Let's say this is a deer you wanted to kill. He's at 15 yards and eyeballing some does so he's about to boogie. Let's also pretend that he's a giant buck of a lifetime. Do you have a shot?
Where he stands, no. Hopefully I'm at full draw, let him take a couple steps, stop him with a bleat. If that presents a shot I take it. I would hold for the heart anticipating some string jump.
Fast forward two minutes and I’m either feeling sorry that I took the shot or that I didn’t because that giant buck is now gone and the pee is slowly freezing my pants to my shaky legs.
Nope not where he stands. That's coming from a guy that occasionally will push it to make a shot, I wouldn't push that one though. The needle eye is just a bit small for my liking.
I have used small branches or obstructions as an aiming point before, knowing my slow moving wood arrow would arch over the marked point and miss the obstructions on it's way to the target, buttttt, I don't even see a point on this one where that will work.
“I have used small branches or obstructions as an aiming point before, knowing my slow moving wood arrow would arch over the marked point and miss the obstructions on it's way to the target, ”
I did that once. Lucky for me it was a really slender twig and I just barely clipped it, so my arrow hit only about 6” from where I was holding and I got a clean kill out of the deal anyway.
I’ve learned how to SEE through obstructions, but I’m real careful about not trying to SHOOT through very much.
That’s no shot at all for me. I’d just end up with an arrow parked in a tree... or knowing that I had hit only because I missed.
It would depend on how far away the deer is. It’s difficult for me to judge from the video. I’ve squeezed arrows thru tighter openings, but they were under 20 yard chip shots.
Sorry, I missed the 15 yards part. In that case, Im shooting. I figure if I can shoot 300 point 3-spot rounds at 20 yards, I can get an arrow thru that opening.
No way am I shooting. I've had enough shoulder shot/no penetration hits in my life, so no thank you. If he was 6" further forward and the open/clear spot through the branches wasn't so tight to the shoulder I might try it. But I'd have to be in the moment, and calculating based on his approach, if he's likely to offer a better shot than that. Honestly, at 15 yards, the opening is big enough to thread the needle, but that opening is just a little too far forward for me to be comfortable with the shot.
Oh boy, I see a "V versus crease" debate brewing. ;-)
Seriously, Midwest's pic shows a very lethal window that's at least the size of a grapefruit. If you can't hit that at 15 yards, you should keep practicing until you can, IMO.
I think it is a good shot to take. You have a small opening to a deadly shot. Yes it is small, but if you hit a branch the arrow deflects most likely harmlessly away. You make the opening and that deer is dead.