Steep shots

[chucker34]

How many of you take shots at deer from your treestand of 10 yards or less? The reason I ask is that I was reading an article in a bowhunting magazine discussing shot placement and the guy said you stand should never be any closer than 15 yards to a major trail to ensure your arrow passes through the deer at an appropriate angle and even went so far as to say taking a very close shot - anything much less than 15 yards from a stand - could lead to a questionable hit.

I took a deer at 20 yards last year from a stand and 25 yards from a grounblind, but it's conceivable I could take a shot at 10 yards or less from a stand this year given my one of my stand placements near an intersection of trails and a mini-food plot.

[Deitz Dittrich]

because of the angle, if you take a shot at 10 yards you will probably only hit 1 lung, this really does depend on the height of the stand as well..

[chucker34]

Deitz, I'm at about 12-13 feet on my stands. I'm not saying there's a high likelihood of me taking a shot at that close, but the opportunity might present itself and I want to do what's right.

[GerrySchoolcraft]

Chucker, My wife never goes higher that 10 to 15 feet and she has shot all of her deer from 5 to 15 yards and has had no problem getting a double lung shot, infact most have been heart (she is a better shot than I am)

[Deitz Dittrich]

Chucker at that low a height, you should have no problems at all takeing that shot... Now if you were 20feet or more.. again, it becomes marginal...

[Hotspotter]

While we should all strive for double-lung/heart shots, I've recovered several bow-killed animals on single lung shots. Sooner or later, a shot that's slightly off it's mark is bound to happen, due to a number of confounding variables. The trick is to back off on that animal, and let it bed. If night-time temps permit, let it bed up overnight and come back in the morning to trail it.

Good discussion about shot angles, and I don't mean to hijack, just think that holding back your excitement a bit post-shot can be a very wise thing to do.

Joel

[chucker34]

Thanks for the replies guys and I agree jnelson. The first deer I got last year went just out of sight into some brush. I thought I had made a good hit. So I waited on stand for half an hour before I climbed down and as I slowly crept toward the doe, it started moving around in the leaves a little so I backed up and left for an hour before coming back. It was a double lung shot but she was still capable of bolting I believe. I'm glad I froze instantly the second I saw movement and left her alone for awhile!

[Jeremiah Johnson]

my 1st bow deer last year was a single lung, no blood at all. Luckily I heard her fall about 30yds away. I was alittle high, and she was only 10yds

[bigbucks]

I've shot at least 5 deer that I can think of at less than 10 yards, I'd say 5-7 yards. They've all been from that 15-16' range. You want to hit them a little higher to get both lungs. The ones I hit high enough were toast & didn't go far at all. I've hit a couple too low & too much on the shoulder & got neither lung. I had a lot of trouble recovering one of them, although I did, but it wasn't dead. If I hadn't broken one shoulder & the other leg I doubt I'd have recovered it. It's better to hit them high from close range than low. Shooting over them is a harmless miss & a spine shot seems pretty effective...

On another note I was reading in a magazine last night about the effectiveness of the true quartering away shot for deer with the bow. It's amazing how much more effective that can be over the broadside & according to surveys how many bowhunters shy away from it as opposed to the broadside. I have no problem with a broadside shot, but they're right that 45 degree angle shot's a slam dunk, you just need to make sure you aim farther back, like for the off shoulder not the close one. If you get that arrow angled way up in there inside the chest cavity/rib cage it doesn't matter if it passes through or not, that deer's not going far at all.

[FarByondDrivn]

Last year, I shot a doe that was directly underneath my stand and I was 20' plus up. It was a tricky proposition (I hit the top of one lung and barely grazed the bottom of the other). Deitz is right about the nasty angle. A couple of things that work for me are be sure not to drop the bow arm; bend at the waist. And, for the quartering away shots, aim through the body on line with the front leg on the far side of the deer. Seems to always work.

[chucker34]

bigbucks, I got out this weekend at noon one day to one of my stands and quickly took some practice shoots at varying yardages. I thought about what you said - hitting them a little higher at very close yardages - i.e., 5 to 10. That makes a lot of sense as I looked at the angle of the arrow through the vital area of the 3d I brought along. Looks like you would have a much more lethal shot that way. Again, I was shooting from approximately 13 foot up the tree.

[bigbucks]

Good job, way to do your homework. Trust me that's the best way to figure that stuff out. Hitting a deer bad is a great learning experience, but it's a lot more painful for you & the deer.

[Studer]

I am sure most of you have seen the shot that Don Kiske takes in Monster Bucks VII. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am sure he is an awesome Archer but man I sure wouldn't have taken that shot. Taking a shot from directly over the top of the deer is what some would consider extremely unethical. He also claimed that it was not the shot he was hoping for but was going for a "One Lung Liver" Pretty wild to see that shot taken on video. Has anyone else seen it??