I was fortunate enough to listen to a lecture presented by Kevin Robertson (Doctari)

After that I bought his shot placement book as well as the DVD.

And with the shots I have taken I applied a few guidelines he talks about in his book and DVD and if I did my job and make sure of the shot the arrow connect with the vitals and the animal is normally down with in 50 yards.

Here is a couple of photos of animals I have drawn in the vital triangle in yellow and the red dot indicate where I would want to place the arrow.

The main goal is to hit the top of the hart and achieve a double lung shot.

What this shot does is cut of both the blood flow by cutting the aorta as well as puncturing the lungs.

It also allow for the biggest target to allow for the shooter to make mistakes and still hit the vitals.

If your shot goes higher you still hit the lungs.

Little lower and you hit the hart.

Little forward and you should hit the front parts of the lungs.

Back and you may still get lungs or liver.

I have only used quartering away or broad side photos as I believe as bow hunters we should not take a quartering towards, face on or walking away shot on animals.

With a rifle thats a different story.

So let have a look at the animals and let me know if you agree or not.

If you do not agree let me know why you do not agree as I might also make mistakes..... lol

Impala



When the Impala is broad side I use the horizontal line where the light and dark comes together on the shoulder.

Kudu



Bushbuck



Gemsbuck



Zebra



Look for the inverted SGT stripes on the shoulder...

Leopard

The vitals for cats are not on the same spot as where one would normally aim. You have to go further back than normally.



Blue Wildebeest

On the kudu and gemsbok it looks like the shot is too far forward and would pass thru in front of the opp. shoulder.looks like the triangle should be a couple inches farther back. That is just my opinion after looking at my PS book.

I'm a little curious. Are you saying that the red dot is the best placement but the triangle is still within the vital area? And if that's true the triangle must surely extent too high on the animals body.

the chef

If you look at the animal while standing broad side you will see the following 3 points on the body.



You will see that these points are actually the shoulder bone that creates these points.

If you connect these points with lines you will find the vital triangle and your vital oregans (Lungs & hart) will be right in the middle of this triangle.



You must also remember to take into account how the animal is standing. If he is slightly quartering towards or away from you you have to adjust the lines to hit the middle of the imaginary triangle.



If you place a shot in the middle of this imaginary triangle you will hit both lungs and the top part of the hart.

Hit a little high, left, right or below that middle of the vital triangle and you will still hit your vital organs to ensure a clean kill

quote:

Originally posted by Ej:
On the kudu and gemsbok it looks like the shot is too far forward and would pass thru in front of the opp. shoulder.looks like the triangle should be a couple inches farther back. That is just my opinion after looking at my PS book.

You are right,

One must also remember to where you want your arrow to exit on the animal.

You can also use the opposite front leg as reference point to help determine how the animal is standing.

What you can also look for when you have an animal quartering away from you like the Gemsbok is look at the space between the front legs.

Draw a vertical line to cut the space in half and take that line up to and one third of the body and you will be on the vital area of the animal.



Tanks for pointing that out.

Thanks for offering these data. Very interesting.
Especially a very sound advice :

“One must also remember to where you want your arrow to exit on the animal.

You can also use the opposite front leg as reference point to help determine how the animal is standing.

What you can also look for when you have an animal quartering away from you like the Gemsbok is look at the space between the front legs.”

Having the arrow exiting between the 2 front legs when the animal is standing broadside or slightly quartering get you assured that the arrow is whizzing through the heart or the large blood vessels above the heart.....fort most of the animals (cats, giraffe......apart).

Though you’re dead on, I am shy of shooting too close to the humerus or the shoulder blade. Instinctively I am shooting just a little further back. Perhaps because I lost a roe deer, my arrow having been deflected by the “dreadful shoulder blade” or maybe because I react as though using a rifle, a bullet through the “shoulders” ruining the shoulder’s meat.???

A nice thread, indeed

Looks good to me.

Looks good to me. I just wait untill they are broadside. Then it's strait up the center of the front leg and the lower third of the body.

On this guy here.



I'd try and hit about three to four inches in front of that spot (ie. towards the head). I know this seems counter-intuitive. If you could be assured of a straight penetration path of your arrow your aim point is dead on. In my experience on animals with some pretty heavy rib bones the arrow penetrating on a straight path is not a safe bet when they are quartering away. Quartering away bow shots on bigger animals tend to "dig in" and turn quite a bit. This phenomena will cost you penetration as well. In this case, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the arrow exited well behind the opposite side leg. In fact maybe even quite a bit further back than you would like.

Totally broadside is best. But if you're faced with only a quartering away shot or nothing. Cheat forward and try to envision it coming out just in front of the opposite leg. If the arrow doesn't turn you still get a solid vital hit if it does turn you're still securely in the vitals. On small to medium sized critters the turn effect isn't worth worrying about. On something the size of a Wildebeast it's worth considering.

Yes this guy isn't turned much but it doesn't take much.

quote:

Originally posted by jbderunz:
“One must also remember to where you want your arrow to exit on the animal.

Where you want your arrow to exit is probably one of the golden rules.

If you aim for that spot instead of where you want the arrow to enter you should be taking LDP's with in a 100 yards.

Gerhard

Nice, good work, but the leopard is quatering towards you, to hit the heart on a leopard one must move your point of aim back - as in all cats - that pic the leopard is quatering away and I would move my aim one to two dots to the left (closer to the shoulder) i would shoot it where the blue dot is.



the impala is also a bit far forward taking into account that it is quatering away, but it would kill non the less just not in the centre. the height is right but i would shoot it where the blue dot is



Here is a nice one also of a bluewildebees - i would shoot him where the blue dot is



In general all plainsgame animals with the exception of the wildebeest blue and black as well as the gemsbuck, your shot would be straight between the legs on third of the way up the body, imagine there is a ball hanging between its legs and you want to hit it everytime. with the exceptions named above a shot slightly behind the shoulder but hugging it is required.

but nice, well done Gerhard

Ps - hoeveel soek jy vir daai kudu bul? my gat krap al baie lank vir silke bul - wil hom graag op voet jag, geweer ov boog? Dankie

Thanks for the info 458Aubs.

Those blue dots are all in the kill zone as well.

PS,

Dis boog jag maar die plaas is toe vir die jaar. Sorry man