Perfect hit
Whitetail Deer
I have been thinking since the latest blood trail challenge. What do you consider a perfect shot and hit? After looking at a lot of dead deer pictures few are what I would consider "perfect" From my perspective the perfect shot is at a deer who is (un) alarmed. He is broadside or SLIGHTLY quartering away. The sharp broadhead slices through the near lung cuts the aorta and slices through the far lung before exiting the animal. I doubt such an animal will make it out of sight before blacking out. Ironically such a hit with a firearm often results in a mad dash of around 100 yards before the animal drops to the ground. I would love to hear other perspectives. Bob
Alarmed? I prefer unalarmed.
The one that results in a recovered animal. The rest is details. Killing stuff with a sharp stick is an accomplishment. Period.
A shot that results in meat in the freezer
During his very long life shooting deer with trad gear my late father-in-law shot 2 deer that merely looked up when the arrow went through their lungs, then went back to feeding until they fell dead.
That's a perfect shot.
I had a bull elk trot a very tight circle, then stand and look around for a few seconds before collapsing. You can't beat a longbow with heavy arrow for quiet.
If location of the shot than a bit far back and a bit high, if holding in the crease dead broadside. In other words in the big lobes of the lungs. I never hold there but when ya hit them there they are dead quick. Shawn
If I could walk up to the deer and push my arrow in by hand to me the perfect hit would slice all the arteries off the top of the heart..
One-shot to the temple. Nighty, night termite!
Both lungs and top of heart. These have led to my shortest blood trails. Actually I didn't need blood trails. Through the forward part of both lungs is awesome too.
“ In other words in the big lobes of the lungs.”
Shawn and I disagree on all kinds of stuff, but here.... not so much. The problem with hitting them through the shoulders (one or both) is that even if you do get an exit, the holes in the hide and the shoulder muscles and the rib cage don’t stay lined up as the animal runs off, which prevents air getting in and blood getting out.
That prevents the lungs from collapsing as quickly and thins out the blood trail, and that hard thump on the shoulder will make ‘em run that much harder. Blood drops per second divided by feet per second (as they run off) = drops of blood on the ground per foot of travel. You want them to run slow and bleed fast.
And as LKH mentioned, sometimes a guy will make a shot just through the ribs, and they don’t ever know they’re hit. Not hard to track an animal that doesn’t even run off.
No panic, no suffering, no big adrenaline dump....
Just don’t want both entry and exit to be too high; higher = more meat to shoot through (reducing the blood/air exchange rate) and delays the onset of blood hitting the ground.
My brother shot too high through a cow that just stood there and got wobbly, but then wandered off with the herd, leaving no blood at all to follow. That sucked. But I shot a buck dead center ventricles and he blew out of there at mach schnell, leaving nary a drop, either. He wasn’t even bleeding at the muzzle where he fell.
The other nice thing about that middle-of-the-lungs placement is that it leaves the largest margin of error in about every direction and maximizes your chances of a clean pass-through.
My plan is both lungs. If I get the heart or the arteries off the top thats great.
I like top of the heart, which is also both lungs. I’ve shot a few hundred deer with the bow and have come to the conclusion I want it tight in the crease or just in front of it and low on a broadside animal. I also generally like the deer moving when i shoot them, so if they move enough to hit back, I’m good. If the drop down and back at the shot I’ll still get the front of the heart and a lot of arteries. This hunt here i shot the first one right through the top of the heart and both lungs. The second dropped at the shot and I went through her scapula, through the front of the heart and broke the offside leg.
I consider the large lobes of the lungs , but don't always hit there. The heart or arteries are hard to beat for blood on the ground.
Ultimately for me it's watching the animal go down in sight.
On whitetails that's a shot between1/4 and 1/3 of the way up and just behind the shoulder.
My preference is quartering away, and steep enough down, that I hit on side lung, heart or arteries above the heart and off side lung. Hopefully popping out the other side... But a broadside shot that did the same thing would be ok too.
Any hit that results in a recovered animal with no meat wasted is "perfect" in my mind. Are there "prettier" or "quicker" hits, sure, right between the eyes for example, but day in day out if I can walk up to the animal shortly after shooting it and drag it home I'm happy.
