Chapter 7: Shot Placement & Recovery Techniques
Shot Impact—How Arrows and Bullets Differ

To understand the importance of proper shot placement and recovery techniques in bowhunting, it’s helpful to know how arrows and bullets differ in the way they impact and kill an animal. Bullets kill by high-energy impact that crushes tissue and bone. Bullets may knock down an animal or incapacitate it by breaking major bones, which reduces its chance of running away.

Broadhead-tipped arrows deliver a low-energy impact that kills by cutting vital tissues. Because impact alone won’t knock down an animal, the arrow must be placed properly for a quick kill and easy recovery. A poorly placed arrow will have little immediate impact, making it difficult, and perhaps impossible, to recover the animal.

In addition, arrow wounds are generally less painful and generate less fear and panic than a comparable bullet wound. This is important to remember because patience in the recovery process often means that an animal—if mortally wounded—will die relatively close to where it was hit if it isn’t spooked.

How a Broadhead Causes Death

• Typically, an arrow kills by cutting blood vessels (arteries and veins), producing massive blood loss. Blood pressure drops, cutting off oxygen to the brain and causing death. This is called hemorrhagic shock.
• An animal must lose about 1/3 of its blood to die of hemorrhagic shock, but that can vary depending on how fast the blood is lost. There is approximately one ounce of blood per pound of body weight in the circulatory system of animals like deer.
• The time it takes for an animal to die from bleeding can vary from a matter of seconds to several hours, depending on the animal’s size, how many vessels are cut, and whether they are arteries or veins.
• Arrows also can kill by puncturing the lungs. If both lungs collapse, the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain is halted, the animal becomes unconscious within seconds, and it dies before it can bleed to death.
• Arrows can kill by disrupting the heart muscle, which instantly stops the flow of blood to the brain.

Sharp broadheads are essential because they: Cut through skin, muscle, and even some bone better than dull ones, providing deeper penetration. Cut the tough elastic walls of blood vessels better and cause more bleeding than dull broadheads. Are more likely to penetrate an animal completely, which leaves both an entrance and an exit wound, making trailing and recovery easier.