Where do you aim?

[Billy Goat]

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.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

I hit a nice whitetail I had been chasing with a 475 grain arrow out of a 72 lb defiant last year the last few minutes of legal from less than 10 yards, I watched my lighted knock run off and snap on a tree. I picked it up and the Axis HIT insert was snapped in half and the tip of the arrow maybe penetrated 3/8 of an inch. I thought I aimed a couple inches back from the shoulder but I obviously hit the densest part of the shoulder bone. First time I’ve never had a pass through. Broadhead was a spitfire max. From a tree I usually go a couple inches behind the shoulder and a few inches up and aim for a good exit wound not entry, most of the time I’m 20plus feet in a tree and my shots are less than 15 yards for the most part so there’s a severe angle. The one that stuck the shoulder he snuck up behind me coming down a ridge he was about 8-9 yards but maybe only 10 feet down and I was aiming for his heart behind the shoulder. I always aim for lungs I don’t know why I didn’t this time, he would be on my wall if I had

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Straight up the leg in the V.
It gives me the most margin of error as any reaction from an animal that I have ever shot at has gone forward or down and forward.

 

[Tony Trietch]

Great question, it's something we all should practice in the off-season so when the moment comes it's second nature.
I do vary it slightly for different animals. Decades of trying to kill mature whitetails has taught me to aim low heart in anticipation of a possible dropping animal at the sound of the bow. If they don't, I get heart. If they do, I get lungs, hopefully. I have seen them drop to load up their legs so much that you'd have to aim below the entire body to hit vitals.

On pretty much everything else I aim 1/3 up the body and 2"-4" off shoulder on a broadside shot.

I am not against the use of other shot angles and have killed mature animals in about every angle that allows an arrow to get through the chest cavity. I remember my father telling me as a kid long before I could hunt to always aim for the exit. To think about where you want the arrow to cross the center of the vitals on the inside.

Just stay away from the front leg bone on big old bucks.

 

[Billy Goat]

I agree with the aim to exit. On whitetail it is especially important to hold lower in anticipation of their reaction. I feel with other animals it's not as important.

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Here is an illustration of what I'm referring to. I would aim in line with the arrow and a little more than 1/3 of the way up the body. I think the rings on the target are too far forward. But as referenced by another poster, animals will typically only move forward and down. Starting to think maybe I should be going straight up the back of the leg.

 

[super]

i see alot saying they like a neck ,neck shots are usualy not takin unless the deer is close . close neck shot is sometimes the worst shot you can take,bullet sometime zip right thru and the deer walks. most shoulder shots will drop a deer,but a big bodied deer may just run off to die or survive a shoulder shot. use a good bullet and try to hitem just behind the shoulder blade from the middle downward .

when you first start deer hunting most will shoot mid body just to make sure they don't miss. to improve your shooting ,start varmit hunting after a while your shot placement on bigger animals will tighten up. there is no perfect shot to drop every deer in its tracks ,i've shot them dead in the heart and they still run 75yds

 

[N2TRKYS]

Where I aim depends on how keyed up the buck is. I'm a treestand hunter, so that adds into the equation for me.

I try to shoot the animal just behind the shoulder(as close as I can get without hitting it). I'm thinking about where my arrow will exit when I'm aiming.

 

[Anschutz]

When in a tree, I aim for the exit to be in the lower lungs. This to me ensures that I am going to get both lungs. View attachment 72240

This deer was at 24 yards slightly quartering away and I was about 20 feet up. You can see the entrance and the exit was on the top of the crease on the opposite side.

 

[5MilesBack]

My eye is naturally drawn to the > which is formed by the scapula and the humerus leg bone. I think even if I was aiming further back I'd still hit in the > because that's where my brain is locked onto for whatever reason. Five years ago I shot a very large bull dead on the knuckle hugging the > from close range......that has haunted me ever since. Yet two years ago I hit almost the exact same spot hugging the > from 30 yards, as you can see in the pic. I was within an inch and a half of the knuckle, but the bull was down and dead in under 3 seconds. But I really do need to figure out a way to shoot further back when I'm at full draw. In my defense, this bull was very slightly quartering to me.......so not perfectly broadside.

 

[Billy Goat]

My eye is naturally drawn to the > which is formed by the scapula and the humerus leg bone. I think even if I was aiming further back I'd still hit in the > because that's where my brain is locked onto for whatever reason. Five years ago I shot a very large bull dead on the knuckle hugging the > from close range......that has haunted me ever since. Yet two years ago I hit almost the exact same spot hugging the > from 30 yards, as you can see in the pic. I was within an inch and a half of the knuckle, but the bull was down and dead in under 3 seconds. But I really do need to figure out a way to shoot further back when I'm at full draw. In my defense, this bull was very slightly quartering to me.......so not perfectly broadside.

That's what I'm referring to in this thread. Seems I could definitely be aiming further forward. But I'm just nervous of the shoulder area in general. That's for speaking up on actually losing an animal due to hitting in the knuckle region. This is what I'm asking about.

 

[5MilesBack]

That's for speaking up on actually losing an animal due to hitting in the knuckle region.

I found the arrow laying next to his trail about 150 yards into it. No blood trail, but it was raining so his tracks were easy to follow. There was only about 2-3" of penetration on the arrow. Thankfully I saw that bull again a week later with a bunch of cows, and royally screwed that opportunity up as well, and then never saw him the rest of that season. But he was living life just fine. I'm just glad I didn't mortally wound him. The worst part was........he was 17 yards (too close for me to see any detail of where I was aiming), and I was worried about hitting too far back with that rain.....and almost the exact same slightly quartering angle. All I remember was his seemingly 18" long 6th points and ski tip fronts.......gorgeous bull.

 

[jmez]

I aim in the front half of that 12 ring on the 3-D elk target. Straight up the front leg about the line from the bottom 1/3 to middle 1/3 of the body depth.

 

[Billy Goat]

I aim in the front half of that 12 ring on the 3-D elk target. Straight up the front leg about the line from the bottom 1/3 to middle 1/3 of the body depth.

I assume you haven't had issue with penetration and animal recovery? That seems really forward to the way I look at it.

Think I'm going to start to practice for aiming right up the back of the leg.

 

[jmez]

I have not. The large shoulder joint is farther forward than most think. That shot takes out both lungs and right over the top of the heart where the great vessels are located.

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