Last broadside shot I took was last year, hit the doe right where the blue dot is, took out heart, still ran 250 + yards but a nice easy tracking job due to the sear amount of blood she was pumping out.
Blue Dot for me. And this is exactly why I posted my other thread, to get people thinking about it. I still say most people shoot deer too far back. That shoulder blade is much farther forward and higher than most people think. Posted again for those who didn't see it last time.
I have an almost annoying habit of waiting to stop a deer when their front leg will be stretched out. By doing this it helps me forget about having to deal with the shoulder blade. I would say I aim between blue and black, and also a tad lower.
Here ya go, Virginia... Real-life examples from last year. I took this double within five minutes of each other on opposite sides of a fencerow (that's what's really cool about sitting in a fencerow; the deer on opposite sides have no idea what just happened :p) First doe.... Quartering away... HARD Entrance hole: Exit hole: Deer dropped within 50 yards. Second deer... quartering TO slightly Entrance hole: Exit hole: Deer dropped after 75 yards.
Thanks Greg--that is the slightly quartering to/broadside shot I am looking to take. All my quartering away shots have been great and devastating. My broadside/slightly quartering to aiming point have been off by a few inches, so with any amount of shooting error/deer movement, I am getting a poor exit wound. I want to improve in this area and I really think I will from reading this thread.
I always aim about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the chest. My shots are generally from 16-18 feet up a tree. I always have my stands at least 15 yards from the trail I am hunting so the shot angle is never very steep. I like the arrow to exit low on the chest for a good blood trail.
I've had 4 kills from the ground, my two treestand kills were accidentally high hits. I just pulled on my buck and got high lungs and on my doe she ducked over a foot. Even from an elevated position, you are DESTROYING this deer between those two dots (taking out everything you could want), not too mention MORE than compensated should it duck the string slightly.
This buck was almost even with me. I was in a stand but he was on the hillside. This crummy picture is from just before I shot him. He left a very good bloodtrail. Even if the deer is close, the angle steep and the deer doesn't duck... it still works well. This deer was close and didn't drop a hair. Muzzy leaves a pretty good hole at that angle. You can kind of see the exit here. Deer didn't go far and left plenty of blood on the ground. :D
That quartering-to shot of the doe I posted above was from a treestand... obviously the other one as well since I took both of them within a few minutes of each other. The hard quartering away was about 22 yards, while the quartering-to was 35 for reference.
This is a very interesting thread. Given the most basic shot for a bow, you get a MULTITUDE of aiming points. I don't care for aiming "low" at all. Maybe its because most of my shots are under 15 yds & from 15-20 ft up, and especially when you start throwing in angles that are of ANY degree towards you, strange things can happen unless you are aiming really forward.
The pink dot that I added is where I would aim on my typical shots. I am normally elevated 16-18 feet with shot distances around 15-25 yards. This aiming point has worked well for me. I have never hit a deer too low...they ussually drop at least a little before the arrow get to them
I had been aiming at the black dot, but I'm working on aiming more toward the blue. Years of shooting poorly designed 3d targets has lead to some bad habits that I'm trying to break. Incidently, on the aiming higher I have done that from a treestand and in fact did it with my buck this year. I was 18 feet up platform to the ground. I aimed a little high on a 15 yard shot and smashed the deer in the spine. Good result, but I'll be aiming lower from now on.
