Need tips to drop him in his "tracks"

[Chuck White]

Graybeard said
"The ONLY guaranteed way to "drop them in their tracks" is to hit the CNS meaning brain or spine.

Hitting the lungs is really to me the smart move as it's the biggest target offering the most lattitude for error and if hit will drop them within 100 yards IF both lungs are hit almost 100% of the time."

______________

I agree with him 100%.

One thing to keep in mind is that if we go for a high-shoulder shot is that the spine is at it's largest just inside, between the shoulder blades.  On the TV shows, these shots are "almost" always taken on a deer that is standing still.  Small target on a moving deer.
If the deer is moving, your best option would be a lung shot.

I also agree that a neck shot is risky, because the spine (in the neck) is a small target.

[buck460XVR]

The ONLY guaranteed way to "drop them in their tracks" is to hit the CNS meaning brain or spine. All other shots will at least at times allow them to run. Hitting the lungs is really to me the smart move as it's the biggest target offering the most lattitude for error and if hit will drop them within 100 yards IF both lungs are hit almost 100% of the time. And there will be a good blood trail to the game.

r.

I also agree with the above statement. Aiming for CNS vitals is a gamble at best because near misses usually end up as non-mortal wounds. Over the years I have seen too many does with their lower jaws shot off suffering a painful death and becoming coyote bait cause some poor slob didn't want to waste the 1/2 # of shoulder meat and they shot low aiming for a head shot. Neck shots are lethal when bone is hit, but when soft flesh is all that is hit, you'll find a lot of blood for a while and then nuttin'...unless you get lucky and hit the jugular.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned one shot that almost always drops deer in their tracks and even when it doesn't you can generally see the deer and the ensuing  large blood trail from moment of impact. That is to take the deer squarely in the azz where both leg bones attach to the hips. Generally with this type of hit, the pelvis and one or both leg bones is shattered making any  use of the hind legs non existent and the blood trail from the ruptured femoral arteries makes a blood trail that even a color blind child could follow. Don't leave you much for meat as both hind quarters and both backstraps are destroyed, but it is as humane and as quick as shooting them thru the front shoulders. Some will say it's not an ethical shot...and I personally don't recommend it for most typical deer.......but I do know of some trophy bucks that presented only this type of shot to the hunter.....and they are now residing comfortably on the wall.

[GeorgiaTrader]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned one shot that almost always drops deer in their tracks and even when it doesn't you can generally see the deer and the ensuing  large blood trail from moment of impact. That is to take the deer squarely in the azz where both leg bones attach to the hips. Generally with this type of hit, the pelvis and one or both leg bones is shattered making any  use of the hind legs non existent and the blood trail from the ruptured femoral arteries makes a blood trail that even a color blind child could follow. Don't leave you much for meat as both hind quarters and both backstraps are destroyed, but it is as humane and as quick as shooting them thru the front shoulders. Some will say it's not an ethical shot...and I personally don't recommend it for most typical deer.......but I do know of some trophy bucks that presented only this type of shot to the hunter.....and they are now residing comfortably on the wall.

Interesting thought.  Personally I could not bring myself to shoot a deer in the hind quarters for the horns.  Everyone is different but for me it would forever stain my reasons and beliefs for hunting.  Food.

[beemanbeme]

Shooting a deer or elk in the ass for a set of horns!!!!  Sorry, not my cup of tea. 
If the animal is wounded, you take any possible shot to bring him to bag, but I don't consider that a proper first shot. 

[Siskiyou]

Hitting a deer in the spine does not always bring them to a dead stop. 

It seems that most of my hunting is in steep country and that causes a lot of problems.

I broke the back of a large buck and he pulled himself forward with his front hooves and slid  down a steep hillside a few hundred feet.  He was dead when I got to him, but I almost lost him because of his last lunge.

Another nice buck took two 130 grain .270 bullets in the heart lung region at thirty yards.  I fired the second shot because he was on a razor back ridge.  I was lucky because he slide off the ridge and hung up in a tree.

I decided after these two experiences to use heavier bullets to create a bleeding exit wound.  And this includes calibers larger then .277.  In the .270 I like 140 & 150-grain bullets.  In the 7 Mag I go for 160 & 175-grain bullets.  And in .30 Caliber I normally go for 165-180 grain bullets. 

A highly successful friend who hunts heavy cover will not use less then 180 bullets in his 06 to bust deer.  He normally kicks his deer out of the brush and takes them at close range.

I was watching a buck in my binoculars and feeding information to my hunting partner when he fired.  The 165-grain, 30-06 bullet hit the deer just behind the shoulder.  I watch blood and gore fly out the off side.  The buck walked away and dropped off a cliff.

My best one-shot kill was at about 75-yards.  The buck was stretching his neck out from behind a large pine tree watching me.  The 140-grain bullet hit him in the neck.  I was amazed to see his hooves airborne in my scope. 

The bottom-line is that there are no sure fire one shot stops.  A shot to the head is messy.  A twitch on the part of the deer or the hunter can result in a deer running around with half it’s face shot off.  My favorite side shot is behind the shoulder, or if the deer is facing me I have found the center of the chest very effective.  A shot into the chest of a buck coming towards me dropped a buck in his tracks.  Another buck with similar shot placement walked about 75 feet.  On a third buck I tried a center of chest shot at a little over 100 yards.  The shot flatten the deer, and then he jumped up and I made a Texas heart shot.  The deer disappeared and it took me three hours to find him.  He traveled a short distance over a ridge and I found him in heavy cover.  My first bullet hit him just inside the chest traveling along the ribs and stopping in the stomach cavity.  The departing shot hit him in the anus and stopped in the stomach.  It was a rather discouraging situation.  But if you hunt enough you will find that all days are not perfect.  I did end up with a lot of good meat because the hams were not damaged.  Slightly higher and the bullet would have hit the spine, a little lower and it would have destroyed a ham.  I would not normally take such a shot, but if game is wounded I try to bring it down immediately with the target that is presented.

