Shoot or No Shot 2016, Episode #1.

[WapitiTalk1]

It's 16 September, 2016 (what a great time to be in the elk woods). It's the 6th day of your 10 day southern Idaho archery elk hunt. Your buddy shot a bull three days earlier and is now the designated caller for you. After 15 minutes of your buddy doing a real nice breeding sequence, you sense/hear something to your right and within seconds this guy stops and is giving you the evil eye. Perhaps he saw you move a bit trying to locate him but now it comes to this. You've previously ranged the spot of that cover the bull is standing behind at 35 yards. Shoot or no shot?

If you say "shoot", save the picture to your desktop and open in MS Paint, you'll be able to place a spot, X, or whatever on the critter before you save it back to a jpg and add the marked up pic with your post.

[jackelope]

No shot for me.

[Netminder01]

No shot for me.

 

[pianoman9701]

Nope

[bhawley76]

Not today

[kentrek]

Maybe, he's quartered to me slightly as I've show with the horizontal arrow, but Im not sure if it's enough to make a huge difference if i hold tight to the onside shoulder...i marked the off side Legg with the vertical arrow

The biggest factor is how far away the brush is and if my 10,15,20,25 yard arrow path will clear that lil patch of brush that covers up where I'd want to hit

I passed up a bull in 2015 in a real similar situation because he only gave me a very short amount if time..if I was drawn back and he gave me the time to figure out if its possible I'd probably let it rip

[Timberstalker]

I think he is quartered just too much to catch the back of the lungs.  My two cents.
He gets to live another day.

[Rainier10]

No Shot.

[Big6bull]

I've seen the impack of a small branch deflecting. Tough shot I dunno if I'd shoot

[Labs07]

No shot for me

[Gringo31]

Would be interesting to see all the responses and then make it a 400" bull and see if they hold true to shot or no shot.

[Nice Racks]

I like to think I would wait; especially if your buddy is still calling.  The bull may have caught a glimpse of you moving, but he came in to the advertising that your friend was doing.  I would take a chance and see if his attention would go back on the calling, and perhaps give you a better shot in a few seconds, rather than take that shot.

[Firedogg]

No shot from me no matter how much crap my buddy will flip me. O want to spend the next four days of the hunt trying to locate his big brother instead of chasing this wounded guy around.

[westsidehntr]

I'd have to be there to make that decision. Where those bushes are at between me and the elk would make a big difference. If they are right next to me, I can thread an arrow through them maybe.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I like to think I would wait; especially if your buddy is still calling.  The bull may have caught a glimpse of you moving, but he came in to the advertising that your friend was doing.  I would take a chance and see if his attention would go back on the calling, and perhaps give you a better shot in a few seconds, rather than take that shot.

This is my thought process also.  When I was younger, less calculating and more optimistic, I learned the hard way with both elk and deer, that an archery shot needs to be a clear shot at the vitals, and preferably on an animal that is unaware of you.  I'd rather let them walk than risk wounding them.  I've had - and seen - lucky shots end up as punched tags, but too many don't get recovered in time on suboptimal shots.