high lung shot

[armycar01]

Just wondering, does a high lung shot leave much of a blood trail?

[Lawdog]

Just wondering, does a high lung shot leave much of a blood trail?

The short answer is NO.  There is also a possible drawback to the high lung shot.  The bullet can miss the lungs and still mis the spine too.  Something to think about.  Lawdog
 

[armycar01]

Thanks, just have to make sure I put it in there round the heart.

[victorcharlie]

I trailed a deer last weekend with the fellow who shot him that had been hit at 20 yards with a 117 grain round nose from a .257 weatherby magnum....high and back at the top of the lungs.......about 3 inches below the spine........no exit wound........we found the deer, but it made it 150 to 200 yards before laying down..........blood trail was not the best and left blood every 10 yards or so.............because of the thick terrain, this deer could have very easily been lost.............this shot would not be my first choice........my guess is the shot took a fair bit of the back strap or tenderloin out.........which is the best part of the deer to eat IMO.......

[Chuck White]

I trailed a deer last weekend with the fellow who shot him that had been hit at 20 yards with a 117 grain round nose from a .257 weatherby magnum....high and back at the top of the lungs.......about 3 inches below the spine......we found the deer, but it made it 150 to 200 yards before laying down......this shot would not be my first choice........my guess is the shot took a fair bit of the back strap or tenderloin out........

The last time I checked, the back strap was on top of the spine!

There is indeed a do-nothing area above the lungs and below the spine where it just seems to be a superficial wound when hit there!

Myself, I usually go for a tight-behind-the-shoulder (not in the shoulder) and near the center, top-to-bottom!  I have never had a hit there let me down!

A heart-shot (although fatal) is also a near miss!
A shot 4 or so inches lower will miss!
That's why I go for the middle of the ribs!

[victorcharlie]

Well Chuck.......not meaning to argue with you, guess the deer are different up your way.....................the backstrap runs along the spine down to the top of the rib cage.....there is also a smaller strap that runs along the bottom part of the spine below where the ribs meet...........The ones on the bottom of the spine are the very best, most tender cut of meat with the straps up top a close second.........to cut the straps out, a knife follows very close to the spine down the length of the spine, then along the top of the rib cage...........How do I know this?  I  have butchered many, many deer.............. a lot of years I couldn't afford to have someone else butcher 6 + deer a year..........

So, 117 grain 257 weatherby hits the lungs high near the top of the rib cage and breaks apart.......those fragments had to go somewhere........just speculation on my part as I didn't butcher this one.......maybe the fragments were what hit the lungs.......my guess is that a good bit of back strap was bruised if not mush....due to the high velocity and short range.....don't mean to argue.......I think were both talking about the same thing..........

Couple of things........the best meat on a deer is up top..........so if your going to eat them the lower the better.........gun rag writers shame a fellow that doesn't eat every bit of meat from the deer.........Ask yourself, do you like and eat every cut from a cow?  Most like some cuts better than others..........I was fortunate, (or unfortunate) to live in a very poor part of the county and grew up with rednecks cutting up deer..........

I you don't want them to run, break the shoulder.........

Also, a high velocity load at close range would not be my choice.......

[Chuck White]

C'MON VC;

You said, indirectly, the same thing I did!

QUOTE:
Well Chuck.......not meaning to argue with you, guess the deer are different up your way.....................the backstrap runs along the spine down to the top of the rib cage.....there is also a smaller strap that runs along the bottom part of the spine below where the ribs meet...........The ones on the bottom of the spine are the very best, most tender cut of meat with the straps up top a close second.........to cut the straps out, a knife follows very close to the spine down the length of the spine, then along the top of the rib cage...........How do I know this? I have butchered many, many deer.............. a lot of years I couldn't afford to have someone else butcher 6 + deer a year..........
UNQUOTE:

If you hit above the lungs and below the spine "YOU DON'T HIT THE BACK-STRAP", because the back-strap is on top of the spine!
If you hit the backstrap, you are close enough to the spine and the deer will usually drop right there!
I know about the TENDER LOINS, they run from the pelvis to the start of the ribs!

[R.W.Dale]

 Is there a nuclear reactor in the aera where you hunt? Because on ALL of the deer I've dressed the only thing above the spinal column is a small amount of grissle hide and hair.

[Redhawk1]

Just wondering, does a high lung shot leave much of a blood trail?

I try more for the high shoulder, which takes out the lungs also. It also brakes down the legs. High lung shots leave very little to no blood trail.  

[victorcharlie]

 Is there a nuclear reactor in the aera where you hunt? Because on ALL of the deer I've dressed the only thing above the spinal column is a small amount of grissle hide and hair.

