How many deer have you shot with a rifle, or muzzleloader that dropped in their tracks. As for myself the vast majority ran a ways no matter how good they were hit. Not talking about gut shot, but a good heart & lung shot. Anything from .243 to a 30.06. I've had a few fall where they stood, but most ran. I watched my dad shoot a buck at 60 yards, and it ran downhill in front of us & fell. When he gutted said deer he pulled the heart out. It was shredded by a 30.06 180gr factory load. I'm still amazed at what deer are capable of just by sheer adrenalin. Feel free to share any stories.

Out of 100+, probably 4 or 5 with a heart or double lung shot. Some only go a few yards, but most run a little. I’d say average is 20-40 yards. That’s from 6mm Rem, .270, .338 fed, .300 wm, .300 wsm, .308, 30-06, 350 rem, and probably some others. No appreciable difference between rifles.

my experience in the 50 or so deer i've shot is that if i didn't bust the front shoulder or spine, the deer would run. sometimes not far though. best DRT shot for me is neck and shoulder joint.

A few.

Was loading a 165 grain btsp Sierra when I was a kid for 30-06.

It blew a hell of a hole in em. DRT.

I've never tried a neck shot, but been told it will drop em fast.

Same here. The only difference I've seen in calibers is that bigger holes usually let more blood out (assuming complete penetration.)

I have killed over 90 whitetail, most with a 30-06. Small Georgia deer. On average, with a lung shot, they ran 100 yards. I have had 'em run 80 yards with the heart blown to bits.

I started shooting a muzzleloader with a .50 round ball, on a lung shot those deer only went about 45 yards. The round ball is more effective than the 30-06.

Two, a doe I shot with my Knight muzzleloader and a small buck shot with the same gun. The doe spun in a complete circle, the buck fell when he stood.

I believe he's referring to the high shoulder, where the neck and body join. Definitely the best "anchoring" shot on a whitetail. The neck itself is a small target and more "dead" deer run off from poor neck shots than any other.

First one I was 11 or 12. Using a .243 which is very capable. I ended up shooting spike multiple times, because of poor hits & excitement due to my adrenalin. When it was all over there wasn't hardly a useful piece of meat left on him

A hundred deer or so...all but about ten have dropped on the spot. Most shot with 30-06 and 7mms.

I used a .257 Roberts for about 10-15 years with a 100 gr Hornady spire point in front of 46 gr of IMR4350.
I've also used .270's, .257 Ackleys, 6.5x47, etc. over the years but that old Roberts was the one that had a relatively high % of dropping them where they stood. Especially in the 60-100 yard range. In fact, I don't ever remember one of the other calibers doing that with a clean chest shot (not shoulder, head, neck, etc.) for me. YMMV. On those shot in the chest at minor angles, I would usually find the bullet under or near the skin on the far side with the Roberts.

Now, it's not a load that you want to depend on for deep penetration, but I've always been pretty picky on my shots as I don't like a mess or big meat loss as I process them myself.

It makes me wonder why I ever got away from it...

I’ve killed probably 30 deer. I’d say 90 percent are bang flops. Mostly with a 25-06..

No tally to go by,

But I’d say a fair % have dropped where shot.

Very high percentage when using 35 whelen with ttsx.
Though most those shoots are <100 yds.

I shoot the crease behind the shoulder.

I have an old knight. It's a fine gun with a better trigger than any of my rifles.

2 with a bow

None with a muzzleloader (flintlock)

Probably 8 or 10 with a rifle..............no neck shots........all front shoulder. All of those but one were with a .308 Win and the old, original 180 grain Silvertip factory load, The other was a .30/40 Krag 180 grain reload. Interestingly............ I never, EVER saw a deer NOT go down in its tracks until I started shooting them with a .300 Win Mag.

I can only think of one that basically dropped where it stood and it was shot with a 32 WS at 60 yards in the chest (from standing, it did a complete backwards flip in the air). A few have gone to their front knees at the shot and got up but most just walk or run a ways; a few have acted completely unaffected. I always aim for the best double lung shot i can get. Over the years, my samples span 243s, 270s, 308s, 30-40s, 06s, 300 WM, 32 WS, 45-75, 50 and 54 muzzles and have watched almost as many as i have harvested.

Well I remember more than a few but 1 year I had 2 very definitive bang flops
A mule deer doe at 68 steps right thru the ribs and out, dropped in her tracks. A whitetail doe at 105 yds about the same shot but just catching the edge of the shoulder blade on exit. Dropped in her tracks. 7 mm Remington mag 120 gr Nosler ballistic tips full throttle RL-19 loads at 3500 fps. Some doubt the velocity of that load and as that powder is long gone in my inventory I can't verify those load velocities but non the less I've never seen 2 better bang flops with non cns placement. Mb

Head shots for me, no running

About a dozen, most were high shoulder shots, no brain pan shots.

