quartering toward you shot on elk?

[blazingsaddle]

Last night on TV I watched a hunting show where the hunter shot an elk from roughly 20 yards or so with his bow. The bull was quartering toward him, almost face on. His shot hit in front of the shoulder, into the brisket area. The bull went no more than 50-60 yards and tipped over dead.
My question is on the shot placement. I have always been told to NEVER shot an elk if its quartering toward you, especially with a bow. Would you shoot from that angle? Is a shot square into the brisket a good shot? I know I would hesitate to take that shot on an elk, but a deer would get pumped by me. Have I been misinformed on that type of angle on an elk?
Would it matter if you had a rifle or muzzy in your hand?

 

[sageadvice]

I saw that as well. Game Farm. I don't know if he was aiming there or not but the shot worked. I'm not much of a bow hunter so i'll leave that to guys that been there, done that. With a rifle though, i'd have taken the exact same shot to the vitals inside.

Joey

 

[elkantler75]

2 years ago i hit an elk headon with archery equip. the elk walked 5 steps and fell over dead.

 

[blazingsaddle]

elkantler-
head on meaning in the head or right into the brisket as he was facing you?

 

[elkantler75]

it was a brisket shot thankfully.

 

[elkantler75]

i have never seen an animal bleed like that before. it was like pulling a plug.

 

[marley]

It is a very risky shot with archery equipment. There is only about a 4 inch area just above the brisket that can be a kill shot. Even if you hit that spot you are only going to get one lung, no heart and with the entry hole so high up, it won't bleed much to follow any decent trail. It will bleed bad internally but not much is going to go to the ground. When I was 14 I shot a cow elk with my bow that was facing directly at me. I saw only my fletches hanging out of her brisket area when she ran off. I found 2 drops of blood and never found her. I will never make that shot again. It made me sick.

 

[marley]

Elkantler hit the magic spot. No disrepect at all but I feel that you were lucky in my opinion.

 

[one_dryboot]

if your shooting with the animal facing you your asking for a wounded animal that wont bleed alot and will go along way. there are those that get lucky but i wouldn't do it

 

[Pappabull]

I don't think that elk could go far for the man that was the host of the show is usually doing so from a high fence outfit.

 

[elkantler75]

first off, what i am going to say in no way promotes a front brisket shot. the hunter needs to be ethical and the best shot is always broadside or quartering away shot to the vital area.

my friend killed a bull elk at 40 yds. with a front brisket shot. the animal bled out within seconds.

the elk i shot 2 years ago was coming in head on and when i got drawn back he was still coming at 6 yds. i shot and the arrow buried into his right side brisket and started to pump blood to the ground. he was stopped in his tracks hunched and i knocked another arrow and hit him again in the left brisket. the second blood flow was bigger than the first and bright red. he bled out within seconds.

gutting the bull, we recovered both arrows from deep within the bull. both broadheads had reached the inner loins and penetrated lung, heart and liver plus the rest of the inner organs.

i will never hesitate to take a good brisket shot if i am given the shot again.

 

[400bull]

Everyman to himself here and normaly I would discurage taking a shot like like. I had the same thing happen to me several years a go where I had a bull not 15 yards away from me that only offord a brisket shot. The shot penitrated deep enough to berry the arrow to the fletchings, punchered both lungs and severed all three artteries off the top of the hart. The bull went no more the 50 yards before he was out and bleed enough that I don't think you could have poored more blood on the ground using a milk jug.

400bull

 

[Cookie2]

If you are sure of your abilities with your equipment this is no different than the quartering away shot, just in reverse. I think most who lose animals with this angle make the mistake of shooting too high up in the chest cavity. If your shot is high there will be very minimal blood to follow as already stated. I shot a bull three years ago quartering towards and there was INSTANT blood. I also have never seen such s sight, and he went thirty yards and crashed in my sight.