Looks like Arkansas deer and Tennessee deer are the same!

[Chuck White]

I give up guys, You just aren't getting the picture!

The back-strap is the muscle that lies on each side, on top of the spine!
It's the same cut that T-BONES come from!

[Graybeard]

Me thinks there are a lot of folks on here who have not ever cut up their own deer or do not understand the correct terminology for the various cuts of meat.

As stated the BACK STRAP also some times called top strap but I think incorrectly so is ABOVE the spine outside of the chest cavity of any and ALL critters who have spines. Most but not all folks consider it the best cut of meat on an animal. You can cut it off as someone stated by carefully cutting along the spine from the top down and then coming in from each side to the spine. There are folks who take it and nothing else from a deer once downed and never even bother with the rest. Yeah illegal in many places but I've spoken with folks who have done it that way.

A fellow who's place I used to hunt on is about as amazing a person to watch cut up a deer as I've ever seen. He will skin them and if guts had been left in he might or might not remove them. He can cut one up hanging in place and not even gut them. The only thing lost that way is the thin strip just inside under the spine. Now most times he will drop the guts in a bucket cuz he is one of those who eats the heart, kidneys, and liver. YUCK!

Me I'm one who has tried it hundreds of times I guess and just plain hate the taste of white tail deer. Don't tell me yeah but it's just cuz you've not tried it MY WAY. I have tried it at least 50 of those different "my ways" folks say that about. I just don't like the taste of white tail deer. Axis is excellent as is elk and mule deer is OK. Fallow is quite good. White tail meat is awful to me.

[victorcharlie]

Well Greybeard, I was about to invite you up for some of the wifes deer stew...........but guess your not interested in trying 51 times.........just one problem.........no venison yet!  Does every where but the bucks have been eluding me.........Thinking about heading over to middle tennessee where they have more deer than rabbits........and a fellow can kill 3 does a day......

As far a eating goes.....give me a 75lb doe any day.........

[Chuck White]

Thanks Graybeard!

That should clear things up!

[flintlock]

We usually bone all our deer out..without gutting...and I can also get the tenderloin out....without dropping the guts.....Just a small incision along the short ribs...slip a filet knife up the rib cage below the spine cut where the top and bottom of tenderloin attach to inside of short ribs and it  will pull out with your fingers....

I think the misunderstanding about the backstrap...when you filet off the backstrap you run a knife down both sides of the vertebra which is the flat ridge of bone which lies on top of the spine...the spine itself lies below this ridge.

[willysjeep134]

Ok, so you've got maybe an inch of hair and hide on the top of a deer. Below that you have about 3 inches of backstrap and the top projections of the spine. Below that, for a few inches, you have the spinal chord its self. Below that, you have ribs and a little dead space. Below that, lungs. I generally shoot for 2/3 the way up the rib cage. I will follow the front leg up and back about 3 inches so I don't shoot through one of the front quarters. I have used the high lung shot several times. My latest deer was quartering away from me farther than I thought. She must have had her butt almost straight on to me. I was lucky not to gut shoot her. The bullet entered high just in front of her left hind quarter, angled throught the body, and ended up lodged on the neck-side of her right front quarter. I was lucky, the bullet traveled just low enough to clip through the lungs, but not so low as to hit the intestines. I was surprised, because I thought she was more broadside to me. She ran off about 35 yards into a balsam thicket and died. I let her lay for a little while. There was probably a blood spot the size of a quarter every 10 yards or so on the fresh snow. The bullet didn't exit but was right under the hide on the opposite side. If the shot had been more broadside I would have had an exit wound, but that bullet must have plowed through 36" of deer,. She was bleeding from the mouth pretty severely when I walked up on her. She was dead. I bet the blood I saw on her trail might have come from her mouth, because it wasn't until I skinned her that I saw where the bullet actually went in. When they are walking away from you the diference of a few inches right to left in aiming can mean the diference between hitting them in the front shoulder or lmost in the butt I guess.

[jpsmith1]

Big fan of bone-breaking shots.  I haven't had that many opportunities to put them to the test, but the deer that I've shot in the shoulder blade haven't taken another step.  They DROP, right now.  Maybe wastes a bit of meat, but you always know where it is.

[Redhawk1]

Big fan of bone-breaking shots.  I haven't had that many opportunities to put them to the test, but the deer that I've shot in the shoulder blade haven't taken another step.  They DROP, right now.  Maybe wastes a bit of meat, but you always know where it is.

