Where do I shoot? (Or, what did I hit?)

[Stumpkiller]

Here's a nice display of the vitals and arteries of a Whitetail deer. I used to always try for the heart, but have become convinced a shot passing through the central core of the lungs anchors the deer faster. Think three dinemsional whenever you aim at the deer. The bullet will strike the surface, but where will a straight path take it? A trick in bowhunting is to aim for where you want the arrow to EXIT the body. Makes you think about internal structures. I have had deer with shredded hearts still put 200 yards behind them. Blasting both lungs gives the same effect as when you take a shot to the solar plexus. Something this drawing doesn't show is the 'elbow' just at the lower extreme of the heart in this pose. Asking a round ball to blow throuh that and then continue unerringly straight on into the heart is asking a lot, especially in the marginal calibers.

One of my pet peeves is in 3-D archery events where the McKenzie deer targets (with outlined scoring rings) are used. An angled shot that would score 10X on the target would, in reality, chatter the broadhead along the deers ribs and probably result in a wound far behind where the "Super-Kill Dot" indicates.

I apologize if I drag traditional archery into most of my hunting comments. I treat my muzzleloaders like very easy to draw bows with 4X the range and hunt accordingly.

 

[musketman]

It's a shame that the deer don't come with these marking on them already... something like this would be helpful... ::

BUMMER OF A BIRTHMARK by Gary Larson

 

I've killed a bunch of deer with smokeless and a few with BP. I agree that lungs are best and so is breaking them down around the spine to neck connection. One of my sons killed a really fine South Texas buck a couple years ago with a 7mm Mag. The deer was running at about 125 yds and he hit the windpipe. Well, all that did was open another hole and the deer ran about 600 yds before he piled into a fence. We think he would have been lost had the fence not caught him, but he was dead when the boys got there. An inch or two further back would have broken his neck.

I will also relate an archery story. I like bowhunting and many of my friends are archers but this is a sad tale. Same son was hunting here at our place last year and saw a nice buck moving very slowly with his head down and dragging a foot. He shot the deer but when he got within a few yards smelled the worst odor he had ever experienced. It was near dark so he held his nose, hauled the deer to the truck and drove home. When he got to the house, we put a light on it. The buck had a wide cut in his backstrap that looked like it came from a two bladed broadhead. It was full of pus and was what stank so badly. I pushed a stick into the wound and it went into the body cavity. The cut was trying to heal but the insides were cut and he was near death. There were also two more arrow wounds in his hams so I think the bowhunter just kept flinging arrows but didn't take the time to follow the animal and put it out of misery. I think the wounds were at least a week old so it was in pain for a while. My point relative to your post is that the arrow went straight down into the liver area but didn't kill him quickly. Of course, the meat was ruined so we had to haul him off and hope the coyotes would clean up.

I never aim for the heart but always shoot on the high side so I either miss cleanly, break the spine or punch thru the lungs.

 

[roundball]

With large calibers like .54cal and up, I go for the shoulder to drop them where they stand;
With the lighter .45/.50cal, I take the heart shot and they drop within 25-50yds, in sight of the tree stand

 

[bob1961]

i'll post some pics you might like when i get on the other pc.....bones, vitals, muscle..................bob


p.s. did you get my pm........

 

[bob1961]

here's those pics.....

how's them ok........................bob

 

[Huntinfool]

Hey Stumpy,

I always try to hit dead center in the body right behind the front leg. On your target you'll notice all the blood vessels are the largest right above the heart. This also gives room for error in elevation.

A hit in the larger blood vessel means the animal will bleed out faster and go down faster. I've been fortunate with my new flinter in two years I've taken four deer with it and all four were tagged in the heart usually near the top and got both lungs also. I've also tagged dozens of deer in the same way with my bow. They don't make it out of sight most of the time.

I have a booklet that shows the pictures like Bob's post in an overlay fashion. It shows all vital organs as well as the actual blood vessels. Even the veins in the lungs are much larger towards the front of the lungs and tapering off towards the back of them. It also shows how the bones lay over the vitals.

The one deer I took with my flintlock pistol I told my huntin' buddy I was going to anchor him due to the steep mountain sides in the area. I anchored her with a high shoulder shot that also clipped the spine as it dips down between the shoulders.

I did not want to drag any deer up a very steep grade for 600 yards or more not even a little deer. Turned out that doe was the biggest deer I killed that year!

A good tip I read somewhere years ago is to imagine a basketball in between the frontlegs in the center of the vitals. No matter what angle you get go for center of the imaginary ball! That has worked wonderfully for me try it on a 3d target with your bow.

Good Huntin',
Chuck Goodall
"The Original Huntin' Fool"
&
Kanawha Ranger Scribe