Would you??

GooseHunterJr · Sep 12, 2006

Do not look at the size of the animal, but more how he is standing.

Would you take a shot with a bow at 25yds?

This is what I was given on staurday.....this is not the animal just a picture I found my bull was standing inbetween two tress?

Thanks

AZbowhntr · Sep 12, 2006

No I wouldn't. I had the same shot a few years ago on a nice bull at a tank in AZ and didn't even think about it. I still think about what could of been.

BOHNTR · Sep 12, 2006

Pass on the shot.......wait for him to turn (hopefully). JMO

springbear · Sep 12, 2006

Asking for trouble on that shot.
possible, yes. However it is more likely a wounding shot.

frkybugleboy · Sep 12, 2006

Just guessing but would you have about a 6 inch kill zone on that shot?...If so can you hit it at 25 yards 99% of the time?

a3dhunter · Sep 12, 2006

Check Petersen's Bowhunting magazine (sept,06, page 103), there was an article in there about frontal shots and what was manageable. It talked about this being one of the best shots you can get at close range when calling elk in. It talks about this kill zone being the size of a whitetails kill zone when the whitetail is broadside. The article is centered around a statement by guide Darwin Vander Esch. It goes on to say they saw a guy make a forntal shot at 16 steps and the bull fell within thirty yards, the arrow cut through the center of the chest and stopped in the stomach. It talks about another shot the same way, the bull went down within sixty yards. The article is by Joe Byers and he is convinced that given the right conditions this is an ethical shot. When shooting into the heart there doesn't have to be a lot of penetration, but with todays compound bows and carbon arrows this is a good shot. He also talks about how when you shoot an elk through the lungs the entire chest cavity may need to fill up before you get a blood trail because of where your arrow entered. The author tested this theory on a hunt in Africa and arrowed a Kudu and a wildebeest with a frontal shot, the Kudu dropped within 200 yards, the wildebeest within 75 yards, thus making him a believer in frontal shots.

Makes you think about it!???

Kirby · Sep 12, 2006

No. I am not a big fan of frontal shots. Catch the top of the sternum and the arrow could deflect off. If your arrow goes right or left your only gonna take one lung, if it goes down you have a big fleshwound.
Tried to find a elk skeleton from the front to show what I mean but I think this picture will show it.

Kirby

BUGLEMN · Sep 13, 2006

I SHOT A 300" 5+6 LAST YEAR AT 16 YARDS THAT WAS FACED DIRECTLY TO ME. I FELT COMFORTABLE ABOUT THE SHOT. AFTER I SHOT HIM I COW CALLED AND HE TURNED SO I COULD SEE THAT HE HAD THE ARROW BURRIED UP TO THE FLETCHING, AND IT LOOKED LIKE SOMBODY TURNED ON A WATER FAUCET OUT OF HIS FRONT CHEST, HE WAS LEAKING SO MUCH BLOOD. HE ONLY WENT ABOUT 70 YARDS BEFORE WE FOUND HIM. I USED TO NEVER TAKE A FRONT SHOT BUT I NEW I COULD DO IT. I'M NOT SAYING THIS SHOT IS FOR EVERYBODY BUT THAT SHOT WAS SO CLOSE I NEW I COILD DO IT.

BUGLEMN

sremim · Sep 13, 2006

sure would.

rackem406 · Sep 13, 2006

I think the comment about today's bows and carbons are a good point, but only if you are a confident in that shot. At 25 yards with my bow pushing out 82lbs KE I would definitely take that shot and expect to see my broadhead sticking out his nuts.... and if I hit collar bone that is when the high KE comes into play on bone deflection.

Now how about taking this from the opposite angle. What if you were sitting a tank and an 85" lope drinks right in front of you at 18 yards facing directly away from you, do you take the shot??? The reason I bring it up is that it was a situation my buddy faced last year. Reasonable or not????

Rackem

BigPig · Sep 13, 2006

LAST EDITED ON Sep-13-06 AT 10:31AM (MST)[p]At 25 no, 5-10 yards less and I'm probably flinging. Depends on how charged up the bull is. If he's fairly calm, dead bull. It's a jusdgement call each shooter must make, so many variables involved, but when in doubt, wait it out.

a3dhunter · Sep 13, 2006

>At 25
>yards with my bow pushing
>out 82lbs KE I would
>definitely take that shot and
>expect to see my broadhead
>sticking out his nuts....
>Rackem

That cracked me up!! Just the mental picture of that, sometimes you guys are too much, but I needed a good laugh.
a3dhunter

triggerhappy · Sep 13, 2006

rackem406 · Sep 13, 2006

a3dhunter,
The reason I say that is because of the antelope question. My buddy did take the shot. He aimed right at his manhood and in one of the pictures you can see the knock sticking out of them. Funny stuff.

