Shot Placement at Close Range
 

Hi New poster to this website just looking for opinions on shot placement (also searching this post for previous post’s) so here is the setup Mossberg 935 rifled barrel 4x fixed scope using partition gold 12g 3inch sabot from tree stand 12foot high, new area for hunting so have clear spot between 20 -60 yards. I have put corn/apples down at 25yrds from stand so here’s the question where would you aim on the whitetail deer. Text books say behind front leg but because of dense bush around me I really want to drop deer in its tracks, I have spent my time sighting in and I’m maintaining a 1/2inch group (freehand) 1inch high of center at 30yrds so I’m comfortable with my shooting. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Shoot a deer in the same place as you would at long range. Middle of the chest. The only way to ensure one drops in the tracks is to spine it or break both front shoulders. The spine is an "iffy" shot in my opinion and hitting both shoulders wastes too much meat. Punch the lungs and get the skinning knife ready.

Deer react differently to shots. Some drop on their chin and another may run off even if they are hit in identical spots. Different animals, different reactions. But if you hit the heart/lung area you'll kill the deer. May have to follow it a little ways but that is always a fatal shot.

Keep It Simple

I have shot a few with that slug setup and it hammers them. Like flags said through the heart lung area on a broadside shot almost always puts them down either immediately or in a short run. If dropping them is important like not wanting them to get off the property a shot through the shoulders drops them in one spot. It does ruin lots of meat though so the spot to aim is a personal choice. I don't advocate neck or head shots simply due to little room for error.

Like the guys said, go for the high percentage shot, heart-lungs. But remember their heart is lower in their chest than most people think. The shoulder slants top to the rear, the heart is low and almost above the front leg. A little below the center line and nearly under the shoulder bone will put them in a pile most times.

With a high speed rifle cartridge above 2600 FPS or so, you really don't need to cut the backbone with a neck shot. Under the backbone are numerous large arteries. The shock drops them and they bleed out before the shock wears off and they can get back up again. Most times they go down in a pile, take a few breaths and expire.

I'd guess maybe 30% of my shots are neck shots. Near the property line, in a place where they may bolt across a road or into housing. I wait for the perfect shot, head down feeding, center of neck maybe 4-8 inches from the base of the neck. I've never had one take another step with this shot. If anybody tries it and has any different results please PM me.

One reason I like the neck shot is they rarely have an Adrenalin dump. I can taste it when they die hard. Funny but in my experience many women like Adrenalin (hormone) soaked meat. I like my Deer young and don't especially like Adrenaline (hormone) soaked meat.

That's not the adrenaline you are tasting Chuck. That taste is the result of a buildup of Lactic Acid in the muscle tissue. It's the reason Rutted up bucks 90% of the time taste horrible unless you seriously marinate or milk soak the meat.

Here is a good place to aim if you want to drop one in it's tracks. Like others have said, it will ruin a little meat but not really all THAT much. Especially with that big and slow slug.

Probably explains why all my deer taste great...they aren't big and all rutted up. :happy0001:

I never did like the taste of antlers.:D

I aint found a good antler recipe meself CI!

I shouldn't say they all "taste horrible". What I meant was that "gamey" taste that many find unpalatable. I don't like it myself so I found ways to counter it. Any marinate that will counter the Lactic Acid is good. Milk is about the best way to neutralize it. Red wine is also fairly good at neutralization as well as cover flavor. A good Burgundy mushroom sauce is pretty fine vittles with back strap or roast :D

Antlers are good for stirring the stew or gathering dust.

Don't forget hanging your cookin apron on! :D

Just clip the rear of the shoulder blades if you can or just behind the shoulder. The only time I seen deer just drop in there tracks is when I used to use remington copper solids. If you spine shoot your going to waste the best part of the animal Imo unless your archery hunting.

As others have said, keep it simple. First I would spend enough range time with this set up to know where a shot would hit at different ranges. And to make sure I could hit my mark.It sounds like you have that covered.
Some quick ballistic calculations show that a sierra SSt 300 gr from 0-100 yds you should be within 1.5 inches of your visual bullseye. Placing that shot in the boiler room should result in a dead and recovered deer.
I don't use a slug gun, but I do use a muzzle loader. I use a 250 gr .50 cal (.45 projectile) and my aim is always the heart lung area. If I hit my mark, they very seldom run more than 20-30 yds. More than half of them have dropped within 10 yds of where they were hit. I have only lost one deer with muzzle loader. A nice buck that was the first deer I shot with muzzle loader. I had no scope on that rifle....I'm pretty sure the fault was my shot placement being high.
The only other thing I can think of is that 25 yds is very close unless you have a heck of a lot of cover. Deer are always busting me.

If deer are always busting you then you might want to look at scent control and movement in the stand. If done right they should never even know you are there until they fall down. Just being able to hit a spot on an animal is just a small part of hunting.

Hunting in PA is what got me using the high shoulder placement. Just too many people trying to get ya deer on public lands. If you don't drop it right there during gun season, you can pretty much write off that deer as when you find it, more than likely someone else will be gutting it.

