Tuesday’s Take Your Best Shot: Archery Whitetail
OutdoorHub Staff 10.17.17
Scenario: Whitetail buck walking under a bowhunter’s treestand
Bow: Mathews HALON 32
Range: 17 yards
Conditions: Sunny, 45 degrees, calm wind
October whitetails can vanish mysteriously like your lunch in the office breakroom refrigerator. Shazam! Thanks to a nearby food plot, this Nebraska buck appeared out of nowhere below your stand, and if you keep your cool, he would be your best bowhunting buck to date. Is it now or later? Put your Nikon rangefinder aside and consider the shot angles. Check out the possible aiming points A, B or C shown below, then take your best shot.
A. Follow the back half way toward the head and plant your broadhead right into the buck’s central nervous system. You might break his back, the arrow could pierce right through into the vitals, or your broadhead may simply lodge in the vertebrae. It’s risky all around, but an option with more good than bad.
B. Talk about a tight window. Your next option is to slide your Carbon Express shaft past the left hip and into the back of the paunch. Hopefully your bow has enough energy to drive your G5 broadhead into the heart and lung region. I doubt if it will make it.
C. There’s always the Texas-heart-shot option. Instead of a middle-of-the-rear aiming point, you’ll want to shift your aim a smidgeon left to take into account the buck’s slight quartering position. Good luck with this one because the odds for success are not great, but you might hit the femoral artery, or slice through veins feeding the rear quarters. You might also hit a bone roadblock.
Made up your mind?
This buck has no signs of paranoia and is here for one thing: brassicas! Let this buck get busy browsing and then wait for him to turn broadside for a textbook shot and a fairy tale ending. Good night, Cinderella, and sleep well after an easy recovery.
