Shot Placement

[Tyson C.]

my try....looks like entry was a good shot i see nothing wrong and the exit looks good probably got some of the heart like stated....also i will say shot from a tree stand...just because the angle looks high on entry and exit looks a lower....thats what makes me wonder if much of the heart was hit???

i say no more than 40yds. (though last year i hit a doe a little lower than your entry shot. right in the heart, threw and threw @20yds muzzy broad head and she fell right there, bellowing and carrying on a few sec. while the other two does starred at her like WTF just happened to Betty)

 

[bigcountryok]

Looks like a good shot from an elevated position. You hit a little high on the entry and aimed for your exit as you should. Good shot!! Congrats on the deer!

 

[ElkStalkR]

Right behind the shoulders. You can't go wrong there. I am guessing that deer went 100 yards tops.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Exit wound is perfect entrance wound. Your entrance wound is quite good, though. 40-60 yards, depending upon bullet expansion/construction.

So were you a kid, in another state, or a poacher on Sunday? Hopefully one of the first two.

 

[RackStacker30]

RidgeHunter definitely has me figured out! Thanks for everyone's input on this. I thought it was a textbook double lung shot and that she'd expire within 70 yards... Here's the story.

Two does started out to the field south of me about 200 yards away around 6:30 pm Sunday night. They slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) made their way over to the fence line 60 yards away from my stand and crossed the fence around 7:20. One doe went off to the the NW and I thought my hunt was over, but the other smaller doe decided to come right on in to my ambush spot. I was up in a ladder stand (17' high) and she made her way into 22 yards. She was slightly quartered in to me and I patiently waited for her to turn broadside. I had a bad experience last year with the quartering to shot, so I wasn't about to take it again. The light was fading fast and I skeptical that I'd be able to see the deer through my peep when I drew back. She finally turned broadside, I drew back and was fortunate to still be able to see her, settled my 20 yard pin just behind her shoulder and let the arrow fly. I switched over to using Lumenoks this year and that turned out to be an awesome decision. I saw the lighted nock bury just behind the shoulder in the sweet spot and I instantly knew it was a perfect shot (so I thought). I was content and she took off running at blazing speeds! OK I thought, she's going down before she ever makes it to the fence.... Nope.... Surely she will fall after jumping the fence.... Nope.... Surely she is going to die within sight before jumping over in that wooded area 175 yards away.... Nope.

So I was amazed, I thought I had made a perfect shot and that she'd be dead within sight but that just didn't happen. I checked my arrow and there was good blood on it, but there was no blood on the ground around it. I searched the shot location, I searched where she crossed the fence, and I searched the field, but there was no blood anywhere. After an hour and a half I decided to make one last ditch effort and climb over into the wooded section and just start searching the areas near the fence. Luckily my buddy had a MagLite that we were using as a light source. My little LED flashlight completely sucked for searching. Finally about five minutes before it was time to call it quits, I found her wedged in between two trees. No blood dripping down her body... Only a small amount of blood coming from her snout. I feel extremely luck to have found her.

In retrospect, I guess the shot was ever so slightly high and I only hit the top of one lung. I was using the Vortex Solids exandable broadheads and I don't think the blades opened up until they hit the opposite side of the rib cage in the body cavity. I know what you fixed blade broadhead guys are going to say about the mechanicals, and you are definitely correct. They are not guaranteed to open and it adds one more variable that could go wrong. I had good success with the Rage 2-blades last year and I'm going back to those rear deploying heads for now. I could never get my bow perfectly tuned such that my fixed blade broadheads would hit with my field points, so I decided to use the mechanicals.

Sorry for the long rant.... Appreciate everyone's input.

RS30

 

[RackStacker30]

Exit wound is perfect entrance wound. Your entrance wound is quite good, though. 40-60 yards, depending upon bullet expansion/construction.

So were you a kid, in another state, or a poacher on Sunday? Hopefully one of the first two.

Archery tackle... Vortex Solids 2 blade mechanical broadhead. Don't even like hearing the word "Poacher". Those kind of people make my blood boil!

 

[bigcountryok]

Good job on the follow up!!!!

I've used vortex heads before and had mixed results. (Yeah I'm a fixed blade guy now)

 

[WhiteyMacD]

I always use a visual reference that everyone is familiar with... Basically a sheet of 8.5x11 lined up just rearward of the center of the shoulder.

When it comes down to it, as long as you dont hit guns and hit either the heart or lungs, youre crystal.

I might be lucky cause it seems like every shot I take I split the heart in two. I can only think of a few deer where this didnt happen. One was at an extremely long range, the other was probably a loss of chi.

 

[dennishoddy]

I'm courious why some would look at the shot pics and say a heart shot?

The heart is very low in the body.