head on shots

[SouthMDShooter]

When the deer is facing you and you can put one in its chest. I have never done it ive always passed on the oppurtunity, but i was wondering what you guys think about taking the shot. I know its a lethal shot, just wonderin your opnion...Curtis

[8th Dwarf]

ABSOLUTELY NOT-NEVER-DON'T DO IT-DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

ANY BOWHUNTER WHO TAKES THAT SHOT IS UNETHICAL AND WILL WOUND GAME!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ANYONE EVEN ASKED THE QUESTION HERE!!!!

PARDON ME WHILE I GO PUKE!

TOO SHORT

[fxe]

Not me,I'm with the 8th Dwarf on this one!

[Stone Knife]

Way to much armor up front for good penetration, not to mention the kill zone would be very small at that angle. I would never take that kind of shot.

[Pete Patterson]

Paul,
I just returned from a Colorado elk hunt in which my buddy took that shot and made it largely because he said he was inspired by you doing it in your video "Big Bulls are Easy" (think that's the name of it).  Was he mistaken?

He doubble-lunged the bull and it went 35 yards and died on it's feet.  It was with a 70lb compond at 35 yards.

[OconeeDan]

Whoa, Too Short, I think he was honestly asking a question.  Not trying to pull anybody's string.
Dan

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I won't even if it was a world record deer it just isn't worth it.

And that goes for a butt shot too, No way!!!

Tracy

[ChuckC]

Well.  Like Crocodile Dundee said...."you can eat it, but it tastes like s&*()(   !  Sure, it can be done, and some do it every year.  It is not, in my opinion, the best of choices, but neither is straight down thru the spine, but that gets done a bunch too.  To each his own.  

If you choose to do this, please check out a reliable picture or skeleton of a deer. Then you can see what you are actually faced with so you can make an informed choice.
ChuckC

[Killdeer]

I learned long ago that the front-on shot is not one to be taken. It was through others making the mistake, and newer archers asking the question that I learned this. Thus, I will never take the shot. Thank you for aasking the question, Curtis, instead of blundering into a hard lesson learned. Other new archers will read this and know the answer as well.

Killdeer

[SouthMDShooter]

Ya ok Too Short after you get done puking read that i said " I HAVE NEVER DONE IT I HAVE ALWAYS PASSED..." Maybe that wasnt clear enough for you, and i never meant to imply i was thinking about taking the shot i was just throwing the topic out there for responses...Curtis

[tim roberts]

The window that an arrow can pass through in a frontal situtation is way to small to be considered a high percentage shot.  While it can be done and I know a person or two that has done it, everyone of them will tell you not to do it, nor do I think they will ever try it again.  That bag is just way to small for me to want to try and get all my marbles in it.

[30coupe]

Even if you get through all the stuff on the front end of the deer, the arrow would likely penetrate the gut. I don't know about most of you, but I'd rather not do that. Since I usually hunt from the trees, it's pretty unlikely I'll be faced with that shot anyway. If I were on the ground, I'd pass on it. Around here, we have lots of deer. I figure one will offer a better shot than that.

[Curtiss Cardinal]

OK Mr. Brunner get a bucket.
Well I'm going to go against the grain here. I do not feel the shot is unethical.Under very specific circumstances it is a very lethal shot. We as a community claim so many things are unethical. Shooting beyond 20 yards. Shooting at game from any angle but broadside or quartering away. Hunting over bait; and on and on and on.
Yet when someone writes an article in TBM about a hog hunt and says that after the shot he paced it off as 41 yards, and says;" I guess I really wanted it" and we just say, "Great Shot!"
Or Dr.Ed Ashby shoots aninals from all manner of angles to test broadheads and we just say, "Thanks for the info!"
I have personally kiiled deer with a head on shot. The first deer I ever killed as a matter of fact at the tender age of 14. I've seen other deer and elk killed with the shot. In fact if you learn how to do it, that is to say where to put the arrow and at what distance it is high percentage at it is an incredibly quick killing shot. I will not "teach" the wheres and why fors here. I'll just sat that if you have the skill, the knowledge and the mettle to pull it off it will work everytime. I know I'm no one famous and I haven't written books or made videos or killed X number of P&Y or B&C animals. I have however been an archer for 43 years and a bowhunter for 32 years. Which means my opinion is not based on my own experience. Ethics are how you behave when no one but God is watching and you've actually forgotten he is.

[Hot Hap]

I bowhunted for 4 years before I got a shot. The first shot I got was head-on, I hit him right where he would knot his tie. He went 30 yards. It took me around 5 hours to find him. I never even thought about looking for blood, just looked for the deer. I wouldn't do it now. It was 1970 and I didn't know what I was doing. Hap

[Mike Brown]

There is not a such thing as a stupid question.

I have done things in the past that I would not do now.  

I have learned from mistakes of my own and of others.

Anyone who has not taken or made a bad shot has not bowhunted much.

Too Short I recall one time when you and I agreed that we both remembered an article by Chuck Adams where he commented that he did and would take head shots.  And I mean "HEAD SHOTS."

But I also remember an article that you wrote some time back that you had an elk almost on top of you and that "your hair covered computer did the math" and at that distance you took the front on shot.  Take care.  Mike.

[bmfer]

[Rick Perry]

"He doubble-lunged the bull and it went 35 yards "


 ok now  .......... double lunged with a head on shot???????  

[jacobsladder]

made the mistake with a compound..drilled him in the chest and he bled like a stuck pig... never found him...a gun hunter finished him 2 weeks later...i learned my lesson..never again!..... only with a gun.... broadside and quartering away with a bow...

[tim roberts]

C2,
It is easy to see this one could get a little warm.  
I have a friend who before taking and becoming a IBEP Instructor was the "Long Shot King", and he was this with a recurve.  This guy could make gun hunters look bad, with a recurve.  
Well the short story of this is, after taking Bowhunter Education, he still realized that he could do it, but he also realized that it increased the chances of things going south in a hurry.  
Quit honestly, that is why we don't, or shouldn't do it.  Its not because we can't or it can't be done, its because the chances of things going bad are greatly increased, and when it goes bad, we as bowhunters as a whole look bad.  Remember its the 80% that don't hunt, but are not necessarily against hunting, untill they see something bad, are the one who will keep us hunting.

[owlbait]

Years ago I shot a spike horn during gun season. He had lost one spike and had gangrene in his face and neck. Some bow hunter took that head-on shot, hit him right between the peepers and that little guy got sick and probably wouldn't have made it through the winter. Shame to see them suffer even when you make the shot that you think you can!