One shot continued

There was a thread back a week or two about were to shoot a deer to make them drop in their tracks. This one didn't even wiggle, kick, or shake. If you look close the entry of the 270 130 grain bullet was up on his shoulder . He was standing broad side. with the side up I shot him on. This pic is how he fell.

This one was broadside got a 45 cal muzzle loader bullet through the top veins on the heart with a 3 inch hole for an exit wound behind the opposite shoulder, ran 30-40 yards. Most deer I have shot with muzzleloader or 20 gauge have ran a bit. The larger center fires seem to lay them out better in my limited experience.

It has been my experience that unless you damage the spine a deer will most likely always travel a ways before expiring.

I have witnessed two deer now that were shot through both shoulders and had no viable use of their front legs.

Both traveled at least 50 yards using their back legs only.

Did the one-shot kill mess up any of the backstraps? The last two I shot I hit above the heart and below the spine. They dropped where they stood but I lost maybe 4-5" of backtrap meat. I just wonder if you had any meat damage on your one-shot kill

Havent dressed him yet. Let you know.
But the fact I have 12 crop damage doe tags don't think I'll miss a few inches of back straps from my buck.

I agree with this, if you dont hit the spine or damage the spine through shock then the deer is going to run/stumble abit.

is this where you hit it ?

I have seen it happen more often than not. I think your choice of bullets has a lot to do with it. My son shoots a .243 and I have seem him drop several where they stood, kick a few times and be done. Most have been middle of the shoulder shots. He shoots a 100gr Hornady interlock. I have shot several over the years with lots of different guns and loads, some dropped others ran. The one gun and load that was the best at dropping them was a 7mm WSM with 140gr ballistic silvertip. Where they were when you shot, was where you went to get them. Same gun but after trying some 160gr Nosler partitions which it loves and shots better than anything I have found. Unless I hit some major bone it stopped dropping them. I have never had one run out of sight, but they run. So I think a large part of it is what bullet you chose. I also think it matters if the deer is relaxed or on alert and ready to run. But that's just my thoughts and I am sure everyone has their own thoughts on it.

Yes Pete that's the spot

On a side note, I have never shot a deer with a rifle. Muzzleloader, shotgun, and handgun only.

I think sometimes people shoot a deer and it drops were it stood. They look at the entry and exit hole, dress the deer and it appears that the bullet was nowhere near the spinal column.

I think most likely in that situation, the bullet fragmented and one of those fragments damaged the spinal column.

This would especially be more prevalent in high velocity rifle calipers.

I shot a good-sized doe Sunday at around 200 yards. She went down immediately. About 10 seconds later she jumped up and ran away. I couldn't believe it! We had about an inch of fresh snow, so it was easy to track her. Where I hit her, there was a fair amount of blood. She was spraying blood and went about 40 yards. I hit her just behind the front leg in the shoulder. The bullet exited the other front leg breaking the scapula. Amazing she ever got back up. I was shooting a Barnes TSX bullet 150 grain in a 30-06.

yup never hit one there with a rifle , muzzle loader , 12 or 20ga that didn't go right down it disables front and rear legs

I have shot them there and they were still breathing in particular 75-80 yard shots with a 12 ga slug completely paralyzed all 4 legs but the head could still move and I moved up and finished it.


we call that point of the shoulder , definitely a CNS hit, central nerve system hit .

if the shot drops low as it does with slugs some times you still get a solid hit in the shoulders and take the lungs out.

yes a bit of wasted meat , but so much less than a wasted deer

Around here we call that the "off" button. everything shuts down...........................

This is probably a full spinal hit.

The spine often lies much lower than you would think.

I once shot a buck with the muzzleloader on opening morning which was a Friday. He was about 50 yards, and after the smoke cleared, I watched him run off as if nothing happened.

I found no blood or hair.

Sunday morning we found him tending a doe, and long story short I killed him at 70 yard with the muzzleloader.

I found that I had hit him on Friday, but the bullet passed through the very top of both shoulders and above the spinal column.

I was intrigued to say the least, and with a bit of investigation I concluded that on a good sized buck there is at least 4 inches above the spine in that area that would be a non-lethal hit.

