Where to aim

[cayugad]

I always liked to take them through the top of the heart and the lungs. It seems to really take the steam out of them. They might still run off a few yards but normally I get a good blood trail and they do not go far.

 

[Mousekiller]

So i'm gathering that the general consencus is to shoot heart & Lung which i normally do. I was wondering about Neck shots? .50 GP .495 hornady ball with 75gr Goex.. Would it be enough to break the neck ? punch through?.. i don't have the luxury of being able to track deer for a great distance, landowner issue's so i'm looking for a good shot that will put them down pretty quick.

Thanks.
Mouse.

 

[roundball]

I was wondering about Neck shots? .50 GP .495 hornady ball with 75gr Goex.. Would it be enough to break the neck ? punch through

IMO, the load would be fine at reasonable distance, but you have to hit the vertebrate.
I've always avoided neck shots with muzzleloaders as it's a hit or miss proposition since a ML lacks the tremendous collateral shock power of a high power CF cartridge.

But ironically just this season, I was presented with close shots on two different bucks where only the head and neck was showing...they were both standing still less than 30-35 yards away, and I had time to take careful aim at each one.

Ended up hitting the vertebrate in both cases and they dropped in their tracks...but had I missed an inch above or below the vertebrae, they would have just been flesh wounds.

The round ball just doesn't provide the enormous collateral shock damage that allows for a near miss on the vertebrae that a CF cartridge does...so that's the challenge for the neck shot as I see it...need to be close enough with a muzzleloader to know you can nail it...and if so, the .50cal would be fine.

 

[raiderred]

I have to agree with roundball here--the neck shot is just too variable--small target, what happens if the deer raises/lowers/turns its head?
One of the guys down the road from us took a neck shot with a 45-70 just last month--the deer raised his head and all he did was shave a lot of hair off his dewlap!

 

[roundball]

I have to agree with roundball here--the neck shot is just too variable--small target, what happens if the deer raises/lowers/turns its head?
One of the guys down the road from us took a neck shot with a 45-70 just last month--the deer raised his head and all he did was shave a lot of hair off his dewlap!

One thing worth considering is where on the neck to aim...if you take aim where the neck is joined deeply into the main body, you won't have that range of unexpected head/neck movement up and down to contend with...compared to aiming at a spot on the neck a foot out in front of the body

 

[Mousekiller]

K, well..good advice, i normally don't take neck shots but i thought i'd ask.. I was thinking of shooting closer to the body then the head though, so i know that would be a more stable shot.. not my fist choice and i think you guys confirmed that.. I shot a Pig(about 180lbs) this year with my 50 at about 25yds hit it broadside slightly quarting away.. same load as i mentioned.. Penetrated through but did not exit, matter of fact ball lodged in the far side under the skin, ****** the pig off big time, he wanted me for lunch.. however he died about 5 yds past me.. whew.... so i know it works.. now for that unlucky deer that walks by..

Thanks folks.

Jeff.

 

[raiderred]

I heard or read somewhere that you actually want the ball or bullet to do just that-lodge just under the skin on the off side. That way, all the energy from the shot is transferred to the animal; although it can and does cut down on a blood trail to follow.

 

[randinator]

With my scoped rifles I will take a neck or head shot. With a bow or muzzleloader [we have to shoot open sights here] the only target is the center of the lungs. A lung hit will bleed and the lungs deflate. A double lung hit and the deer is dead in 6 to 10 seconds. If you miss in any direction, and it takes a few inches to miss the lungs, you may still hit spine, heart or liver. Just aim for an imaginary dime-sized spot in the middle of the front half of the body.

 

[justin54]

my uncle told me years ago to imagine a basketball sitting on the front legs. shoot through the ball equals dead deer has served me well for shooting with pistol/shotgun/archery and i'm hoping for my 54 cal in a couple of weeks
justin

 

[Blue Smoke]

Its always worked for me to line my Front Sight up with the Front Leg and hold low.I would say only a few percent of your Deer are under shot.

Blue Smoke

 

[ruddyduck]

Just hold for the rib cage...anything there will result in a quick, humane kill. I hit a deer last year with the bow perfectly broadside and hit the last rib...still went through the center of the liver. I thought it would be gut shot but it wasn't by any means. Holding for the front leg or shoulder is great if you can hit it, or behind it, every time. WE've found deer on camp property that have been hit forward and low of the shoulder that unfortunately had to get gang green before they died...not pretty or fun to think about. I think we, as hunters, have gotten this syndrome of "putting it on the front shoulder". I've been one of these people at times. HOlding for the rib cage, behind the shoulder, gives you leeway left and right...much better option in my opinion

 

[laufer]

That "intestines" part looks like the biggest target....

