Frontal Shots? (Archery)

[Intruder]

 

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

I like full frontal...

[Hornseeker]

Well Guys...I dont kill anything with my bows...as much time as I try..so this is all second hand.. of all the hunters I know, the most successful one PRAISES the frontal and likes it better than ANY shot possible, even a pure broadside... funny huh. He does have conditions that have to be met though, and many of you/us will not meet them...

Heavy Bow (65+)
Heavy Arrow (500+, preferrably 600+)
Close Range (no more than about 15-18 yards, closer better)
KNOW where to hit (he knows...I really dont)
Confidence

There are guys..and I actually think Bone is one of them...that just know how to kill an animal... some of these guys WILL take shots at about ANY angle...and will recover their game quickly...at least as often as "us" guys taking the so called, "ethical" shots...

Just my .02  (and the .02's of many friends)

PS...I also have other friends that have killed upwards of 20 elk with their bows that would never take a frontal.....again! :0)

[MountainWalk]

i have seen it work on elk twice, by the same person. i have never shot an elk with my bow. i have done it on whitetails at fairly close range,i e, yards and under.  ive blasted elk head on with a rifle and dropped them like bad habits.

[Opportunist]

I've done it twice, once on purpose and once on accident.

My first bull I called in to bow, of course he came in straight on so I took the shot at 12 yards trying to slip it in at the base of the neck into the brisket. I was ignorant. I got 4 inches of penetration and left the broadhead in the bull. No blood after a 100 yards, no recovery, a 5x4 bull was killed by a rifle hunter in the same area a month later with a broadhead buried in his brisket. Lesson learned the hard way, DON'T TAKE FRONTAL SHOTS. I'm a self taught bowhunter, in fact my dad hates bowhunting. So everything I've learned has been through hardknocks.

 Five years later while bowhunting Eastern Oregon I called in a bull for a friend of mine. The nice 6 point was coming in on a leash but I called in a satelite spike that came into my right. The spike spooked and ran to the right. The 6 heard the spike run off so he switched direction at 40 yards towards the spike, which set me up for the shot. The bull stopped broadside slightly quartering towards on a steep hillside. The bull was at 30 yards and he saw me draw, so he was staring at me. When I released my fletching whirred and the bull whirled into the shot and I shot him in the throat. It was so quick I wasn't even sure where I hit him. We gave him thirty minutes and started tracking him out when I heard him start coughing, he only went 60 yards. I had shot him in the windpipe. This is what i call complete *censored*house luck that I killed that bull. A bulls ribs from the front are setup anatomically like a sheild from the front or quartering towards, very easy for an arrow to deflect left or right. The throat and jugulars combined are about a 3 inch target. Broadside double lung only on elk!

I'll never intentionally take a frontal shot!

[GoldTip]

I never have taken that shot on an elk, but I would if given the right circumstances, there is a completely non-bony window from the front, and at less than 20 yards I would take the shot if all circumstances were correct.  I have passed on that shot in the past as well, as I didn't feel everything was just right.

[vanhornhunter]

Here is a link to site I found pretty interesting.
http://www.inberg.ca/hunting_essentials/elk_anatomy_&_shot_placement.htm

[bullchaser]

vanhornhunter, Nice link thanks for the info very informative.

[Opportunist]

Very good link. Wish I had read that 20 years ago when I started bowhunting.

[boneaddict]

Very good information.

[Todd_ID]

I've killed several elk with a frontal shot with a bow.  They don't go near as far as they do with my broadside shots, in my experience.  I don't recommend the shot for a new hunter, because I feel that knowledge and skills are what it takes to make the shot a lethal one.  Many times this is the only shot you'll ever get on a bull you're calling in, and it'll probably be close.  I am confident in my abilities and can make a shot like this with a bull staring me down, but it does take nerves of steel.  They don't jump the string like a whitetail does.

[WDFW-SUX]

I love to see a wound pic of a frontal shot if anyone has one

[Todd_ID]

Just watch ASAT Camo's video, "Feed the Addiction"....I think there's three of them in there from the same morning, all with a bow.  All of them barely stumbled out of video range before tipping over.  They all left buckets of blood.

There's few other angles that give you a chance at heart, 1 lung, liver and a major artery.  They pour out quick, but you've got to make the shot count.  Anywhere inside the hollow of the collar bone (the same as you've got on your neck) will get to the heart as long as it's not too steep downhill: uphill shots will get an artery, lung and liver.  There's no obstructions, and it's only about 11-12" into the heart from the front. 

If there's any shake at all in your sight pins, then let down and hope for the broadside shot, though.  A wounded animal would be a bad thing!  (And, yes, I've lost animals with my bow, but never a frontal shot.)

[bowhuntin]

Here is a video of one from Oregon

[Opportunist]

We all make decisions in the woods about shot placement based on our experiences and skill, but elk are the toughest animal to kill to kill in north america and taking a low percentage shot like a frontal is a bad idea. Better off changing your setup in calling so you don't end up with a bull straight on.

 I don't care if it was shown on a video, there is alot of stupid *censored* on videos. I'm teaching my son to bowhunt this year and I'm using a handful of videos for my son to watch on how not to do it. Broadside double lung or slightly quartering away is the only shot on elk.

 To me it's sad to even be discussing this with other bowhunters who regard it as a viable shot, I'd rather wait for the broadside shot and eat my tag than take a desperation shot like a frontal just to fill my tag.