quartering towards you

[Shaun]

Aside from the self proclaimed butcher, no one has addressed the anatomy of this angle. On a whitetail deer, every bone in the front half of the body is angled to protect from frontal puncture. Have you ever watched a pair of bucks fight?

My partner a few years back tried this shot on a doe and his carbon arrow with very sharp Grizzly head slid between the ribs and the shoulder blade and never penetrated the body cavity.

This is not the other angle from quartering away, this is a wing and a prayer shot. If you want to take it, that is up to you, just like everything we do in the woods. I would rather not fill my tag than take a poor percentage shot. I'm  with you 100% on this one Biggie

[Ia Hawkeye]

SoNevadaArcher,
Referring to your last post , unless you are starving and need the meat, NO one "needs to take that shot" !!!! (as you said you did) !!

[Widowbender]

Have I taken this shot on animals? Yes...Did I recover them all? Yes... Would I take this shot again? NO. These were all with a compound, way back when I had more hair and less sense. This shot angle is NOT the same as quartering away because the bigger bones that will hinder penetration are on the entrance side of the shot. There IS room for a well placed arrow to make it through there IF everything goes perfectly (Like that ever happens). Also, the possibility of having a plugged exit hole is greatly increased. Plugged exit holes make for slow tracking. I'm not saying who should or shouldn't take a shot like that. I'm just saying from experience, that I wouldn't, anymore. I like being able to find the animal after I shoot it. I know people, personally, that take shots from all kinds of angles. They kill alot of animals. They also lose one here and there. They say "The buzzards have to eat, too". I ain't out there to feed the buzzards.

[Orion]

Just finished teaching another IBEF bowhunter education course this past weekend.  The IBEF recommends against taking a quartering on shot for all the reasons already mentioned.  Nuff said.

[rybohunter]

I think it all boils down to knowing your limitations. With a trad bow, I would not likely take the shot. With a heavy arrowed compound setup, I have done so successfully in the past, and may choose to do so in the future. I've also passed on many quartering to shots because they didn't feel right.

[J-dog]

Man has got to know his limitations. Period.Experience levels vary and an individual must know what he is and aint capable of. Take myself, wouldn't do it, I will wait. But in no way shape or form do I think it is not deadly, specially when you drive it out if his hind end.

I remember reading a Chuck Adams book, one of his early ones where he advocated shooting at a deer facing straight away as that is where the femorals branched to go down the legs. Bad shot idea?? I would think so but again he has alot more experience than I do? Femorals aint too big round, and your shot placement better be on is all I can say.

I just think one has to live woth what he believes is right,

J

Lot of good info in this post

[ChuckC]

Exactly where do you aim to hit the femoral arteries ? Where they branch is quite internal, not on the legs themselves.  

You can do the same with taking out the kidneys.  Lots of blood flow thru them.  Where do you aim ?  

Of course, if you slice the carotids or jugulars they will go down quickly, leave lots of blood. Lots of neck there to aim at.

 Lots of places will kill a deer or an elk or a moose.... eventually.

I just taught another Bowhunter Ed class with the field day being last saturday.  Nobody got the "organ placement" correct,  as usual.  A few got fairly close, but most were not.  

My experience is simple.  Most folks do not know the anatomy of the critters we hunt.  They don't know where the heart and lungs or the shoulder blades are located... how are they gonna find the femorals, which are not obvious.

ChuckC

[Kingwouldbe]

Chuck, it's some where around here.    
 
 

[ChuckC]

Which is that ?  the heart or the lungs.   or maybe the shoulder blades ?
   
ChuckC

[J-dog]

I was gonna refer to some of the Kingwouldbe's pics, he obviously knows what he can and cant do. Like I said it is deadly when you drive it out the opposite end!

OUCH

J

[Flatout]

What got me started thinking about this was a quote like the following from Dr. Ashby "That combination was used to repeatedly shoot through the scapula of a large zebra stallion and through the thorax to the off side, often breaking off-side ribs (never failing to penetrate the scapula and completely through the thorax)."  The combination was a 60 lb bow shooting a 788 grain arrow 148 ft/sec with a modified grizzly.  I can't find the Tissue Penetration Index article that the quote was in.

I started thinking that if you can shoot through a zebra shoulder blade which I hear is very thick and go on to get a kill, why couldn't a similar arrow consistently shoot through any of the onside bones of a whitetail quartering towards me?  I would think it could just keep on going and leave a nice exit wound.  This would in turn give me more shot opportunities.  

It seems that many of the posts ignored the idea that we are talking about beefing up an arrow so that it doesn't stop if it hits any of the shoulder bones.  Or is this an impossibility?  

Lot of people are talking about needing to be confident.  I think confidence comes from knowing that the arrow I am using has been tested and consistently penetrates through anything a deer has in its chest.

[Biggie Hoffman]

The fault in his testing is that there is no motion involved in the target. If the target would jump the string, any movement would retard penetration. You can hit a deer in the guts if he's spinning away from the shot and NOT shoot thru it.

Again, we seem to be mmmmmissing the reason we hunt with the equipment we do. If killing every animal that comes into range is your goal, you should select another weapon for the good of bowhunting. Bowhunters wait for the right shot or pass. The results do not justify the shot angle.

[sbschindler]

Good post Biggie