Straight down shots

[badger]

I remember seeing that too, Dale. It was a cool pic to see. I shot a doe that was angled away pretty sharp once. Hit high, with a nearly 700 grain arrow, traveling 265 fps. A 130 gr Muzzy on the front. That arrow hit the spine, ran right up the center of 6 vertebrae. Dropped her, and she died in seconds from 36 steps. That impressed me as it was the best penetration I'd ever seen into a spine. Most usually, the broadhead never broke completely out the opposite side, just sticks in the bone as it had in the pic you mentioned previously. It's just a matter of if you get in enough to sever the spinal cord or not. From above, it may be different, but from the side, that is some pretty tough stuff to put an arrow through.

I figured someone else would remember that article, I think it was in Bowhunter Mag.

I know this thread was aimed at straight down shots, but spine shots have been brought up. I've taken a few deer, a few hogs, and a javelina with unintentional high spine shots. They sure drop fast, but it can be not so nice on the animal. I was on my last evening in Texas one year, when a lone boar popped out of the bush and started feeding away from my blind. He was in the 150# range and seemed to have a weird walk about himself. Not exactly a limp, just kinda labored. I stalked him and put one through the boiler room. He didn't go far and I finished my hunt that night by shooting another boar. We had to leave the next day, so I didn't have time to butcher everything. When I got home, I started butchering the first boar and my knife hit something hard while taking off a front shoulder. There was about six inches of shaft and an old Bear broadhead buried in the spine between the two shoulders. I have no idea how that blade didn't eventually cut that spine, but it hadn't yet!

 

[finelyshedded]

Wow Dale, cool story!