Where do you prefer to aim on deer with Cast Boolits?

[jednorris]

Just behind the front shoulder gets both lungs. When the bullet hits, it knocks all the wind out of the animal. How far can anything run with NO air in its lungs and no way of getting its breath.

[Fire_stick]

In resent time, the high shoulder shot has become my preferred shot. Using this technique has dropped more deer in their tracks or within a few yards. Everyone likes forensic photos, right?

[Jeff Michel]

Straight up the front leg 2/3rd's of the way up. If you pull a bit your in lungs. Low, your in the heart and steady, your through the shoulder. A deer won't go far without front wheels.

[ChristopherO]

In resent time, the high shoulder shot has become my preferred shot. Using this technique has dropped more deer in their tracks or within a few yards. Everyone likes forensic photos, right?

Fire_Stick, That is the splitting image of a buck hit with the 45/70 and the Accurate WFN boolit I placed in the high shoulder. Normally the aim is lower to take out both lungs, but on that occasion the circumstances called for both shoulders to be taken out, and the performance of the boolit put that deer down in style. It really works, especially when the CNS is severed in the process.
Thanks for the photo. Brought back a good memory on a frosty opening day.

[Bigbore5]

I most often use a 357mag or a max loaded with the Keith bullet cast 15-18 bhn and gas checked or a 500 Linebaugh loaded with a 355swc at 1350fps. I like the double lungs with the 357's and double shoulder with the 500.

[Ramjet-SS]

Cast boolits in the WFN configuration at moderate to higher velocities make complete jelly out of lung tissue.

In this pic you can see testing with variety of bullets the low right corner is 315 grain LFN out of 45/70 rifle at 1400 FPS look at the damage…..

The pic with the least damage was the entrance holes the one with lots of damage is 12” in the wet news print.

Upper left a 260 grain WFN from a Colt revolver 750 FPS 16” penetration
Center a 315 grain 44 Mag Colt Anaconda LFN at 1100 FPS (24” plus penetration out the back after 24 “)
Upper right is a 180 Grain XTP from my 45 ACP Mark 23 SOCOM at 1500 FPS (poor penetration) lots damage.
Lower right 45/70 From my Henry Single Shot 315 grain long flat nose hard cast 1400 FPS. Out the back after 24” of penetration.

The wet news print gives an excellent depiction of the damage of the temporary and permanent would channel. Cast bullets with LFN or WFN a cause significant damage to lung tissue and in may cases will blow put the diaphragm in the process.

[wc870]

My vote is the double lung behind the shoulder, I had a buddy that used to like the neck shot (i don't know why because it didn't always work out) and we had to go find a lot of them.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I was using ballistic tipped .308 for deer and kept blowing up the hearts. Wanted to try eating one so i switched to core locked bullets. My Son served deer heart to a Korean engineer from his work and when he asked him what he though of it he said, "Good, tastes like dog"! Obviously he had no qualms about eating Bambi.

[Tom_in_AZ]

Center of the body, broadside, trying to hit both lungs. I try to stay away from the shoulder as it ruins a lot of meat.

[M-Tecs]

[Lloyd Smale]

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.

me to with cast. it puts them down without much meat loss. ill head shoot at 50 yards and found out at a 100 deer shot behing the shoulder just run to far. shoulder shot usually anchors them right there and makes it a more humane kill and add to that at my age dragging deer is a real job. even small ones. now with expanding jacketed i shoot behind the shoulder

[Outer Rondacker]

Same place I always do. The head. Sorry but I do not like the taste of antlers. This always ends up with no meat loss. They drop and never run. Had a DEC officer give me a hard time one day about chopping off a doe's head and trying to pass it along as a buck. I think I told this story one here many years ago but anyway I let him go on for a short time and then spread the bucks legs. Followed by a you have a good day officer.

[Anchorite]

me to with cast. it puts them down without much meat loss. ill head shoot at 50 yards and found out at a 100 deer shot behing the shoulder just run to far. shoulder shot usually anchors them right there and makes it a more humane kill and add to that at my age dragging deer is a real job. even small ones. now with expanding jacketed i shoot behind the shoulder

Lots of old time deer hunters in the Deep South (and poachers) have harvested truck loads of dinks with cast bullets and 22 Hornet shots to the head.

[41mag]

My choice on the poll was other. Deer around where we hunt are usually on the move and hardly ever come in for those posed broadside shots. I learned at an early age using a .243 that I had to place my shots accordingly. While my dad and uncles used their '06 and 150-165gr bullets, they had more authority than my pip squeak 100gr did.

I learned to try and put my shots through the chest cavity and either take out one or both shoulder. I learned to shoot in front or behind one shoulder to come out through or in front or behind of the other or just straight through both. As I grew older I did the high shoulder and moved on to heavier calibers and different bullets. This all of course was with jacketed stuff.