We hunt canyons with adjacent crop land out here so high shoulder shots always stops a bag drag...

I would guess 6-7 out of maybe 40-something. Two were head shot does that gave me perfect 300BO shots, lying down, not moving, at under 30 yards, so around 10% of "conventional" shots at best.

I try to not destroy the front shoulders though, so there's that.

About 40% since I started using a 257 Weatherby.

It's all about knockdown power bullet expansion and shot placement.

Seen plenty of mortally wounded deer cover some ground if the bullet passes through the body.

Only a few have dropped in their tracks when shot in the chest cavity. Most run close to 40yds before they die.
I read an article years ago on a study of that very question or mainly “heart shots “. The conclusion was that if the heart was pumping blood into the veins when the bullet hit, the shock exploded the system and the animal dropped instantly. If the heart was constricting, the animal had enough oxygenated blood in their system to run x amount of yds no matter what damage had be done to the heart. Both were “kill shot” just with different instantaneous results.
Sounds logical to me.

Head or spine shots drop them quick!

I quit counting at around a 100. I'd say at least half of those were killed with a 270 and a 130 grain soft point. Most of them were one shot, dropped in their tracks kills. But, back in the day when I was doing all that, I was hunting out of stands where most of my shots were going to be in the 100 yard range. I was shooting a very accurate rifle, and could put a bullet in the exact spot I wanted, usually the neck.

As a matter of fact, I'd have been shocked if one did run. I also experienced the same thing with the 35 Remington......one shot, dead in their tracks. My last 3 deer have been taken with a 6.5 Creedmoor. All one shot kills, with two of them going maybe 20-30 yards after the shot, and the other dropped in his tracks.

I've had probably a dozen bang flops, my most memorable was with a muzzleloader. I was walking out of the woods into a clearing when I saw a doe standing in the tall grass, I pulled the trigger and when the smoke cleared she was still standing there. I reloaded and fired again, when the smoke cleared this time I could see her limping away. I went to look for blood and when I got to where she was standing there was a dead doe in the grass the other doe must have been bedded there and stood when I shot. I tracked the other one about a hundred yards and put the finishing shot in her. Usually if the shot presents itself I will go for a neck shot to save myself from having to track

Knockdown power? Stick to your Xbox

I could only guesstimate that I've shot between 85-100 deer in my life. I'd be hard pressed to remember more than a single handful or so that didn't fall in their own shadow or after just a couple of stagger steps. I really like the high shoulder or neck shots.

The vast majority were killed with Ole Reliable, a 30-06. Last 8 years or so, been using a 7-08 out of either a Featherweight M70, or lately, a Montana. Pepper in a few with 35 Rem, 257 Roberts, 250 Sav and 300 Sav.

I’ll say that 95% of my shooting on deer are “bang flops”.
I’m not bragging, but I learned early in my career that on whitetails, neck shots are best.
I love to hunt squirrel with a good .22 as well, so I’ve learned to be pretty picky about where and when I shoot.
Having one run, and occasionally losing one that’s been hit, are unavoidable sometimes. But I’ve trained myself not to take low percentage shots, and all of my rifles are accurate. If they’re not, I don’t keep them.
7mm

I've never shot a whiletail, only mulies. I've had MANY of them drop within a few steps, the large majority in fact.

I've killed quite a few and most have run at least a few yards. Even with a 12 gauge slug in the boiler room. Same results with my .308 Marlin Express. Most don't go far at all though.

I used to shoot behind the shoulder an inch or two below the mid point of the body.I was amazed at how such a well placed shot often resulted in a deer making a long mad dash before dying.Many of those were a 100yds or so.I think the lungs are super shock absorbers.Being spongy and flexible,a low lung shot,even though it is a lethal shot,it seems to protect the spine from the bullet shock as it travels through the chest cavity.I started shooting tight up against the shoulder,an inch or two above the mid point of the body.You still get the lungs but most of the lungs are below the wound channel and it doesn't affect the shock of the bullet like the lower shot does.The result is you get a lot of shock to the underside of the spine and also ruptures the large arteries that are just below the spine.I get consistent DRT kills with that shot.Another thing to notice is the diaphragm is angled.A low shot a little too far behind the shoulder and you will either hit or rupture the stomach.Shooting a little higher,you can still hit back a ways and still be in the lungs and avoiding a gut shot.

