Question or opinion on deer jumping the string?

[warden415]

Obviously we know deer can and will jump or duck tge shot upon release of the arrow. I know there are several  factors that play into this, sound of the bow, arrow speed and how relaxed tge deer is prior to the shot to name a few.
My thoughts. Are the deer are much more likely to "duck" than to jump upon release of string.. Maybe it is a duck to get prepared to jump?
Over the years I can only think of a handful of times that I have shot under a deer. But can think of more than I want to admit either shooting over or hitting much higher than I wanted to on the deer..
I shoot and shoot at targets that obviously  aren't ducking, and hit great... then. Comes tge moment of truth and hit higher than I want.
My question is....do you believe deer duck the shot most of the times.. and if so , do you intentionally  pick a spot lower on the deer to compensate for this?

[Bowwild]

I think in  most instances the deer is reacting to sound or motion (I think mostly motion of the release). It coils its legs which lowers the body in preparation for "flight".  

A human sprinter will lower and lean his body by bending at the knees before the start.

In 46 years and at least 100 shots at deer, I have never purposely aimed lower than the kill zone. I aim for the top of the heart.  I wonder about a couple of shots very early in my bowhunting career (1970's) I hit high.

I try to shoot at relaxed animals and I don't use sounds to stop them. I wait for a natural pause in the animal's travel. Or if close (under 15 yards), I'll shoot while they are slow walking.

I remember in my teens an incident while hunting ground hogs. A hog was on all fours with his butt at the burrow. I'd shoot for his shoulders and he'd duck down the hole. I shot all my arrows and he did this every time.

I fetched my arrows (sorry, I didn't resharpen). Then I decided to aim where he was going to go, right above the hole. On that shot he didn't move and I missed behind him. I think the hog could see the arrow and simply dodged it! It was about a 20 yard shot from a 45# Ben Pearson Cougar recurve.

[Sean B]

In my experience deer seem to duck or drop when they're in close, or alert, as to say coming into a call and looking for another deer. I will usually hold lower on them. Ive had a few drop and spin into the arrow, where my arrow hit them in the back of the head. I've shot relaxed deer out at about 20 or so yards and they didn't move till the arrow already hit its mark. I've shot bucks during the rut that were totally oblivious to the sound of my bow string.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think the key is to never drop the string on an alert deer.... watch the ears and tail.... they always drop down before springing away, but sometimes are turning at the same time.

I had one drop and turn 180 degrees so fast one time, that the arrow fletch slapped the far shoulder on it's way past..... I couldn't see the tail when i dropped the string.... It was obviously up...

[ChuckC]

I agree.  They are neither ducking the arrow or jumping the arrow, they are simply getting out of Dodge.  That means dropping down, like you would to dunk a basketball, then pushing off.  At times straight ahead, at times to spin and go back from whence they came ( safety).
ChuckC

[Whip]

Yep. They aren't really ducking under the arrow per say.  Simply coiling the legs in preparation to jump away. If you want to do a long jump you must go low before you can spring effectively.

[warden415]

I agree they aren't ducking tge arrow per say. But in reality they are ducking in preparation  to take off. I guess my question is, do you think they do it once in awhile, most of the time  or always?
If most of the time or always, tgen it may pay off to intentionally aim lower?

[old_goat2]

I had one lunge and dive off the trail and turn a perfect broadside shot into a hard quartering away shot but he was jumpy and on alert

[ChuckC]

My own personal thoughts are that you should aim to kill what you see.  Aim low by aiming at the heart is OK, Aim low as in below the deer is not so OK.  Again..That is just my personal thought.

ChuckC

[stonewall]

I just aim at the heart area. I think most deer flinch when there is a sudden non natural noise in the woods no matter how quiet your bow is. It's hard to notice it when your shooting at them, but next time you have some deer around you that you ain't gone shoot, thump your string and watch them.

[Izzy]

They are loading for a jump, sometimes laterally away. Ive seen them duck and lunge sideways like The Matrix. Texas deer Ive hunted will make you question what you have just seen but the nearly touch the ground with their ribs before lunging laterally away.

 I shot a buck with a longbow that was quarrying hard, away. I wound up hitting him in the center of his white belly just in front of his jewels due to his acrobatic flight. The arrow came out of the center, front of his chest and he was dead in seconds.

 In NY I had the same doe duck me twice 8 days apart from a calm feeding situation at 10 yards. Sometimes you just can't win.