Nowadays I have been using mostly handguns and of those my 41,44, 45C or 454 have gotten the most field time. Either of them using my cast have worked out well on feral hogs and a couple of deer. Same shots as when i was younger however, transect the chest usually gets one or both lungs, heart, and disrupts the CNS. I have had deer and even hogs run a bit, but haven't lost one in many years.

[6GUNSONLY]

Oh, about anywhere in the eye will do the job.

[BobT]

If a deer is perfectly broadside I'll aim as tight as I can to the shoulder without actually hitting bone. With a much more likely quartering shot I want to hit bone. If the presentation is quartering to me I'll try to hit the near shoulder and quartering away I'll shoot for the offside shoulder.

Any of you can't miss head shooters ever seen a deer starving to death with a broken jaw? A head shot is the most irresponsible shot that can be taken on an unwounded deer and shows a complete lack of respect for that animal.

[Tripplebeards]

Any of you can't miss head shooters ever seen a deer starving to death with a broken jaw? A head shot is the most irresponsible shot that can be taken on an unwounded deer and shows a complete lack of respect for that animal.

Every time I hear somebody posting or saying, they’re gonna shoot a deer in the head I just wanna knock their teeth out and take away their guns. Sorry… but it’s just the way I feel. Head shots are reserved for trap line raccoons, and possums to put them instantly out of their misery and also squirrels and rabbits. When a deer winds up in some liberal’s backyard with a broken jaw or or some other kind of gunshot wound just because somebody thought they were a class A sniper or “dead eye Dick” makes us all look bad. Most of those “so-called” marksman don’t even realize they did a poorly placed shot and figured they just missed the deer. I see deer like that running and limping through my property when gun hunting almost every other year from our neighbors. If I wouldn’t be put in jail from going up and beating them to a pulp it would’ve already happened. If you wanna shoot a wounded deer that you’ve already put an improperly placed shot on and finish it off with a headshot at point blank more power to you. I completely understand that scenario. But if you’re just going out and taking head shots at deer you have no business hunting or being in the woods. I’m sure we’ve all done it at one point in time. I’m guilty of it as well but I can tell you after I did it once 30 years years ago and watched the deer get back up and run away. I felt so bad I almost quit hunting. How would you like to get shot in the eye or in the jaw and then run around for a month hoping that you’ll quickly freeze to death, get hit by a car, or have a coyote take you out instead of slowly starving to death? Predators small game environments I have zero cares about but a deer is one of those things that get people in trouble when it limp into somebody’s backyard it makes national news then everybody wants to go after our guns and make us quit hunting.

[Arthur Roy]

I have always shot for the heart. I pay no attention to angles either. I have taken numerous deer with a hard quartering away shot that I actually held on the hind quarter. Every time the bullet has exited taking the heart or lungs out on its way. These shots have all been taken with a revolver from 30-100ish yards.

[M-Tecs]

Every time I hear somebody posting or saying, they’re gonna shoot a deer in the head I just wanna knock their teeth out and take away their guns. Sorry… but it’s just the way I feel. Head shots are reserved for trap line raccoons, and possums to put them instantly out of their misery and also squirrels and rabbits. When a deer winds up in some liberal’s backyard with a broken jaw or or some other kind of gunshot wound just because somebody thought they were a class A sniper or “dead eye Dick” makes us all look bad. Most of those “so-called” marksman don’t even realize they did a poorly placed shot and figured they just missed the deer. I see deer like that running and limping through my property when gun hunting almost every other year from our neighbors. If I wouldn’t be put in jail from going up and beating them to a pulp it would’ve already happened. If you wanna shoot a wounded deer that you’ve already put an improperly placed shot on and finish it off with a headshot at point blank more power to you. I completely understand that scenario. But if you’re just going out and taking head shots at deer you have no business hunting or being in the woods. I’m sure we’ve all done it at one point in time. I’m guilty of it as well but I can tell you after I did it once 30 years years ago and watched the deer get back up and run away. I felt so bad I almost quit hunting. How would you like to get shot in the eye or in the jaw and then run around for a month hoping that you’ll quickly freeze to death, get hit by a car, or have a coyote take you out instead of slowly starving to death? Predators small game environments I have zero cares about but a deer is one of those things that get people in trouble when it limp into somebody’s backyard it makes national news then everybody wants to go after our guns and make us quit hunting.

From 1970 to 2005 I deer hunted on land next to an open management area the was mostly swamp and tall grass. Due to the vegetation people that hunted there took a lot of head shot since that was all they could see. The result was lots of deer came thru the area I hunted with lower jaws and noses shot off. One year I put 3 out of their misery. Thru the years total was a couple of dozen or more. Unless it was the first or second day of the season they were left for coyote food.

[cherokeetracker]

I usually prefer a double shoulder or high shoulder shot. If not then I take what I can get. I do not use the Texas heart shot.
Here is a 400 grain cast from a 500 JRH. Deer was facing directly away from me.