Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Game Anatomy

It seems to me, sometime in the 80s or early90s, I believe Petersons had regular articles on different game animals. It included a cutaway with the anatomy of the animal. Dose anyone know where on the web those pictures might be found? I'm mainly interested in elk or red deer. capt david.

thanks I found what I needed. capt david

As one Campfire sage wisely put it, "shoot them in the front half".........

Care to share?

I don't know what the Captain found, but these two by Craig Boddington are all about shot placement. One is a regular sized book, the other is a little condensed version that you can take with you.

The Perfect Shot, North America: Shot Placement for North American Big Game

The Perfect Shot, Mini-Edition North America

Boddington also has some on African game.

Thanks!

Is there an animal that won't dropwith a neck shot?

Yeah, sometimes--but it doesn't surprise me that you asked that question.

Please.
Enlighten me. What animal doesn't have a spine.

I'll answer with a question: What animal has a neck that's entirely spine?

....and the spine can be a rather small percentage of the neck.

A Democrat ?

Pigs be a little different from more respectable critters..........

If saving the hide, shoot em just below the tail to avoid further holes in the hide.

That is definitely true. But the graphic you posted, while closer than most, is still not quite what I have found to be an accurate portrayal. The heart lies very low in the chest, and the lungs do not range that far back or that high, either.

The one below is the closest to reality that I have seen.

There really isn't much anatomic difference among quadrupeds, if we are talking about the location of the cardiopulmonary target zone. I have had bison hunters tell me that they are different than all others, and pig hunters say the same about pigs, but what they're really saying is that the non-shootable parts of their particular species can throw off your aim somewhat.

In reality, all quadrupeds' hearts are located in the ventral (bottom) extreme of the thoracic cavity, and if you look at the front legs of the animal standing sideways, the heart will be slightly behind and slightly posterior (rearwards) to the humerus, and close to the bottom of the chest. Immediately above and forward of the heart is the complex of Great Vessels, which bring blood to and from the heart, and in cross-section is slightly bigger than the heart itself. Beside these vascular structures are the lungs. This is why people have been saying since time immemorial that the best place to put your spear/arrow/bullet is about 1/3 of the way up the body and right behind the humerus when the animal is broadside with its legs together. If you "miss" by a couple of inches in any direction, you will still hit vitals and kill the animal.

Animals with a larger abdominal cross-section, like the pig, appear to have their heart located more forward in their body, if you look at the whole animal. Others, like the bison, appear to have their heart located more downward, if you look at the whole body. So don't look at the whole body!

The heart can always be found in the same place if you ignore the whole animal and just look at the forelegs. It's between the forelegs and just slightly behind them. Find the imaginary line between the forelegs, come up the line about 6"-10", and your bullet will hit the cardiopulmonary vitals. This works in any presentation.

If you read Craig Boddington's book, "Buffalo!", he shows a number of photos that help visualize where the heart is located using the above method. It works for every species I've shot or seen shot.

I have seen several animals not drop, or, drop and then get up, following neck shots. I've always preferred neck shots in order to save meat, but shots have to be precise, especially on neck-swollen rutting mule deer. I spent an hour searching for a dry doe one evening after aiming where I thought spine was and watching her drop at the shot. After no luck in finding her, I realized I had only done what horseless frontiersmen had done on the southern plains: I had creased her and knocked her down but when she disappeared into the sagebrush I became distracted and did not notice when she got up and ran off.

This is one of the better dissertations on the subject that I have seen........pretty neat if you have time to watch it........

My humble opinion, FWIW, knowing the anatomy is important; being able to put the lead where it needs to go, more so. That is in context of what style of firearm and charge is used. I have, at various times, shot deer in the neck and forward thoracic cavity and have yet to lose one after the fact. All of that was with CF rifles. Some were bang-flops, mostly not. Never lost a pig either, and have shot them with 12 & 20 bore buckshot, .30-30s, .257 Bobby and .22 RF, both LR, Shorts and mostly CB shorts. As suggested by Doc R. a CF rifle shot in vicinity of the humerus has been successful, usually with a flop dead result. Buckshot to the same region at reasonable range likewise. The .22 RF requires a CNS shot unless one is adept at tree climbing, particularly if one plinks more than one out of the herd at a time. Best effort in my past was 5 for 5, the two largest in the 200# range. Shots to the cervical vertebra with the CB shorts are effective up to around the 125# size, otherwise I have the patience to wait for them to present the proper aspect for a brain shot. I have shot over 100 hogs with that round and only one required a second shot...........because I did not know the anatomy. Shorts will not penetrate a mature hog's skull reliably with a "behind the ear" shot. Reason? Many layers of bone before one gets to the brain. Hogs have an outer cranium and an inner one as well when viewed from the side. The interior chamber is oriented to the rear of the brain.





End of the day, know the anatomy, your firearm and load, and most of all, have the patience to wait for the proper time for taking the shot. Only fools rush in..........

DD

Guess 35 years, I've just been lucky.