head on bow-shot

[charlie 01]

I'll see what I can find... having gutted and butchered quite a few deer this season between my own kills and helping my wife's uncle, I can tell you that there is a decent sized hole below the backbone and above the sternum/ribcage...

Some where in this subject JPH put in a pic of a deers frontal anatomy. I looked for it but it is gone. Perhaps Joe would be so kind and repost it.

[Deebz]

i did find this one, but i haven't been able to find anything directly head on to show skeletal anatomy...

deer skeleton.jpg (39.19 KiB) Viewed 760 times

I've got another shotgun tag for this weekend, if I or my wife's uncle shoot something I'll try to take some pics of a real carcass...

[charlie 01]

That shows a pretty good sized hole in front.

[Ohio farms]

One of the problems with that shot is that, though there seems to be a hole to shoot into, the neck muscles are in the way. Your point of impact is not just the center of the hole that you see on the diagram that Deebz posted. It's still a very tricky shot with great possibilities for a non recoverable lethal hit. Not likely to have an exit wound.

[Deebz]

One of the problems with that shot is that, though there seems to be a hole to shoot into, the neck muscles are in the way. Your point of impact is not just the center of the hole that you see on the diagram that Deebz posted. It's still a very tricky shot with great possibilities for a non recoverable lethal hit. Not likely to have an exit wound.

I agree that there is a lot of tissue covering the hole in the rib cage... but with the newer bows and equipment we are using, shouldn't we have plenty of kinetic energy to zip through? especially with a good sharp broadhead? The deer my wife shot this year was a frontal shot... her bolt entered right at the base of the throat, passed through the lung and liver, then exited about halfway back out the side pulling about 3 inches of the membranous fat bodies out the exit hole. The bolt still had enough energy to travel another 25 yards or so and bury itself 2 inches in the ground... This was literally the biggest blood trail i've ever followed. the only blood was coming from the deer's mouth/nose and the hole in his throat. He died less than 30 yards from the impact of the shot. (granted, small deer, close range, 175 lb crossbow all factor into this)

i think the angle you're shooting would be the biggest concern as to whether or not this position would result in an easily recoverable deer or a difficult/non recoverable deer. As mentioned earlier, a lot of guys would take this shot from the ground (as my wife did), but not from a tree due to the possibility of the downward angle minimizing potential damage...

[Ohio farms]

I'm not as worried about penetration as I am with placement. It's not really a clear target. My response was based on shooting from an elevated stand, though. I do agree at ground level that the point of entry would be more apparent. Are you concerned about entering the bowel with that shot? I really try to avoid that at all cost...makes for a nasty, smelly mess and usually the loss of the tenderloins. It's very unpleasant to deal with.

[Deebz]

That is a good point about the bowels... from an elevated position I'd be less worried, assuming the arrow enters high and exits low before making it that far... but a flatter shot from ground level could definitely make it into the gut sack... I think we lucked out in that regard with my wife's deer... the bolt must have traveled around the curve of the ribcage and shot out the side of the deer without getting into the bowel.

[SwampLife]

That is just a tough shot to make when elevated, period, unless the deer is looking straight up at you, which doesn't seem like a good time to shoot it... With a bow anyways...

Though the buck I posted I did shoot from a tree stand, he was aimed straight at me but head up looking sideways. He sprayed blood everywhere and didn't make it 100 yards running full steam. Though I doubt I would ever take that shot again, honestly.

[charlie 01]

I hate to get into this again, but the elevated shot, I believe to be the best, if one is pressed to take it. But at close range only. This shot was at 15 to 18yds. My arrow was completly buried in him and did not touch the stomach. Being he was an older larger buck may have had someting to do with not hitting the stomach? It basically hit the heart and kept on going. I had no exit hole, but the blood from the entry wound srayed a very wide path, almost unbeliveable.

[Deebz]

Hey Charlie,

i did take a look at this last deer I butchered... the opening that is shown in the diagram above is actually much smaller than indicated. I took some pics, but I gotta get them on a flash drive so I can post them. My immediate thought was, "Wow, that's a way smaller target than I thought it would be... but that's only if you are trying to not hit any ribs... we blow through ribs every time we take a broadside shot, so i wouldn't think they would be a huge factor... more important would be making sure to miss the shoulder/scapula area... I'll try to get pics up when I can.