If the critter is facing you because it sees you it’s more than likely going to move at the sound of the shot with a bow. The spot you’re aiming at won’t be where it was when you released the arrow.

If the critter is not aware of you, and relaxed, why not wait till it turns broadside?

Elk if all is right and good it works, deer it works better being a smaller animal. If you can make the shot any shot is good. I find less hunters concerned with shot placement and a quick effective kill and recovery. Which I feel is our responsibility. One needs to know your capabilities and your ethical standards. I know several hunters I guess you call them that with the use of large cut expendables believe just put a broadhead and arrow in the animal and track it. Using dogs to track aids in the recovery, but they lose a lot of them as well.

gun no problem
might they see the arrow and react , maybe not been an archery hunter in a bunch of years

both my deer in 23 were shot head on , this one strait head on that bullet went in the neck right where you can see the little blood spot , found it between the teets in the hide
the arteries at the heart where all shattered almost obviously got a good shot and wound channel right through the prime kill zone
it's my first deer to do a flip and be dead laying on it's back
it was running right at me when I shot it

Same here. Although I did find the doe she went a long ways with just a single lung hit.

Seen first hand what happens on elk, from great archery shooters.
Hit a rib and that arrow gets deflected.
The feeling of not finding that animal is crushing.
Wait for a better shot with a bow on elk.

This especially on an elk they can go a long ways I’ve been watching elk videos and I’m surprised how far an elk will go with a solid hit that would have dropped a whitetail quickly. Even with a proper hit a follow up is required on a few.

If you’re going to try it, don’t let it be the trophy of a lifetime. Yeah I’ve seen the videos and I’ll say it’s luck more than anything else on a whitetail. Better be the perfect angle and split the hair you’re aiming at. I wouldn’t try it from a tree stand and probably wouldn’t from the ground. Never hunted elk, but I’d think they have a larger opening to slip an arrow into. And as already stated, you won’t get much of a blood trail and if you’re lucky and hit the heart, then great. If not, you’re only getting one lung and they can run a mile on one lung.

Something not mentioned is you’ll have to be on the ground to even consider this.

I've shot several moose with a rifle as they were coming straight at me. Killed them all, but they didn't drop like a double lung broadside shot. Nowadays, I hunt in November, calling doesn't really come into play. Get more broadside shooting with spot and stalk.

Like others said rifle no problem. Bow you better be close. Archery elk starts in 10 days here and I’ll try a frontal shot on an elk if he’s close and perfectly straight. Doesn’t take much of an angle to where the front shoulder is blocking where your shot should go. Most of my elk I have shot have been 20-30 yards head on or quartering towards. 338 win mag makes quick worry of them in that situation

I have skinned a lot of roadkill deer with arrow parts between their shoulder blades and their rib cage. Some were all festered up and some had been there for enough time to heal up.

Did it once as a stupid kid w bow; never again.

Now with a 300 win mag you might be okay

And that's a deer, elk are incredibly tough. I seen an elk that was one lunged (broadside, but quartering more than the hunter thought) that we finally tracked down two days later, it was sick enough it didn't get out of its bed and he pincushioned it, but it was still alive and had its head up. I one lunged one with a 270 once and tracked it a mile and a half before I caught up to it to finish it. I recall another archery hunter who shot a 7 point bull a couple years ago, in the thick brush the bull came in different than he expected and the hunter twisted around kneeling and made the shot at 7 yards... but the lower limb of his bow hit his knee on release and the string came off. We knew the elk was hit, but not how. after giving it an hour we went about a hundred yards and jumped it. Now we knew it was pretty sick, but it was in absolute doghair brush, plus the hunter didn't have a functioning bow to use if we did get an opportunity for a finish shot. Backed off and gave it about 4 hours, would have liked to give it more, but it was in the mid 90s and I knew if it laid dead with the guts in it for any length of time the meat would be ruined. Went back in with his buddy and found it a couple hundred yards farther, still alive, but sick enough we got within just a few yards before we jumped it and his buddy put a finish shot in it. That one when we examined it was shot perfect behind the front shoulder, but the arrow didn't have enough energy to do more than penetrate one lung. And I never found a single drop of blood on that trail.

Even with a rifle a frontal shot is hit or miss on a blood trail, sometimes they bleed like a stuck pig, other times I've tracked them with a fresh snow and they never bled a drop until they tipped over. They usually aren't going far (a deer seldom moves when hit with a big rifle straight on, but elk can soak up a tremendous amount of lead without going down unless you hit a big bone) so I'm good with that shot with a rifle, but it sometimes takes a bit of work to find them.

There are a tremendous amount of elk stuck with arrows every year and not recovered, this is why a lot of old timers despise bow hunting. Things happen, I know that, they happen with a rifle to, but you have a little more leeway with a rifle, plus the ability to make a quick follow up shot, or track it down and shoot it on the run when you jump it, that isn't so feasible with a bow, and if you take questionable shots you are going to lose a lot more game.

The YouTube videos and all the hunting shows only show the successful shots. The wounded animals never make the shows.

Bingo!


Or, they show you a horrible hit on one animal.

Than show you the “recovery” of a totally different animal! Seen that stunt pulled a few times on the tv shows.

When you look at that elk in the first picture, The heart is hidden behind the sternum. Very hard target if you feed and arrow in the opening above the heart which is really about the size of two stacked fists, your hoping to hit one or maybe both lungs and probably the liver but not much of a blood trail. clip the tip of the sternum and all that can go out the window fast. hit let or right of the sternum opening and youll have an arm pit wound and probably never catch up with it.

Well thank you everyone for all the responses

Don't need an exit with a frontal.
With 6" of penatration, they usually (like almost always) bleed out hard and fast.

From experience: I shoot trad so things are a little slower but. I took a frontal shot on a buck at 12 yards, the buck dropped his head, swiveled to one side, and was gone. To my slow motion eye, I had center punched the chest. I had a game camera set up and caught the shot. The arrow actually hit the sideways in the mouth, cut through both cheeks and tongue. The buck showed up again two weeks later looking in perfect health and eating normally. I took a 25 yard shot at a bull elk. Arrow was headed for the sweet spot just above the sternum. It hit just behind the shoulder, skated down three ribs before entering the rib cage. Took out one lung, liver, paunch, and exited just in front of offside ham. Another deer was at a hard quartering towards me angle. Arrow hit at last rib and exited through opposite shoulder. Yes, a frontal shot in deer and elk are deadly, but the critter is likely to have changed positions before your arrow arrives.

The first buck I shot in front between the legs he went about 8th mile blood
Everywhere I would not recommend it but if the only shot you get it is kill shot and easy to follow