High Risk/No Reward (yet)

[jeezticals]

I was reluctant to post for a couple of reasons. 1)I would find my buck 2)pure humility.

On Friday morning at around 0800 I had a buck come in following a doe. He was decent to me. Probably around 140". What I loved about this buck was the split brows.

The doe had slipped behind me, downwind, and the buck was trailing about a minute behind the doe. The buck was coming down a timber road 20 yards broadside. I drew back waiting for him to appear in my shooting lane. His head appeared and then took a hard right walking straight at me.

The doe had stomped and I knew I was had. The buck stops ten yards out and lifts his head looking at me. So, I shoot him. I hit the deer at the base of the neck in the middle of the chest.

He runs 60 yards or so to an open pasture and then leisurely walks away, with my arrow. I think about 6-8 inches penetrated, but my wife would be the first to say that may be an exaggeration.

I waited fifteen minutes and found good blood and marked it in the pasture where I wanted to pick it up after a couple hours of waiting. By then there was good spray as if I caught the wind pipe and a good artery.

I started tracking around 1100, and followed good blood for half a mile. ( I used google earth to measure the distance 2800 ft.) Near the end of the track I finally found my arrow. It appeared he was belly crawling under some cedars and the arrow dug into the ground and pulled out. 20 yards later I have last blood in a pasture.

I have walked all the ditches that lead back to the timber. I haven't found him. I find it interesting that even in the smallest sliver of cedars he kept in cover until he absolutely had to walk out.

I knew the shot was risky when I pulled the trigger. I feel I made a good shot, probably a kill shot, but no deer.

Any feedback will be helpful. I will walk another area today to try and locate him. Most likely won't take a brisket shot again if that is my only option.

 

[Matthewfox_45]

I'll be the first. That's a completely irresponsible shot with a bow. And you are now paying the price for it. Hopefully you can recover the deer. Would you have taken that shot at a doe? If no, why at a good buck.

 

[Trapshooter1]

Ok don't be so hard on the guy. When that buck that you ve been waiting for all season finally gets into range. It's hard to lay off. Sounds like a kill shot to me. With amount of blood ur talking he is definitely dead.


You ll find him. Stick with it.
I wish good luck to you.
If there's a guy on here that can honestly say they haven't been caught up in the moment when that buck gets in range. You probably lying.

Good luck

 

[Matthewfox_45]

I wasn't trying to be hard on the guy. Rather just speaking the truth. It's hard not to get caught up in the moment, but you have to realize that you have to be patient, we as hunters owe the deer that much.

 

[DannyBoy]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if you hit the brisket then no chance at the windpipe. Windpipe is above the brisket, or at least feels that when when cutting it out to gut a deer. Next best bet would be enough penetration to reach the heart, which would put the buck down in short order. That obviously didn't happen. Have to agree, poor choice.

 

[LYON]

What broadhead were you using? Is that shot ideal? No. But I'm of the opinion it's not a terrible shot option. Penetration is key though. Shooting a big expandable is probably not a good choice for that shot. I'm sure I'm in the minority here but that's just my opinion.

 

[kelcher]

Saw Stan Potts do it so it must be alright.

 

[muddy]

I'll take a quartering too shot,but only if I can get into ribs where I can get lung or liver. Never a full frontal.

 

[Sligh1]

I've learned a lot on waiting on shots over 22 years of bowhunting now (37 & started at 15 I think). Took shots then I'd never take now. But, also, learned often times I don't need to take risky shots.... In this example, I'm going to say MOST of the time, that buck is gonna turn broadside or turn around, walk by or go back the way he came, whatever. He's gonna give you a money shot if you wait. Your risk - he bolts like crazy with too little time to shoot. Ok, alive & healthy deer you can chase another day. Doesn't bolt fast - you got your money shot. Don't rush the shot is all I've learned over all these years. Don't mean I won't goof up or anyone else for that matter BUT all I'm saying is hopefully some folks learn from this. I'd call it a "mistake" but that's what happens to us all sometimes and learn from it and grow/adjust and make the next shot count.

 

[Highmark]

Too risky. I wouldn't take a full frontal shot. Maybe I've gotten too soft in my old age but I don't like the thought of wounding deer and not recovering them. I limit my shooting range well shorter than what I can do with a target for that exact reason. In fact I remove my +35 pins during season.

 

[StickersNKickers]

First of all, I'm assuming the question is in relation to bow hunting. Shotgun or muzzleloader may result in different answers?

Anyway, I would probably not take the straight on shot with a bow. I have with a shotgun when I was younger. Hit the deer higher in the neck, and it dropped in its tracks. Have also missed that shot with a shotgun as well. Pretty sure I grazed the belly or inside of a leg as there was white hair on the ground where the deer had been standing. One of these was a young buck, and one was a doe. I don't really like that shot when I think about it, but it is pretty easy to get caught in the moment. As I'm sure a lot of hunters agree, I'd rather have the larger target of a broadside shot, that results in a bigger margin for error. I found this article, which I think talks about this shot pretty well:
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/articles/can-you-avoid-taking-deer-huntings-riskiest-shot

