Quote:
Originally Posted by russ
A lot of bowhunters are cross-overs from the world of rifle. Many have been told that shoulder and neck shots are deadly. The problem is that those shot placement choices require a lot of energy to be successful. That is exactly what is missing. Archers need to aim for the furnace room, shoulder and neck shots are ineffective.
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I'll add to this. The one and only elk I've gotten with my bow was with a quartering-away shot at 20 yards. I aimed for a spot in the boiler room, behind the shoulder, with the exit point at the front leg on the other side. It would have been a perfect rifle shot.
With the bow, though, at that angle the ribcage formed a solid wall that the arrow couldn't penetrate, and it got deflected up and behind the shoulder. Poor thing ran for 800 m before bleeding out and dying, finally found it the next morning after it sat out all night in temperatures of +8 C. The meat didn't smell so great at that point, but I kept it and ate it anyway out of respect and perhaps, penance.
Lesson learned. A bow is not a rifle, and I will never take a quartering-away shot with it again. For this limited-skills archer, it's full broadside or nothing now.