When bow hunting, and you have a deer at say 20 or 30 yards, do you aim below their belly if they are on alert? Also, do you aim low on a deer who doesn't know you are there?

In theory it sounds great, I would just hate to aim too low and shoot under a deer.

I aim where I want the arrow to hit.

you never know if the deer will jump or duck so I just aim for a center chest.

Im with txhntr

I aim for lower third right behind shoulder. If the deer ducks then you have a double lung. If he doesn't move at all heart shot. Seems to work well.

Same for me.

I'm one of the few that aims more towards the shoulder. I'd much rather hit the shoulder on a complete broadside shot than to hit too far back.

You won't get a pass through more often than not and the blood trail isn't great, but the deer don't go very far IMO. The hunting area depends greatly on the shot I decide to take.

Behind the shoulder can easily turn into a gut shot, especially if aiming in the lower 1/3 of the body cavity. I aim for a few inches above the "elbow" when a deer is broadside.

It all depends on the individual deer and their posture around the stand.

Depends on range,how calm he is and other deer.

I think knowing when to pull off the shot, and when to aim low all comes with experience and being able to read the deer.
I've had a chance to coach some new bowhunters and where they had a problem was with patience and not waiting for the right moment and blow a slam dunk shot.
I always tried to teach them to read the body language of the deer.
If a deer comes into a feeder they are wound up like a car spring and you can see their muscles twitching on their shoulders.
Also wait for the wind to help you with the leaves rustling, or a far away sound of traffic or an airplane off in the distance, just anything to help mask the sound of the bow.
It takes a little while to develop the feel when it's just right for the shot, and aiming for the heart area is where you want to aim.
Closer is always better.

Yeah, with the right bow, arrow and Indian this is the best advice. Hunting isn't a science project.

I aim for the lowest spot I'd want to hit a deer on a calm deer and 4in below hairline on an alert deer. I have never shot under a deer

I center punch the kill zone, i.e. bottom left quandrant of the lungs. You could miss your mark 3inches in any direction and still get heart or lungs. my 2 pennies.

All of the above is good advice - but remember, when hunting from a tree stand, aim for an entrance shot keeping in mind where the arrow will EXIT.

In other words, if the deer is perfectly broadside, aim to enter a little high in order to get the exit down behind the "elbow". Same thing with quartering away shots - aim a little high and back to get the exit where you want it.

The picture below shows a buck that my son took yesterday afternoon. He was in a 30' high tree stand, the shot was 32 yards, and the buck was quartering away. The wound shown in the picture is the entrance wound. The buck ran about 50 yards and piled up dead. Upon field dressing him, my son found that he took out one lung and went through the heart, hence the short recovery. The exit wound was down low right behind the "elbow" bend on the opposite side front leg.




A double lung shot will usually result in about a 100-150 yard recovery. For afternoon hunts - which means after dark recoveries - that can sometimes be tough.

I think the main thing to remember when bow hunting is that most hits are going to be fatal - it just depends on how long that will take. If I don't see or hear them drop, I wait at least an hour before attempting recovery. And then if I don't start tracking a good amount of blood within the first 50 yards (or if it stops) I back out for a few hours. Even a "gut shot" is fatal as long as you give the deer time to expire.