You call the shot - quartering away shot for MyBuddy

[Twanger]

Ok, so you're standing in a gully below a little berm and as this buck's head passes behind a tree you draw. Before you can whistle him to a stop he stops quartering slightly away to scratch an itch. Is there a shot here?

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Bucknads-Deer-HardcoreRearView_dot.JPG

[DaveHawk]

LOL when he drops his leg

[My buddy]

nice one.

You know in each of the examples I believe that I could "kill" the deer.
But it is not just about killing for me, it is doing it efficiently.
As a meat hunter I have no desire to leave my deer overnight.
I like to watch them go down.

I pass poor angled shots all the time, but still take around a dozen or more deer a year. Of those deer it seems like only few will ever make it out of sight before going down. In fact, it is rare that I ever wait to retrieve a deer. The only time I give them is the time it takes me to, take in the moment, get down from my treestand, pack my gear and walk over to the spot that they dropped. If I took angled toward shots I don't think that I would have that type of speedy recovery.

[ncboman]

but still take around a dozen or more deer a year.

are you hunting in Md?

[Twanger]

MyBuddy - I'm right there with you in your shot ethics, and personally will wait for quite a while for that first good shot opportunity to present itself. Generally I will only take a "quartering towards" shot if the angle is mild, and if the near-side front leg is forward. I'm so afraid of getting tangled up in that shoulder that I often shoot a little farther back than I'd like.

I thought it was interesting that Davehawk said he'd wait for that buck to put his leg down. I probably would too, but my first inclination was to think - "hmmmm, maybe an arrow could be slipped into that buck's heart just behind that back leg!"

Thanks for playing this game, and please know that I was just poking a little good natured fun here with this picture.

Now, how about some pictures of deer sharply quartering away?... these are not so easy either!

[GF.]

Me, I do like to see that they've gone done quickly, but I wouldn't put it in terms of being able to enjoy watching them go down.

No shot there 'til he drops that hoof, and I really don't like where you put that dot at all--you're already at the rear margin of the near-side lung, and farther back than that as you pass through. That wouldn't be a pretty tracking job, IMO...

This looks like a pretty close shot, so I'd settle the #1 pin an inch or two--make that a solid two inches, actually--under his chin and wait 'til he finishes doin' what he's doin'. He's a slack as he can be, so if you don't screw things up, he's not real likely to disappear in just a heartbeat and it would sure be enlightening to have a half a second to confirm that I'm aiming where I really think I want to...

But even then, I'd be looking at a somewhat meaty entrance wound and a high exit.

Trouble with this one is that he's all contorted. Bird's-eye view, his spine is bent into a C, making the angle a lot farther off of broadside than you would think, and the shot is going to rake through a lot more internals, none of which are really where you'd expect them to be. get right down to it, and he's quartering away in back and quartering towards you in the front.

Then, with his hip hoisted like that, he's showing a lot more belly than is really there, so the upward angle isn't as steep as it looks. And the way he's hunkered down in front.

I really do think the shot here is directly below his chin, and in the middle of that shank. Look at where the hair goes from brisket-brown to belly-white; it's just ahead of that near-side foreleg. That's getting pretty far back, for being that far forward....

Good thing I'm thinking this through at my leisure here, instead of having to make the call in the field, though... My first though thad been to settle the pin right on his nose, but now I think that's too high, too far back, and way too likely to hit bone in the upper leg. There may be a solid spine shot in there, too, but I have no interest in aiming for bone.

[ncboman]

that's a pie shot in 10 seconds or less. :)