[MnFn]

In one of Wensels earlier videos, there is a great slow motion shot of a deer dropping lower to begin its leap.

But sometimes when I don't pick a spot (gasp)  i tend to shoot right over the back. It has happened to me with one deer and one coyote that I can remember for sure.

[AkDan]

Relaxed deer do this as well!  Ive spent a dew ling nights looking for an arrow over it myself!     Seems the closer i get the more likely the reaction is.     I was taught aim for the heart on whitetails.   I can only think of a few ive heart shot!   The rest were above, along with the misses over the back.   There was one buck i can remember shooting low on.

[Whitetail Addict]

I have to agree that the average whitetail that's already on the alert for whatever reason, is more prone to jump the string, and a relaxed deer, or as relaxed as they ever get, is less apt to do so.

Having said that, I shot at a slammer of an eight point several years ago, that I'd watched come toward me for 75 yards, and he looked as relaxed as a whitetail ever gets. He came to within what I figured to be right at 20 yards, turned broadside to me, without a twig between us, and looked back the way he'd come.

I figured it was going to be my best opportunity, so I drew, picked a spot and let fly.

At the shot, he sprang into the air, and went to the left in a spin that landed him facing the opposite direction, and about 15 yards to the left of where he'd been. He stood there looking back toward me for a minute, then walked off in the direction he was facing.

That's the only time I've seen what appeared to be a relaxed deer, react that violently to the sound of what I consider to be a very quiet bow. He was a big bodied deer, with antlers to match, and he'd obviously learned a thing or two over the years.

When he turned broadside and looked back, I thought it was a done deal. If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forget that buck going up in the air, spinning around, and landing 15 yards to the left in the time it took my arrow to get to where he had stood just a split second before. Never saw him again.  

Bob

[Dave Lay]

not much to add to the above excellent replys, just try to shoot as quiet of a bow as possible and pass on alert deer.. a close walking shot is probably the least likely to jump the string in my opinion

[Jake Scott]

Think about it like this...if a human is going to make any explosive movement, they must first load the muscles  in preparation for the explosive movement.  This is why almost all athletes assume a "ready" stance.  If you preload the muscles you are already in position to make any explosive movement that may be necessary.  Try this, stand straight legged and attempt to make a rapid movement in any direction.  Very difficult.  However, if you bend at the knees it now becomes quite easy, because your muscles and limbs are "preloaded", providing potential energy to make the movement.  The duck before the explosive blowout is the string duck.  That's my opinion anyhow.

Jake

[Fattony77]

I would also add that a friend of mine (who owned a high-fence deer "hunting" ranch) once pointed out to me that the deer's ear position had a LOT to do with whether the deer would "drop the string" or not. His point was that if either of the deer's ears are pointed in the direction of the bow, the sound waves from the bowstring would reach the ears first (before the arrow), and therefore the deer would have time to react to that sound. Conversely, if both the ears were pointed away from the shooter, the sound waves from the string would have to travel past the deer and then bounce back to it's ears before the deer could hear and react, therefore giving a higher likelihood that the arrow would reach it's intended target before the deer could drop the string.

It sounded like a very viable theory to me (although he considered it a FACT), and I thought it would be worth mentioning here, even though not specifically an answer to the original poster's question.

In regards to that original question, I too believe that the deer are not "ducking" anything specifically, but reacting to an unnatural sound by preparing their legs for the leap that they are going to make.

As always, your mileage may vary....

[Fattony77]

Well put, Jake.

[Michael Arnette]

I've shot over the backs or hit high on my fair share of whitetail. Especially since using traditional equipment. So far I haven't missed a deer low inside 25 yards. I think geographic areas come into play as has been mentioned with Texas deer. Due to my past experiences with northeastern Oklahoma Whitetail I've started aiming about 4-5 inches from the bottom of the brisket on any deer 5-25 yards... Any shot over that I aim right where I want to hit. I've been doing this only two or three years now but so far it's worked out great for me.
After I shot one deer as it was walking and it didn't react I hit right where I was aiming (low) last year. This concerned me and a week later I took a shot at a 2 1/2 year-old buck in Missouri as he nonchalantly walked past and missed high...I am pretty sure my shot was good and that he ducked. So, back to the plan:
Aim for the lower 1/3 of the chest

[Michael Arnette]

Another evaluation: if I grunt ect to make a deer stop because it is moving to quickly (I avoid doing this) or the deer is on high alert then you can bet I'm going to be aiming for the very bottom of the chest 5-25 yards