Im trying learn more from you all.

[md126]

I always try and aim low, regardless of yardage. Even at close range a deer has an uncanny ability to hear a shot and drop.

And by low I mean the lowest possible spot in the kill zone, not the absolute lowest on the deers body.

Don't be afraid to practice and get comfortable taking longer shots. 20-30yds is very attainable with todays quality bows. You get a better angle and the deer is less likely to react, at least that's been my experience

[VA Elite]

I usually practice out to about 21-22 yards. I am 50/50 at that range. but it does make my closer shots seem easier

[VA Elite]

michael which video is it?

[Michael Arnette]

sorry, it's titled matt rehor: whitetail shot with longbow

[VA Elite]

yep i saw it

[Steve Kendrot]

Honestly, I can't see you getting a single lung at 15'x16 yards unless you didn't get penetration. thats a 17-18 degree angle off level which is not terribly steep. Those lungs are close together and not terribly wide on a doe. Most single lung shots result from very close shots from elevated positions- nearly verticle. The shot you took is a money shot. Didn't read the original post so don't know if it was quartering or broadside.

Sometimes, things just happen. There's no figuring it out if you don't have a carcass or a film. Shake it off and keep trying. Don't overthink things.

[VA Elite]

steve it was a broadside shot with a clean pass thru.she did duck. maybe hit just under her spine missed lungs completely? I posted a photobucket link pic of the arrow in the original post. what I do know is I smelled no guts, saw no gut contents so i don't believe I was back too for or low. The saplings had blood at about hip height on me, I am only 5'6. possible liver hit, but the blood was rather bright. but I also agree that at 15 ft up and a 16 yd shot it seems very difficult to hit just one lung..at this point, I just want to figure out my mistakes so i can fix them.

[Doc Nock]

Originally posted by Steve Kendrot:
Honestly, I can't see you getting a single lung at 15'x16 yards unless you didn't get penetration. thats a 17-18 degree angle off level which is not terribly steep.

 There's no figuring it out if you don't have a carcass or a film. Shake it off and keep trying. Don't overthink things.

What I just wrote to Landon PM... We can specuate till the 12th of never and not be closer to the truth...this man is hanging on every word and trying to figure OUT what went wrong...

K.I.S.S.  There is that tenderloin area below the spine... I once shot and only got one lung, but I also got that big artery below the spine... there is that whole "no man's land" guys used to call it where it pencils thru the tenderloins below the artery along the spine and above the lungs...

I've had shoulder hits that were bright red blood, and it was no penetration...

Thing is that we cannot know what or why...untill a deer is found but he did learn that they drop when tense... and i've seen videos where they drop not just the foot mentioned, but up to 18"...

All sorts of stuff happens at the shot that is in fast forward, too fast for us to record mentally or ever---KNOW.

Best to just move forward, practice some slow moving targets, not make all kinds of adjustments, but control those few things that are controllable, like WHEN to release on a critter...

[VA Elite]

Doc you are right. I think I will never know what actually went wrong. looks are so deceiving. that arrow look as beautiful in flight on the way to the target as any I have ever loosed...the impact look great and the arrow looked the best...but in the end, it was not anywhere near perfect or we wouldn't having this conversation. I have killed many deer when they were stopped by me, with a compound...and like I said, modern technology band aided my flaws. traditional archery thus far has exposed my flaws. the 1 thing it has exposed? I am not nearly as good as I thought I was.