There's a phrase and terminology that we have in the archery world that you only hear from time to time. It's called threading the needle. Threading the needle is describing, shooting your arrow through a small hole or opening of "cover or obstruction" to hit the target on the other side. That term is used when a shot has been made that was very well taken, and the results speak for themselves.
However, when we are looking at the anatomy of a deer, anytime we have a well-placed shot on a deer the results speak for themselves. My aim today is to help us understand how shot placement can directly affect our success in tracking, locating, and recovering our harvest buck. Hopefully you have access to some diagrams of deer anatomy to help illustrate some of the topics and will be covering to help give you a visual for shot placement. Becoming more familiar with the deer’s anatomy, bone structure, along with the size, shape and organ placement will help you know where, when and how you should be lining up your shot.
Ethical Shot Placement
Above all we need to put ourselves in the mindset of being an ethical hunter, and wanting to respect the creatures we're pursuing, and want to give the animal the cleanest and humane kill as possible and not spoil or waist the meat of the animal we are attempting to harvest! To do so hands-down for Archers, the best most ethical location for shot placement is the double lung complete pass through! I will also note that elevation plays a vital role in the angle of entry and exit wounds of which the arrow penetrates and travels.
The Whitetail Kill Zone
Fortunately, the Whitetail deer has a large kill zone. The whitetail has two lungs each is about the size of a dinner plate or a size of a bag of potato chips. If you were blessed enough to be taken hunting as a child, any adult role model simply tells us to put the shot right behind the shoulder. I think that it is a great visual, and with a large Killzone this automatically puts you lined up in the correct area. But as far as archery is concerned, there are so many variables that come into account, such as a Deer “jumping string” and I as mentioned the elevation angles can change the dynamics of this rule.
Aiming Behind the Shoulder
We must aim small and miss small. So here we will take that tried-and-true bit of advice for aiming behind the shoulder and taking it to another level to dial in a as you're when settling your pins while at full draw! So, when we say the shoulder, what really are we referring to? Are we comparing what we referred to as a human shoulder? The main thing we need to be concerned about is the leg bones themselves and the shoulder blade. These can deflect an arrows trajectory and from stories that I have heard on lighter poundage bows even stop an arrow entirely. These bones travel up the leg, then point forward towards the neck, and then angle back up towards the spine. If we are referring to “the shoulder”, as far as muscles are concerned, and the shape of the leg mass entirely, you are placing your pin behind the muscles. Meaning you are placing pins 4 inches further back than truly necessary and cutting your kill zone nearly in half.
Shot Angles and Deer Position
Also, we also need to take into consideration that unless we are hunting from the ground and perfectly aligned broadside then the lungs change direction along with position of the deer. You should always wait for a quartering away shot. This moves the legs bones out of the way and maximizing visibility of the abdomen vs a quartering to’ shot would be obstructed by bones. Also, from an elevated position depending on the steepness of the shot angle due to the distance of the target you would be aiming at the entry at the top of the closest lung and anticipating the exit through the bottom of the opposite lung. That is a lot of information to process in the heat of the moment and hanging 20ft above the ground in a tree stand. That’s why it’s critical to know the inner anatomy and bone structures, as to where the organs are located within the chest cavity.
After the Shot
In my experience, once you pull the trigger and let the arrow fly, depending on the distance of the shot, and the quiet or loudness of the bow being used, a Deer’s natural reaction is to drop and turn away. Meaning that if you are naturally aiming a bit high and back, you have potential to completely overshoot the deer or hit a high spine shot. Which is not a good ethical hit! It’s impossible to completely anticipate Deer's movement after releasing the arrow, but through the course of trial and error we can begin to understand what the instinct of the animal will do.
Double Lung Shot
At this point, let's assume all has gone well, and you have been successful in getting a double lung complete pass-through shot, and you've gotten down and went over to collect your arrow. When you inspect your arrow for a double Lung shot, you should see bubbles throughout the blood on the arrow shaft and on the fletching’s. (Blood could look slightly pink or even orange) Air bubbles are always a good sign and depending on the amount of blood found at the location of the shot, you may have already witnessed the Deer fall while you were still in the tree stand. You still may need to give about 45mins to 1hour time to expire.
