Shot placement for bowhunters
The double-lung shot is the bowhunting standard. Two collapsed lungs kill an animal in under 15 seconds and leave a blood trail a first-year hunter can follow. The head-on shot on a big game animal is unethical for archery; the sternum stops most arrows.
Five shot-placement scenarios
- Broadside whitetail, 20 yards: aim tight to the crease behind the shoulder, one-third up from the brisket. Arrow hits both lungs; deer runs 60-100 yards.
- Quartering-away deer, 25 yards: aim at the far-side shoulder from the near-side ribs. Arrow angles through both lungs and the far lung tip. This is the highest-percentage shot in the woods.
- Quartering-toward, any distance: no shot. The near shoulder shields both lungs. Wait for the animal to turn.
- Head-on, standing bull elk: no shot with archery gear. Sternum and rib fan block penetration. Rifle-only angle.
- Straight-away with head down: the Texas heart shot. Only ethical inside 15 yards with a 70 lb rig and a heavy fixed-blade broadhead; arrow enters the pelvis and travels forward into the vitals. Most reputable outfitters ban it.
Aim points by body size
Whitetail lung window: 8 in diameter behind the shoulder. Elk lung window: 12 in diameter. Turkey vital zone standing broadside: 4 in wingbutt-to-wingbutt. Pronghorn lung window: 6 in. Aim tight, not centre-mass; centre-mass on a big-body animal is spine or gut.
Common errors
Aiming at the shoulder blade to break bone (breaks arrows; a tuned bow slips through ribs, not scapula). Sky-shooting at treestand angles without hold-under (over the back). Shooting a bedded animal in the shoulder blade instead of waiting for it to stand.
What bowhunters are saying
The mistake I see most in bowhunter interviews after a lost animal is quartering-toward shots at 30 yd. Wait five more seconds; that deer will turn. Take the quartering-away or take nothing.
Petersen’s Bowhunting shot-review column, 2025