Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ballistics and meat damage

selmer, here in the South, we shoot a lot of deer, no check station, no tags, season from Aug 20 to Jan 1, non stop.

When does are being chased buy bucks, things are hot and heavy. We all help each other finding deer that have ran off with good hits in the lungs. As the distances increase, so does the tempory wound cavity that is created by the projectile. Simply punching a hole through the lungs often(not all the time) leads to deer running from 50 to 200 yards...deer run in strange patterns when they are dying, also.

I help my cousin often on doe days at his deer processing plant. So, in a day, I may bone out 25 or more deer(long day). We hear all kinds of stories, half of the lung shot deer may run, usually 30-50 yards, large bucks shot while pumped up may run 200 yards is shot in the back of the lungs.

The area of the country you live in makes a huge difference whether or not a deer runs. Out West, if they run 200 yards you probably will never loose sight of them. In the South, woods are thick as a Jungle and 200 yards seems like 200 miles. I have had to track many lung shot deer down on my hands and knees feeling for their tracks in the leaves, trying to get a direction. Deer often will circle and circle and circle as they are dying, disoriented from loss of blood.

I've lost two really good bucks shot thorugh the lungs at ranges between 200-250 yards, good solid hits as seen through my scope with a rifle that has a muzzle break on it(you can see the bullet impact on the animal).

With all the tracking that I have had to do, lost deer, one thing for sure, I preach to the average hunter to shoot the running gear out from underneath the deer...get some meat vs no meat at all.

A shoulder shot will take out their ability to run, internally the heart or top of the heart is gone and front of the lungs. When they are knocked down, they don't have the blood pressure to get back up, it does not get much better...blood pressure to the brain drops to zero instantly. On a lung shot, they hemorage or bleed out internally and can can cover a lot of ground in 6 seconds till the Oxygen gives out in their brain.

On the other hand, a deer shot low in the heart will probably go at least 100 yards+.

Gunwriters have really done the deer hunting public a huge disservice by promoting "aim behind the shoulder" shots on deer or having a picture of a deer with the cross hairs behind the shoulder, just my opinion.