Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting The frontal shot.

Don't get mad. I shoot stuff in the eye sometimes.

Oh I ain't mad, I suspected I'd get just what I got.

A 80 pound pronghorn is one thing, plus it's not like he's going to run off into the timber. Stupid shot on deer or elk and anyone with experience will tell you that a single lung hit is anything but quick. Basic anatomy, and odds aren't with the archer on a frontal angle. Poor shot selection, period.

Yeah, what do I know, I've only bow hunted elk since 1989.

...in 6 states...

Well I guess we should make an exception for you given your years of experience and expansive geographic territory. Fact is you should be smarter than this by now. Frontal shots are stupid, period.

I've only bow hunted for 36 years

33 for me.

I know where the friggen lungs are.

I talked to an elk guide in salmon Idaho......he said he quit bowhunting elk. He said he would call em in and end up trying frontal shots....kept losing them.

"There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the center of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good......but when she was bad, she was HORRID."

I'm still on the fence. Done it one time on a whitetail and it worked great, he was wobbling from the first step and plowing dirt by the 3rd. I guess I'd let the situation dictate what I was going to do. I'll take it if I am sure I can make it just right, but if I have any doubts I'll hold off.

I've been trying for an archery bull elk for about 5 years now, and last year I had probably a half dozen chances where I could have shot but distance was 60 yards and I'd imposed a 50 yard limit on myself. I trust myself pretty well to not get carried away if the shots not there. But at 20 yards, calm animal, wind and angle just right, I might take that shot.

It's beyond you, that much is obvious. We both know where the lungs are. It's very hard for some to grasp, but you play percentages and in time, with frontals, your odds are greater of wounding. If that doesn't bother you, we'll carry on. Stupid shot on an elk.

IF thats the case you should know that a straight on frontal shot will not get both and that not getting both is not a good thing.

What the frontal shot is good for is the heart and top pipes off of it.

IF you hit the hollow spot all is good.

Beyond that its too easy to deflect as the ribs are set up overlapping from the front. Forming the start of a bony shield if you will, that can deflect an arrow. Not saying it will but with anything but especially a bow, you are supposed to be thinking take solid high percentage shots.

Again the ethics are yours and carry on. Just don't need to be convincing the rest of us that your ethics makes for our best shot. kind of like convincing us that all jews are bad...

No, it's not 'beyond me'. I've trailed single lunged elk from broadside shots, it can be tough, really tough...and not much fun.

What you fail to grasp is that even a one lunged elk from a frontal will slice through most of the entire lung from front to back, not just put a neat little hole in it. Massive hemmoraging ensues. The heart and arteries are almost guaranteed to get clipped by a proper frontal as well.

Believe.

Believe what? Let me type slow so you can grasp. Punch one lung broadside or front to back produces a deflated lung, period! Same ugly scenario and an animal with plenty of stamina to make a tracking job very difficult, sometimes impossible. If you can hit the heart or the top of it every time, and even you aren't that good, then another story. But that's nobody, no disrespect, it's a percentages game and you will get burned. Carry on.

I killed a coot with a 9 volt battery one time.

I remember reading an article by Fred Bear about "should you take this shot?" It was a deer "frontal" he said only take the shot if you can routinely hit a baseball at twenty yards.

In frontal shots one must be aware of elevation differences between target and archer,and try to avoid the urge to "sneak" it past the shoulder blade.

The video the OP posted does show a VERY humane harvest. It would seem odd to try and refute the footage.

Hey, an open mind!

Thanks Angus!

I used to regularly dispatch coons with a 7 iron. All my critics said I had to use a least a 3 iron.

Ghost,

Thought you might be stirring a big pot with your question. I think it all comes down to what the individual feels is a clean way to kill the animal. My personal limit is 60 yards, broadside, under PERFECT conditions. Frontal would be 25 or less, because you need to put that shot ON THE RIGHT HAIR and not within a 6"-8" circle. If someone doesn't want to take a frontal shot due to their personal concern over making a clean kill I respect that. However, if they are against the shot in general and speak poorly of me for taking it, then that is a different matter. It is a very deadly shot if done correctly, as is a broadside one. The comment about shooting one in the hams is purely asinine.

On an elk the frontal offers a decent sized hole to put the arrow in. Most hardcore elk guys say its about 7-8". That's an easy shot at close range, which is the only range I'd ever take this shot.

On a smaller animal like an antelope, the arrow will blow through the animal like butter. My shot went through the honey hole at the base of the neck and exited through the anus.

I'm sure that came as a *shocking* surprise to the coot...