UncleNorby

I do not believe you can hit a deer below the spine with a 50 cal bullet and have it run off unhurt. Ever hear of a sucking chest wound? When you pop a hole through the ribs, and even if you magically miss the lungs, you do serious damage to the deer. It can't breathe normally because air enters the chest cavity through the holes, instead of filling the lungs. There will also be some bleeding, though maybe not a tremendous amount, but blood laying in the chest cavity will also restrict the lungs ability to fill with air.

Can a deer survive a wound like this? Maybe under ideal conditions, where it can lay down until those holes seal up with coagulated blood, but I'd say the odds aint good. A deer hit that way can cover considerable ground though, and many hunters will assume the deer is not hurt bad. They are wrong.

I have heard a lot of talk about some magical "dead spot" above the lungs and below the spine, where only muscle will be hit, and deer just run off unscathed. It's pure BS. Check it out on that link in the message above this one. There is nothing under the spine but lungs. There is some room above the spine though. Most people don't realize how far under the top of the back the spine really is. That is where the confusion comes from I think.