Yes between T-10 and T-11vertebra . I was aiming for T-9 T-10 but wobbled a little . LO LOL LOL

shotguns especially close create a lot of shock, but in a veterinary study of cape buffalo they found with a much larger number of animals than we normally get to shoot in a year that around half would go down from a shot to the heart and lungs area with the magnum round they were using and half didn't they were autopsying the cape buffalo those that went right down had brain hemorrhage those that ran didn't.
they came to the conclusion that even though all hit in the same place with the same big bore magnum cartridge what mattered was if the heart was building pressure or releasing it
think about your blood pressure say you are 120/80 that if the pressure is at or near peak then the pressure wave causes the hemorrhaging.
this is a function of volume , if you shoot a sub 50 pound animal you can get shock every time you hit the chest and as you get larger and larger animal you get less and less consistent in the shock.
run a higher power rifle dumping more energy and you can again get shock from the pressure wave.

if you never shoot deer over 90 pounds and use a 270 you would likely never have anything but shocked deer on a decent hear lung area shot

but when you shoot a 225 pound deer with the same 270 you will likely have more mixed results especially if you add range

slow that down and and shoot them with a 30-30 and your less likely yet to get shock

20ga foster slug at 50 yards or more is more unlikely to get any type of shock as it is moving sub sonic already.

Interesting! Thank you, good information.

Follow the front leg up ....Top thin part of the Scapula is a Nerve. Hit that the deer Will fold like a dove. Minimal damage to meat. ****DEPENDING on the bullet and Caliber.

Matt said it best/ Above.

Best results with this shot for me have been on Antelope, Muleys and Whitetail. Using 6mm, .243, .270, and even mu 7mm magnum Bonded bullets all less than 140 gr. Even the 7mm magnum shooting 140 gr Remington Premier Bonded 140 gr. Shot to this spot had very minimal meat damage.

I guess I'm mostly curious as to why to drop them were they stand?

Is it terrain, property lines...?

I've always had the best luck aiming behind the shoulder for a solid lung hit, then just a little tracking is required.

That's the difference between horn hunters and meat hunters.

Not always horns vs meat. I am a meat hunter, and in one stand, I can't have the deer cross the fence to the neighbor. He thinks all the deer are his (non-hunter) and won't let anyone on his land for anything.

Given the choice, I'll take a heart/lung shot for the bigger target area.

Yea, I've needed to drop them like that before and spined them, but it's not a shot I'd hold up as the shot to take.

But that's just me.
We were taught to shoot for the least meat loss....squirrels in the head ect.

Any dead deer is good in my book.

I hear you for sure.

We process all our own deer, and when one is shot in a poor location it gets messy.

Through the ribs is by far the best.

The instant drop also makes better television, for those that watch hunting shows.

I'm all for no meat loss.

A good ol' boy from GA told me NOT to shoot squirrels in the head. Gut shoot them with 22HP, he says. He mixed the brains with his eggs for breakfast. I'll take head shots, thank you.

some times a few pounds of meat loss is shooting for the least

if it makes it 40 yards over the fence and your neighbor gets a round in it it if you ruined 0% of the meat you lost 100% of it

On the family (in-laws, lost it due to greedy heirs) it was so grown up with briars and honey suckle that I started neck shooting them because sometimes finding them was a task. We even lost a few only to find them 2-3 days later . After a couple of those it was neck, head (doe) or high shoulder. NTR no tracking required.........

LOL it all depends on what you call messy. A 6mm 87 grain spritzer through the ribs on a white tail IS MESSY!!! Blood is almost all inside as it doesn't exit. Neck shot to me is less messy when field dressing. The high shoulder is next as far as less mess. Head shot is pretty nasty sometimes if you go by appearance lol

took the top of the heart off one the other day.only thing i ruined was the heart,could even eat the lips if ya wanted.

Takes the guess out of whether you hit them or not LOL

Field dressing is always messy, especially with a heart/lung shot.

I'm referring to cutting up the meat .

When a deer is shot through both shoulders(which I have done many times), trying to save meat from them gets messy.

It only gets worse with other bad shots.

I'm not against head, neck or spine shots, but I don't prefer them due to margin of error involved.

Being I hunt mostly open farm county with small woodlots, I definitely understand your point!