Stop him first or not?
 

I don't have a great deal of experience so keep that in mind as you answer my question. In fact, I've only takenone 6 pointer with a bow.

Anyway, the situation is you have a slow foraging buck (or doe for that matter) approaching at less than 1mph but never totally stopping. Do you not think twice and just shoot or do you stop the animal completely? Reason I ask is 'cause in the situation, I'd be afraid of string jump and might just let that arrow fly. My thinking is that if the animal is already slow enough and calm to boot, why give it a reason to put up its natural defenses? In other words, why stop it so that it could ready itself to bolt resulting in possible string jump or worse yet a bad hit?

What would you do and why? I suppose the answers will vary with experience and comfort levels but I'm just interested in what you all have to say. Oh, keep in mind I said 1 mph... that's about the speed of a slow waddling duck.

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

What's the distance?

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

if it was 20 yards, heck yea, even at 30 id prolly say yes but the closer the better for a moving animal.

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

If he was fairly close, say around 20 yds he would not know I was there to the arrow hit the spot. If hewas farther out it is hard to saydepends on the circumstances.

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

20 yards.

And since you brought that up, what distances would you do what?

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

So are you saying that at 20 you'd stop him because he can't jump the string at that distance?

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

ooops... disregard this particular post.

more answers please

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

He'd have to be inside 20 for me to think about it......WELL inside.....more like 10.

Just a deer......another will come along.;)

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

I've had a buck about 25 yds out, jump my string. Granted that was a few yrs ago w/a much older, slower, louder bow. He was stand'n broadside, & I ended up shishkabobing him thru the back side of his inside rear leg, thru his jewels & into the other rear leg. Lucky I caught his femoral artery & he bled out. Man I felt sorry for him. With a new bow that is fast & quiet I would take a moving shot. Hold for him to come into the arrow, then shoot. It's whatever your comfort level is. I've even heard of a guy take a, deer on the run shot,& nail him.

RE: Stop him first or not?
 

This is a good question. If it was a clear shot with little or no branches or brush to worry about, I would probably take theshot out to 20 yards withoutstopping him if he waswalking that slowly.On the other hand, if I was in the thick woods like the area I hunt, I would most likely stop him no matter what because of all of thenasty stuff that could get in the way.

I'm not sure that I understand this. When a deer "jumps the string", they duck straight down about 12 inches which means you will either hit higher than you aimed, or you will miss. Hitting one in the back leg means that you were off your mark. Your shot would have wounded a3-D target.