would you ?

[snowy1]

i went hunting sambar on friday /saterday

i found a 24 inchers laying down at 30 meters ,he stood but offered no shot apart from his rear end :mad:

i got up at 4 am saterday and went back with the head torch on and half an hour after day break i found him at 60 meters ,....again no shot :mad:

i found some kangaroos later in the arvo in my area i was staking ,i got to 4 metres of them only to have them get anoyed with me and hop off,

a sambar that was in the high 20s(28 inches plus) stood when the kangas hopped off and trotted off in to the scrub behind where he was bedded ,
he didnt go to far and stopped ,

i got an arrow on the string and it took me half and hour to get thru the foliage and finally i could see antlers.

i couldnt however see any part of his body ,apart from his right ear at 25 meters .

would you take that shot from 25 meters ,???

would a 100 grain g5 broad head penetrate the head from that distance ,
i have taken dozens of sambar with the rifle but was not sure if an arro would bring him down .?

i didnt and im in a way both happy and completly shattered that i couldnt see any part of his body

snowy

[Piggy]

Mate you made the right choice I have no doubt you will get another chance in time.

Cheers


Paul

[Rock Steady]

You did the correct thing, heads shoots are for rifles. (except rabbits:)) Had a poachers on a mates property once, when they where running the goats through the pens he noticed a ribteck embedded in the base of one of the horns. One mans stock is another is a poachers game.

[hunt or be hunted]

No way would i ever shoot anything bigger then a fox in the head with a bow. definatly not the right thing to do IMO.

Good choice Snowy.




Dan.

[robvic]

Where was he again???lol I probably wouldnt of taken the shot with the bow unless i had a clear shot of his vitals.
Having said that, surely his brain must be classed as a vital??
If i was after a trophy like that, i wouldnt aim at the head regardless because i wouldnt want to damage the head...or skull cap.

[Antarcher]

Very hard to be that close and never get a shot, but you made the right choice. We have covered head shots with arrows before on here and the reasons why it is not a high percentage shot. The animals head has a relatively small kill zone and there is plenty of heavy bone at angles that are condusive to deflecting arrows. Very high chance of a nasty wound without the necessary penetration to the brian. Hit in the snout, mouth or jaw are all possibilties that would make for an unhappy day/life for the beast and yourself for doing the damage. Given that the arrow is going for the head, the animal may easily spy and dodge the arrow and again make for a poor hit. Also deer are prone to move their head at the slighest sound, like a bow shot, and this too could make it turn out bad. They also could move to eat at any time. There are too many iffy factors when going for head shots on larger game that it is way too risky to do it with an arrow.

No doubt that if it hits square, an arrow can kill on a head shot, but all the things that can go wrong outweigh the positives. It's the same deal with taking a shot at the back legs, yes it will kill if you hit femoral artery, but you can never guarantee that you will hit it. This is why the heart/lung shot is the one you strive for. An arrow in the boiler room means a quick clean kill and it a large area to target.

With a bullet it is a different story as the projectile is on the animal before it knows it has been shot at, but an arrow takes longer to get there and allows an animal to react and guess what moves first every time? It sucks sometimes to be a bowhunter in these situations, but it isn't always about the kill remember. That encounter will be recounted with almost as much vigour as any kill and not likely to be forgotten any time soon, for the same simple reasons you have put up here, "I was so close but just couldn't get the shot". It will also make the taking of that stag all the more sweeter. Just getting that close to such a fine animal is an achievement in itself.

[XTfreak]

In my opinion you did right letting him go.
It is tough to let them go when you are so close.
It is even tougher living with yourself if you wound him and then can not find him, never knowing if he recovered or died a long slow death.
You will get him next time Iam sure...
Bill

[robvic]

Thanks antarcher for that great information. I never knew, or thought of a lot of that. After reading that, snowy sure did make the right decision.http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0012.gifhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0012.gifhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0012.gifhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0012.gifhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0012.gif

[steviebby]

sounds like you did the right thing

[dazza]

rifle yes bow no,years ago while hunting with rifle i was watching a spiky about 60 meters away across a gully,a few sticks crackled 10 meters bellow me and up popeda set of spikes and the back of the young sambars head ,he was watching his mate also.Over the next 15 mins or so i shot him about 20 times with my imaginarry bow,till he joined his mate ,back then iprobly would have taken the shot having a instant killzone so close.well done to

[rory]

Well done on simply being that close to a sambar stag!

Though I do know it is a long second place from killing him ;)

You did the right thing, such a big critter would have made it tricky.

