Shot Placement Question Part 3

[need2hunt]

ok This is my last question...

Rough guestimate average on a scale of 1-10 (1 being closest, 10 being farthest) your precision on deer that you have shot over the last X (you decide) years for entry AND again for exit. I'm not talking about dead within X yards or am I talking about the angle of your shot. I'm wondering...

On a recovered deer the entry was...

1 - EXACTLY where i thought I placed the arrow

...to...

10 - Wow didn't think that's where I hit it at all.

You can decide the factor of what's in between

Same thing with the Exit

And then come up with what you think your average is over how many ever years you decide. I don't need to know how many years you are using so in the end all I am looking for is...

I give myself a X for entry and a X on exit. (or whatever the case is)

Clear as mud?

[92xj]

I give myself a 2 out of 10 for shot placements. I have killed 10 deer with my bow and 9 of those 10 were perfect shots placed exactly where I wanted to hit from 12-54 yards. The one I didnt hit where I wanted was a chip shot at 15 yards and hit her a little high for some reason. She was recovered within 100 yards, but the placement was not where I was holding, or at least thought I holding.

Edited December 13, 2010 by 92xj

[3seasons]

Do what?? Yep clear as mud. Hahaha ill give it a try.

Lets see 19yrs of bowhunting since i killed my first deer at 13yrs of age. Dang where has time gone.

On doe's I'd say that my entry is a 2-3 and exit is a 1-2.

Bucks 3-4 on entry and 2-3 on exit.

I get a bad case of the shakes(aka buck fever) on everything i hunt. But I calm down on the shot. After the shot its bad, back spasms, dryheaving, knee's buckleing, the whole 9yds. Everyone gets a big kick out of watching me, but thats why i do it, if i ever stop, im done hunting. The reason for the lower score on the bucks is because i have a small tendency to grip my bow on them for some reason so I shoot a couple inches to the left on a few. But for the most part the arrow hits its mark.

Longest blood trail 150yds average 50yds.

[Straight Shooter]

I've taken 42 deer with my bow, there are only a couple that really fooled me on shot placement and that was because they were nervous and jumped the string. The entry wound was a little off and exit was way off on them but made recoveries.

I'd give myself a 2 out 10 on this because I am very confidant when I release the arrow.

[hoosierhunter]

I love the line of questioning here and I haven't answered on the other two but I do have a comment for this one that probably crosses over to the other ones.....

I would say that the worlds best archers would shoot at a level of 2-3 on entry and exit.

Hitting exactly where you aim is literally splitting a hair on the side of the deer and nobody and I mean nobody can recognize when they do that. More often the case is that a softball sized target is considered perfect by most when actually shooting a deer but if that was target archery you would be very average at best.

Most people including myself think higher our ourselves then we actually perform and most of us do it on a subconscious level. Just like if we had to rate ourselves on several different categories we would more than likely have a higher rating than our peers would give us.

So for this category I would actually give myself a 5 because even though I've killed several deer with a bow, I've also missed a few times from misjudging distance or not seeing branches through the peep and I've lost two deer both bucks over my 13 year bowhunting career. One buck died within 150 yards but the neighbor found him 2 weeks later(shoulder hit) and the other one was killed by my hunting buddy 2 months later with the entry and exit hole just below the spine in front of the back leg(jumped the string at 43 yards)......

Either way a great line of questioning as hopefully it did the same thing for other people that it did for me, which was to make me really think back about practing and hunting shots and give a serious evaluation to them!

[Ravin R10 man]

When I execute a shot..Im thinking of entry and exit before I shoot. Im not going to give myself a score, because I dont see a point in it, but Ive lost very few deer

[layin on the smackdown]

a little confused based on the question(s) and the responses to your question(s)...

Are you asking if my shots were where i had thought they entered and exited, or if i hit where i was aiming? To me, its two different questions...On maybe two occasions that i can remember over the past 12 years of bowhunting have i not known exactly where my arrow hit....other than that one or two times I have never (with a bow) ever wondered where my arrow entered, exited or went on a missed shot on a deer...It has happened on a turkey where i knew i hit it, but couldn't tell exactly where it in terms of the body due to all the feathers...

