Taking that kill shot

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jaydee2trad
Posts: 1173
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:28 pm

Taking that kill shot

#1 Post by jaydee2trad »

Years ago, I had no one to teach me anything about deer hunting much less bow hunting. So I read from what magaxines I could find and tried to learn from them. But I had it in my mind for a bow shot, it had to be a perfect broad side shot. So I passed up a lot of shots that I should have taken because they weren't perfect briadside shots. In fact, I did this for several years here in Arkansas where at the time, just seeing a deer was a big thing. I was shooting 55 lbs and Bear Razorheads and seemed like 2117 or 2219 shafts. I had a doe standing on her feet eating high honeysuckle at 12 yards as I slipped thru the patch but didn't take the shot. Kicked myself and said no more. Heck I knew exactly where the lungs were, the heart and the liver. So the next doe got drilled and didn't got 40 yards. I began taking those quartering away shots with great success. Then began watching a few videos back then and saw that a lot of the shots weren't so perfect as the magazine articles had said that they had to be. Dan Fiztgerald described it as shooting a basketball with the kill area of the deer. Shoot thru the basketball and it should be a dead deer. I have killed a few with neck shots but I wasn't shooting for a neck shot, they just reacted so fast that was what happened. I do my best to take out both lungs, they can't breath and their lungs fill up with blood. I tend to aim a little low for the ones that manage to drop but they don't all react that fast. But it all boils down to taking the shot that you are comfortable with. I don't think that I have ever had to shoot a deer twice to finish it off but I had a couple that I never recovered. Now, we have deer everywhere, even around the house, And our limits have increased to 6 for the state. never would have dreamed it. I prefer the double lung over the heart shot because I have had two go over 200 yrds after a heart shot, crazy but both went downhill too.

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Grizzly
Posts: 2646
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:06 am

Re: Taking that kill shot

#2 Post by Grizzly »

I've pretty much always limited myself to double lung shots. I'm careful to watch the angles and have learned how far one can go with only one lung hit. Even with guns, I've always taken double lung shots. I've only once hit a front shoulder and that was when I was struggling to get the eye relief on a scope lined up as the deer was walking out of a shooting lane. I'm a meat hunter first and so I do not want to ruin any needlessly. In Illinois we are limited to shotguns, muzzleloaders and handguns in addition to bows. So, without high powered rifles, I've never taken a neck shot. I did try a head shot once when that was all that was offered with a TC Hawken. After the shot the deer was shaking its head like maybe I'd grazed it. I reloaded in my tree stand and took a proper shot next and put it down after a short run. I think I've only had one deer drop in place from a double lung with a shotgun.
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