You'll get the pin on his heart next time ;) :)

[Bowdy]

Well done Snowy,
You definitely done the right thing on both counts.
I personally wouldn't take a Texas heart shot at a Sambar Stag even under twenty yards, it's not even an option for me.
As for the head shot, a fox is the biggest animal I would head shot with a Broad-Head period.
Grant.

[Piggy]

Bowdy, I once shot a fox at 10m with the compound and the broadhead hit him in the head, deflected and went straight up in the air (he had his nose to the ground), the fox just ran around in circles, rolled on the ground got up and took off. I have no doubt that he just got one hell of a head ache.

[Bowdy]

Piggy,
Yeah, with their head pointing down it's not a good option I totally agree.
But, whistling in a fox where they are coming straight in at you with their head held up looking for the cause of the distress sometimes it's the only shot on offer.
Now I'm not saying to take your only shot on offer in all circumstances on any animal, but on a fox this is a high percentage shot for me and I have had 100% success with it and never hesitate to take it, because it is so devastating at under twenty yards which is at the limit I would take that shot.
Grant.

[lemmiwinks]

Simple rule to follow. anything with horns or antlers no headshot. Anything else as long as its point blank a headshot is fine IMO.

[howie]

Similar story, I passed up a shot on a pretty darn good fallow buck 2 years ago cause of branches over its chest, yeah - I might of got the arrow thru but at the time I wasn't happy with the shot so I passed it up, he was never to be seen again. He would of been my biggest buck taken as well. I just put it down to hunting experience and my time will come. Simple as that champ.
Head shots aren't an option with archery tackle...

[Jason1]

Mate you did the right thing.

[snowy1]

i went and had a nother try after sambar :rolleyes:

the swag was in the car and i headed bush ,
it was late at night when i finally arrived and i set the alarm for 4 am , :o
it was a great day to be in the bush and it wasnt long before i caught an ear in the binoculars , the deer was bedded beside a large blackened peperment gum down hill from me and acording to the range finder at 197 meters
i spent the next 3 hours making my way down the gully only to find the further i went the more deer i found ,a small spiker ,two yearlings a small calf and the doe i had see first .
this was kinda cool and i enjoyed the few hours it took me to get in to bow range ,
watching the family doing their thing
i hit the range finder and the small spiker was 45 m ; covered in foliage but feeding towards me so i wasnt concerned as i thought id let him get in to the clear gully floor before id take a shot .
not great pics but only taken with a small digital (how many can you find ) ;D
http://www.users.on.net/~snowy1/rossy/red%20stag/sambar%20001.jpg
i was mucking about taking pictures when IT was at this moment that i spotted a sambar doe at less than 25 meters looking at me from behind a blackened pepermint gum ,, ::) :-[,,,bugger i had been watching the wrong deer !
i knew it was going to go all pear shapped any moment but couldnt do any thing as she started the sambar foot stommping which allerted all the others ,
one honk and 7 deer ran of leaving me all alone
i climbed out of that gully and wanderd of to find some more and when i poked over in to the gully head i found these two at 57 meters,
http://www.users.on.net/~snowy1/rossy/red%20stag/sambar%20006.jpg
http://www.users.on.net/~snowy1/rossy/red%20stag/sambar%20007.jpg,
i closed only 10 meters on them ,but they were fairly wired and an arrow wouldnt have got to them before they bolted ,
it was a great day ,, seeing 9 sambar deer ,
http://www.users.on.net/~snowy1/rossy/red%20stag/sambar%20003.jpg
not shooting a thing but i had fun

snowy

[Antarcher]

Very much a great day there Snwoy, infact a grand one to be in the vicinity of that many Sambar. That gully sounds like a cracker a nd a real find. Top effort all round mate

[ricochet]

Well done snowy, sounds like a great day out, and seeing so many deer tops it off.

Cheers,
Rick:)

[howie]

You will get one soon buddy, your got the determination and skill - keep at it. howie

[brucester]

Looking forward to seeing one on the ground, with those kind of numbers mate it's not far off surely. Cool pics, saw nothing in the first one, that's concealment for ya.
cheers
bruce

[Mark P]

Sounds like you had a great expierence, and good to read about your day, thank god for the thermos, great photos, I will catch you at the next shoot at Jindera, Mark

[robvic]

Onya mate....your doing better than me. Great report and top photos. I just knocked off work for a few days, so im hopefully heading out this afternoon for a few hours. Your story has made me want to get back out there even more than i already do!!