Shoot or No Shot #2

[cohunter14]

You have quietly stalked your way to the edge of a meadow keeping the early morning thermals in your face. As you approach the meadow, you peak around a tree and BOOM! Here sits this guy. He is 39 yards away with a bow, 139 yards with a muzzleloader, and 239 yards away with a rifle. Using your weapon of choice, what?s your move? Shoot or not? If you are shooting, where are you aiming? Like the first version, feel free to edit this picture and draw your aiming point.

 

[colorado russ]

Not shooting with any weapon.  That right side is busted all to hell and he's alone...a much bigger or maybe just better fighting bull is somewhere close by!!

 

[f16woody]

Shooting my 40 pin here!

 

[ILbowhntr]

If I?m beside a tree with the wind in my favor, I?m going to wait. I don?t see a good shot on this bull. When he stands to stretch, he?s mine.

 

[Bowhunter1]

I will give my honest opinion based on my real life events. This is what I would do.

Bow.... I am waiting. I have had similar events. Deer standing in tall grass and a different deer standing beside a tree with front leg blocked. In the grass ordeal I tried not to hit the grass. shooting higher than I wanted. I spined him and he fell. I could not see because of the tall grass to get another shot. He jumped up and ran off. I had no blood trail. I found him next spring a mile away. The deer by the tree I could see the last 2 or 3 ribs next to the tree. I shot at 32 yards and trying not to hit the tree and shot too far back. By the sound of "cerplunk" instead of the "thwack" I knew what I was in for. I grabbed my arrow and went home that evening. I returned to track at 11am the next day. I followed foot prints for a mile with only a drop of blood every 100 yards or so this went on for a mile and I lost tracks due to soil conditions. I did a grid search and found him another mile away. I got lucky. He was dead but still limber with no rigor set in the joints. He had just died 22 hours after the shot. The arrow was just behind the last rib. Just 2 inches forward would have made a huge difference.

Muzzy.... I would wait because that is outside my comfortable range of a guaranteed hit where I want it.

Rifle.... I would shoot a little more forward of the Green dot already posted. just on the other side of that tall piece of grass. I am much more confident with my rifle. Another thing is with the rifle I will be ready for another shot if he stands.

Just my 2 cents.......

 

[87TT]

Haven't hunted with a muzzy yet but it doesn't matter. In all the situations I would wait. What's the rush? Unless the wind starts to shift maybe.

 

[Ol Arky]

I would wait until he stands.... As proven last season I've got too much patience... :-( :-(

 

[DTP]

I'm also waiting for him to stand

 

[cohunter14]

Personally, I've been burned by waiting for a perfect shot. I also don't mind that he's beat up, unless I'm hunting somewhere that's limited entry where I know there's going to be more opportunities. I've got all the time in the world so I'm going to take my time, settle my crosshairs or 40 yard pin, and send it with a bow or rifle (never hunted with a ML before). I would be aiming very close to f16woody's spot. With the rifle, I'd probably aim an inch or two left of that as I'm not worried about catching a piece of the shoulder if I tug the shot a hair.

I would agree with anyone saying to wait. There's definitely a good chance that he stands and then you can shoot. But all it takes is one quick swirl of the wind and he will be up and out of there before you can even draw your bow or squeeze the trigger on your rifle. When this happened to me, I actually had my rifle shouldered on a perfect rest with the bull in my scope and I literally watched the bull stick his nose in the air, take a quick inhale, and BOOM, he was gone so fast I never even got a shot.

There's a fine line between having a good enough shot opportunity and waiting for a perfect shot in my opinion. And to me, this provides a very ethical shot opportunity.

 

[f16woody]

I failed to elaborate as eloquently as all you guys...for me, this is a "take the first GOOD shoot opportunity you get" situation since waiting for it to be perfect likely means the odds will give you NO opportunity.

 

[Wyo67]

If I?m beside a tree with the wind in my favor, I?m going to wait. I don?t see a good shot on this bull. When he stands to stretch, he?s mine.

Same here.

 

[lang]

I'm waiting. I can't tell where the shoulder is with the grass, and when animals are bedded that shoulder is never where you think it would be.  Multiple reasons this ones riskier than it initially looks.

 

[82ndreddevil]

With a bow I?m waiting till he stands. With a rifle the blue dot shouldn?t be hard.

 

[Elk Noob]

With a bow I?m waiting till he stands. With a rifle the blue dot shouldn?t be hard.

Isn't that blue dot a bit high and far forward? What vitals are you going for with that shot?

 

[82ndreddevil]

With a bow I?m waiting till he stands. With a rifle the blue dot shouldn?t be hard.

Isn't that blue dot a bit high and far forward? What vitals are you going for with that shot?

Not looking at the vitals, I?m looking at neck spine.