Been there, and didn't take the shot. Didn't even draw. He has 12 points and goes 160+, with ease. It was 2 years ago. I saw him once last season from 70 - 80 yards and I'm pretty sure he's still wandering his thicket, today. Maybe this will be the year he comes close again, hopefully broad side.
1. That pic appears to be taken by a trail cam on the ground, not 15-20ft up in a tree. It is going to look a different and be even less margin for error higher up. 2. I contend that even if you were on the ground and hit it exactly on the dot with high KE and fixed broadhead, you chances of a pass thru and a good blood trail are greatly diminished ( I didn't say impossible) as compared to higher percentage shots, therefore reducing your odds for a timely recovery.
Virginia, that is a better example. Now folks, tell me again why this is such a low percentage shot for someone who is proficient with their equip at 20yds.(With enough kinetic energy and a sharp broadhead. By the way we are talkin 150" deer with a big body (relative) here, not a pygmy. No, I have to disagree.
That is in fact what I was saying to begin with. The first pic was not a good example. What are all the vitals hiding behind in the second pic? [QUOTEBut here's what you're facing. ][/QUOTE] No, that is broadside Jeff.
If that picture isn't self explanatory to your question as to why it is a low percentage shot, I don't know what else to say other than good luck.
Ok guys I am not here to argue. I will stick to my thoughts and opinions on this though. No harm done. Agree to disagree. Good huntin'.
I'll let you know which way I went after I release the arrow. Each situation is it's own animal. No big wide magical brush here to paint with. I'll do what I've done for the last 38 years or so and play it out as it happens. MY experiences should not be your rules of engagement.
Not a 150" but a good picture. Easy to hit guts, easy to hit scapula and humerus, hard to hit two lungs.
I would pass on a hard quartering to shot. You owe it to the animal to try and make the best possible shot to kill him quickly. I would wait for broadside or quartering away.
Here's my story. I allowed a buddy years ago to tag along to my hallowed hunting grounds... Opening day, about 9 a.m., I had a legit 145" (so pretty darn close to your scenario) stomp past my stand about 55 yards away with a spike in tow... I threw everything but the kitchen sink at him in an effort to draw him closer; he would have none of it. About an hour later, I found out why. Around 10, my buddy approaches my stand from the direction the buck came from and I get down, telling him about the bruiser I'd had the encounter with. He then tells me he shot a super-nice buck a little over an hour ago that had a spike with it.... no wonder I couldn't turn him; he'd been hit! Turns out he'd lost the trail before he got to me as the buck had ran out into a bunch of standing corn, but came back out of it before he got to me cutting the corner of woods I was in heading for some head-high CRP. Since I actually saw the buck's path, we easily picked up the blood trail again, and it looked good. Real good. Since by this point, it had been well over an hour and a half, we confidently struck out after the buck. But soon after entering the CRP, the blood petered out; something wasn't right. I began questioning him more in-depth about his shot that he had initially told me was a good one... come to find out, it was more like the one presented in this initial scenario. We backed out, waited five hours, and came back in to no avail. We drove back over there the next day, and basically grid-searched the whole area. Nothing. My buddy had to return to work the next day; I took off that morning and came to the edge of the CRP and waited for crows in the area. Zilch. I walked the field again for close to six hours, fighting my way through head-high weeds and briars. The next day, I called a neurosurgeon friend of mine who owned his own plane, and he took me up and flew me over the area, banking hard as I scanned the area with binos from above. We circled and circled the area to no avail. That "buddy" ended up losing two more deer that year due to bad shot placement; we've never hunted together since, and that was over a decade ago. I still think about that deer and wonder what happened to him.
I have seen an absolute explosion in the amount of quartering towards shots on hunting videos. I can't remember which video, but I was watching a hunting video a month or so ago and I calculated 30%-40% of the kill shots were quartering toward shots. And some of them were taken when the buck was walking instead of stationary.
Amen. And Amen. Exactly. From the amount of experience that some have here, I find it strange that answers are so diverse. Just strange, that's all.
It matter where you hunt also, if I get a 150 class within 20 yds of me in MI, I am flinging an arrow. You are not going to get another chance, the odds are agaist you. Now your margin of error on this shot is slim, but it can be done. Now in Iowa I'd let him go, it's real easy to take the "ethical" stance when you let a 150 go and a 160 comes walking down the trail next, boy that was tough Mark Drury and I had it out at a seminar in MI about this very topic.
So much more to the puzzle than just shot placement, arrow weight, spine, bh sharpness. I am sill convince more deer are lost do to bow and arrow setup than anyrhing else. The kill zone is size of a basketball.