Did you guys see the shot on The Hunting Public where one of the Tatum's shot a big buck high in both lungs and the deer lived until he shot it again the next day? Necropsy proved both lungs were lacerated. It was unbelievable but true.
Calm, slightly quartering away or broadside, 1/3 of the way up the body in the crease. Don’t go far when hit with a sharp head. They really don’t go far when you hit em like this...
That looks perfect to me!
The shot in the “V” that takes out valves on top of the heart along with front of both lungs is as perfect as it gets. 40 yards max.
The perfect hit to me is a hit in the lungs/heart, that results in a recovered animal that died quickly. Pretty simple
1. Use a Rage and don't look into it so much....practice alot so your mechanics are in auto mode.
2. A-F-R....Aim - Focus - Release....been saying that a lot over the years and it helped me immensely.
3. There is a lot of truth in "Aim small...Miss small". (See #2 above)
The shot that Pat made on the last blood trail challenge is hard to beat. I find a quartering away shot that takes out as many vital organs as possible result in very dead deer with very short blood trails, irrespective of broadhead type.
Good double lung broadside, front half of D8. Equals 40-60 yards spraying but doesn't matter cuz u watched him fall. Hardly any blood shock and u can climb down as soon as ur done packin ur gear up.
Yes, two different deer with the same result.
What? No votes for the mega-deadly hamblaster or the awesome center-punch?
Yeah, I would be very happy on the crosshairs between D&E and 8&9.
I’ve kinda gotten into the habit of lining up on the foreleg, though, and I’d sooner stay off of those big bones and away from the pot roast...
1/2 way between E/F. And 7/8.
They drop, it’s a double lung.
They don’t...lights out
Most “misses” are typically high...
In my experience, a sharp cut in contact head in the v results in a very short trail. My last deer went less than 10 yards, stood there pouring blood, then walked about 15 more yards and went down. It’s amazing what a sharp head can do. In reference to the above pic, it was a d7/e7 hit.
Craig
I never aim there but C-8 and D-8 when you hit them there and totally broadside as long as you are not 30 ft up they die very quick and a lot of times don't even know they been hit. My Iowa buck and my Nebraska buck were shot in D-6 this year. One totally broadside the other slightly ever so slightly quartering too. They both died in less than 60 yards. Shawn
Doesn’t get much better than this for me.
Spine the animal if your worried about it leaving or learn how to track and trail to recover.
I like to double lung them when perfectly broadside. Several times I have had them go back to eating soy beans or acorns when shot. One time in Illinois I thought I had missed and shot the deer with a second arrow. It then ran about 25 yards and went down. when I got to it it had two large holes a couple inches apart. I use Jak Hammers and they have never failed me. I like the broadside double lung shot because you don't mess up any meat and they are easy to field dress. When you cut the membrane there will be lung mush and a lot of blood to dump out.
A little further forward than I’d normally like, but I got a full pass through without hitting bone and I watched this elk die within 3 seconds.
This shot was a little further back than the last one, but I still watched this bull die within seconds. I prefer shots a little further forward rather than back. So long as you don’t hit the shoulder, he’ll be dead within seconds.
You guys are "giving love a bad name"!
Sever the aorta, they’re down in 3 seconds from a catastrophic loss of blood pressure that triggers a vagal response and causes unconsciousness. They finish bleeding out where they pass out.
I'm all for the heart center punch.
Entry
Entry
Exit
Exit
For whitetails from a tree, I like a slightly quartering away, pass through shot, with a fairly low exit hole.
Entry hole, unalarmed, he still ran 100+ yards and stood tail flickering for probably 20 seconds, then one last dash before hitting the ground, crazy tough animal
That deer is a tank t-roy .... I like double lung, I have found heart hit deer to tuck and run hard and seem to run further. I do know every situation has variables.
Video of a cow I shot in August. Not ideal but it’s the best/only angle I had available. Heart shot, broke the offside leg and she still sprinted 65 yards before stopping and tipping over.