Liver Shot
There are some other scenarios that come into play that are not as hopeful. Again, the Deer’s vitals are large Killzone area, their lungs are very large because they do have the capacity to run long distances. But let's say you did aim a little further-back behind the shoulder than what you may have originally intended. During the shot the deer heard the bow, reacted and turned away, as you approached the arrow, you can see it’s coated in dark red blood! This very well could indicate a Liver hit. This liver is located directly behind the lungs and forward of stomach, this is where I would consider the dead center mass of the deer.
A liver hit is still a vital organ, however, the time that is needed to allow the animal to expire is much greater than if you had the double lung Shot Placement. At this point, it is best to mark your blood trail and arrow, and back out, allowing the animal to have at least four to six hours to expire. If not, you raise the potential of bumping the buck and never locating him. When picking up the trail, it is good to have some additional help but approach with caution, and still potentially having another arrow knocked just in case the deer stands back up.
Gut Shot
Sometimes, as bowhunters we experience what we like to call Buck Fever! I've had it myself several times and if I ever get to the point where I am not excited when I see a Big Buck or if I no longer get the thrill of the hunt, then it will be time to hang up my boots and take up another hobby! But sometimes in the moment when we're at full draw, we are experiencing buck fever, and we just do not make a good Hit on a deer. I would say the worst-case scenario for shot placement is the gut shot! You can generally tell when you've hit the gut shot as the deer’s natural body reaction is to hunch their back, making a bow in their back looking like they've been punched in the gut. It's happened to us all and we always hate it when it does. If you've ever been in this situation and gotten down to go over to your arrow, it's hard to know exactly what kind of sign you'll find. Most likely you see more of a watery liquid, maybe some feces and only a drop of two of blood. I have been on a few guts shot track jobs and most times it doesn’t end well. It is possible for the Deer to survive, but usually it severely hurts their quality of life. However, it’s highly possible it will end with a fatal wound and an unrecoverable Deer! You still need to give the due diligence of searching for the deer and take every opportunity to locate the Whitetail. For the best chance of success in this is a situation, you may give up to 12 hours for time to expire. It's best to come back in the light of day in hopes that the Deer bedded close to where you last saw it. If not, you can search for the nearest water holes also, bedding areas. Also calling for assistance from a more experienced hunting buddy, with tracking and knowledge and of the lay of the land to locate the deer.
Heart Shot
The final shot I'd like to speak about is one that isn't talked about very often, but I have found myself having this shot placement and harvest a few times. That’s the Heart Shot! The heart shot in my opinion is not as good of a shot location as the double long shot because it does not always produce an constant blood trail for the track job.
However, if you've ever experienced how strong and how powerful the will to live is with these creatures, even the perfect placed shot can still lead to over a mile of tracking. The Heart Shot can be one of the quickest kills and tracking, but often after they’re hit, they take off in a dead run. “Fast hard sprint in a single direction”. However, with little to no blood to follow it can be devastating even with the perfect shot.
One telltale sign of a heart shot is what we referred to as the mule kick. That's when the deer kicks up his hind legs and then takes off and "dead run". There's been an occasion after a heart shot that we did not find a single drop of blood, but came across the white belly of a deer, just less than 70 yards away from where the deer had been standing. The heart is located a bit more forward and the chest cavity and a bit lower. Often this is my point of reference and releasing the arrow with the anticipation of a drop and turn instinct from the Deer. If that instinct occurs, it usually ends in a perfect double long shot. If not, then worst case scenario, I have a perfect heart shot.
Final Thoughts
Again, one thing that I have noticed is even with a perfectly placed shot, we still must be mindful about the blood Trailing Track job as these are very strong and resilient creatures. Take plenty of time in preparation during the off-season to put yourself into different scenarios. If possible, I would recommend shooting out of a concealed position like a hunting blind on a 3-D deer shaped target at different distances and angles. Hopefully this is giving you a little bit of insight and a little bit of encouragement to step out of your comfort zone and thread the needle this season!
Remember the more encounters and shot opportunities you have the more confident you will become during the heat of the moment The great Wayne Gretzky’s once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!” This rings true for bow hunting as well, if you’re still pursuing your first archery harvest, then don’t give up. Keep practicing and pushing yourself to learn and grow and one day you’ll be sure to Thread the Needle!