After the large number of responses on my
stone point trauma pics thread, I wanted to start another thread about shot placement on whitetail deer.
I watch hunting shows from time to time, and I've learned where to shoot based on some of those shows. When my brother called in that gobbler 2 years ago, I had never even loosed an arrow at a turkey before. I aimed for a spot based on what I had seen numerous bowhunters on TV do when they were shooting turkeys with arrows. And my turkey died within seconds.
However, I've seen on more than one occasion some pretty horrendous shots on those TV shows, and usually the hunter recovers the animal. I'm here to tell ya that the recovery is flat out bulls%&*. The film crew simply filmed the hunter with another animal while the editor spliced it together so it would look like an honest recovery. I make such bold claims because my brother spent one hunting season filming for a TV show that was on the Outdoor channel, and he's seen it firsthand. He showed me some of the raw footage of guys shooting mule deer in the pelvis, and another where a hunter shot a mule deer quartering away...that deer ran off trailing 3 feet of intestines that had slipped out of the wound. Luckily the gut shot deer was found because the arrow angled forward and hit a small portion of the vitals, but the deer shot in the pelvis was never found. I also saw a video where a guy shot a turkey just forward of the TAIL, yes, that's right...the TAIL, and the next clip shows the guy walking back with the turkey slung over his shoulder. I know he NEVER recovered that turkey, but the editors were clever in showing that the bowhunters in his show NEVER lose an animal.
What ticks me off is these lying TV shows brainwash people into thinking they can just shoot an animal in any old place, and as long as their arrow makes contact, then the animal will die and they'll find it within 80 yards. Sorry folks, that just isn't the case. Most foam archery deer targets show a "vital area" that extends much farther back into the intestines than in real animals. This unfortunately promotes shots that are too far back, especially on animals standing perfectly broadside. I'm guilty of this, and shot a deer last fall that I thought was perfect when it was actually too far back. "But they always recover deer when they shoot them like that on TV......."
Below is a link that shows the anatomy of a whitetail deer. Click on the arrows to reveal different parts of the anatomy (circulatory, digestive, skeletal, etc.). Two things I want everyone to notice: where the lungs are and also how the bones of the upper leg angle forward, creating a much larger pocket where you can place an arrow. On a live deer, what appears to be a bone is actually just the muscle of the shoulder, as the leg bone angles forward quite a bit. I hope this helps everyone in their success this fall!!!
http://www.rubsnscrapes.com/Articles/deer_shot_placement_anatomy.php
