Yeah...but I was joking
I
am not going to ever ever ever shoot another 3-D for points....unless the points happen to be where the arrow should be, rather than the other way around 
Most, if not all, deer, bear and hog targets have the kill where it needs to be on a perfectly broadside shot.
I will start with the
African targets....
African targets almost always have the kill area too far back.
Vonotto can attest to this fact as can I.
There are a handful of targets that do indeed have the kill area stopping correctly in relation to how far back it goes but I have seen only one that has the kill area as far forward as it goes.
The kill area are generally to high....but not always.
Moving onto North American game.....
Deer targets which are used by the majority of clubs which hoist 3-D shoots are not Pro series targets and have kill area's that do not reflect reality.
The Big two target manufacturers (now one) have always had a rear kill area that is far to long, high and which have a huge (unrealistic) basin.
The same ( not all counting standing) Bear targets do not reflect the tighter kill area and instead reflect (for the majority) the same kill area as would be found on a deer target.
While the difference is subtle, it is very real.
I will concede that the majority of turkey targets do have a very realistic kill area .... generally...not always.
Now with all of this said, how many courses have you shot where the target is turned?.....this changes the shot angle and therefore the kill zone should change....although point of aim for points does not.
Many people have blown shots on deer because they picked the same point of aim as they had all summer long.
It's an instinctive learning and to try and control/over ride an instinctual response is not easy.
Just ask a smoker
Anyway....so here we are shooting at kill area's that are generous and at targets that are placed incorrectly and we are repeatedly looking for that one spot to aim at.
Thats how people end up shooting at the pocket at a quartering deer and losing it or maybe they get lucky and dont.
That doesn't have to happen if you dont keep instilling the need to shoot at a spot that relates to score....unless the score happens to be where the shot should be.
This only addresses the facts as they pertain to the target.
Jets look at what we are telling people when we say that the target never lies and that the 10 is perfect....
First of all, these targets are set up showing a perceived perfection for who?....gun hunters?....compound hunters?....stick bow hunters?.
I will start by saying that it wasn't until around '84 that I started hearing about the (now famous) scapula hit.
Why?....because it's right over the 10 and high center of the 12 ring.
A target gives no training on reaction time of the real deal and it sets the potential hunter up for losses.
The 10 ring does not address any fact such as where should a person with a low K.E. set up shoot or why.
The idea that the ideal shot placement is above and under the most major bone network in the entire body (save the head and hips) is ludicrous.
Keeping with that thought, the 10 area is also the smallest area with the highest degree of hard impact failure potential.
While this may be fine for the Greg's of this world, it doesn't make any sense at all for the others who are not shooting at unmoving creatures.
If my life depended on the ability to get a shot (One shot...one arrow) in a deer where it would cause death, it would be back in the 8 or on the right side of the ten ring itself.
A deer can string jump an elevated shot with a recurve and still get killed...as long as the scapula doesn't come into play.
That goes for many compounds as well
Other than the small game targets....there are few to none that will accommodate my chosen shot area.
No sense arguing the facts because those are the absolute facts.
I know I already addressed this but it bears repeating...
3-D should reinforce shot placement.
If it's about hitting a spot, then thats the function of field archery and spots
spots have nothing to do (at all) with hunting.
Hunting is calculation, knowledge and use of that.
To throw all of that out the window and retrain oneself for 4-6 months before the real deal is damaging.
The proof of this is so overwhelming as for the thought of denying it to be a fact is inconceivable. for anyone who has spent a great deal of time teaching hunting or pursuing large game.
I understand your point (always have) but you seem to want to insist that everyone do it your way....even at the expense of their potential losses that may come due to this practice.
Many (most) spot shooters do not become great hunters...there is a reason for that and most will tell you (as have told me) that it's just not the same thing as shooting at a spot.
.....unless, you pick a spot that relates to where the spot needs to be as opposed to where you have become accustomed to it being.
Face it.....the super majority do not overcome that brain washing in the final seconds of the hunt.
I would point to Greg as an example of someone who cant not kill deer and wouldn't win too many 3-D shoots if he shot the foam the way he shoots the deer.
Greg's first 3-D had his score very low and yet...every target was perfectly dead had it been a real deer.
Greg blows the heart out of most every deer and that area is right under the 10 ring.
So while Greg's misses are in the ten and would kill none the less, the 10 is not his point of aim.
Nor is it mine.
Ask Spiker, Doegirl, Stillearning, Hopesman how those 10 rings have worked out for them.
Ask Spiker how well my area works by contrast.
These are just a few people off the top of my head...they are the norm now-a-days....not the exception.
All due to 3-D and the hunting Pro's that promote the 10 ring.
