The femoral artery shot - would you take it if that's all there is?

[werner.reiche]

Deer and deer hunting mag raised this question a year or two ago and got a lot of blowback on it - mostly from bow hunters. So if its all you've got, would you take it?

I have an acquaintance who shot a nice bull moose (his first kill of anything) with this shot using an xbow. It was a bit of an accident - he was trying a quartering away shot and the bull moved. But he thinks its a good idea now... How do you fix that?

[twostroke]

I personally would not...but then again I am not comfortable aiming for the pumpkin either...........and to be honest I bet there is a lot of hunters out there that do not even know where the femoral artery is, let a lone shoot at it!!!!

[Hunter John]

Not some thing I would try. and when that young man has to chase a moose around for a few days with an arrow in it's a.. he may then be convinced.

[twostroke]

i am not tryin to ruffle feathers, seems like its easily done tho. I am just not personally strugglin enough for food or to harvest a deer that badly that I need to gamble on taking shots that have to be placed perfectly in order to ensure you kill the animal rather then wound it. I think its one thing to hit an artery such as the femoral accidentally, but def a whole new can of worms to intentially aim at such a small area.

And on a side note what kind of hunting situaltion would occur when all you have to aim at is the femoral artery, would it not be better just to wait it out that extra second and hope the animal presents a better shot of some sort?

[WayneGretzky99]

It all depends on how sharp my spear is.

[delmer]

...........and to be honest I bet there is a lot of hunters out there that do not even know where the femoral artery is, let a lone shoot at it!!!!

That's the first thing I thought as well. I bet a lot of hunters would have problems correctly identifying the exact location of the heart on big game animals.

[werner.reiche]

i am not tryin to ruffle feathers, seems like its easily done tho. I am just not personally strugglin enough for food or to harvest a deer that badly that I need to gamble on taking shots that have to be placed perfectly in order to ensure you kill the animal rather then wound it.

And on a side note what kind of hunting situaltion would occur when all you have to aim at is the femoral artery, would it not be better just to wait it out that extra second and hope the animal presents a better shot of some sort?

Deer stopped behind trees, heading away with a hound coming. It's a now or never opportunity...and it does happen.

[twostroke]

I highly doubt the guy taking the shot is starving to death, so if it was me ....and it wasnt, but my judgment call would have to lean towards the "Never" end................and lets be honest sounds like it was a lucky a#@ shot to begin with so why try and take it again if ye dont have to

Deer stopped behind trees, heading away with a hound coming. It's a now or never opportunity...and it does happen.

[Fox]

I have seen deer shot here (not on purpose, deflection off a tree) and heard of them as well, I do not think that it would be something that should be tried as the artery is such a small target, similar to other shots that I will not mention.
The boiler room has many different vitals with lots of room for error (based on current firearm and bow accuracy), the femoral not so much.

It would not a shot that I would teach people to take.

[MikePal]

arteries bleed out nicely :

bang flop..no fuss...