Shot placement for any projectile

[teddy_d]

Just because so few people actually understand the anatomy of any mammal not to mention deer.

Ethical harvesting is easy, no need for your quarry to run after being hit properly in the vital zone. Infact it should drop on the spot. If it runs you missed perfect shot placement no matter what round you used.

https://www.qdma.com/shot-placement/

[plant_one]

Infact it should drop on the spot. If it runs you missed perfect shot placement no matter what round you used.

apparently you havent shot many deer. so lets debunk that line above right here and now for the benefit of people who might stumble upon this thread in the future.

while that information on shot placement is good if not great, its by no means definitive that you're going to have a bang-flop scenario with it - or that the lack of a bang flop indicates poor shot placement - and sadly, i havent met a deer that actually has read that information to understand that its supposed to just lay there and die.



that high shoulder - heart/lung is my go-to aim point if i'm not taking a neck shot on a deer. its the shot i was taught to take for max effectiveness. and for the most part i agree, it works - quite effectively.

and while many times with those 180gr 30-06 core-lokt bullets i hunted with for the first 10+ years it was pretty much a bang-flop... you WILL eventually run into an animal that it isnt.


perfect example - i had a standing broadside at about 65 yds back in the woods. wasnt high up or anything, etc. (this was just b4 michigan changed the elevated firearm hunting rules and around my 5th or 6th buck). squeezed off the round nice and comfortable, rifle and load was MOA or better, etc. deer was hit like he got whacked with the hammer of thor - threw him right over onto the ground.

set my gun down, poured a cup of coffee and lit a cig to let him bleed out. get out of my blind a few mins later - wtf? where's my deer? he should be laying right freaking here!

while i was pouring my coffee (i assume anyway) he hopped up and ran due south. we tracked him on pin drops of blood every 10 or 15 feet for >300 yds.

found him piled up with his antlers wrapped around a 3" maple trunk, laying in a 10-12' wide cleared patch of ground that can only be described as a bloody mud puddle. he had kick/spun himself around that tree with his antlers locked around it throwing all the leaves out of the way while all the blood that was inside his body cavity leaked out.

on field dressing - perfect heart/double lung. the top 1/3 of the heart was gone - nothing left but some hamburger - severed from all the veins/arteries. absolutely textbook perfect high shoulder 10-ring shot. and proof that these animals are much tougher than we often give them credit for and that when they get hit with an Adrenalin surge - they can power through a lot of stuff even if they just dont realize that they're a walking corpse at that point.



again - i'm not suggesting that this isnt IDEAL shot placement for a heat/lung shot on a whitetail deer, just debunking 100% that if it runs you missed perfect shot placement.

[MOOSE EARS]

Agree by experience with Plant one above. The only sure fire bang flop is a head shot. Deer run on adrenaline, not blood. I've made more heart shots than anything else and they all have been runners. The only exception was a neck shot, right above the body.

[gmstack]

I AGREE WITH THE LATTER 2 POSTINGS ITS ISNT UNUSUAL FOR A HEART SHOT DEER TO GO 100YDS I HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN. SAME THING WITH A DOUBLE LUNG SHOT.

[Bmt85]

I agree with the others, deer can still run, even with perfect shot placement.
Best example I've seen, my dad using a 30-06. Perfect shot, heart was completely destroyed, huge blood spray on ground from exit, deer ran over 100yds.

One issue I have with the video, he says the perfect shot is just into the shoulder. Which I agree with, but then you run the chance of losing that meat. I made that same shot on a smaller cow elk a couple years back, because I wanted to make sure I hit the heart. Elk ran 50yds, almost no blood trail, and piled up in a ditch. Took it to the butcher and watched him skin it. Lost quite a bit of that shoulder meat. If you keep it back a bit, like the guy suggested for bow, you don't risk that meat. That's usually what I do.

[offrink]

A head shot is not a guarantee bang flop. It has to be a brain shot. I am not a fan of head/neck shots and have only really heard of them in the last few years. A solid heart lung shot is a preferred shot in my eyes because if you hit the heart and lungs you will have a dead deer that doesn’t suffer for days. I have killed 3 deer in the last 5 years that have had major infections with two that went through the backstrap and one that went through a front leg. No bullet or arrow fragments were found. Those deer were harvested because they were wounded and obviously needing to be put down. Heart and lung shots would have, and did, kill those deer. Maybe I’m just old school style of hunter.

[Hoot]

This will obviously sound funny but I believe a lot depends upon whether the deer knows that you shot him. Of course, their first response is to retreat from whatever caused them pain, but it helps if they aren't sure what caused it or where it came from. I've had a few deer not drop upon impact. The one who had made me just before I shot him from 40 yds away, took off away from me, heading for the next county. Fortunately, his resolve ran out about three large bounds later. Another was trotting broadside about 100 yds away and stopped abruptly when hit, he jumped around a few bounces and started walking toward me. Laid down 20 steps later and died. Both were money shots right behind the shoulder. I was pretty proud of the trotting shot as I usually don't take running shots. My mouth was too dry to whistle and as soon as he hit a clear spot on the trail he was trotting down, I popped him. FWIW, both from a .300 Win Mag BAR loaded down to .30-06, pushing a 150gr ballistic tip. Massive internal damage and a billiard ball exit wound. I've had them bowl over like their legs were bound as well. Two walking along a trail, using a 30-30, pushing 150gr factory core-lokts around 75 yds away almost in the same place one year after the other. Bullet lodged under the offside hide on one and a slightly larger than caliber exit wound on the other. You just never know with white tails...

I've said this time and again. The 450b is plenty lethal, even at modest velocities, if you go with cup and core bullets. I've also said this before and I know there are those here who differ with me. I will not hunt beyond 100 yds with my 450b. Doesn't play to its strengths. Then again, the dense northwoods I hunt in rarely affords even a glimpse of a deer beyond 50 yds, let alone an ethical shot.

Hoot