The bottom line is, i don't always hit exactly where i am aiming, but 99% of the time the arrow entered and exited where i had thought it did...

for exact arrow placement i would give myself a 3.75...for knowing where my arrow entered and exited i would give myself a 1.25.

[need2hunt]

Sorry guys, this one was hard for me to word, thus the muddyness of it.

I am actually looking more for the arrows entrance and exit as you thought you saw it as compared to when you recovered the animal.

The hit it where I thought I was aiming isn't necessarily what I was looking for but it's interesting to me none the less

[Dawg]

I give myself a 0 as I have yet to take a deer with my bow.

Good questions though.

[magnatecsteve]

Ever see the video where Chuck Adams is hunting Mule deer, and had a buch that was so jumpy, it was facing on direction, it ducked and turned so fast that the arrow actually penetrated the deer on the opposite side as he was springing off.... So, really hard to score with so many variables.

[Tominator]

I am actually looking more for the arrows entrance and exit as you thought you saw it as compared to when you recovered the animal.

Generally speaking, most of the deer I've shot and recovered haven't surprised me as far as entrance/exit wounds.

One that really stands out is a doe I shot full frontal. That doe came up a hill and we were nearly eye to eye at about 20 yards. I was already at full draw when she picked her head up and started looking my way. I put the pin right on the swirl of hair between her shoulders and let fly. The arrow hit about a half inch to the right of where I was aiming as it caught her as she spun to run away. Upon recovery, the arrow traveled the length of her spine exiting out just past her rib cage. There was about 6" of arrow still in her. The Thunderhead took out the windpipe and the major vessels leading to her heart and one lung. Ohiobucks could tell you how far she went, I'd guess maybe 80 yards?

Some deer, I'll be honest, I don't see the arrow hit, so I really can't say I'd be surprised with those shots. One deer I shot a couple years ago, I thought I hit low, when in actuality I center punched her heart.

[Ohiobucks]

I've hit two deer in the femoral artery (one you helped drag out Gary ), neither on purpose and not really knowing until I recovered them. I'm going to abstain from anymore posts to this thread.... :surrender:

[wtnhunt]

Ever see the video where Chuck Adams is hunting Mule deer, and had a buch that was so jumpy, it was facing on direction, it ducked and turned so fast that the arrow actually penetrated the deer on the opposite side as he was springing off.... So, really hard to score with so many variables.

Saw a video where someone else was hunting whitetail and the buck ducked and turned and the arrow hit the deer on the opposite side in the neck, hunter was lucky and was lucky to recover the deer. Not going to mention the hunter, but we watched that video back over and over in slow motion, the placement was(we think intentionally) not mentioned.

I have only killed a few deer(does) with the bow, given that I had one buck in Wisconsin last fall duck my arrow and had a mishap back 8 or 9 years ago on a nice buck where my string slapped my parka and I missed I really could not come up with a score here either. Those arrows on both bucks should have gone right where I was aiming and had things gone as planned would have both been dead deer and I might be able to tell if the arrow hit the deer in the exact spot I was aiming, but that's part of hunting.

[pointing_dogs_rule]

I've only lost one deer in archery. Now, that's not saying I'm a good shot. I practice a lot, however, there are so many variables out there. Seems that field conditions are so different versus practice.

With the above stated I will Be the "LOW MAN" here and give myself a "5". Chest shots have been right on, however, I have pulled a few and made the dreaded gut shot (all gut shots recovered).

good luck to all

the dog

[m gardner]

I probably averaged a 5; which seems average. I've lost few deer in over 40 years and they usually go down in sight now as I've refined my equipment and technique (knowing when to shoot). It is very difficult to get the angle exactly right in most cases. What I finally did to combat this was to shrink my perception of the kill zone from soccer ball to baseball and shoot only at ranges I can hit that. If I get a bad angle or they move a bit I still am in the vitals. I did have one whitetail buck jump enough that I broke his back leg with an old Bear Razorhead. He didn't go far. Shot another in the head by accident.

Mark

[ruttinbuc]

There are times when i watched a deer suck up the arrow and there are times when I didn't. Most times I hit right where I am aiming and then there were times when I didn't. The deer's reaction or deflection.

