Full frontal

[archery288]

NO WAY!!!    I shot a big 3x5 blacktail at 16 yards facing me head on 5 years ago...  I had just shot my first bear ever that morning and we had just got back to the truck and headed down the mountainside at 2 in the afternoon..  Everything seemed great and things were about to get better! It had been pouring down rain all morning and had finally stopped.. But the bushes were soaked with water.. First problem..  We were driving and happened to glance over to our left and here stood this monster blacktail!!    We kept driving and stopped down the road a bit.. I got out and snuck back up the road and to my disbelief that buck was still standing there feeding on the bushes..  We never would have guessed he would have stayed.. I ranged him with my range finder and 16 yards - slam dunk! Pulled back and wouldn't you know it - he turns to face me head on from being broadside.. His posture changed from calm to alert as he was about to run.. Second mistake..  I anchored in and placed the pin in the center of his chest and released.. Didn't get any better - clean pass through and stuck in the dirt on the backside...  That buck took off blood spraying everywhere... He ran around the top end of a canyon hillside and bedded down. We didn't know he had bedded at the time.. We gave him about 30 min and in the middle of tracking him we all looked at each other and couldn't believe how much blood was all over the bushes and tree limbs etc..  However, the blood was getting mixed in with all the water and disappearing quickly...    We came upon his bed, blood in the bed, and figured he would be dead shortly.. Honestly we couldn't believe he got out of his bed... We waited about another half hour and then kept tracking..  We came upon another bed with hardly any blood in it at all and blood was starting to get scarce...  It started pouring down rain by this point, and we kept tracking him before the blood was washed away... Finally the blood disappeard after almost a mile track job.. I swore after that incident I would never take another head on shot on an animal with a bow! I was so sick with myself after that as he was a big blacktail buck!!  My dad and hunting partner "littlejohn" can contest to this that day...

I have heard to many stories from guys coming in the archery shop that have taken head on shots... Not something I would recommend with a bow...

[NWBREW]

Rifle...yes, and I have right in the neck. Bow...I don't believe so. That's just me

[ML_Hunter]

A head shot with a bow is not too bright.  The arrow can deflect off the skull or you can make a square hit and not get your arrow back.  The one shot I've seen that took the deer down with a head shot with a bow cracked the arrow shaft in several areas, I'm surprised it did not shatter.  If your confident with your shot a neck shot would be the way to go and sever the spinal cord.  I would not aim at the chest of the deer for what happen to you could happen again.  My cousin hunts archery out east and I've hunted with him a few times, he will not hesitate with that shot and has taken two that I know of this way.  Myself, well i'm not too comfortable with a bow so I would not. 

[Snapshot]

No.

[JBar]

Well I just experiencing this for the second time in 22 years yesterday and I can tell you it worked both times. But as with anything stuff could go wrong and not every shot will work the same every time. First time maybe 5 years ago I got a clean pass through with the deer only going 20 yards and piling up heavy blood the whole way, the arrow pretty much cleaned house. My deer yesterday traveled almost 100 yards leaving a heavy blood trail. In the second case the deer was uphill 25 yards away, the arrow buried to the fletch. After gutting I did a quick look and to my surprise the lungs and heart were still intact. The shot wasn't low enough in the chest and with the upward angle it missed the vital organs only cutting arteries  that I could tell. So with that said I am currently pondering what I would do next time 

[PA BEN]

Yes

[RippinLips]

Yes. And I have. Very effective kill shot.

\ as long as your between the blades its straight into the vitals.

[carpsniperg2]

there is a sweet spot right to the side of the neck on both sides. not very big but a well placed arrow with a hard hitting bow. will take down any animal around here. but it is a risky shot if you do not shoot a whole bunch, and very capable of hitting a small target. i would not take that shot. i have taken 2 animals with this shot. one elk and a bear. the elk with a bow and the bear with a rifle.

[MAVsled]

I did once and ever after pass on the full frontal shot...

Off Tiger Mtn, mid 1980's. Late hunt, either sex and my equipment was a Jennings T-Star compound bow. Nothing like the bows of today and the sight pins were metal-fingernail polished on the tips, shooting with 3 finger archery glove
.
A little November snow on the ground as I moved my way through the timber. A 2 point peeks around a douglas fir at me about 20 yard away, I freeze and gaze downward but keeping the blacktail buck in sight. He comes around the tree and I draw. the buck turns and immediately faces me offering nothing but full frontal, no angle. Buck walks towards me edging closer. The pin goes on his chest and I release, watching the arrow hit squarely in the front chest. The buck whirls and away he goes. Wait 45 minutes (felt much longer!) and I start the trailing. good blood after a few yards and then more. But I had snow which helped as the blood went to a trickle. then jumped the buck and he started to sneak around me. I sent another arrow into the sweet pocket/armpit broadside and off the buck went again. He collapsed into a snowy old logging road and wouldn't you know it, 5 hikers came up that road about the time I reached it and the buck. let me tell you, they gave me several dirty looks and some comments but off they went.

upon inspection, the first arrow hit center and after little penetration the wound channel moved off to the side, under the skin but only in that thin meat layer. It exited just past the front leg, low & outside of the rib cage. If it wasn't for the 2nd shot, that buck would have moved on and probably healed up.

[Machias]

Nope, wouldn't do it, for every sucess I would venture to say there are dozens of wounded deer.  There is such a small area, a slight miss or slightest movement and your looking at a wounded deer.  Personally, NOPE!

[bow4elk]

Um, this is a low-percentage shot and should be avoided!

Shooting big game head on is proven to be a "Hail Mary" shot at best and while everyone has their own definition of personal ethics, I'm surprised that so many would not simply wait for the animal to turn.  And if the response is, "Well, if they are head on looking at me, they might not turn slowly enough for me to get a shot".  To that, I say oh well.  People shouldn't be shooting at alert game head on for this very reason - deer can drop and turn to run causing the arrow to hit the shoulder blade or who-knows-where.

Don't be greedy.  Respect the game we pursue.  Avoid frontal shot angles.  Bow hunting can be frustrating and passing up low-percentage shots is part of the responsibility you have when carrying a bow afield.  Save the head, neck, and frontal shot angles for bullets.  Broadheads are designed to kill by causing hemorrhaging (massive blood loss).  The optimal way to kill any game animal with an arrow is to pierce the heart/lung vital organs.

Passing low-percentage shots is more admirable than "sticking one"  

[huntnnw]

yep

[Ironhead]

Well said Bow4Elk.

[danceswitharrows]

Bow4elk I could not have said it any better 

[bow4elk]

I'm an IBEP/NBEF and state certified (WA & OR) hunter/bowhunter education instructor.  I have always felt that ethics has more to do with non-hunting support than safety.  Not to undermine the importance of safety but nothing angers people more than sloppy hunters with poor eithics and respect for game. Again, my    Take it or leave it.