Heart or lung shot
07-08-2010, 02:27 PM
#41
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: central florida
Posts: 857
Thats it, Im going to go find a pig to be our test subject and put a 110 grain AB through his lungs at about 3,000 fps give or take and video what comes pouring out when I open the chest cavity...... 
07-09-2010, 05:23 PM
#42
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: S.W. Virginia
Posts: 94
I guess there are many variables to cosider. Angle down and angle away and the list goes on. I typically try not to focus too much on it when I draw and aim. I'm looking for nothing more than a vital shot of either caliber and thinking too hard about it before the release may actually cause a more unsure shot. The way I see it either is fine,but one may realize that if the heart is hit it may not mean a quickly downed deer and even though the heart may not be working any longer the deer may continue it's run and with the heart not pumping the blood no longer is and could mean little or no blood trail. With the lungs the deer may run long but as the lungs fill with blood and with each breath the deer takes and releases it also releases alot of blood to follow. Just my spin on it.
07-09-2010, 05:48 PM
#43
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Orange county, NY
Posts: 2,949
Im not sure why people keep making a distinction between a heart shot and and a lung shot . If you look at the several vital diagrams that have been posted in this thread, you will see the heart sits low in btween the lungs, in fact, the only way I can conceive hitting the heart and not also hitting the lungs is if you shot the deer from directly below it, or from directly behind. yet people keep posting that a lung shot is better than a heart shot
07-09-2010, 05:55 PM
#44
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,679
I have posted this numerous times but it's been a while so here it is again.
From the perspective of if the deer is going to die it doesn't matter which one you hit or if you hit both. You can't live very long with out either.
DeerandbearhoG is correct in that you can't take out the heart with out taking out the lungs.
Having said that, a double lung shot while leaving the heart in tact will result in the deer passing out from lack of oxygen to the brain quicker than if you had taken out both the heart and lungs.
The reason is that the lungs are filled with millions upon millions of blood vessels. When the lungs are punctured (as with a broadhead), or a major blood vessel is severed, (as in the aorta) there is a massive drop in blood pressure. The brain instantly and involuntarily tells the heart to pump blood faster and faster to make up for this drop in blood pressure. The harder the heart is pumping the quicker the blood is leaving the organs and the body, the faster the brain is deprived of oxygen and the faster the animal passes out. The animal doesn't actually die for a minute or two.
If you take out the heart it can't pump blood. If it isn't pumping then the blood just drains out of the hole you just put in it.
Both are deadly but a double lung will result in a shorter blood trail. All other things being equal.
Oh, and bullets are a completely different issue as they work on shock and massive trauma to internal organs and not massive hemorrhaging.
From the perspective of if the deer is going to die it doesn't matter which one you hit or if you hit both. You can't live very long with out either.
DeerandbearhoG is correct in that you can't take out the heart with out taking out the lungs.
Having said that, a double lung shot while leaving the heart in tact will result in the deer passing out from lack of oxygen to the brain quicker than if you had taken out both the heart and lungs.
The reason is that the lungs are filled with millions upon millions of blood vessels. When the lungs are punctured (as with a broadhead), or a major blood vessel is severed, (as in the aorta) there is a massive drop in blood pressure. The brain instantly and involuntarily tells the heart to pump blood faster and faster to make up for this drop in blood pressure. The harder the heart is pumping the quicker the blood is leaving the organs and the body, the faster the brain is deprived of oxygen and the faster the animal passes out. The animal doesn't actually die for a minute or two.
If you take out the heart it can't pump blood. If it isn't pumping then the blood just drains out of the hole you just put in it.
Both are deadly but a double lung will result in a shorter blood trail. All other things being equal.
Oh, and bullets are a completely different issue as they work on shock and massive trauma to internal organs and not massive hemorrhaging.
Last edited by bigbulls; 07-09-2010 at 05:59 PM.