I don't fault or judge anyone for taking the shot, as I'm sure a lot have and have been successful. I do know someone who did take the straight on shot on a buck (let's call it a decent buck, probably 3.5+...I never saw the deer, so you can probably guess where this is headed). Here's the story as it was relayed to me: Guy is hunting from the ground with a crossbow. Decent buck walks straight to him to about 25-30 yards. The buck knew something was out of place, and started to act a little nervous. Thinking that the buck would take off once it turned and he wouldn't get a shot, he decided to take the straight on shot, I believe at the base of the neck. Buried the bolt (I think around 21" long) into the chest, but still had fletching sticking out (not sure on exact penetration as I was not there). Buck turned and ran straight away, making huge jumps and spraying blood everywhere. Waited I believe an hour, then tracked for 300-400 yards with blood sprayed on the ground. Then the blood dried up. No blood trail, no tracks, no leaves turned up (not many leaves in this cattle pasture). He and another guy looked all over and never found it. We assume the buck either lived, or traveled a long ways off the farm. Didn't have cameras at that time, so couldn't put them up. I cover almost every inch of that area during shed season, and I didn't stumble upon it (made a point to really look to try to find the carcass). This is probably my best reason to not take this shot.

A couple questions for the OP tho: Were you elevated or on the ground? 6-8" of penetration, or 6-8" of arrow sticking out?

 

[mplane72]

Not sure I would call this a brisket shot though that may very well be where your arrow ended up. I would never intentionally shoot for the brisket so I said no in the pole. Our understanding of what the brisket is may be different. I put an arrow through the brisket of a quartering away buck a couple years ago. Little blood, fatty white grease on arrow. Deer lived.

Now if you want to talk about a frontal shot.... I have studied this shot extensively expecting some day I may be faced with it elk hunting. I actually successfully made this shot on a very large doe earlier this season with impressive results. Not going to get into where you want to shoot. The info is out there if you want to do the research. I will say its a low percentage shot. You need to be set up for max penetration and you need to get to the heart or the major arteries coming out of the top of the heart. The risk of just getting one lung are great and that may very well be what happened to your deer. On a successful frontal shot I would be expecting a very quick kill or nothing. You either do it right and get to the heart or get lucky and get a major artery or wind pipe or you come up empty.

Biggest thing that jumped out at me from your post is the deer was on edge before the shot. Not a good time to take a shot with such a small margin for arrow. I also don't think a good angle is presented very often for this shot from a tree stand.

I'm guessing your shot was low and your deer will live. I would think if you one lunged him he would have bedded at least once in 1/2 a mile.

 

[AIRASSAULT]

I wouldn't take a straight on shot, but i did shoot one in the pocket between the shoulder and neck a few yrs ago that was quartering hard toward me. It was 10 yds and I use a small fixed broadhead. I was able to burry the whole arrow and the buck only went 20yds. Just gotta know your limitations. Bad thing about perfectly straight on is you are only gonna get one lung or hopefully heart.

 

[HorseDoctor]

Straight on chest (not brisket) can work and be a very deadly shot but it is a small target with very little margin for error. High & you might possibly spine the deer. You might hit just the trachea which may or may not be eventually fatal. You may hit the jugular which will bleed like a hose for a bit then dry up & again may or may not be fatal but a long tracking job with sparse sign at the end either way. You may hit the carotid artery which will also bleed profusely but will be pretty quickly fatal. You can slide just outside the chest and inside the leg which may or may not hit major vessels in the "armpit" region. Fatal if you do but another long tracking job. IF you slid inside that little hole (thoracic inlet) or bust into the chest through one of the first couple ribs with a good broadhead, it will be quickly fatal even if it only hits one lung. I'm not going to get in the "one lung" argument here but if you put a broadhead through one lung from front to back it will be fatal and very quickly so. I won't condemn anyone for taking the shot because under very controlled, very stable and close range circumstances, I have done so and successfully, but it is not as big a target as it looks and I understand fully why it is not routinely advised. Think of it as a 5" diameter 10 ring surrounded by a lot of -10 area.

 

[KSHUNTER]

I wouldn't take a straight on shot, but i did shoot one in the pocket between the shoulder and neck a few yrs ago that was quartering hard toward me. It was 10 yds and I use a small fixed broadhead. I was able to burry the whole arrow and the buck only went 20yds. Just gotta know your limitations. Bad thing about perfectly straight on is you are only gonna get one lung or hopefully heart.

I took that same shot on a good buck about 3 years ago, but same as you, my shot was about 10 yards, I shot him with a small fix blade, and a 70 pound bow. Only about 8' inches of arrow was left protruding, he went 40 yards and died.

I think frontal shots need to be close quarters and all the angles have to work to put the arrow where it needs to go. I always try to envision where the arrow will enter and exit on any given shot I take.

I like looking at this photo for a reference when thinking about shot placement.

 

[tagged out]

I would never feel confident to take that shot....But had a guy at work who has killed numerous bucks of high caliber tell me "he was coming right at me and I knew I could hit his wind pipe". Long story short 50 yrds dead deer. And for all the bashers, I know for a fact a highly read magazine cover buck was shot in the same manner last year with a short track job! Once again I wouldn't take the shot. Just think of how many people shoot high or low on a broad side deer and remember how little margin of error there is on a frontal shot? But everyone has different abilities and cant dispute some one else on there ability to place an arrow for a kill shot.

 

[jeezticals]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I still haven't found my deer. My last hope until Gun 1 unless the farmer nearby finds him in the corn field.