Today i was talking to a new bowhunter and he ask what size the vital area was and i explained to him exactly where he should be shooting but he stilled wanted to know about what size of area he has if he miss places a shot. i couldn't come up with goodexample for him can you guys help me.

check out the anatomy thread at the top of the page, it has a good description and picture...

huntinged nailed it

Print this picture off and give it to him as reference.

if you hit a deer in the paunch is it fatal?

Eventually, yes.

That's a classic "gut shot." Takes some time, but the animal will die.

In a couple days and many more miles from where the shot takes place yeah it can and most of the time should be a fatal shot... If you ever doubt the quality of a shot BACK OUT... Give plenty of time. The last thing you ever what to do is persue a injured deer.

Tim

tbyrnzy82, 99% of the time if a deer is "gut shot" it will die in 6-8 hours and 12 hours max. The best thing to do when you believe you have gut shot a deer is wait overnight. Usually if the deer has not been pushed or pressured you will find them within 250 yards from Point of impact.

I guess the answer your looking for would be in terms of diamenter if thats the case then the heart area would be no larger than a 4 in. circle and for lungs with the heart area inside it would be about an 8 in. werid shaped oval .
I hope this information gives you a better idea and good luck to you this season.

One thing you might want to explain to this person too is that as the shot angle on the deer changes so does the size of the vital area you can hit. Thats one thing I think a lot of people tend not to think about.