Hunting - Where's your Shot Going?

[Jack Ryan]

Head Shot Boom 2014

• Jack Ryan
• Jan 30, 2019

 

[Peakbagger46]

Hate to argue, but there is a lot of meat in the neck and bullet placement is critical in that area. On the other hand a good chest shot will drop a deer instantly. No air in lungs and deer can't run. I feel this can be better than a good heart shot.

I butcher all my animals and there is very little neck meat in deer. Elk have more but still not a lot.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I butcher all my animals and there is very little neck meat in deer. Elk have more but still not a lot.

I agree with Peak.
There is very little meat on the neck of a deer.
Plus you hit them there I think it puts a lot more shock in the deers system and they generally go right down, but nothing is guaranteed.
When we cut the deer up we save the necks and put th in a crocpot for stew

 

[d2wing]

A deer is going to die shortly if you shoot it in the heart, as said earlier head shots are not reliable kill shots neither are neck shots, High shoulder is risky because too high is no good. Mid shoulder is better. Sometimes you have to take the shot presented or pass. If you know exactly where the brain is and can hit exactly that's ok by me. Hogs are very different from deer as head shots are much more viable on them, Livestock too. But no man or beast survives a heart shot.
For many years I would hit the top of the heart and cut it clean off. I would give to some old timers that wanted them to pickle. Those days are long gone.
I only shot I had this year was a Texas Heart shot and I passed.

 

[hawg]

I can't hunt anymore. The last day I hunted I killed a doe with a behind the ear headshot from 65 yards with my .54 Hawken and a PRB. It's not a shot I would normally take but it was all she was giving me and was steadily moving away. I knew I could make the shot so I took it.

 

[alsaqr]

Although uncommon, i've seen lung shot deer run 200 yards. What happens when the double lung shot deer crosses the "can't go there" property line?

Most of my deer are shot using muzzleloaders, some using patched round balls. Most are taken from blinds or stands at <75 yards, sometimes from a lawn chair.

i prefer high shoulder or high just behind the shoulder shots: i want the bullet to pass just under the spine: The result is a bang flop. Sometimes there's a bruise on the back strap.

 

[Jack Ryan]

This thread does a lot to explain the blood tracking and got away threads so common on hunting and gun boards.

 

[BreechFace]

I've always thought that neck shots have been used in greater extent (especially with seasoned hunters) out west here than in the eastern US and the shots work well due to us being able to use high-powered rifles. A good neck shot with the cavitation that ensues with a high powered rifle provides really good results on deer and elk as one has the jugular veins, carotid arteries, vertebrae and spinal cord that can all be compromised with a high-powered shot to the neck. I'm surprised that there are not more people shooting the neck.

 

[d2wing]

I've always thought that neck shots have been used in greater extent (especially with seasoned hunters) out west here than in the eastern US and the shots work well due to us being able to use high-powered rifles. A good neck shot with the cavitation that ensues with a high powered rifle provides really good results on deer and elk as one has the jugular veins, carotid arteries, vertebrae and spinal cord that can all be compromised with a high-powered shot to the neck. I'm surprised that there are not more people shooting the neck.

I have seen neck shot deer not be killed with high velocity cartridges like one I shot with a 7 MM mag. More of a luck shot like a head shot. Luckily it knocked him down and I got a follow-up shot on the one with the 7 MM. If you miss the heart you still get a double lung, and with a high velocity expanding bullet you will get enough cavitation to kill. If you use slow bullets and miss you might lose the deer in any shot unless you hit the heart in my experience.

 

[horsemen61]

So there are lots of different thoughts on the subject, many out west here grew up being taught to neck shoot as it wastes little meat and with a high velocity round the results are really good. It seems over the years there has been a large transition to heart/lung, or shoulder/lung/heart.

A lot can depend on conditions such as: caliber choice, deer position in relation to shooter, proximity to private ground or to a cliff, etc.

So where is your (2) locations of choice?

Mine would be neck OR lungs/heart and if I can take out offside shoulder all the better.

I want to go through that shoulder as I’ve yet to see a deer survive that shot or run far

 

[Gooseman69]

Broadside Heart/lungs, crease behind the shoulder if i cant get a broadside shot into the lung heart area xThen i dont shoot

 

[JmacD]

venison burger mixed with pork sausage for the best darned sausage and pepper-jack biscuits in the world.

Hungry now!!! Mmmmmm
I would always go for a double lung if possible. And having seen a starving slobbering jaw smashed deer after season from a muffed headshot(I was rabbit hunting, and finished the poor thing point blank with #4 steel shot in a 12 guage), I stay away from those unless it’s to finish one. I’ve got a buddy that’s pulled off several texAs heart shots, but I’d rather let it walk than wound something… but as has been said, lot of variables to consider.

 

[HowieG]

My favorite shot is bourbon down the throat.
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