Shot Placement

[Big Rviers]

I always imagine a slightly "smaller than soccer ball" size sphere in the chest of a deer. This is what I aim at. A large number of the deer I've taken were taken with some degree of a quartering shot. For the more or less broadside shots this puts the prb in the "c-d" area; this corresponds with the soccer ball analogy. For quartering shots I'll aim for the opposite leg, which again puts the shot on the soccer ball. I never shoot at the neck but have accidentally killed a few with that shot when they "twitched" as the trigger was pulled. I guess they sometimes are startled by the flint lock snap; I just don't know.

Great answer here in my view. My experience as a life time hunter and guide is to always imagine that ball in a animals chest. Imagine it from all angles so your clear on where your bullet is going to hit that ball. Here's an illustration from an article I wrote many years ago that gave the best view of the ball in the chest shot. It's never failed me or anyone else I know of who have used it.