Mathewsboy

Where did this Term Come from? The only Thing I can think of is it came from people not knowing the anatomy of a deer and hitting deer high, thinking they hit below the spine and above the lungs (they go all the way to the top of the chest cavity,which extends off of the vertebrae, which in turn makes up the spinal column where the spinal cord is protected inside of), when, in reality, they hit above the spine....This is easily true if you hit farther forward above the shoulder.

Anyone correct me if I am wrong..

Rob/PA Bowyer

I agree as you can read in the recovery post pinned to the top of the page or seen here....

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

Gryan

Seen it first hand twice. Once I did it. I shot the same deer twice about a month apart. Recently I killed one that someone else hit. I'll post the pictures when I get them on a disc. I didn't believe in "no-mans land" either but I've seen it.

Anatomy charts are nice but how things sit in the chest cavity when a deer is walking, running, bedded and ducking aways from an arrow have to be different. I'm no doctor but things have to move around.

In both my instances, I can say with 100% certainty, there were broadhead "cuts" between the ribs. Both times.

I do agree that "no-mans land" is often an excuse for some other shot or for giving up on a tracking job. I think anyone's chances of hitting it is very slim.

Greg

MNpurple

Completely disagree. Its that area right behind the shoulder blade and above the chest cavity, that is the no mans zone. It is all muscle through there except for the vertebrate in bewtween. If you hit a deer there, it is very difficult to get any penetration. Half an arrow probably. You may end up breaking a vertebrate and probably will shock the spinal cord which will make the deer go down as if he has been spined. Give him a couple of minutes and he will regain his use and be fine. I have seen two dead deer taken with a gun that when we skun them out there was an obvious arrow wound in this area. It is true. We can live with a broken vertebrate and so can a deer. Remember, the spinal cord is towards the top of those vertebrate. This most likely happens when shooting a a very steep downward angle and your arrow hits higher than desired

Mathewsboy

I'll agree with the ABOVE THE CHEST CAVITY.. But not through the chest cavity... The spine dips as it comes forward and if you hit where you said, you'll either hit the chest cavity or the spinal cord, or if too high, go right through the meet of his shoulders.. Happened to me once.. the deer ran away with the arrow sticking out both sides..

nubo

HMMMMMMMM!

I have to agree Mathew'sboy .

nubo

Justin

I don't personally believe in it, ESPECIALLY when shooting from a treestand. However, I work with some people who swear up and down that they've also seen it first hand. Personally, I think they inhaled a few too many exhaust fumes when they were younger.

MNpurple

No, look at the picture that rob had a link to. There is that fairly wide area behind the shoulder blade where there would be some room between the actual spine and the cavity. This area gets very small as you go back on the deer. When I just got into bowhunting 12+ years ago, I had a problem coming down on the animal and releasing when I saw brown in my sights (very inexperienced and only 14 years old). I hit two deer in this area. It stuns them because it shocks the cord, but it is below the spinal cord so no real damage is done to it, but it is above the chest cavity, so no damage there. Look at the link again (above the heart but right outside the top of cavity and right behind the blade. Hit that area and you arent going to get much penetration, very little blood, and as my gun hunting has shown, a deer that has a decent chance to live. Its definitely not a big area, but it is there.

I misspoke before, this is more likely to happen when shooting from the ground, NOT A TREESTAND.

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