:rotf: :thumbsup:

 

[Herb]

Mouse- Forget neck shots. Couple of years ago I shot a small mule deer buck in the neck from about 90 yards. Used my Green River Leman I made with a .54 barrel, round ball, 120 grains of Goex 2f at 1860 fps. Buck was following a doe, totally unalerted. I shot offhand, hit him in the middle of the right side of the neck about where my powder horn spout points to in the picture. He turned away over a ridge from sight. I reloaded and went up to collect him. No deer . No blood. No hair. Nada. looked in the sagebrush for maybe an hour, no deer. Gave up. Soon found more deer about half a mile west. Made a big sneak on them, picked out the biggest buck and from about 70 yards shot him through the top of the spine. Dead deer. Got him home, hung him up to wash him out, and there was this 3 inch hole in the hair in the center of the right side of his neck. Bare flesh for about 1 inch, no blood. This was the buck I shot earlier, and that ball literally bounced off his neck. Did not knock him down or even inconvenience him.

Have been told of other neck shot failures. Doc White (Green River Rifle Works, where I made my Leman, and now of White Rifles) wrote about shooting a Dall sheep in the neck at 50 yards with the same rifle and velocity load and "To my immense surprise he jumped up and ran off." He then shot the ram through the lungs at 150 yards for a quick kill.

 

[Runner]

CVA Hawken, 100 grains of P under a patched 490 roundball. The buck got up at 30 yards. Neck was all I had to shoot at. Big deer with a very pumped neck. The ball went 19 inches and stopped under the hide on the other side. It took a very small slice out of the edge of a neck bone dropping the deer in his tracks. He was trying to gain control of himself again by the time I got to him. I finished him with a revolver and checked the wound channel later. 19 inches of muscle is plenty of penetration for any Whitetail purpose. The ball was flattened on the front but expanded little. The wound channel was a little bigger than the ball and consistant all the way thru. One inch down and he is dead before he hits the ground. A half inch higher and I am wondering what happened as the deer runs off. No neck shots with roundball! If that had been a 385 Great Plains, he is dead before he hits the ground because the expanded bullet would have hammered the spine. Still no neck shots for me.

 

[JesseJames]

Here is where I like to hit them[url] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/travist/dscf0293.jpg[/url]

 

[JesseJames]

first pic was going in,this one is going out. tc 45 cal maxie ball with 60 powder pyrodex. 40 yards and ran 25 yds and folded up.[url] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/travist/dscf0294.jpg[/url]

 

[hadtogo]

Have to agree w/u JJames. A solid broadside high heart & or double lung is the way to go. Here in S Tex brush you can lose an animal in 20 yds w/o a solid blood trail. We have a lot of so called "nothing but a neck shot" shooters here. The common reason is "well if it doesn't go down then its usually a clean miss" That just tells me that the shooter is setting himself up an excuse to miss or mortally wound an animal by blowing out its wind pipe. Wind pipe shots don't leave much blood but still kill animals. We get to shoot a lot of feral pigs here year round & on very large 275 to 400 lb boars you want to avoid the shoulder shield both w/a ML & a bow. One of our favorite shots is slightly quartering towards or away. The bullet or arrow totally avoids the shield & creates awesome hydralic shock or damage w/in the cavity & leaves a great blood trail. The past two seasons I tried it on whitetails & its a great shot. Most of the whitetails just crumpled & very litlle damage to the shoulders. Now w/ that said LOLOLOL if a ginormus BC buck or porkasaurusrex walks out I will take the first clean shot I can get. LOLOL

Peace
HTG

 

[JesseJames]

that is my shot with bow and ml. I was reading an article from a heart Dr. and a hunter. he said double lung is the best shot even over a heart. he said that a heart shot puts the heart in a slow down mode. where it wants to repair itself. with the lungs it is the opposite the heart wants to supply the lung with more blood to repair the lungs. he said that both shots are kills but the
lungs are faster

 

[roundball]

that is my shot with bow and ml. I was reading an article from a heart Dr. and a hunter. he said double lung is the best shot even over a heart. he said that a heart shot puts the heart in a slow down mode. where it wants to repair itself. with the lungs it is the opposite the heart wants to supply the lung with more blood to repair the lungs. he said that both shots are kills but the
lungs are faster

I don't know about all that but for a different view on the subject, my 1st choice with a PRB is always the heart...no deer that I've shot in the heart with a patched ball has ever sprinted more than 25-35 yds, and fall in sight of where I'm sitting....440/.490/.530/.570 balls...doesn't matter...have been squirrel hunting with a .45cal flinter using only 40grns Goex, have heart shot bucks and does and watched them bolt then fall in sight...when the heart turns to jelly it's not going to repair anything, it's all over in 6-7 seconds.

 

[JesseJames]

Roundball
That is just what I read. I have blowed out there heart and was amazed at how much ground they can cover in that death run.