Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Shoot’n hearts or Crushing Lungs...

Aren't African animals lungs, typically further forward, than Nth American game ?

I have had them run if I did hit the shoulder (one shoulder anyway), solid through the lungs with a fast destructive bullet, with the heart destroyed and have had them go down so quick I lost them in the scope with the same hits. If they run I like good blood to follow. On my last lease I became a spine/neck shooter making most hits in front of the shoulder, the spine at the shoulder blades or just back of there. The hogs and coyotes would destroy any deer that spent the night dead on the ground. That said I would say over all that I got the fastest kills using soft 150 grain bullets in the 30 calibers and 130's in my 270. I liked ballistic tips especially. Don't really care if I lose a shoulder either, especially if it means I don't have to crawl through low thorns and thick stuff to recover the deer. I also shot a lot of game with Hornady spire points which seemed to make a bloodier trail for some reason. If I don't have to sweat thick brush and thorns I prefer to hit them halfway up just behind the shoulder and let them run a bit to pump the blood out of their system.

Yessir. Low, through the shoulder is a heart shot for those guys. I did find that if you put a good bullet through the heart/lung area on those plains game, they died just as easily as any other big game animal. One thing though, is that on marginal hits those African trackers are the dambdest thing you've ever seen when they go to work . I made a couple of very marginal shots and those guys were truly amazing, never seen anything like their ability to find wounded animals.

I prefer a little forward of this entrance for a DRT kill, see the nice yellow dot.

This buck was on the move, stopped and just started to move again as the trigger broke.

Still a 50 or so yard death run pouring blood.

2.99 breakfast

In a perfect world, I prefer a high shoulder shot into the brachial plexus. That said, I'll punch the lungs without a second thought, if that's where my focus and instinct takes me first, in a given situation.

Whelenized

My post wasn’t meant as any meaningful conclusion, nor was my “data” trying to prove conclusively that heart v lung was good or gooder.

You want facts? Read a non-fiction book. I’m talking hunting and hunting has variables.

😎

Paul, We grub the heart too. I do pass on the liver though. I can fry liver up and it looks absolutely amazing. I just don’t dig the flavor.

We still pack it out unless it’s ruined. We have a hunting pard, Mike, who loves it...We call the liver “Mikey Meat”.

Grins....😎

Jud,

That’s a stopper shot....

I always try, if the shot angle is there to hit tight behind the shoulder. I’m not crying if I’m hitting 3”-4” behind a shoulder either.

I got a pard who seems to like center punching his animals in the middle. I’m not a fan of that placement. I do hold a leg really good and try to lean back as far as I can, when he’s opening up his furs. Grins 😎

What frog sticker is that?

"Is it accurate to say that pump shooting an animal will typically produce these kinds of results where the animal is basically dead on its hoofs but still gonna show you he’s a track star?"

To answer your question. Yes.

Elk hoof skeleton knife made by Godogs57.

I have the same blade.

😎

You dubbed those an experiment and on the basis of this formed preferences. I just question the point, certainly not flaming you (as you did me).

And while hunting definitely has lots of variables, much of the technical stuff that interests most of us (including terminal ballistics) can be approached with a data-based approach.

And on the flip side, lacking information that would be helpful should certainly not preclude discussions such as these. In fact, these are useful in actually gathering more info from folks here.

Yes I think heart shot critters usually give a death run.

I prefer to shoot them through the lungs. 1/2 to 2/3 up the body with enough space between my bullet entrance and the shoulder as not to wreck any meat. I have actually had quite a few drt's with this shot.
I enjoy eating the heart to much to shoot them there.

As a side note, I believe elk die easier than deer. This is from a sample size of 25 elk and probably twice that many deer. Whitetail and mule deer both. Of course there always exceptions, some animals just seem way tougher than they ought to.

I prefer to eat the heart so I try to avoid shooting it. When in doubt......

Shoot them in the pumpkin
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Double lunger for me......

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Hard quarter away gets everything:

I take what I can get. Rarely is it a broadside shot and the way deer come into the call its usually at an angle. I usually hit some meaningful bone in shoulder which ends things quickly. Bone and lead fragments plus the actual bullet blowing through the lungs does the trick.

Hoping to Whelenize a spring bear if our doofus governor ever opens it up..... gonna go old school with my old .35 Whelen for deer and/or elk this fall, too! Happy Trails

When I was young and impressionable they seemed to behave as if the heart shot hurt them more, but I didn't notice it killing or stopping them any quicker.

Very interesting opinion.