Jumping the string

[dreaming bucks]

I don't have alot of deer under my belt bowhunting, but the few I have shot, have never jumped the string on me, but I hear hunters talking about this happening to them... Have you guys ever had a deer jump the string, and if so, was it a long shot, where they have time to do it, or can they jump it from say, 20 yards ? I'm guessing most deer jump the string if they have been stopped by us the hunter, and are now on alert to some degree ?

[PredatorTC]

THe deer i shot this year jumped the string. It was a 35 yard shot and i purposely did not stop him because i didn't not want to make him alert. He still heard my bow go off and dropped down a bit and then i hit him in the spine

[Sam Ubl]

I also spined my deer for the same reason - although I stopped him mid-trot. Nothing worse than that... You been there, you know what I mean.

[Treejunkie]

They drop right before they take off. Deer on high alert have a very good chance of ducking the arrow anything more than 20 yards. When a deer is on high alert at that range, I aim for the heart. That way if they do drop, I still get a good hit. I wouldnt worry about it if they have no clue you are there, unless your bow of course sounds like a .22 going off.

[hotterthantiffany]

happened to me last season. Had two does standing together in the corn field. The bigger doe was standing closest to me, I shot and she ducked and the smaller one jumped up. I hit the smaller one in the leg and lost blood. ugh! I hate that.....

[Sneaky]

Happened to me a couple of times. Always when they were on alert.

[Swampthing]

Speed of Sound = 1126 feet per second
Speed of Arrow = 320 feet per second

Speed of Sound is a full 3.5 times faster than an arrow.

On a 30 yard shot here are the times the sound and arrow will reach deer

Sound = .08 seconds
Arrow = .28 secons Plenty of time between them for a deer to jump the string

[Swampthing]

I watched a video clip once where a guy was standing on the back side of a barn,holding a paper plate stapled to a wooden lathe or stick.On the other side of barn was a guy with a bow aiming at the paperplate,from I think 20 yards away. The man holding the plate was suppose to react by pulling away the plate only by the sound of the bow firing.He managed to pull away fast enuf to escape the arrow everytime.And I,m sure a deer on aleert would even have a faster reaction time.

[Rutnstrut]

Contrary to what most hunters think most string jumping occurs at closer ranges as opposed to longer shots. This makes sense if you really think about it. The closer you are the easier to hear the shot.

[solocam88]

Last year I heard of two different hunters getting a shot at a buck that was 180"+ in the same area they both got shots at 12-15 yards and both times the buck jumped the string and ducked the arrow totally unharmed.

[Wrinkleneck]

I've heard alot about this, but have never had this happen to me.

[Zap]

Aim low....

marty

[dan]

I had a 140ish 3 year old 8 pointer come by close to 40 yards out ( long time ago, but it sticks in my head ) I thought I could make the shot so I drew the bow back and he caught the movement and looked in my direction. I shot. My arrow flew perfect where I was aiming, but he dropped and ducked the arrow completely then just rose back up and stared at me in the same position. I chose not to shoot again.
Most the time the "duck" is them actually dropping to run... But they can actually duck an arrow... This was way back in the days of slower aluminum arrows though...

[virginiashadow]

I have seen deer jump the string before, yet for some reason I always seem to still kill them... The one thing I see more is when a deer slightly ducks yet turns on a dime in a split second. That has caused me to single lung/liver shoot deer. That fact alone has caused me to adjust my aiming point on a deer more toward the front shoulder. So if a deer does the string duck/pivot I have a greater chance of producing a better shot.

[magicman54494]

We used to video years ago. Late bow season we would bait and film just to fill our tags. We have footage of deer ducking at least 4" at 20 yards.