What is your aiming point with a bow?
- Thread starter Brushpile
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Tap
Well-Known Member
The aiming point depends on the angle of the animal. I want my broadhead to pass through the center of the lungs. And I want BOTH lungs. I'm not shooting for the heart or liver, not the neck, no frontal, or straight away or straight down shots, no spine shots and most certainly never ever take a head shot with any weapon. The lungs offer the most margin of error. If a hunter doesn't know deer anatomy intimately, then they have no business shooting an arrow or bullet at the critter. I want broadside or slightly quartering away with not too steep of a downward angle.
Masterpiece Archery has some most excellent videos on anatomy and shot placement. There are at least 2 hours or more of highly educational and very interesting videos on their web site. I strongly urge all of you to watch a few of them.
http://www.masterpiecearcherytargets.com/videos
Masterpiece Archery has some most excellent videos on anatomy and shot placement. There are at least 2 hours or more of highly educational and very interesting videos on their web site. I strongly urge all of you to watch a few of them.
http://www.masterpiecearcherytargets.com/videos
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Jeff H
Well-Known Member
I really like Tap's answer. The one piece of advice I use often (actually with gun or bow) is to aim for the shoulder you can't see or the "off shoulder". This does not always apply but it helps people not accustomed to shooting deer to visualize their shot and to see "through" the animal.
DocHolladay
Well-Known Member
If broadside, I aim at the top of the wrinkle behind the front legs. This gives me both lungs with a bow and will usually give me both lungs and part of the heart with a firearm. If the deer is quartering away, I aim for the exit, which is usually the offside leg. I won't shoot a deer quartering to me with a bow, to much bone in the way to stop an arrow. I have taken a texas heart shot once with a rifle and have shot 2 deer in the chest while they were looking at me, with a rifle. I try and help people with shot placement with archery and with rifles too. I tell everyone of them to get on the web and find pictures of deer that show internal organs and bones and study it. Then when shooting at a deer, imagine the bones and organs and your arrow/bullet passing through them. This will help make sure that you are aiming at the right spot and get a good, clean kill.
I have people come in the store all the time looking for new broadheads because they lost a deer with the one they were using. After talking to them for a few minutes, it is determined that it wasn't the broadhead, but shot placement and usually getting after the deer to quickly. I had a friend that bought an Excalibur Crossbow from me and Excalibur's 150gr, 3 blade fixed broadheads. He raved about how accurate it was. Shortly after season started, he came in complaining about the broadheads and that he had lost a deer and was looking for a different head. I sold him some Rage, because "they made big holes" and would surely kill the deer. I talked to a mutual friend of ours and mentioned the lost deer. He said they had found it a couple of days later and it had been liver/gut shot and had been pushed by the fella going to look for it right after the shot.
I have people come in the store all the time looking for new broadheads because they lost a deer with the one they were using. After talking to them for a few minutes, it is determined that it wasn't the broadhead, but shot placement and usually getting after the deer to quickly. I had a friend that bought an Excalibur Crossbow from me and Excalibur's 150gr, 3 blade fixed broadheads. He raved about how accurate it was. Shortly after season started, he came in complaining about the broadheads and that he had lost a deer and was looking for a different head. I sold him some Rage, because "they made big holes" and would surely kill the deer. I talked to a mutual friend of ours and mentioned the lost deer. He said they had found it a couple of days later and it had been liver/gut shot and had been pushed by the fella going to look for it right after the shot.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
So where was he aiming and with what weapon?
Bigeight
Active Member
very similar to what Tap said. I like to aim right in the middle of the lungs, so a bout 5 ribs from the back of the rib cage. I think people get too cute with their shots trying to slip it in right behind that front shoulder and hit the shoulder blade more often than needed. There is so much room back their filled with lungs, and people give themselves about 2" of room for error when they try to slip it in there. They hit 2 " back one way, perfect shot... 2" the other way, they lose the deer. If they would have aimed middle of the lungs, they would have about 5" of error in both directions, and maybe more if they hit back in the paunch. Not ideal, but if they know where they hit, and back out, they will still recover the deer. Too far forward, they claim they " smoked it" and little blood and no recovery.
I talked with a guy that had a blood tracking dog once. He said if they call him and they didn't find the deer when they crushed it, or " perfect shot" he will find < 5% of those deer. People who say they hit it back, and backed out, he gets almost all of those deer.
Some of it is knowing where you hit and knowing when to go after the animal, and some of it is crowding that shoulder.
Biggest buck I ever shot at, and only buck I've wounded so far with a bow, I did that. So close I tried to heart shoot it, instead of my normal double lung. Lesson learned. Didn't miss by much.... SHOULD be staring at a upper 160's mount on my wall while typing this
I talked with a guy that had a blood tracking dog once. He said if they call him and they didn't find the deer when they crushed it, or " perfect shot" he will find < 5% of those deer. People who say they hit it back, and backed out, he gets almost all of those deer.