Simple: shoot the damn head! Take your time and make sure the deer has no idea your there and pull the trigger when your crosshairs on the head. Now, if your not using a scope don't even bother with this shot. I've shot 11 of my 13 deer with head shots. Pretty simple shot if you put in time at the range and are steady and close enough. Don't listen to the people that say don't aim for the head, as they probably never tried and wouldn't be able to hit it. No meat wasted either! ;)

LMAO@ that crapolla. Let me let you in on a little secret there buddy. Ever seen a deer that has starved to death because some rip roaring moron that thought he was a good shot blew off half a deer's jaw? I have! It aint pretty! And that is more common than making a clean brain shot. Head shots are not advocated by ANY ethical hunters! I'll only take one if it is absolutely the ONLY shot I have or will have and I have a rock solid rest and absolutely zero chance of missing. That aint often and I have over 65 years on the butt end of a rifle. Matter of fact, in all those years of hunting, I can count on one hand how many head shots I have taken on deer, elk, and moose. 3!!! Hogs on the other hand, I go for just behind the ear quite often because there is actually a much larger target area to drop a hog in it's tracks than there is on a whitetail.

deer heads move too fast and have less room for error.....bad combination and a bad idea unless close enough means closer than I think it probably does.

So to agree with Super, head shots are an ill-advised option. Too much room for error.

I agree 100%. I have taken base of the neck where it joins the body a few times but never top of the neck or head.

Well I've never lost a deer that way. Never shot a jaw off or anything. Sitting in a permanent house stand that's been there for 15 years they are used to it and are almost always within 15-20 yards feeding in the food plot. Never missed a head shot. I know my gun is spot on and would feel comfortable with any shot with it.

Mine was 1 moose and 2 whitetail. The Moose was more self defense than hunting. Although I was after him, he spotted me and was after ME. A bull Moose coming down on you wanting to stomp you into a mud hole will convince you to drop him however you can as FAST as you can! I put 2 VERY fast rounds of .30-30 right between his eyes and right in the ridge line of his forehead. I knew I was quick with a lever gun but I thoroughly surprised myself that day. The 2 whitetail, the shoulders were covered by a tree and they were about to get outta there. Like Flags, this was when I was young and halfway stupid and didn't know any better. Hadn't ever come across injured deer yet and the soft spot in my heart for animals was still pretty hard. Once you come across starving and badly injured animals because of hunters stupidity you will mend your ways.

I wouldn't change my ways. Only time I don't shoot at the head is if it's a buck. And if you read my first comment you would see 11 of my 13 deer so far in my young life were head shots. The other 2 was a nice 8 and a little 10. Quick and ethical and they don't feel a thing

Find a starving bull elk with its lower jaw shot off and you will. You admit to being young, hopefully you'll gain some wisdom as you gain some years.

Well 11 headshots taken and 11 dead deer. I'm not being cocky but I'm very accurate with my Cva accura. No reason to change it so why would I. If it Ain't broke don't fix it and it's far from broke.

If you're only shooting 15 feet like you claim then you should be accurate. But that still doesn't mean a headshot is a good option. So you've killed 13 deer. I've killed 89 of 3 species. All in all I've taken 68 species of game on 3 continents and I know no serious hunters that advocate a head shot under normal shooting conditions. None.

Like I said, find a starving elk with its jaw shot off and then come talk to me. Bottom line the chest is a bigger and better target. Always has been and always will be. Somehow I doubt you would be honest on this site and admit it if you did blow a head shot. Funny that the bad shots never get talked about. I hope you get wiser as you get older because the game deserves it and doesn't deserve being left to starve after you do blow the shot and make no mistake, eventually you will.

I, as well as many others here, do not advocate the hunting ethnics behind the thought process of taking game as you have stated that you have. Myself as well as Flags and many others here have taken game in many other states and on other continents. We are all of the age and experience to know what is the better percentage of CLEANLY AND ETHICALLY harvesting any animal that we encounter in our hunting ways no matter of what our particular chosen method may be at that time. I am 53yrs old, I have hunted in 29 states and 5 foreign countries with 100's of animals harvested. I have only taken a handful of headshots during those times and I can clearly recall 5 that were to humanly finish an animal that was not shot properly in the beginning and was on its way to a horrific and painful death. I gave my tag up to finish what someone else failed to do. And 2 were with bow, and 3 were with firearm. I am a Certified Hunter Safety Instructor and I STRONGLY advocate to my students either take an ethical shot, or don't take it at all. I tell them to put themselves in that animals position. How would you want to go? What we are saying is that if you truly are purposely taking these animals like you say you are, you will eventually wound an animal that you could have waited a minute and took the MUCH higher percentage shot of the broadside and saved that animal the suffering. With age will come wisdom, just take it from those who have been there, done that and have multiple shirts to prove it.

A head shot leaves all the blood in the meat. I'd rather have the deer bleed out.

take out the shoulders very little tracking

Take out the shoulders, very little tracking is true. But, very little good meat left in the area as well!!! I have done that before also, just didn't like throwing all that meat away.

Lynn - How much of this wine do you drink before eating the venison to cover the gamey taste:confused0024:?

Till they cant taste it anymore. Does this matter before or after you eat it? :guiness::guiness: LMAO!!!! Doesn't matter to me. I used to judge my ex-wifes cooking like this. The more beer I drank, the better her cooking tasted!!!!!!