Out of 45 or so deer, maybe 5 dropped at the shot with a behind the shoulder shot. One each with.30-30, .308 and .300 Savage, 2 with 00 buck.

Old70

Maybe 4 or 5 fell on the spot out of 25 deer, a couple of those needed follow up mercy shots. I’m pretty much a behind the shoulder shooter, and most shots have been 100-200 yards. I’ve taken my daughter, niece and nephew to shoot their first deer in the last couple years and 2 out of three dropped flat. Those were about 60 yard shots.

Not a huge sample, but I've killed about a dozen whitetail deer, have used .308 with 150 gr corelokts, .308 with 165 gr federal premium/sierra game kings, .308 with 165 gr fusions, and 30/30 with 170 gr blue box federals. All shots within 10 to 100 yards. Rifles were 30/30 Savage 99, .308 Savage 99F, and .308 Kimber Montana.

When the deer were standing they were one shot dropped in place with heart/lung shots, except two that were high shoulder/spine shots - deer down in place, but used a second kill shot (30/30 with both of those deer). Never had a standing deer run after being hit.

Running/walking deer have been one or two shots, some just piled up in a few yds, farthest any traveled has been about 30 or 40 yds. Have shot more than twice at some fast moving deer, but only hit them with two of the shots. Shooting at a moving deer tends to accelerate them!

Almost forgot, one deer killed with a 350 RemMag, 200 gr factory corelokt, 30 yds - very emphatic heart-shot boom-flop. I've added a 300 SAV to my deer rifles, but haven't connected with it yet.

With the cartridges I use and the ranges involved almost always get bullet pass thru, except a couple of times when I used to use factory Rem 150 gr corelokt ammo on large deer. That's why I went to 165 gr stuff. I also spend enough time at the range before hunting season to be competent with my rifles.

I hunt mostly with a 45/70. Exit hole is same size as entry wound. Heart shots ran a bit, neck shots dropped.

My .308 and 06 make a devastating exit wounds. Run or push maybe 10 yards.

I witnessed 2 interesting shots this year. My 14 year old daughter shot a buck, broadside at 100 yards with a 6.5 Creedmore. Deer barely flinched and strolled off into the woods. We waited about 20 minutes then came down out of the stand. Zero blood. I told her, at least it was a clean miss and better luck next time. We walked into the woods and there was a dead deer 5 yards inside the wood line. My first thought was, Who shot That deer!? It was hers! A bit if a gut shot but only went 15 yards total. Bullet was lodged under the skin on the far side.

Her twin brother shot a big 8 point, 21" spread with his buddies 300 wsm. 30 yard shot. Thing dropped and we recovered the bullet under the skin on the far side. Great transfer of energy!

I quit counting at 100 deer & 20 hogs, with 13 cal from 250 Savage to 45-70 but mostly with a 257 Roberts maybe 10 have dropped there. I head shoot hogs so the usually drop right there

Maybe 6, but all of those were either neck, spine or shoulder shots. Never with a true heart lung only shot. I’ve had their lung tissue strain through my fingers, so I don’t know how much more destructive a bullet I could be using than that? I do think that with the advent of the lighter, faster, softer bonded core bullets that we are seeing now specifically for deer hunting that drt results will be more frequent.

That sounds like a good day in the woods.

The only deer I've had drop dead where they stand have been with the high shoulder shot which I always try to aim for if given the chance. With heart / lung shots I've only had a couple run no more than 15 yards and the rest ran a bit further and one a bunch further. The two heart/lung shot deer that ran the shortest distance were basically dead on there feet but continued on by forward momentum alone and apparently died almost instantly from rapid loss of blood pressure as their hearts were cut loose from main arteries.

I hunt near a fence. I shoulder shoot them. They be dead before they hit the ground.

Same when I hunted in south Texas, every thing there sticks you, craps ten feet high in some places. You don’t want to look for wounded animals in that cshit. Did I mention 6’ plus rattlesnakes

3 this year alone
2 does and a buck
Buck and 1 doe were neck shots doe2 was a heart shot
All dropped in their tracks

The most dramatic DRT was a 22 250 55gr neck shot on a cull buck. For the most part mine run 10 to 20 yards. Sometimes not good in the S TX brush.

