Dead center in the lungs. Not a lot of deer die instantly from just a lung hit.
No reason to as they haven't had time to drown in their own blood and leak out yet.
Yeah some will say thier '06 kills em instantly with a lung only hit but I bet they never took the time to really get in there and see what was really hit.
Most folks gut em, and from what I have seen they can make a chore/mess of that then off to the processor not having a clue what really happens at the shot.
I agree. About the only thing I've seen take them down reliably with lung-only hits were soft bullets at hyper-velocity. Old school NBT lung hits from 300WM or 7mmRM pushing 3300-3400 would often drop them with just lungs, but they'd sure make a mess. Other rounds generally have them on their feet for 10-30 seconds after a hit through the middle of the lungs. If that's the hit you get, I like to see some chunks of pink goo coming out of an exit. A medium-weight bullet from a 7-08, 308, 35Rem, etc will typically do it pretty well without much recoil. Probably why they continue to be regarded as bread & butter deer cartridge's around here.
Exactly why I like softer Sierras pushed over 2800, 3000 or so seems to be the sweet spot on em though.
The last time that bear ate a lawyer he had the runs for 33 days!
