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Jumped the String!

4K views 28 replies 19 participants last post by  Janie 
#1 ·
I forgot how quick doe are to jump the string in late season especially when you have to stop them in a lane. I had the perfect 40 yard shot but I failed to aim low enough to account for her 12" drop. This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened in the last 10 years for me while targeting late season doe. I found some fur and not a drop of blood on the arrow but there were a few drops 60 to 200 yards into her trail but nothing past that. If it were not for the snow I never would have found the blood that I did find.
 
#2 ·
It's your hunt but a perfect 40 yard shot does not involve stopping a deer to get it. I'm not sure if a perfect 40 yard shot on a whitetail exists at all but, if it does, it would be on a completely at ease and unaware deer. As you can attest to, the animal simply has too much time to react. It doesn't matter if your the best archer in the world.
 
#4 ·
Something maybe worth looking into I learned on a other site...out around 35 yards and beyond typicallly the issue isn't string jump but whizzing from the arrow. Two things that contribute to that are vented broadheads and loud vanes. It is not sonething you can properly assess while shooting either due to the Doppler effect. Safely stand downrange behind cover and listen to your setup. It is very eye opening. Blazer vanes are notoriously poor perfomers in this regard. I am working through my last batch of them and switching to something quieter.


Surely just word choice but I did a double take too...nothing over 20 yards is a "perfect" shot scenario I don't care who you are.

I also got out of the bad habit of doing that "mehh" sound for the most part. Exception being those rutty bucks that are in another dimension. The last 3 deer I mehhed all jumped the string, all does at 20-30 yards. I think it just gets them all tensed up and ready to bolt.
 
#5 ·
By perfect 40 yard shot I mean wide open, relatively low angle. I never should have alerted her in hindsight. I was afraid she was about to take a step and I didn't want to catch her back farther in the gut. I have had a doe jump the string at 20 yards, then I aimed low on same doe 5 seconds later at 30, she didn't jump at 30 so I missed low, then aim right on at 40 and smoked her. This was several years ago. You just don't know how a deer will react. It was a good reminder.
 
#8 ·
Just out of curiousity, if a deer jumps the string and ducks at the shot but does not duck quite low enough to clear the arrow, where would the deer be hit? Would it be hit high straight up from the aim point, high and back, high and forward? I understand the deers reaction often leads to a clean miss (and this is likely the best scenario in such a situation), but was just wondering how the movement might impact an actual hit. I'm guessing the arrows impact would be obviously high and probably back some based on slow motion shots I have seen of deer ducking the arrow.
 
#12 ·
I think they lower their chest first. I shot a buck one year quartering away on high alert. My entry was actually lower on his body than the exit because he jumped the string and his chest was lower than further back in his mid section where I aimed for the entry due to the angle. It was a pretty hard quartering away shot. Entered back behind the liver and exited the shoulder.
 
#15 ·
I must be terribly unlucky because every deer I've ever shot at has ducked the string and I can't bring my self to shoot below them figuring that will be the one time they don't.
On the broadside shot, You don't hold below them, you hold "heart shot", about 3"up and tight behind the front leg, and it's best if they have the front leg forward. If they don't duck you're good with a pump house hit, if they do duck good chance you still get a forward lung shot. On the quartering away shot adjust the hold back as the angle dictates, rule of thumb, you want an exit out the off shoulder. I know it's tough, but it's best to avoid quartering to.

Also good to remember that from a tree, particularly in close, say out to 20 yards or so, you are always going to hit higher than you think you're holding, because the profile you are looking at includes the top of the back.
 
#17 ·
Also good to remember that from a tree, particularly in close, say out to 20 yards or so, you are always going to hit higher than you think you're holding, because the profile you are looking at includes the top of the back.[/QUOTE]

Thank You! I struggle every season trying to remember higher or lower from in close from a tree. This paints a perfect picture in my mind as to why. Makes perfect sense, now I will remember !:clever:
 
#18 ·
why do hunters alert deer of there wear abouts by making a sound they WILL pick up on and pin point where you are, I see it all the time on tv shows....then they get a bad hit on a deer that JUMPED THE STRING and have to wait till the next day to recover it ?....I have never had to make any noise to stop a deer to make a shot, and I have 57 deer to date since I started hunting back in 1980....I only have 7 deer by gun the rest have been by arrow....
 
#24 ·
Years ago I had a whopper get my wind at about 30 yds. Must not have got a good wiff cuz he just froze. The bow I was shooting was only about 200 fps, heavy 2219's with bear razorheads. That deer was facing east when I shot and the arrow passed over his hips and he had turned completely around heading west.

Now days, i'd have just waited him out. If I didn't get a shot, well he won this round, Mebey next time.

In 40+ years of bowhunting that was the only real non typical I've ever had a shot at. Not just a rack goofed up by an injury, or a small drop tine, nope, big, gnarly, points doing up, down, sideways, and lots of them.
 
#25 ·
Shot several bucks with 2219's and 148 grain razorback broad heads at around 209 fps. The longest shot was a buck taken at 39 yards. That is longest shot I have taken to date with a compound bow. Still shooting aluminum arrows now with much less poundage, a shorter 2413 aluminum arrow and a 125 gr. broad head still around 210 fps. Both set ups the arrows provide pass through on broad side shots.

Bow is quite and I am not experiencing any jumping the string issues and looking forward to the next opportunity.
 
#26 ·
Insofar as stopping the deer for the shot I do it any time the deer is in motion and in bow range which to me is not out there at 40 yards (I do it with firearms, too, but of course ducking the string isn't a concern then).


The key I believe is to be ready to shoot before you do it. It's almost like one simultaneous operation...you have the deer in sights ready to shoot..."meh" thwack. It's that quick. The arrow is virtually on the way when the deer stops. I've never had one jump the string with this technique.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The quieter your compound or crossbow is upon release the better your chances are of not having a deer jump the string, Inside 20 yards you shouldn`t have a problem, but when you are taking a shot past 20, no bow is faster than the speed of sound, and the deer will hear that before your arrow hits its target. A deer that is feeding or just walks into bow range will be less concerned with the sound of a shot, than one that is rattled or grunted in. They come in with there ears forward and have a tendency be a little more wary of any sound they hear....
 
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