether there is an ethical shot.
