Shot Placement

[coach]

Right....I get it.
Me...what ever gun I use....no matter how far I am....I've always been taught to get lungs.
 
But I do get what your saying cva54. 
 
Matter of preferences I guess

[cva54]

oops

[coach]

looks like lung shot....[;)]

[cva54]

Yes it is. A dubble lung pass through. Ran maby 25 yards. Just had to sit and have a cig to calm my nerves and go find him in thick cover. The pic I got out here of it is how it was laying when I found it. Just proped its head up. But I will admit I would mutch rather gut a shoulder shot than a lung hart or a gut shoot but when my hands are COLD I dont care!

[coach]

good job cva54.
 
do you have a pic of the whole deer?
I love pictures !
 
when hands are cold, nother better then to gut.  I agree[:D][:D]

[cva54]

Looks like we are all out here on this boring sun. morn. boohoo season not open. Go look back there is a pic of hole deer in post

[400exbrendan]

We it comes to rifle hunting and deer are within 80 yards, I don't know why people shot behind the shoulder. When possible you shot in the head or neck. when you shot in the front shoulder the deer will run witch gives them a adrenaline rush and will make the meat tuff and gives it more of a wild taste

[kellory]

I'd say it depends on what shot is presented, but I have no problem with a neck or head shot. Ahead shot leaves no meat damage, and a neck shot will drop them as if thier strings were cut. A couple of the farms that I hunt, do have a problem with a neighbor, and a fence you don't cross. With a crossbow, the head is a kill shot. I have been teased for being a deer assasin because a crossbow can snap the neck with a head shot. Distance shots with a sabot gun for the heart and lungs mostly or base of the neck, because that deer will more likely move forward not backward at the sound of the shot. SHAMAN, have you concidered writing a book? I do like the way you write, but I have to disagree with you on one point. I use a 12ga sabot gun because it makes a bigger hole going in and out the other side. the hour glass shape of the slug in flight compresses off center on impact and make a bigger hole going in. I use rifled slugs only if I can't get sabots(barrel swap) Some guys swear by the boiler shot, but my brother shot both shoulders, both lungs, and clipped the heart, and the dang deer (6 point) still ran 100 yards, jumped a fence, tumbled down a revine, and sank in the creek! And that was with a 12ga rifled slug. I have never had a bad head shot or neck shot. so I may rethink that if I ever do, but every head or neck shot I have taken has done what it's puposed to do. So my track record says to take the best shot presented as the situation dictates. That neck/ spine shot is a good clean kill and allows for some deer reaction, without the gut shot, and at a moderate distance is a good choice in my book.

[DairyLandDeerHunter]

I'd say it depends on what shot is presented, but I have no problem with a neck or head shot. Ahead shot leaves no meat damage, and a neck shot will drop them as if thier strings were cut. A couple of the farms that I hunt, do have a problem with a neighbor, and a fence you don't cross. With a crossbow, the head is a kill shot. I have been teased for being a deer assasin because a crossbow can snap the neck with a head shot. Distance shots with a sabot gun for the heart and lungs mostly or base of the neck, because that deer will more likely move forward not backward at the sound of the shot. SHAMAN, have you concidered writing a book? I do like the way you write, but I have to disagree with you on one point. I use a 12ga sabot gun because it makes a bigger hole going in and out the other side. the hour glass shape of the slug in flight compresses off center on impact and make a bigger hole going in. I use rifled slugs only if I can't get sabots(barrel swap) Some guys swear by the boiler shot, but my brother shot both shoulders, both lungs, and clipped the heart, and the dang deer (6 point) still ran 100 yards, jumped a fence, tumbled down a revine, and sank in the creek! And that was with a 12ga rifled slug. I have never had a bad head shot or neck shot. so I may rethink that if I ever do, but every head or neck shot I have taken has done what it's puposed to do. So my track record says to take the best shot presented as the situation dictates. That neck/ spine shot is a good clean kill and allows for some deer reaction, without the gut shot, and at a moderate distance is a good choice in my book.

I fully agree with you kellory. I just recently chastised the editor of North American Hunting Club's magazine North American Hunter for lecturing a seasoned deer hunter on neck/head shots.

Growing up I was always taught to shoot a deer right behind the ear. After many years of hunting, with many deer I've put down, never once has that shot failed me. I've never wounded a deer and had it run off, and every deer that I've shot behind the ear has instantly dropped in its tracks. I know this shot isn't for everyone, but I'm comfortable with it and have done it successfully many times and swear by it. I've only shot two deer behind the shoulder, and both were large bucks that I planned on doing a shoulder mount with. My grandpa always taught me to "never put a hole in the hide, and never ruin meat." The shot right behind the ear is my shot of choice.

[Woods Walker]

Well I'm happy for all of you that have had head/neck shots that didn't go bad. But having the the unpleasant task in the past of finishing off several deer that others had tried these kind of shots on and didn't so so well with, I'm not as positive. I'm talking about lower jaws shot off and dangling, and eyeballs hanging out or shot away. Yes, they ARE killing shots if you place them right, but if you miss........bad ending for the deer.

And I'm not saying that you folks in particular are guilty of this, and I sure hope you aren't, but just by the fact that these ARE percieved to be "drop 'em where they stand" type shots, there may be a tendancy for some to think that if they shoot at one this way and it doesn't go down immediately that they missed them, which maybe they in fact hadn't. Like I say, I had to deal with first hand the results of these kind of shots gone bad.

Give me the boiler room. Bigger target, bigger margin of error.