Robb has a very good sight he sent me to one day that gives the deer anatomy in several different shots- it was good!!!!
IMHO, I think you would have to hit very far forward to miss the lungs- that is you would have to hit forward of the lungs- no matter how high or low you shoot. A deer's plural space goes all the way up to the spinal cord, no matter if the deer is inhaling or exhaling. If you miss the plural space- your gonna hit cord, you miss the cord- your gonna hit the plural space.

The pleural cavity contains the lungs which are not static. The pleural cavity can be punctured during exhalation and the lungs could be missed yet the animals lungs would colapse due to the positive presure. No O2 to the squash = death. Better off to get the inferior lung region.

Brad

www.kerrlake.com/deer/white2.htm

The hollow spot is a myth. You can however be forward the lungs and above them and under the spine but your high on the shoulder. If you pass under the spine, you will nick the lung/lungs. One lung is larger than the other and if you connect only with one lung, under the spine chances are you didn't wait long enough for recovery and bumped and lost the animal. If you hit under the spine in the lung area, you have killed the animal, recovery or not, you did not get a flesh wound.



<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>

Sorry Rob, I know it's a myth but unfortunately I do believe it exists. Just one more reason to pick a spot and watch when you shoot.



Edited by - IroquoisArcher on 10/03/2002 04:54:53

I'm with Rob. I think this dead zone is a myth. However I think if you hit that high up just under the spine, depending on the angle, you could only rupture one lung. Most single lung hits are fatal but the deer can go a lot farther after the hit and some deer do survive a single lung hit.

I don't know about the &quot;dead zone&quot; but it may be possible that I high hit in the lungs is not sufficient to actually collapse the lungs resulting in a quick recovery. The deer may eventually die due to hemmoraging in the lungs but with two functional albeit damaged lungs I would imagine a deer could go a long way if not left to lay down and die. Just a theory.

Sooner I went to the web site and totally concur with their examples of shoot and not shoot situations, but there anatomy of a deer in regards to the size of the lungs is way off, the lungs go almost all the way to the spine. Sooner I am not cracking on you at all, I agree with the placement of the organs just not the size.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

If you penetrate the pleural space, the lungs will collapse within approximately 1 hour. Not only will the lungs collapse due to imbalanced pressure gradients, but the resulting friction will create tension that will cause the animal both intense pain and difficulting in inhaling. Such effects result in the body seeking water, the bodies natural lubricant. That said, you can guess how far an average whitetail will run within that time frame.

However, to hit nothing but pleural space, you almost have to be shooting parallel to the ground. Anyone shooting from a tree should hit at least one lung.

The hollow spot is a myth, but there is another scenario that can unfold that has not been mentioned. The arrow can hit high and strike a vertebra. When this happens, depending upon the alignment of the animals back, the bones can be as dense as an armidillos armor. The cord can be severed, but must hit the intervertebral space (what we call a disk) to injure the cord and cause &quot;paralysis&quot;. With that said, little penetration will result and the arrow will actually be lost or pulled out. The animal can die from secondary infections, as the blood supply to the upper back is internalized and hence, harder for the animal to ward off bacterial infection.

This too often never happens...but then again...

S&R

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Sorry Rob, I know it's a myth but unfortunately I do believe it exists.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

I agree. Like Wimp, I've seen the scars. How do we explain that???

I also took pictures. I don't have them scanned, but I'll see if I can dig them up.

Some things are true whether you believe them or not.