[Rhino]

I've hit two deer in the femoral artery (one you helped drag out Gary ), neither on purpose and not really knowing until I recovered them. I'm going to abstain from anymore posts to this thread.... :surrender:

Gee Tom...wimping out eh?

Dang Gary...you're asking me to recall this number from every deer I've shot with a bow for some 30+ years? I can't hardly remember those details from last year! How old am I now?

To answer the question I'd say ~2 on entry & ~3 on exit. I recall one I hit right where I wanted to in the top of the heart & a rib bone turned the arrow up exiting through the back straps on the off side. Hey...things like that happen with exits! It's been very rare for me not to know about where the entry was, even the bad ones!

[Tominator]

I recall one I hit right where I wanted to in the top of the heart & a rib bone turned the arrow up exiting through the back straps on the off side. Hey...things like that happen with exits! It's been very rare for me not to know about where the entry was, even the bad ones!

That's pretty wild. I know I've never had one that drastic with an arrow....bullets are a different story. Shot a doe once with a T/C Shockwave and a few fragments hit bone and exited near the offside back leg when the entrance was right in the shoulder.

[huntnfish]

I would give myself a 4-5 for both entry and exit. The only time I think about exit is a quartering away shot. Broadside I do not even think about it. I have had to many deer jump the string to always know exactly where I hit them. I hunt in high-pressured areas with very jumpy deer. Any noise even the slightest causes them to flinch.

[Rhino]

That's pretty wild. I know I've never had one that drastic with an arrow....bullets are a different story.

That's the most drastic one I've had Chris...happened Oct., 1996...one of those you never forget! Had some other exits that made me wonder how that happened but nothing that drastic.

[Jeramie]

I'm in the 2 out of 10 boat too. I'm very caution (as stated previously) about my shooting be it bow, rifle, shotgun, etc. Almost all of my shots have hit dead on where I expected. With the exception of 1 (and yes Ive killed many, many deer with a bow).

I hunted a steep hill once. I was about 15' up. 10 yards behind me fell to roughly 25' from my stand to grade. In front of me at 10-12 yards was at eye level. I expected the deer to come in behind me but they didn't. They came straight in front of me. A small 6-point chased two does through and then stopped dead in front of me at 12 yards (eye level).

I was already at full draw so I put the pin behind his shoulder and tripped the release. He spud away from me at 90-degrees and then folded like a card table on the spot. I didn't understand what had happened until I got up to him. He jumped the sting but instead of dropping he spun. He was fast enough that the arrow hit him, angled sharply, in the neck. It was so angled it was almost touching his shoulder. It was buried in a neck bone. I couldn't pull the broad head out.

That shot greatly surprised me.

[jbeck]

OK, 31 years hunting with a bow number of deer taken with a bow is over 45 hunting area in that time covered 5 states.

Entry, 4 out of 10, this doesn't count misses and there were a few in those years

Exit, 5 out of 10, Sometimes the angle fooled me a little bit

nice thread

[fly]

The ones that would fool me the most are likely the ones I never recovered. I'd say an 8 out 10 for those I've recovered. Most enter and exit where I thought they would/should. Got a feeling those I don't recover hit a rib or shoulder and deflect into a non-vital area.

[Tony]

35 years of bowhunting. the adverage is a 2 on where i hit them and a 5 on where the arrow came out. sometimes when i have shot deer, the arrow didnt always come out perfect. its like it hit a bone and deflected but i still recovered my deer. out of probably 37 deer, 2 antelope, 1 mule deer, 1 wild boar and a bear i shot i have i have recovered all of them. i very happy to have done that.

now some of the animals i have shot at and missed the arrow didnt go where i wanted it to. im sure glad you didnt ask to add our misses..

Tony

[buckee]

I think after almost 20 years of bow-hunting, I'd average a 4 on the entrance, and a 5 or 6 on the exit.

I've had a couple of 10's for sure (eg. Antelope in Wyoming..LOL) which kicks my average up there.

I've also had a few perfect entrances, and the arrow has made an abrupt turn hitting a bone, like Al said.

I've recovered probably 95% of the animals I've shot.