Shot placement
Whitetail Deer
Seeing several different threads about shots, shot placement and recoveries. Thought I would start one where people could share their shots and how far they went. Here is mine from this year. I shot him at the blue spot. He was quartering to me just like the photo. He was standing with his front feet on a hump of dirt. Guessing his front feet were a foot higher than his back feet. When the arrow hit, he jumped and the arrow broke and went flying off. Upon examination of the deer at butchering. The arrow grazed the inside of the shoulder joint going in and the broadhead stuck in the offside scapula, at the back of it where it gets thin. There was about 6 inches of arrow with the broadhead. After the first shot, I caught up to him 1.3 miles later to put another one in him and finish him off. I did not autopsy cause it was warm and far from the truck. But if I had to guess I would have said would only go 100yds not 1.3 miles.
Whoop! This should make us all forget about milking dead does!
Ummm, not sure what to say.
I've shot three from the ground with virtually the same shot. One dropped within sight, but the impact was a few inches left, closer to where JTV's impacted. The other one went about a half mile and left no blood trail after the first 100 yards. I found him by pure luck and instinct about where he would go, and had to finish him off. Got one lung. The third one went at least a half mile up into the hills. and I never found him. A little blood at first and then nothing.
I've since passed up a number of them with that angle. I hunt muleys on the ground and call/decoy them in regularly. These days I wait for them to turn, but usually they turn too fast when the gig is up and the opportunity is gone. That's my choice.
Sounds like the OP hit high in the periphery of the lungs; muscle probably covered the entrance wound and no exit, so no lung collapse.
Reinforces the importance of picking a spot based on where the internals are situated, rather than relying on landmarks on the outside..,
I took this very shot, hit the dot, hit exactly where I aimed (at least that was my impression), XX75 2315 with a Muzzy type 100 grain three blade, and got no penetration with a 70# Jennings Promaster. That dot should be moved left slightly for it to work. But I would not take this shot ever again. But that's just me.
SHOT THIS ONE 10/18/19 AT 20 YDS, MATHEWS CREED 70 LB, 281/2 DRAW, GRIM REAPER 125 GR. TOOK OUT TOP OF HEART , 6 INCHS OF ARROW RECOVERED INSIDE CHEST CAVITY : WENT 100 YDS POURING BLOOD TRAIL:
I took another look at the dot in the OP....
The way that shoulder is positioned, it’s like hitting a 2X10 on the 2” side. You’d be driving into a whole lot of bone and on a relaxed animal, the whole shoulder blade will slide backward on impact. You can see a shadow line on the deer that shows right where the scapula sits.
That’s about perfect placement with anything from a .30-30 on up... and I took the identical shot with a .54 roundball to absolutely devastating effect. Went down like a ton of bricks and never twitched so much as an ear... Clean through the majors atop the heart after smashing the shoulder joint so hard that the humerus snapped off at the elbow as well. When I retrieved tbe ball from under the hide, it was around .90 cal....
But that’s no shot for a bow. If you hold close enough to center to clear that near shoulder, you can only count on getting one lung. There are some major vessels in that area, but we’re better off (IMO) looking for a softball-sized area that’s crowded with medium-to-small stuff rather than banking on the garden hoses.
Yeah, I would have waited for him to turn broadside, or full frontal if he was within 25 yards. Too much bone and too little margin for error with that angle.
Matt
Five inches to the right of that blue dot is a safer shot. I still would wait though.
Must have flinched to hit one this good. In the crease on one side and out the crease on the other. Made it 80 yards, maybe 12-15 seconds, max. Poor blood trail, actually.
12 yards from a stand quartering slightly. Double lung. Went 70 yards.
I personally like the shot but like 12 yards said....a little further left like JTV`s shot and you are doing some damage. I think the OP just got unfortunate by catching that shoulder bone causing the misdirection.
I had that exact shot angle at on what would have been the biggest buck of my life a couple weeks ago and passed. No regrets. I’d do the same thing again, given the chance. Yea, I might have got him, but just not an ethical shot for me.