Break them down. I like to find them quick also.  :-D

[gleason.chapman]

High lung shot is not good because the lung must fill up before the deer can start bleading out the hole or thru his/her mouth.  Low lung shot is much better.   If you shooting with a muzzleloader, and espeically with PowerBelts, the most popular brand because of "easy loading" then you have a double problem because you will NOT get an exit hole and the entrance hole is so high on the deer you will get a very poor blood trail.  I know I have done that before.  2nd problem with PowerBelts is they don't penetrate teh shoulder on a "high lung shot" they over expand and do NOT get into the chest cavity.  You then don't even get the deer.  So bottom line is use low lung shots or "behind the front shoulder" or if your using Nosler Partitition, Barnes MZ expanders or some other well constructed bullet anywhere in the chest cavity, since you will get an entrance and exit hole with very controlled expansion.
Chap Gleason Loudoun Co Va

[Lawdog]

gleason.chapman,

High lung shot is not good because the lung must fill up before the deer can start bleading out the hole or thru his/her mouth. Low lung shot is much better.

Exactly.  The heart/lung shot ruins less meat and gives the hunter the largest margin of error.  I have never lost a deer hit in the heart/lung area that was hit with a good well constructed bullet/arrow.  Game that can be potentially dangerous gets a shoulder hit but I don’t put deer in that category.  Lawdog
 

[Redhawk1]

gleason.chapman,

High lung shot is not good because the lung must fill up before the deer can start bleading out the hole or thru his/her mouth. Low lung shot is much better.

Exactly.  The heart/lung shot ruins less meat and gives the hunter the largest margin of error.  I have never lost a deer hit in the heart/lung area that was hit with a good well constructed bullet/arrow.  Game that can be potentially dangerous gets a shoulder hit but I don’t put deer in that category.  Lawdog
 

I still like a shoulder shot on deer. I like to take there running gear out of play. Less tracking, and where I live, the march is a bad place to have to track a deer. JMHO. :-D  

[victorcharlie]

Darn Redhawk1......we going to agree again?  Take out both shoulders and they arn't going anywhere........bang.......flop.......

[Redhawk1]

Darn Redhawk1......we going to agree again?  Take out both shoulders and they arn't going anywhere........bang.......flop.......

You got to stop doing that, people will start to talk.  :-D

[poncaguy]

Made a 275 yard shot on a Kansas doe this evening, high lung shot with 140 grain 270 WSM, she didn't move, except straight down! :grin:

[bladerunner]

if i've got my choice,on a dead broadside shot at close range,i go for a high shoulder shot...looks like gravity was increased in the area they hit the ground so fast.....if they are further away I go for the classic "behind the shoulder" (more margin of safety)   if they facing me,or facing away,i go for a neck shot BANG/FLOP


as for the original question.....in my experiance they don't bleed LESS with a high lung shot,but it takes longer for the blood to START flowing out of the hole as the blood has to fill the lungs first,NOT my first choice

[JD338]

armycar01

I perfer the high lung shot. I put my bullet aboout 2" above the center line of the body tight behind the front leg.  I always hit a rib going in and/or out. Being close to the spine, the blow puts the deer on the ground and they never get up. They thrash for a few seconds and expire. There isn't a tracking job, just a drag back to the truck.
I have used 30-06, 280 Rem, 35 Whelen and 338 RUM and the result is always the same.

JD338

[Daks]

I'm a shoulder-breaker. Puts them on the ground really quickly. Most of the time, I'm in some thick stuff and tracking can be tough. My Dad lost a deer one year because he hit it solidly but not well enough to keep it from running some. Ever since, I've been going for the shoulder. Where we hunt, you might not see a shootable deer for a couple of years because the deer population is quite low, so I don't want to spend long hours in the woods during deer season only to lose the dang thing.

I'll also admit that my tracking skills probably ain't the best. I've never really had to follow one for more than 50 yards, though that distance through some very thick cover seemed a lot longer.

[DavOh]

I agree with the shoulder shot. Especially for lesser experienced hunters who may not have gotten the experience with tracking. It's worth sacrificing a pound of meat for the greater good of assured recovery. IMO

[JHoss]

I don't like tracking them if I don't have to, so I try and either break the shoulder or hit right behind it. I mainly shoot 20 ga slugs or a 50 cal blackpowder because rifles aren't allowed. I like to shoot a bigger bullet with less velocity. I like 335 gr xtp mags and 90 gr of powder in my blackpowder. More time in the deer for more expansion. But back to the topic, a shoulder or right behind the shoulder is the best shot. I don't mind lsoing the shoulder meat beacsue my dad and I usually kill 10-18 deer per year between the two of us.