Bowhunting has its ups and downs. Well here is my contribution to the down side. This deer could really move. Aim low guys lol and hope yall enjoy.


"Captain Hook, Ninja Deer!" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/y-BZCNkNZXU

Looked to me like the arrow wasn’t headed for the best spot, anyway, so it might be best that he did avoid it.

In my opinion the shooter should have waited for a more broadside shot. It is hard to tell, but that looked a lot like an expandable broadhead. If so, some don't perform that well on extreme angled shots. Glad the deer was not wounded and hopefully will excite another hunter someday.

If you run the slow motion section with your cursor on the ideal strike spot and watch closely as the arrow crosses the cursor, you will see it would have been a killing shot had the deer not ducked.

Nothing particularly special there. It isn't uncommon for deer to move like that. It is called string jumping.

Looking at the footage. it looks like the shooter got some hair.

Could be. I don’t have access to slow motion.

My youtube doesnt have slow motion, nor does it have the ability to go frame by frame, but the best I could do with play/pause/play/pause showed me the arrow was headed for the neck and the shot was very errant....

Several things here talk to me of shooter error, first the extreme quartering away shot, just not the best opportunity to shoot a solid vitals shot with that extreme a quartering away stance. second, from what I can see the arrow sailed just over the deer neck. In my hill billy slow motion, the body doesnt really duck much at all, until after the fletchings are past the body, meaning the arrow was well past the deer by the time it reacted. I think the extreme quartering away helped lead to poor shot placement. Third, the cheesy video and naming a deer makes me wanna vomit....that's just me though. maybe some of you like the cheesy nature of the video. All goes to show me some level of showoffmanship that makes me think this guy is willing to push a shot he shouldn't have, which gets back to why take that shot in the first place?

IMO, this deer didn't duck the arrow, as much as the hunter just made a teribble shot.

Edit: i went back and looked again, the deer doesnt' even really duck until you see dirt fly up when the arrow hits well behind the deer. The shot was bad, the judgement was bad, and the arrow did not het hair, what you see and think is hair is actually dust from the ground where the arrow hits. I put some sticky on my screen where the back of the deer was at the shot and you can see the arrow course through the air and the deer doesnt' drop more than a few inches until the dust kicks up and thats when he really drops a foot ro two and boogies. This arriw went over his neck, wasn't even close to vitals.

Pause it around the 4:06 minute mark. That deer was hit. You'll see hair fly before the arrow hits the ground and skips.

I could never hunt by a means where I have to aim somewhere other than where I want to hit. To me that’s just crazy hoping that the deer ducks just right in order to hit it.

You are correct, I didn't watch all the way to the end of the video to even see those slow mo plays. I was just trying to do my best hill billy slowmo using play/pause....thanks for letting me know there was more to the video.

Having said all that, the shot was still ill advised, such a harsh quartering away shot. the target zone was literally so small it was just an ill-advised shot. I would never tell my kids or fellow hunters to take that shot. And I wonder if he pushed the shot knowig he wanted to get it on camera?

Quarter away 20 yards......just what a bow hunter wishes for......IMO your shot was high and your bow is way too loud......

If you are watching on a phone or computer, then it has the ability to slow the motion. There is a little cog, usually in the lower right hand corner of the view screen, next to CC and the boxes to change the screen size. Click on the cog.

That will allow you to change image quality, image speed, etc. You can slow things down quite a bit.

Slow the vid down to 0.25 and keep your cursor in place on the deer's shoulder and you can clearly see that the buck jumped the string.

Yeah DNS, I saw that on the video slow mo that I didn't see the first time around. I marked on the screen in that slow mo section where the shoulder was and where the arrow hit the fur, and it is easily a foot or slightly more. I still think the shot was not the best shot judgement wise, and I would not have taken that shot as it was presented on the video, but thats me. Others are allowed to think differently. With a gun, different story. With a bow, the margin of error is just way too tight on the extreme quartering shot.

It was a 150 grain iron will 2 blade. That feeder is overrun with pigs so I was going for the first good shot I could get. I have had great success with quartering away shots in the past. In hindsight I wish I would have given him more time at the feeder but that would have put the shot at 25 to 30 yards vs the 20 yard shot I took. He was nicked across the side and the arrow exited the top of the back. He will be fine and hopefully someone can get a crack at him.

I have bowhunted a long time and for a deer to react the way that one did is not out of the ordinary but not expected. That shot was 20 yards and his left front leg almost played out vertically. I would say he was pretty athletic for a compound bow at 20 yards. But hey opinions vary.

I have bowhunted a long time and for a deer to react the way that one did is not out of the ordinary but not expected. That shot was 20 yards and his left front leg almost played out vertically. I would say he was pretty athletic for a compound bow at 20 yards. But hey opinions vary.

Everyone's a critic. I don't bow hunt so I won't throw shade. Hope you get another chance.

I came from shooting recurve exclusively for about 10 years. This is the first season I have hunted with a compound in a long time. Tons of practice and the speed lulled me into a false sense of invincibility. That deer was 20 yards and I would have never thought he would react like that as relaxed as he was. Lesson learned, a guy posted a great deal on shooting them head up vs down that was interesting. I will keep after it, that's bowhunting.

Lots of Monday morning qb's everywhere but I always enjoy reading what they would have done diffrent. Lol, there are always some really good points and info of you can take the criticism. I hope everyone can learn from my mistakes and I always hope I learn from them. I have played that moment and went over all the" wish I hads" and "should of's" I have been bowhunting a long time and have screwed up a lot over the years. I am sure it's not my last screw up and I am ok with that. Glad the deer will be fine and hope for another crack at him. Thanks everyone for watching, really appreciate it.

I wasn’t criticizing you for missing, to be clear, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that you pulled the shot and played it off as a deer jumping the string. I’ve pulled shots with a bow, before. I won’t criticize anyone for that. But it’s important that we’re honest about our mistakes. You missed that buck. Own it and learn from it.

To be even more up front, I’ve done the exact same thing that you’re doing. I’ve missed and blamed it on a buck jumping the string when I just made a mistake. Bowhunting is difficult and nerve-racking. We all miss, at some point.

Lol....I followed blood for over 400 yards. I didn't miss the deer? So your saying that the deer reacting the way it did had nothing to do with me missing the mark? Intresting, I guess we are gonna have to agree to disagree there partner. I have no problem admitting when I am wrong. Should of shot him at 6 yards instead of waiting for video.

Ps if you watched the video, I stated that I thought I had shot high in the video;)

Don't know why it didn't quote, but post #8002278 was for you .

My son was in the stand saturday eve after a certain buck but when he didn't show up he decided a doe was on the target board....he had one broadside at 20 yards, but it was staring right at him. He said he aimed low in anticipation of the doe jumping the strings some, and he shot. He said the doe stood completely still, didn't even react to the arrow and the arrow grazed the bottom of the chest and hit dirt. He couldn't believe a fully alert doe didn't react by ducking.

Each deer is different and each one reacts differently. Its why bow hunting is harder. The good news (as has been mentioned) is the buck wasn't hurt and will be fine with the little flesh wound.

Great video, buddy!