Billy Goat
WKR
So when you start putting things out there in the open you start to scrutinize yourself a bit more. At least I do. Playing along with the cold bow challenge has brought this up. On an animal, assuming broadside, I have held behind the front leg a little bit (few inches anyway) somewhere between the bottom 1/3 and halfway up the chest. The guys I hunt and shoot with and I have settled on this being the ideal point of aim. It gives the largest margin of error in any direction. Being that we have treestand hunted whitetails mostly we are always concerned with the scapula. Now in my example I'm referring to poa for a animal that is standing broadside and where you are on flat ground. I have always thought the scoring rings on 3-d targets are too far forward. I like to shoot for what I feel is center of the lung cavity.
Reading around it seems many people simply aim for straight up the leg, or some, up from the pocket created by the back of the leg. So my question is where do you aim? Have you ever had issue with hitting too far forward and the scapula or the joint stopping your arrow? I'm trying to figure out if I'm too cautious of the shoulder region. Maybe I should be aiming further forward.
Myself, I have lost a bear that I hit too far forward and the arrow didn't penetrate. It was a large bear and I simply held too far forward for the position it was in. I lost an elk to a shot too far back. I was anchored in and felt good about the shot but he went forward as the arrow was released. Arrow hit high, forward of the hips. I thought it would still be a lethal shot. Gave it a while. Blood trailed it for over 3/4 mile and then lost blood to an afternoon rainstorm. Felt pretty sick over that one. I have had plenty of complete misses. But those are the only two times I can remember right now where I hit an animal and didn't recover. I have several times shot an animal more than once. If I get presented with a second shot after hitting an animal I will always take another shot. This isn't after tracking. This is just directly after the shot. If they jump and go 15 yards or so, I'll shoot again.
Reading around it seems many people simply aim for straight up the leg, or some, up from the pocket created by the back of the leg. So my question is where do you aim? Have you ever had issue with hitting too far forward and the scapula or the joint stopping your arrow? I'm trying to figure out if I'm too cautious of the shoulder region. Maybe I should be aiming further forward.
Myself, I have lost a bear that I hit too far forward and the arrow didn't penetrate. It was a large bear and I simply held too far forward for the position it was in. I lost an elk to a shot too far back. I was anchored in and felt good about the shot but he went forward as the arrow was released. Arrow hit high, forward of the hips. I thought it would still be a lethal shot. Gave it a while. Blood trailed it for over 3/4 mile and then lost blood to an afternoon rainstorm. Felt pretty sick over that one. I have had plenty of complete misses. But those are the only two times I can remember right now where I hit an animal and didn't recover. I have several times shot an animal more than once. If I get presented with a second shot after hitting an animal I will always take another shot. This isn't after tracking. This is just directly after the shot. If they jump and go 15 yards or so, I'll shoot again.