Under 200 yard shot trough the lungs, what cal. and bullet
grain has been the shortest recovery?
.
"thru lungs", I've been following this thread and IF anyone has mentioned the Emotional State of the deer, I didn't see it.
For many yrs my preferred shot placement was broadside thru the lungs. I've shot deer with cartridges ranging from 243/6mm - 8mm RM and many in between.
Using the same rifle bullet combination, I've had deer collapse and others to run off some distance. When the deer are calm/relaxed they are more likely to DRT.
When they're JACKED up on adrenalin they're NOT likely to DRT in my observations of many in both emotional states.
I've seen more deer DRT with the 270 because........I've shot more with one.
My shortest "recovery" was 15'. I shot a buck straight down from 15' in a tree and it collapsed -- not a lung shot.
Where I've been hunting since 2012 it has been important to prevent deer from crossing to other property. I don't have permission to hunt there. Therefore most of the deer I've shot since 2012 have been pole axed by CNS hits. A few neck shots, 1 head shot, and multiple HI shoulder hits.
If you learn to hit HI shoulder you'll have minimum meat loss. If you can hit about where the shoulder blade attaches to the back or spine the meat is very thin and you'll disrupt the spine.
A direct shoulder shot I avoid like the plague. There are bone fragments dispersed in the meat and lots of blood shot and bruised meat that is almost impossible to salvage.
I also observed as others have stated - hi velocity and bullets that shed weight seem to work best or better.
Jerry