Some of it is knowing where you hit and knowing when to go after the animal, and some of it is crowding that shoulder.
Biggest buck I ever shot at, and only buck I've wounded so far with a bow, I did that. So close I tried to heart shoot it, instead of my normal double lung. Lesson learned. Didn't miss by much.... SHOULD be staring at a upper 160's mount on my wall while typing this
j-bird
Well-Known Member
I simply try to envision where both lungs are. I always try to get both lungs......even with a gun. The heart is nice, but not always a reality and a much smaller target - I don't consider the heart or the spine a target. Distance from the deer and your elevation relative to the deer have a significant impact on where your point of aim should be.....especially with a bow, but I adjust even with a gun. The point of aim while you are flinging arrows standing on the ground in the back yard at your 3D target is VERY different than when in a tree and the deer is real close! That is something I am not sure many inexperienced archers think thru before they shoot. I used to actually practice from a stand and I like the 3D targets where you can not see the rings on them.....the deer don't have rings on them! Understanding how that arrow will pass thru the entire animal is VERY important...because a deer can go a very long ways with 1 lung.
Tap
Well-Known Member
I'm telling you guys, watch those videos from Masterpiece. They even dissect a deer carcass piece by piece and inflate the lungs to show exactly how organs lay within the chest cavity. I'll bet most hunters don't realize the lungs actually ride slightly above the spine. I never realized that fact until I watched them inflate the lungs of that carcass.
Their targets are anatomically accurate with internal organs, and they demonstrate several shot angles.
I've been at this stuff for 47 years and I thought I knew deer anatomy perfectly. I do know it very well, but I still learned a few things from those videos.
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Gravel Road
Well-Known Member
DocHolladay
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine made a series of videos about archery hunting and had anatomically correct deer target. He shot from the ground at different angles and from tree stands at different angles using the correct spot to aim and where a lot of people aim. he would then show where the arrow would come out and what it hit or didn't hit. He also talked about deer dropping at the shot and did his best to show it with what he had. To bad they didn't take off like they should have,
I've tracked one buck after another that was not dead because the hunter aimed at the crease behind the shoulder and missed by a few inches. I tell hunters to aim at the center of the ribs to pass through both lungs. If a hunter aims at the crease behind the shoulder and is off, the arrow usually finds nothing fatal. To illustrate this point, last year I tracked this buck:
This buck was shot in the crease behind the shoulder while slightly quartering so the 7MM Magnum broke the far shoulder. The buck was shot in the morning and Elkie found him still very much alive in late afternoon. I have tracked two bucks this week that were shot with the same trajectory, with an arrow, and they were not recovered. I tell hunters to center punch their deer, to take out both lungs.
This buck was shot in the crease behind the shoulder while slightly quartering so the 7MM Magnum broke the far shoulder. The buck was shot in the morning and Elkie found him still very much alive in late afternoon. I have tracked two bucks this week that were shot with the same trajectory, with an arrow, and they were not recovered. I tell hunters to center punch their deer, to take out both lungs.
weekender21
Well-Known Member
I definitely wouldn't center punch a deer on purpose unless it was quartering away and I was aiming for the off shoulder. Gut shot deer are hard to recover, a few inches left of center and that's what you end up with. If by "center punch" you mean aim a few inches behind the shoulder to get the center of both lungs then we're in total agreement. Forward of the shoulder is a bad scenario too...
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My cousin got a buck yesterday.
It was shot just prior by a compound bow. We don't know who. That arrow and expanding broadleaf was stuck in the flesh at the spine above the stomach area. It didn't paralyze the deer.
His bolt hit the spine as well above the chest and that paralyzed the deer and that was it using an excaliber micro. Hardly any blood and no penetration but enough omph to drop it.
With archery through the lungs broadside or quarting away are the options in my opinion. You need to get penetration through the ribs without large bone mass to stop the arrow on entry.
Quarting to and the front shoulder is in the way. Straight on...Brisket can be tough..
With a rifle or slug. I'm anything except the rear.
It was shot just prior by a compound bow. We don't know who. That arrow and expanding broadleaf was stuck in the flesh at the spine above the stomach area. It didn't paralyze the deer.
His bolt hit the spine as well above the chest and that paralyzed the deer and that was it using an excaliber micro. Hardly any blood and no penetration but enough omph to drop it.
With archery through the lungs broadside or quarting away are the options in my opinion. You need to get penetration through the ribs without large bone mass to stop the arrow on entry.
Quarting to and the front shoulder is in the way. Straight on...Brisket can be tough..
With a rifle or slug. I'm anything except the rear.