Rackem

a3dhunter · Sep 13, 2006

Rackem, too much!!!!I can honestly say taking a shot from behind would never cross my mind in archery. The thought of gutting that animal is not a pretty one! and Rackem, any more mental pictures like that and I may lose my dinner!;-)

AndymanSavage · Sep 14, 2006

>No. I am not a
>big fan of frontal shots.
> Catch the top of
>the sternum and the arrow
>could deflect off. If
>your arrow goes right or
>left your only gonna take
>one lung, if it goes
>down you have a big
>fleshwound.
>Tried to find a elk skeleton
>from the front to show
>what I mean but I
>think this picture will show
>it.
>

>
>Kirby

Kirby, what's wrong with taking out one lung? They aren't like kidneys, elk dies just the same as a double lunger.

Andy

NMHUNTNUTT1 · Sep 14, 2006

I lost an elk to a bad shot and told myself I'd never again attempt a "maybe good shot", for me , broadside/slight quartering away is all I'll loose an arrow. Just my .02 ...

rackem406 · Sep 14, 2006

I can't say I would take that shot, but everytime I tell someone or think about it I just feel the pain. No male, man or animal, should die with a broadhead taking his manhood.....

Rackem

swbuckmaster · Sep 15, 2006

At 25 yards I most definitely would. The deer I took yesterday was at 22 yards and facing the opposite way I new I would half to hit the side of the hind quarter to hit the heart. The deer didn't even know I was there. I took the shot and I got full penetration all of the way to the heart it took out a lung, liver and top of heart. The deer fell in sight of me. I also took a similar shot 5 years ago and the deer went only 40 yards.
People will tell you that these are not as good as the shot as the elk picture but all you half to do is look at an arrow next to your own body and look how far a 27 inch arrow will go in and see if you can run any where after being shot.
A frontal shot on an elk shooting 70 lbs I would aim for the top of the heart. That is if I had already drawn back with my bow when he showed up. When the elk took off I would also see my arrow sticking out of his nuts.
If you hadn't draw back before he got there you wouldn't even get the shot off. He would see you and run.

Gator · Sep 15, 2006

canhunter · Jan 12, 2007

No question at all. I would take this shot out to 40. After 40 I cant hit exactly spot on every time. 25 is a slam dunk for sure.

proutdoors · Jan 12, 2007

No way.

PRO

Kirby · Jan 12, 2007

>
>Kirby, what's wrong with taking out
>one lung? They aren't like
>kidneys, elk dies just the
>same as a double lunger.
>
>
>Andy

The problem is where is your arrow going after? Its gonna take one lung, then go through the guts, you risk spoiling meat to that, plus an elk can go along ways on one lung. My mulie buck went several hundred meters with a busted sholder, one lung and liver gone. It was more luck than talent that found him. If an elk goes 250-300m and goes down you could be a day or two looking, and if its in thick stuff, you risk loosing the animal, if its warm, the animal might spoil on you.

Kirby

When in doubt, floor it.

Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you find a big stick.

coonhound40 · Jan 12, 2007

Absolutely not, I've seen it 1st hand on deer and elk and the results can easily go either way.

In the last 2 years I have passed on 6 different bulls in the same situation and closer. I am not so desperate to get a bull that I would be willing to risk a bad shot.

I have a hunting partner that gives me hell when I tell him the stories about passing on frontal shots. On the other hand he is the same guy that looses animals almost every year, Huh??

One lung shots take way to long, an elk can cover a ton of ground in 5 minutes.

By the way I can also put an arrow in an orange at 40 yds, still I will always choose to pass.

I sometimes wonder how many elk and deer we don't hear about when someone takes these risky shots and things don't turn out the way they had hoped????

Coon's $0.02

muzzy125 · Jan 14, 2007

No,to risky on a tough sob like a big bull elk.

Jack Brittingham on the other hand would take this shot at 60 yards with a 60 mile an hour cross winds.

quickdrawkinker · Jan 15, 2007

It would be tempting, but NO--there is a much greater chance of wounding the bull with that shot than actually killing it (and being able to recover it). If the shot isn't there, don't take it!

RockyMtnOyster · Jan 19, 2007

Under most circumstances I would pass on the frontal shot. My last elk I passed on a frontal at 40 yards, I thought he was going to bust, then he came to within twenty yards broadside and I took a double lunger to him. My brother thought I was crazy for passing the first shot. I got lucky.

RockyMtnOyster

Show_Me_Your_Rack · Jan 23, 2007

I would for sure take that shot you aint going to kill a elk by letting him go get some blood on the ground and enjoy tracking untill you can put another aarow in that nigger!!!

muleloper · Jan 23, 2007

hell yes. At 25 yards you should be able to pick any spot on that animal you want to hit and kill him.That bull will be in serious trouble if he struts up to me at 25 yards looking like that.