If you could position the deer the way you want at reasonable distance (say 50yds with a handgun, 100 yards with a rifle), where would you be aiming?
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If you could position the deer the way you want at reasonable distance (say 50yds with a handgun, 100 yards with a rifle), where would you be aiming?
If they are close to my treestand I hit them right in the neck with a 7 1/2" SBH and a 310gr RF. Out past 30yds or so, I try for a heart shot if I can get one, that usually breaks down at least one shoulder.
The exact same as if I was shooting archery. Right behind the front shoulder center mass at an angle exiting low out the heart…out of my tree stand… I don’t hunt on the ground. If I did I would aim in the same place. Double lungs at at an angle normally takes some of the heart with it. I normally aim about an inch back from shoulder outline. If I connect on the shoulder on the other side that means I have a little less meat to save. Fine with me because it normally drops animals in its tracks or close to it. I’ll sacrifice a little meat any day of the week to watch a deer drop on the spot. We get so many extra tags here for deer each year it doesn’t bother me to lose a little meat. I use the scrap for trapping so it doesn’t go to waste. Aiming center mass right behind the front shoulder always gives me a little “lee way cushion” if I flinch, brush in the way, or get excited! Never gonna miss that way imo!
I would like to go for the neck, head, just training always brings me back to center mass.
I always want to break one or both shoulders. This puts the animal down on the spot and usually messes up heart or lungs. This has worked well for me with cast bullets from .357 magnum, 30-30 and 300 BLK rifles. Will test my 350 Legend with 200 gr Lee RNFP's on hogs as soon as possible. :smile:
Kill Zone!
Where I used to hunt, 120 yards was a long shot. Most were closer to 80-90.
.30-30, M1A, or .45-70:: With open sights, about 2/3 down from the top, and just at the rear edge of the shoulder.
The shock wave/fluid pressure or something like that usually blows out the lungs and shatters the heart.
.30-06, 7mmMag: With a scope, same thing unless its a doe and inside of 100 yards.
Then, right below the front edge of the ear's hole. That pretty well shatters the skull and disconnects the spine.
A few facing away were hit at the base of the skull. A couple that were looking at me got it just above the nose.
Where I hunted, I never took a shot on one that wasn't standing still.
If one was walking along and didn't stop to listen or sniff, another would probably come by and stop within 20-30 minutes.
I've only shot one with the 7Mag.
It's really a little too much gun for where I was, but it was a fun kitchen project gun to put together,
and I hadn't killed anything with it.
Triplebeards spelled it out perfectly. I’ve shot over two hundred deer in my long hunting career and it’s always been the best place to aim, shoot, and hit. There are very few deer I haven’t collected after shooting them in that spot.
High shoulder, usually penetrates to the nerve cluster and bone bits cause extreme trauma.
We hunt river bottoms primarily with recurve bows. Most releases are well under 15 yards. We always go for the heart...
On caribou at long range, always shoulder/heart. If I had the rare chance of a close shot, I would take a neck shot. A lot easier to dress out that way.
Behind the shoulders trying to stay off of them. -06
Double lung. Ribs don't have much meat, where as shoulder shots tend to destroy a lot of meat and usually if I get one, I get both.
It depends on my gun, distance, weather, and time of the day. Raining or near dark, I am more likely to break down a shoulder. Morning shot, with snow to track, I will double lung them. Muzzleloader under 20 yards, with a solid rest, neck shots work great. I do dislike bloodshot shoulders, I always get stuck cleaning them up!
hc18flyer
Problem with a "double lung" is it works if the deer is broadside. Even then the deer can go a long way before lying down to die. If you've got good tracking conditions and no other hunters in the local (I have had two deer I double lunged go far enough other hunters to shoot them again and claimed them), then it's a viable shot. If "still" hunting [a misnomer BTW] a broadside shot is an exception. You'll most likely get a frontal, a quartering towards you or a quartering away shot. I don't do Texas heart shots so I omitted that shot. With those shots a behind the shoulder is not practical. A behind the shoulder shot on any quartering shot will result in a gut shot either going in or coming out. A frontal shot can easily miss both lungs.
I learned a long time ago the best and most assured shot is to the heart area regardless of angle. That are is where the arteries and viens come in and out of the heart itself. In deer it is an area a bit smaller than a soccer ball low between the front legs against the breast bone. put your cast bullet through that area and the deer will be down, if not DRT, then within not many yards. An easy frontal shot. With a quartering shot you'll not only get the heart area but also will probably breakdown one leg if not both.
Yes, it will damage a bit more meat and you'll end up with more burger. However, if you've ever lost after a couple days search a well double lung shot or poorly neck shot deer [I have in my younger less experienced days] you will appreciate the burger in the freezer in lieu of well fed coyote's, crows and magpies in the bush.....
If "hunting" from a stand (ground or tree) with the deer feeding in a plot or from corn thrown from a feeder then you should be comfortable, have a good rest, know the range and be able to pull off one of the other shots. I've no problems with that style of "hunting" since I've done it myself. However, if still hunting then go for the sure shot, the heart area.
Now that I actually think of where I shoot it seems that I try most often for the heart
or just behind the front leg hoping for the heart lungs, most always for the off side shoulder
institutively I shoot there without thinking
I actually hit the wrong poll button. I know it will waste meat but I want to down the animal, and trust my placement better when I just break his shoulder(s). With the 45-70, I know will bust through everything. On quartering away shot I will aim for the far shoulder just a bit forward of where most doing a proper quartering away shot take. I would never attempt a Texas heart shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Gibson
In my experience shoulder shots will not waste meat with cast bullets, at least up to impact velocities of 2200 fps or so. You can pretty much eat right up to the hole. Now if you blast one in the shoulder at woods ranges with a 270, '06, 308 etc. and typical cup and core bullets you will lose meat for sure, which is why most devotees of these calibers recommend the lung shot. But if your situation is like many of ours and a lung shot deer runs 60-80 yards, you are likely to have other people shooting at it, which is lovely.
You can avoid all that by using cast bullets of decent weight and moderate velocity and placing the shot directly into one or preferably both shoulders. The animal will go down on the spot, possibly kick around a bit and then expire. You will lose no meat to speak of and nobody else will shoot your "dead" deer. Same result can be achieved with higher velocity guns by using the heaviest bullets available for the caliber. I know an older deer hunter who used to trespass and poach deer in his younger days. He and his friends shot lots of deer and they found that heavy and slow bullets placed in the shoulder would anchor the animal pronto and not waste meat. Think about it, if you're someplace you're not supposed to be and you shoot something, you don't want a long tracking job. You want to grab the deer and get out of there. His caliber of choice was the 30-06 and he always used the heaviest bullets he could find for it at the time.
When young, we had a tree stand. My dad had an early 44Mag from Ruger. He loaded it to 1100fps or so using cast 240gr bullets. My Brothers and I would shoot deer in the apple orchard and through both lungs at 40yrds or so. We are lots of venison back then.
I've shot a couple of deer in the neck with a 455gr cast 45-70 cast boolit and the pill went right through without hitting the vertebra. Both animals acted like they were bitten by a bug - so I shot again into the shoulder and broke them down. Of course, they would have gone off and died with that big hole in the neck but it would have taken a while.