Quartering Shots

[DanO]

Exactly the same scenario as GALAMB. I took the shot and the arrow passed through the rib cage then deflected off of the far rib cage and proceeded down the abdominal cavity. The arrow remained in the deer totally. It died quickly because the lungs were hit and the diaphragm was ruptured. there was no blood trail but I can't use a blood trail anyway (I'm quite colour blind). I got lucky sort of.

The deer wheeled so violently on the shot that it broke its hip. It was standing in about an inch of water on a pebble bottom. The turn was so violent I assume it broke the hip which made that side of the hip very iffy to eat.

I wouldn't take the shot again. I've had to wait for the animal to turn a few times since but it's a worth the wait.
Dan O.

[DuckHunt]

You did the fight thing ! Don't regret it ! You get a high entry hole and no exit hole ALOT of the time . Good choice !

Exactly. And from my experience, when you do get an exit hole the exit tends to be in the abdominal area. The intestine and stomachs have a way of plugging up the hole so no blood can leak out.

You made the right call. I took one small buck this year on a quartering toward shot, but I was shooting a muzzleloader. I actually aimed in front of the near shoulder and had the bullet exit behind the opposite shoulder. The bullet took off the top of the heart. Aiming behind the shoulder on a deer quartering toward you will hit the back of the lungs and liver at best. In my case, the shot was about 35 yards so the vertical shot angle was low since I was only 12 feet up. At higher vertical angles a quartering toward shot is a really tough because there is a lot of meat and bone covering the key vital area and a pass through becomes less likely.

DuckHunt

[nchunterkw]

I'll risk it too.........
I took this shot - but from the ground - at 20yds on a doe. Put the arrow in front of the shoulder between the shoulder and neck. It exited at the back of the ribcage. Intestines blocked the exit hole so the blood wasn't what I am used to from a Slick Trick, but the deer only went about 50yds. My experience is that an arrow in front of the shoulder on a quartering to deer is a lethal shot that takes out both lungs.

Galamb - what BH were you shooting when you got the deflection? Are you positive you got both lungs? 700 yds is very far for a deer to go with both lungs damaged. Single lung - I've seen them go a long long long way.

[vixenmaster]

Unlike most y'all i will bust a deer or hog on any angle it presents as long as i can get my arrow into the vitals! No gut shots! When you hunt you make yer choice that you can live with. I spect i can put an arrow into ones ear hole at 30 yds, not sayin i have one wid my crossbows like that. I killed many tick toters wid a ss .22 by shootin them in the ear hole or eyeball with-in 30 yds

[rockyhollowhunter]

Yes, there is nothing worse than the feeling that sets in when you start thinking "I'm not going to find this".

I was over confident. When the shot hit my first two thoughts were "I hit him good" and "the shot was righteous" - not "man that was an iffy shot".

I even use a string tracker and it wasn't until the 300 yards of orange string had payed out, AND WAS STILL GOING, that it started to sink in (as you replay the whole thing over in your mind) that, that was a pretty "cocky" shot to take and probably not the smartest I have ever taken.

And it doesn't matter how good a shot you are - a "low probability of pass-through" shot is just that whether you can do this (at 17 yards - and can do that all day) or not.



(practice on "targets" this size and Bambi looks like T-Rex when you get him in the sights)

makin shots like that you ought to be able to hit a deer on any angle

[rockyhollowhunter]

Unlike most y'all i will bust a deer or hog on any angle it presents as long as i can get my arrow into the vitals! No gut shots! When you hunt you make yer choice that you can live with. I spect i can put an arrow into ones ear hole at 30 yds, not sayin i have one wid my crossbows like that. I killed many tick toters wid a ss .22 by shootin them in the ear hole or eyeball with-in 30 yds

x2 Mike

[galamb]

Yes, making shots like that is what made me "cocky"

When we got the deer field dressed and had a look, yes, both lungs were perforated and there was slice mark (heavily bruised) across the top of the heart.

The broadhead used was a 100 grain G5 Tekan II - the wide chisel tip style, so even if the blades didn't deploy properly (they were when recovered but have no way of knowing "when" they deployed since the arrow was still in the deer for the most part), the chisel tip alone would have made a reasonably good hole.

It was pushed by a Horton Bone Collector (20")/110 grain insert for a total bolt/head weight of 419 grains.

So I wasn't using a super light set-up, and the "gut pile" analysis showed that my first thought "I hit him good" was true.

And agree, I don't know how he got 700 yards either, but he did, walked at a casual pace (based on the few tracks we did find with him walking right down a tractor road) and then simply laid down.

This year I hit a young buck with a 165 grain bullet from my 30.06 @ 22 yards - that is 2800 foot pounds of KE at impact and he "didn't" fall down. The bullet evaporated upon initial penetration and it looked like the lungs had been thrown in a blender - he went 35 yards "with no lungs at all" - I find that just as perplexing as the 700 yards recovery.

I have learned that just when you "think" you understand how things are going to work - ole Mother Nature shows you how wrong you are

[luckymike]

don't secound guess yourself,you made the right choice.like others have said an exit wound thru the guts can easily get plugged and make for a hard track unless you have the use of a good dog.where i hunt we don't have access to alot of fresh water so i like a nice broadside double lung shot.makes for a quick clean gut job.

[nchunterkw]

Graham - I have come to think that it matters where you hit the lungs sometimes. I think you can hit them and have them stay inflated for a time and that is how deer make it so far when both are hit. When bison hunting they always push for a heart shot because even though a double lung will work, it takes time because of the sheer size. And if you hit them low (with no heart) they can stay inflated for awhile. I think in rare cases something similar can happen with deer too. I'm surprised that Tekkan deflected too. That looks to be a solid head with a nice chisel tip. Wouldn't expect it to bounce.

[manitou1]

I am in no way saying this is the case with your deer... but a LOT of folks hunt with broadheads that are not sharp enough.
I want my broadheads to shave hair when just touching the hair... little effort. I can hunt a few times and check them and they get dulled in the quiver. (From vibration, i suppose)
I always use a cut on contact B.H. with my recurve vert. bow and compound up to now. I have yet to shoot a C.O.C. broadhead out of my M380. (new to the crossbow scene) I hope i can get one to fly well.