 

[zekers]

I wounded and never recovered a buck quite a few years ago that I took a quartering to shot. Best guess is that the arrow entered between the shoulder blade and slid down the ribcage. Tons of blood, but nothing vital. Tracked where the coyotes got him out of bed and chased him who knows where. Makes me sick. Killed a black bear with a frontal, brisket shot. Bled like a stuck pig, easiest tracking job ever. Upon autopsy, damned if I could find what exactly killed him. Other than blood vessels, it hit no organs, major arteries, or veins that I could tell. I will never take any questionable shots anymore. Only broadside or quartering away.

 

[JakeH]

I used to be like some of these guys untill 2 years ago on a elk hunt, I always thought that a strait on front shot was a good shot.

Then while out hunting I got a good 6x6 bull at 34 yards head on and took the shot, the arrow penetrated about 18"s and the bull whirled and ran off, I left him for an hour and then started tracking.

Right of the bat there was blood everywhere and I was thinking this bull is not going to be far.

Well the first mile the bull bled really good, we found lung blood and alot of it, it was like it was pouring out of him, I thought for sure he cant be far.

For the next 2 miles the blood got thinner and thinner untill it quit, luckly we were able to stay on his tracks for about another mile untill he lost the blood clot and started bleeding again pretty good, but that didnt last long and the blood was not as promenent and he had gotten into an area that was hard to follow his tracks in.

We ended up following this bull for 5 miles (I still have the track log in my GPS), and never found it, I shot him at first light and we tracked untill we couldnt follow any longer about a hour before dark, we went back the next day and serched for the bull but never found him.

My buddy that lives close went back a couple weeks latter and never found anything. I still dont know if the bull died or not, He lost a tone of blood and I dont know how he kept going.

I decided I wouldnt take that shot again after that.




Jake H. MM Member since 1999.

 

[SMELLYBUCK]

Experience has taught me twice that frontal shots to the brisket can be be messy, once with a rifle and once with a bow. There is no forgiveness if your are a couple of inches off. It's counter intuitive, but both mine were gut shots. No tag placed in either situation. Maybe its better to aim for the head or neck where its a kill or miss scenario. Anyone have additional thoughts on this?

 

[ruttinelk393]

I agree, accuracy is key. I have never been a fan of frontal shots unti I was presented with one in CO a few years back. I elected to do it and the bull literally ran 30 yards and plunged to its death into an aspen thicket. The ONLY reason I did it was:
1. I practice nearly every day
2. It was an 8 yard shot and I knew where to place it.

If the would have been 20 yards or more, I wouldnt have tried it especially with the bull looking at my dumb a## sitting ON the trail as I knew better to be sitting there anyway.

I saw the hunt on tv too and my guess is that guy just let the arrow fly and got really lucky.

 

[blazingsaddle]

So what does an arrow/bullet have to go through in that region? I have been around my fair share of downed game and have poked around in the main vital area but only with the intentions of basically broadside shots.
I guess you have the softer cartilage by the sternum and the breast bone? But I guess you run the risk of hitting only one lung, if you get deep enough. I know elk especially can run a very long way being one lunged. How deep is the heart and how low? To me thinking alot about it, it sounds risky.
I have heard from a seasoned elk hunter/guide, that he tells his clients to aim in the front of the shoulder on an elk with a braodside shot. What drops them from this shot?

 

[SneakAttack]

This is something I've pondered for many years now. People take quartering away shots as often as broadside shots. But make that a quartering to shot, people freak out. Shoot for the exit hole. Or go for head shots. That's what I do in every situation. If I can't get a head shot, the right knee is the next best thing.

 

[zekers]

Hey Sneak- I think you are referring to a rifle shot. Big difference when you are using a bow.

 

[sixgunn]

I lost a spike bull a few years back while bowhunting. He walked into me quartering towards me. He stopped at thirty yards, the shot looked great and I got a complete pass through. The bull bled like crazy, but like JakeH, I followed this bull FOREVER. He finally quit bleeding and I ended up losing him. I was sick about it. I probably wouldn't have taken the shot in the first place but here is the crappy thing, the bull already had two arrows in him. (One was sticking out of his head under the jaw bone, and one in the top of his butt.) I have passed many shots up on the same angle and head on, don't want to go through that again.