07-09-2010, 06:13 PM
#45
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Orange county, NY
Posts: 2,949
Good point BB about a damaged heart not pumping blood , but is that, in fact, the only way the lungs are filling up w/ blood ,or is it also that as the deer breaths, its sucking in blood from the holes in the lungs? Even if the heart stops, the chest is filling up w/ blood fast and essentially drowning the deer, right?
Personally I have not seen where a double lung shot deer will travel or die any less than one that was heart&lung shot.
Personally I have not seen where a double lung shot deer will travel or die any less than one that was heart&lung shot.
Last edited by DeerandbearhoG; 07-09-2010 at 06:15 PM.
07-09-2010, 06:30 PM
#46
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,679
The lungs aren't filling up with that much blood in the short amount of time it takes the deer to pass out.
What is causing the deer to stop and fall is lack of oxygen to the brain. The heart is what supplies that oxygen rich blood. As you said, regardless of a heart or double lung shot, the lungs are taken out in either so I think the deer sucking blood into the lungs it is a moot point. It takes a couple of minutes to drown. Only seconds for the heart to pump out enough blood to starve the brain of oxygen.
What is causing the deer to stop and fall is lack of oxygen to the brain. The heart is what supplies that oxygen rich blood. As you said, regardless of a heart or double lung shot, the lungs are taken out in either so I think the deer sucking blood into the lungs it is a moot point. It takes a couple of minutes to drown. Only seconds for the heart to pump out enough blood to starve the brain of oxygen.
07-09-2010, 07:22 PM
#47
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,304
To me that's what you mean. If a guy is aiming for the heart, then he's considerably lower than the shoulder. If it's an accurate shot... or even a remotely accurate shot, the shoulder shouldn't even be in play.
Then you said: "If I aim at the heart and I'm a little forward, I hit the shoulder..."
I can't help but think, by reading what you wrote, that you didn't have an accurate depiction between the relation of the heart and shoulder. If one is truly aiming at the heart at a semi-level broadside shot and has an accurate idea of the anatomy, then that person wouldn't say of their concerns for hitting the shoulder if they were trying to hit the heart. They're too far apart for it to be a legitimate concern. However, after seeing your 2nd reply, you know what's going on and it's really only a matter of semantics. LOL! Your statements did paint an unclear picture though. I do realize what you mean though!
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As per the people who aim at the heart or the lungs, if you view the illustration, you'll notice the light pink area. That is the lungs. Please notice the heart is within that parameter. Therefore if you hit the heart or low lung shot, you get 2-for-1. LOL!
iSnipe
07-11-2010, 09:41 AM
#49
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
If you go for the lungs, make sure you can hit both of them. I hunt on the ground, so it never happened to me, but I helped a lot of guys try to track deer I think were only hit in one lung. We almost never found them. You get a huge lung blood trail for 50-60 yards and it peters out. I think that the shooters are so high in a tree that they only hit one lung at the angle the arrow is going through at. You get a dozen guys beating the brush and still find nothing. I can only guess it was a single lung hit. I hit them through both lungs and they are down in 50-60 yards. I don't know, what do others think?
07-11-2010, 10:00 AM
#50
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Orange county, NY
Posts: 2,949
both lungs will fill fill up with blood if only one is hit. This usually only happens though on step angled hits, where I find the broadhead will actually slice a huge hole in a lung or even slice it in half! lights out!
A liver shot is also very deadly, most of the deer ive bow killed did not run too far, before stopping and looking behind them, as if to say what was that? Many Xs they laid down or just stood there with blood pouring out their side, 40yds from where they wre hit, ive even had liver shot deer continue to feed and keel over dead minutes later. The trick is to give them plenty of time before getting down and going after them.
A liver shot is also very deadly, most of the deer ive bow killed did not run too far, before stopping and looking behind them, as if to say what was that? Many Xs they laid down or just stood there with blood pouring out their side, 40yds from where they wre hit, ive even had liver shot deer continue to feed and keel over dead minutes later. The trick is to give them plenty of time before getting down and going after them.