Originally Posted by
Nueces
I have always understood the barking shot to produce sudden death due to concussive effects under a squirrel's head as he hugs a tree branch. Don't believe shrapnel has anything to do with it.
Once, on a south Texas deer hunt, I watched the slow approach of a bobcat into the open. I was armed with an old Sako Forrester 243 using factory soft points. I knew a body shot would ruin the pelt, so I cranked up the Leupold 3x9 (sighted in before the hunt) and aimed for just inside the skin of the chest cavity, figuring the shock of bullet passage would stop the heart. At the shot, the cat flopped a bit and fell on his shadow. There were two bullet holes in him, less than 2 inches apart and both of bore diameter. Worked!