Deer "ducking the arrow"

[SuperK]

On 9-30 in the PM, I had a 14-15 yard shot at a nice doe.   There was a good wind and she wasn't acting alarmed at all.  At the shot she "ducked the arrow", "jumped the string" or whatever you want to call it.  As I sat there watching her circle me to catch my scent, (out of range, of course) I got to thinking that I have had way more does do this to me than bucks.  Is this your experience too?  Thanks for your comments and GOD bless.

[Michael Arnette]

Yes it's more a doe thing IMO although I have had bucks do it for sure and many deer and bucks that are calm when the shot was executed. I've had a lot more bucks not react at all than does though which almost always react. I think it has a lot to do with the region and obviously how loud your shot is
I've grown to plan for it on anything 18-30 yards

[Sean B]

I've had alert does do it more than anything. I also think that most traditional shots are pretty close so the sound of the string is right ontop of them where as if they were a little farther out the sound isn't as bad to them. Just my opinion.

[fnshtr]

I've had both bucks and does do it. Can't say one more often than the other. I've shot bucks that were preoccupied during the rut that never even ran after total penetration.

I think there are many factors that could affect that happening.

I usually aim a bit low on deer that are extremely close.

[Shadowhnter]

Ive often seen freinds who think particular deer are not on alert, be completely wrong about the deers state. Just because they arent stomping, ears forward staring, or darting around, does not mean they haven't figured out danger looms nearby. Its the very subtle body language and reactions with other deer and nature that tells the tale.  I think there are many who think they know what deer act like when completely relaxed, and may never have truely even seen that because the deer have always known something was up.

To date, on truely relaxed deer that ive shot, not a single deer has even attempted to jump string regardless of sex. On the flip side, every last deer Ive shot at that was not truely relaxed and indeed knew something was up, did jump. Doe reactions tend to be more quick then bucks, but bucks do jump when not relaxed. Anymore, I about will not even shoot if I get a single indication that deer caught something about my presence, no matter if it appears to have "calmed down". They still flinch and drop. Shoot at feeding doe with heads down actively engauged in feeding, and jumping wont happen.

[Orion]

Alert deer tend to do it, deer that aren't alert tend not to.  I haven't really seen any difference between bucks and does, though rutting bucks are often moving and making noise as i shoot and they tend to not hear the bow go off and thus don't jump the string.  

I've still missed a few high, however. There's no doubt that an alert deer that hears the bow go off usually bunches its muscles to spring, and in so doing, the entire body drops down, sometimes a lot.  

But, a lot of high misses are just caused by the shooter shooting too high. The deer may move some before the arrow gets there, but the arrow would miss anyway. A lot of "deer jumped the string" misses are just the shooter shooting high misses.  Not saying yours was, but it's a fairly common occurrence.

[jonsimoneau]

I've had it happen a lot. When I was in Africa we watched video of literally hundreds of animals being shot with recurves/longbows. Virtually every one of them reacted to the shot. I aim low on does. Aim for the heart. Works for me......sometimes. Lol.

I think does are generally more alert, it looks worse when I shoot and then they duck.   i had a buck a couple of years back come in while sitting on my nifty seat.  I had to turn to shoot, which meant that I no longer had my seat stabilized against the cotton wood.  When I shot I hit my elbow on the tree, jarring me off balance. Man I can fall over backwards real fast.  The bucks hind legs folded, he went down and backwards, probably trying to mimic me.  The arrow skidded of one of the bucks antlers.  He straightened up and just stood there.  I was on my knees going for another arrow before he ran off.  I found the arrow about 60 yards away, broke in half the two pieces about a foot apart on the trail.   Another little buck that was with the bigger one, stepped on it.

[BAK]

The guy who invented the compound did so because he had a hard time killing a deer as they always ducked the string so he wanted a faster arrow.  Seriously!

[George Vernon]

Not sure but I think the Wensel brothers Hunting October Whitetails has a great sequence showing a deer reacting to 'shot noise'.  As it crouched to get it's legs ready for flight it easily dropped the full height of it's body cavity.  But my experience says there is another common problem causing high misses.  If I don't pick a small spot I unconsciously shoot at the 'whole' animal.  When this happens our eyes tend to focus on lines of transistion, like the top of a deer's back.