Deer Anatomy - Vocabulary

[Sunray]

"...is called "Still Hunting."..." Yep, but stalking is when you have seen Bambi and are attempting to get close enough for a clean shot without being seen, heard or smelt. Both require you to pay very close attention to the wind, but aren't the same. You practice still hunting by trying to sneak up on a snoozing house cat. If the ears move towards you, you're caught. Start over. Stalking involves the terrain as much as anything else.
The deer's arm pit is under its foreleg just like your's is.
The "heart lung spot" is behind the shoulder on a broadside shot. Entropy's deer target illustrates it nicely. It's where Bambi's 'elbow' is pointing.
"...which shoulder..." You take the bow away from him?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

There's a ton of differing vocabulary in hunting which leads to quite the confusion. Case in point, where I work, I can argue till I am red in the face and still nobody will agree with me that walking slowly through the woods, pausing to look and listen for wild game, is called "Still Hunting." To a man, despite Field&Stream and the collective population of the internet on my side, "Still Hunting" to my coworkers means sitting in a tree stand or ground blind.

Perhaps you should point out that the term was immortalized in a book written in 1882 about deer hunting, and that same author was so good at hunting mule deer and whitetail that he favored a Winchester '73 in .44-40 as his deer rifle. Now I'm not knocking that old cartridge, nor the guys that used it in its heyday, but I prefer something with a bit more smack. https://www.amazon.com/Still-Hunter-Classics-American-Sport-Theodore/dp/0811730042

A shoulder shot is generally taken when the deer or bear is facing toward the hunter, but not head-on. It will be facing a bit to the right or the left of the hunter, maybe as much as 45 degrees off center. Some books call this as "quartering toward" the hunter. The idea is to send the projectile into the spot where the spine and the shoulder joint meet...the spine is severely impacted and the animal drops or goes a very short distance and drops. In cases where muzzle loader shooters have experimented with this shot and documented the results, the lead ball or bullet when not hitting the spine at the shoulder joint, was deflected into the spine from the shoulder bone impact.

If the animal is profile to the hunter, shooting behind the shoulder joint is a spine shot, because that point is too high to hit any other vital organ other than the spine, and with the desired result similar to a neck shot, but with less chance of the animal moving and spoiling the aim as one risks with a neck shot. Shooting a deer in the vitals, is done when the animal is profile or mostly profile to the hunter, and using the "elbow" of the front leg as a reference point, the hunter places the shot slightly to the rear of the elbow joint, on the torso of the deer, and strikes the lungs. Sometimes folks call this a lung shot. IF the hunter places the shot slightly toward the rear of the animal from the elbow-reference-point, AND slightly lower on the torso, that's the heart & lung shot, where the objective is to damage the heart, and the lungs, and if slightly off, the lungs are still damaged and the animal is harvested.

I prefer a strict lung shot, because I enjoy eating the deer heart, but recent tests done over the past few years by a few muzzle loading folks that I know, have convinced me to try the shoulder shot if it's presented to me.

LD

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Not been big game hunting (yet)...all my hunting has been small game/varmints.

But it sure seems to me that if I'm going to attempt to bring down something the size of a deer, I ought to invest the time to learn where I should be placing my shot. It's quite obvious to me that while nearly every body shot on a squirrel is a kill shot (from any angle), that AIN'T the case with larger critters.

And if I'm capable of consistent head shots with squirrels, then the only reason I couldn't take down a deer would be because I didn't properly place my shot in the first place. Anatomy would seem to be my friend here, no doubt about it.

 

[Hardtarget]

Good definitions of shot placement here. Can tell you guys have been there and done that! When I see a deer, I think of a "ball within a ball". My target is hidden inside of the chest and I want the straight line through to intersect that hidden target...no matter the position of the deer. Then, as ethics demands, I have to determine if there is too much deer between me and the actual "target ball".

Mark

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have to determine if there is too much deer between me and the actual "target ball".

When the day comes that you've been well within range of a good sized deer, ready to shoot but the animal just didn't cooperate to give you a shot in which you were confident..., and you waited..., and the deer walked away or spooked and ran so you didn't shoot..., you'll know then that you're doing it "right" if you had any doubts. It's unpleasant for a minute or two after, but at least you will be certain a) there were deer out there where you were hunting and b) there isn't an animal out there that you wounded, and couldn't find.

LD

 

[SoonerMedic]

It's unpleasant for a minute or two after, but at least you will be certain a) there were deer out there where you were hunting and b) there isn't an animal out there that you wounded, and couldn't find.

LD

Or a year! lol!

 

[buck460XVR]

The term "still hunting" has to be the most understood, confusing and mis-used in the hunting world. Especially for folks that have the idea one needs to be absolutely motionless in order to be a successful deer hunter. One of the secrets to successful "still" hunting is not only going slow and making sure of everything in eyesight 360 degrees around you, but using terrain,cover and deer habits to your advantage. Weather and wood's conditions can also be a big factor. Rain, wet snow and wind can cover or disguise unwanted noise and keep the wind in your face. It also can keep deer bedded down in particular cover. Dry leaves, crunchy snow on the ground and lack of leaves on the trees/vegetation can make it impossible to close enough for a good shot regardless of how good of a still hunter you are. Stalking is getting close to game you know is there. Still Hunting is getting close to game you think is there.

As for other deer hunting terminology, much of it is based on dialect and where you grew up/learned to hunt. What your mentors/peers used is probably what you will use. None of it is wrong as long as one understands what you are saying or hearing. To me "boiler room" shots can be confusing to new hunters, especially if they do not understand the anatomy of the game they are hunting. So many pictures show the crosshairs directly on the middle of the front shoulder, regardless of the animals position to the hunter. In some game animals, the organs are not always dead center in the front shoulders. With some weapons, like archery and marginal handguns/long-guns, the center of the front shoulders is not the best way to the boiler room. Lotta variances in firearm/hunting vocabulary, no difference than how folks in different parts of the country ask for a carbonated beverage. How about that age old "clip vs Mag" debate. Kinda what adds to the color of our sport.. Like ethics, and techniques, one needs to understand we are not all the same.