Target practice is one of the best solutions.  Since the first of the year I have fired over a hundred rounds from my deer rifles, and expect to shoot another hundred before the season opens.  And the .22 rimfire has also gotten a work out.

[Cabin4]

Aim and hit him in the heart/lung area and be done with it. If you take out the heart, the animal will drop like a sack. Take out the lungs and at best you have a deer that will run a few and leave a thick blood trail. So what if it runs a bit. It the best assurance to put the animal down and recover it.

[buck460XVR]

Interesting thought.  Personally I could not bring myself to shoot a deer in the hind quarters for the horns.  Everyone is different but for me it would forever stain my reasons and beliefs for hunting.  Food.

I have a hard time believing anyone nowadays uses the "hunt for food" excuse as a viable and legitimate excuse for hunting. When one adds the total cost of gas, guns and ammo, license fees, so called  "big buck camo", purchase price and taxes on hunting land/lease fees, tree and/or box stands, and all the other hunting accessories most think they cannot do without,  saying hunting is  primarily to feed yourself and the family is.... well, not viable and legitimate.

I know there are a few hunters that hunt only public land or have the privilege to hunt someone else's private land for free(me included), but even then, the final cost per pound for most game taken is well above the cost of store bought premium cuts. Don't get me wrong, I eat a lot of venison, wild turkey  and other legal wild game and enjoy taking game only for eating and not for the trophy. But I don't kid myself or others and I'm not foolish enough to think that I'm only out there for the food, and try to justify my reason for hunting as a cost saving venture......I'm out there for the sport, the hunt, my valued tradition of hunting, the outdoors, the companionship of friends and everything else that goes along with it. Read my post,

Some will say it's not an ethical shot...and I personally don't recommend it for most typical deer.......

  I didn't and still don't advocate a deers hind quarters for a primary target. I just answered the original posters question honestly and accurately( to the best of my personal experience) about "droppin' em in their tracks".

[GeorgiaTrader]

You know i tried to respectfully and politely give a differing opinion than yours and from my one sentence you sum up my whole life and put words in mouth.  I will not dignify this by wasting my time trying to explain my view of hunting on such a simple minded person as yourself.  I believe you advocating a hind quarter kill shot made it clear our views differ greatly.   At least show the respect you were shown.

[buck460XVR]

You know i tried to respectfully and politely give a differing opinion than yours and from my one sentence you sum up my whole life and put words in mouth.  I will not dignify this by wasting my time trying to explain my view of hunting on such a simple minded person as yourself.  I believe you advocating a hind quarter kill shot made it clear our views differ greatly.   At least show the respect you were shown.

Toriak...since you are trying so hard to be polite and respectful, can I take this as a compliment?

on such a simple minded person as yourself

I too am entitled to my opinions and never in any of my posts did I resort to calling you schoolyard names.

you say

  I believe you advocating a hind quarter kill shot made it clear our views differ greatly

Again read my posts......

Some will say it's not an ethical shot...and I personally don't recommend it for most typical deer.

I didn't and still don't advocate a deers hind quarters for a primary target. I just answered the original posters question honestly and accurately( to the best of my personal experience) about "droppin' em in their tracks"

........and never in any of my posts did I say anything about me personally shooting a deer in the hind quarters, on purpose, for the horns. I believe it is you my friend that are putting words in other mouths.

simple is what simple does..........

[beemanbeme]

I guess there are a couple of us "simples" then as I came away with the same impression. 
As far as putting a dollar amount on feeding your family, it matters little whether it is quail, fish, venison, elk, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, and so forth, the fact that you have gathered it in and put it on the table doesn't compute at a dollars and cents rate. No more than the size of the game bag is the only determinator of the trip.  To wantonly waste game is a sin, pure and simple.  No matter how (Edited by Graybeard)  deprived you are. 

[buck460XVR]

I guess there are a couple of us "simples" then as I came away with the same impression. 

knowing all to well how internet forums threads can be misleading and misread, I tried to keep that post as simple as possible. If some of you good folk misunderstood the meaning behind it, remember this is just the internet. Again I was not advocating the shot, only saying it was an effective one to drop an animal in it's tracks. Anybody with any knowledge of a deers anatomy knows that severing the Femoral Arteries will bleed an animal out as quickly as a lung shot and the shattering of the pelvis and upper leg bones makes running away not an option. I learned a long time ago whether on the internet, at a bar or even with a group of friends, certain topics cannot be discussed without controversy.....one of them is ethics.....others are church and politics. Those that know me and hunt beside me will verify my high level of ethics. Over the years I have lost several hunting companions because I felt they had too little respect for their quarry or the habitat they were hunting. I feel no need to justify that to any of you that don't know me, but in the same breath I don't care to be called simple minded (Edited by Graybeard) by some that have never met me in person;D

 To wantonly waste game is a sin, pure and simple.

 

it's also against the law here where I live, as it should be.


(Edited by Graybeard)
 

[Graybeard]

Lines of decency posted as "the rules of this site" have been crossed that should not have been. THIS TIME I'm gonna be nice and just edit the posts and end this stupid affair NOW. Don't assume next time I'll be as nice.