I've heard on this forum several times that there is an "empty space" below the spine and above the lungs. They say that if you hit them here you won't kill the deer. I don't see it. Is this drawing incorrect, or is that empy space just a myth? Or could it be that high lung hits don't leave good blood trails and these deer die but are not recovered?

http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

I have also heard people talking about that recently. I have been told that it is a total myth. If you don't get the spine you should at least get the top of one lung.

[Deleted by Admins]

Especially if you are in a treestand, how could you possibly slide an arrow between the lungs and the spine?

In my recovery thread above, I mention that it is a myth. There is no void space between the lungs and the spine. One lung is slightly larger than the other although I cannot tell you which one without going back and reading up on it. You can send an arrow under the spine without severing the spinal cord however you will clip at least the top of one lung. Though this may not be a killing shot necessarily, the void spot is in fact a myth. I've recently come to understand that you can actually send an arrow through both lungs and not kill an animal like a deer. We all know that broadheads kill by hemoraging. In the larger lobes of the lungs, back and high their is less blood vessels there than lower and forward closer to the heart. It is possible to send an arrow through these lobes without calapsing the lungs and without catching enough blood vessels to cause bleed out. I wouldn't have believe this except for the book I'm reading to train my tracking dog.

It shows autopsies of whitetail lungs with broadhead scars in them. That is why it is in the utmost importants to use extremely sharp broadheads. The duller the broadhead the easier it is to slide past a vein, vessel, arterie without actually cutting it. I hope everyone has seen the rubber band examples. It's also important to use the largest cutting diameter that your setup will allow you and still get good penetration.

The larger the cutting diameter, the better chance of hemoraging and collapsing the lungs.

Can someone expain the rubber band test to me, I get the basic idea, but how far do you strech the rubber band.

Boy this picture is coming in handy quite a bit this year.



One thing to remember when you have a high hit.

Even if you pass underneith the spine, the aortic artery runs directly underneith it. So, not only are you going to clip the top of the lungs, but chances are youre going to sever this main artery as well.

I hit a buck in the artery about 12 tears ago, nice 8 came in right underneath me. I shot him staright down(I was young) he wheeled around and walk away with the arrow sticking out of his back. 30 yds later he fell over, I was lucky and that was the last time I tried the straight down shot!!

The blood inside the deer was nuts, I have never seen so much!!!

All be damned. I learned something new from this! Good thread fellas.

About the size of the lungs. Some one said one lung is bigger than the other. I don't know about deer, but in humans one lung has 2 lobes and the other lung has 3 lobes. I imagine that could be the case with deer as well.

Good point cheifks, perhaps someone could elaborate on this.