Shot Placement.... a bit far back

BRICKBURN

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I took a screen shot of after seeing the Outfitters description of the shot on FB.
For some reason the screen shot image managed to place a vertical line on just about the perfect shot placement.

I'd say the arrow placement was a tad further off than "a bit". Anyone guess how many feet?
(everyone misses, but ...)




Screenshot 2024-03-21 at 02.56.33.png
 
I’m so glad I’ve never taken video of any of my hunts…… having said that, if that was an impala it would’ve been a clean miss. That animal suffered a lot before dying. Hopefully it hit a main artery. People post way too many things before engaging the brain.
 
I’d say pretty close to 2 1/2 feet IF you want the arrow just catching the edge of the shoulder. Not sure I’d trust most arrows to penetrate the shoulder……. Big animals with big bones.
Bruce
 
There are so many youtube videos of poorly hit animals it astounds me. We do people post videos of bad shooting:unsure:
Mostly I think because they don't know the difference between bad shooting and ethical shooting. Or they do know and don't care = no ethics.

Sometimes sh*t happens. I recently watched an episode of a well known influencer's African hunting show where he knocked down a big kudu bull with a long shot late in the afternoon. By the time they could get the vehicle to the other side of the valley, it was dark and too dangerous to go looking for the animal. Had to wait till the next morning. It was a fabulous bull in excess of 60" and fortunately nothing messed with it during the night. But obviously a big animal like that would be soured laying so long without being dressed. His usual enthusiasm was visibly dampened. He readily admitted it was a mistake to shoot that late in the day. I have to wonder if maybe it wasn't the PH's mistake letting him shoot so late. Clearly the PH not the client knew the lay of the land.
 
If I could perhaps be allowed to differ a bit . . .

Anyone who hunts enough will make a bad shot from time to time . . . and frankly, I don't believe anyone who says they've never made a bad shot. We practice, we try our best, but sometimes we fail. When we do that, and the animal is wounded, we have to redouble our efforts to find the animal and end its suffering. And then practice some more.

But to pretend that bad shots don't happen, or to refuse to show them or talk about them, implies or suggests that there's been some intention involved, and I'd think that's very rarely the case (though I have heard of it).

There's nothing wrong with being honest and honestly appraising your shot and saying "I made a bad shot." In fact, it's a good thing. I know of young hunters who make a bad shot and feel as if they're the only one who's ever done that. I reassure them and get "but I never hear about it."

Well, read some of my hunt reports on this site and you'll see that I admit to making bad shots when they happen. And they do happen ( a certain mountain nyala comes immediately to mind . . .). If I'm ever completely calm and composed when looking at an animal through my scope . . . well, that will be the day I give up hunting.

Having said that, this particular shot on the eland was way too far back and they were lucky to recover it. It was a bad shot and not saying so does everyone, and most of all the hunter, a dis-service.
 
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When I hunted Caracal with my bow the dog handler was really tense.
It dawned on me that he may have seen a few “a bit off” shots on cats and the resulting injuries to his dogs.
You should have seen the smile when the big cat dropped out of the trees dead from a perfect heart shot. Thankfully, I was on that day.

We all miss, the “a bit” was somewhat trying in this case.
 
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