gregrn43

Not much left to add really, most of the fellers have covered about everything. Personally I never shoot for the heart, its sits low in the body cavity and would be easy to miss. I always opt for the lungs, when a bullet plows through both lungs it causes massive internal damage, the animal might runa bit but usually the blood trail will be very easy to follow. Its funny sometimes a deer might drop in its tracks and other times they might run. I shot a buck chasing a doe a few years ago, the 460gr super slug shattered both lungs and this deer still went bit over 100 yards, this is by far the futherest I have had one run after taking out both lungs. Just goes to show you that when those bucks are pumped up chasing does they can do some amazing feats.

lemoyne

Might add one more thing. After tracking deer for other people I came to the collusion that an awful lot of blood trail problems are caused by high hits, I did not say bad hits I said high hits there is a big difference, we got the tracking dog out for a number of people who did not have a blood trail in thick stuff, and the dog found the deer with in 150 yds of where they hit it but the hit was a high double lung hit and all the bleeding was inside.

mountaineer magic

I always go for a heart/lung shot. Out of the last 15 deer or so only 1 has went anymore than 20 yards and that was because I had a double lung shot but missed the heart. I use deer targets and practice year round on heart shots. I know some who think a heart shot is risky but it works for me. They usually drop or 1 leap and hit the ground. I am more worried of a high shot than i am of a low shot. most of my bullets are 250 gr sabots. Only in my traditional guns do i use a large bullet ( 425gr conical) but I still go for the heart shot.

rafsob

This year I have taken four deer. Three were hit in the heart/lungs and the four had a deflected shot that went in just under the spine and came out through the liver. That last deer dropped on the spot. The others ran from 25 to 70 yards and then dropped.

From my experiences, a nervous system shot will drop an animal in it's track. Hitting them in the heart doesn't do it. But I did have one drop once after a heart. But that is just one in bunch that didn't.

saxman1

That's where I am aiming,not where I'm hitting but where I aim if the shot presents itself

hubby11

I'm curious if the shot distance plays a part. I suspect a deer is more likely to drop from a heart/lung shot at longer distances because to BOOM from the gun a close range, with the same shot, may make the deer's system (flight response) kick into overdrive.

lemoyne

My experience is that if I hit that spot they drop any where from 10 to 190 yds; but if I am high or back a little way I still get the deer but he goes 30 to 60 yds. Heart shots release all the adrenaline and they usually run farther.

sabotloader

hubby11

I think in some cases that 'the distance of the shot' does make a great deal of difference in the effect of the shot (bullet).

A lot of are using bullets designed to operate at shorty ranges and lower velocities, but when we load them into a ML we jump their velocites and their range.

So in my little mind I compute when we take close range shots we might not get the performance from the bullet that we expect but when we take the longer shots we feel we get great bullet performance.

hubby11

I was not so much thinking about the terminal performance of the bullet (which I'm sure your are right, would be a factor), but rather the effect of a close range shot upon on a deer's flight response. The big BOOM at close range may make a deer run on pure adrenaline even though it's heart/lungs are vaporized, whereas a distant shot in the same location may not trigger the flight response to the same extent. The deer feels a sting, hears a distant noise, and just lies down.

Not enough personal experience to say for sure, just thinking out loud.

KCbuckeye22

I love to see the "red jelly" when i gut them out. I'm getting good jelly from my 290 grain barnes, however the I cant group them well enough after 150+ yards. I can get the Shockwaves to be able to shoot 200+, yet I'm not getting any shock "red jelly" from them. 100 yard shot last year with the ShockWaves, hole in one side and same size hole on the exit, heart had a pefect hole in it.

So bullet COULD be your problem, what bullet are you shooting?