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to try my .22/250 on deer, but so far I haven’t.
Where we hunt most of the time, there an awful lot of hawthorns and briars and stuff, so if you don’t drop them now, you’re gonna work to recover them. I’m finally getting Wifey to realize this. Last year she lost one, and the one she killed got into the damn Greenbriers and expired. Guess who got that little chore!
I actually had one neck shot that did not fall down. The dead deer’s legs were locked and it literally leaned on a tree without falling over!
I think I’ve had two that kicked around after I shot, but must of the time the shock of the bullet disrupts the nerve in the spine.
Like I said, “Bang Flop”!
7mm

One of the old guys that helped me get started told me to shoot for that spot if possible. Only had to look for a couple and those were shot at poor angles and most likely shouldn't have been shot at in the first place. Used a .243 on most of them.
On some of the thinning hunts everyone had to use a shotgun. We had to look for a bunch of them on those days but the guys that organized those hunts didn't care at all if some weren't found they just wanted to keep them from eating everything they planted.

Between the wife and I, we've taken a little over 40 deer (mostly Mid-MO bucks), mostly with 120-140 gr 7mm bullets predominately from a 7mm-08 (or AI). A few were from a 284 win or 7wsm, and a few lately from a 243 win shooting 95 or 100 gr bullets. We've almost always taken traditional boiler room, double lung/heart shots, and have had maybe a half dozen bang flops out of that total. Most have run 20-40 yards with the longest being a doe my wife shot with a 50 cal muzzle loader that traveled almost 250 yards, with a mostly visible and easy to follow blood trail the entire way. It was a well placed shot, we were amazed she went that far and bled that much. Go figure.

We've got rattlesnakes & copperhead here, but usually in gun season it's cold enough not to worry about. Bow season, Turkey season, & hunting for ginseng is a different story. I came close to stepping on a copperhead while Turkey hunting about 8 yrs ago.

Over half have died within feet, and thats all that matter.
A good number more were within easy sight.
I despise hunting after I shoot, see it as a failure even if I find the deer.

No stands, no bait, no shooting rests other than what is there.
Wherever, whenever.

So we chose cartridges and bullets to try and make that happen,
while maintain as much meat as possible.

For example 140gr Sierra in the Sweede dfidnt fit.
The 120 seems ideal.

The 165 BTHP in the 308 dropped 8 out of 8.
At a huge expense of meat.
Back to the old design 165BT. Still have several 100 count boxes.
Almost as effective, less destruction.


This has been a decent thread.

So many here get caught up in their desires and their circumstances and
project that as best for everyone.

If you shoot out of a house at bait, you may have much more latitude.

If you are a still hunter, a tracker, or especially a driver,
things are much different.

Also, bring able to find runoff due to skill or circumstances, or
people that will claim a found deer all weigh in.

By "deer" I assume whitetail or muley (one each). The whitetail (my first big game animal) was hit poorly, and my brother took her out at about 100 yards of run by shooting a second leg out from under her with his 12 ga slug..... Beginners... No meat ruined, tho.

The muley was double lunged at 15 yards with a 30-06. Bang flop. So that's50%

Of the 100 or so caribou and moose I've taken, on guess, I'd say close to half of lung-shot caribou haven't gone more than 5 yards, many being bang-flops. Can't give you a number, but quite a few. Can't give you a breakdown on cns (like that high shoulder shot, which takes out the spine as well), vs non CNS, but cns ALWAYS puts them down on the spot. Two of the three caribou taken last fall by my son and I were double lunged (.260- 294 yards, and 7X57 - 100 yards or so) and flopped right there, the other, a calf, was double lunged ( 7x57 - 15 yards in heavy fog) and ran about 30 yards to die near its mother's gut pile, made by someone else the night before.

The cow elk at 150 yards with the 260 was bang-flop- neck/spine shot. The wolf at 20 yards or so, was raked from just forward of the front leg to just behind the ribs. 260, bang/flop.

A bull caribou I shot several years ago at 433 yards through both lungs (30-06 150 gr Hornady super performance) ran about 100 yards, turned and ran back, dying within 5 yards of the hit. A heart shot one (06) some years ago did much the same, not quite as far, and at a bit wider angle. I swear he was searching for just the right-sized (his body size) water-filled hole in the tundra to fall in....

You pays your money and takes your chances, except with cns. They always work as advertised. Moose are more problematic in heavy cover, and I always go for a cns if I can.

I will say that my 25-06 using 120 gr Speer handholds went 22 for 23 bang-flops on caribou, cns or lung, 50 to over 500 yards. The other one was dead with the first, just didn't know it, shot from front of shoulder to off-side hip. He turned sideways at the shot, and the double lunger 2nd shot knocked him flat.

Never should have sold that thing....

3 of the 4 I tagged this season dropped to the shot. The 4th one made it about 30 yards. This year I increased my deer take to 98 deer. I have taken 25 elk, 14 pronghorn, 2 black bear, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, stone sheep, bison, hogs and have made it to Africa 5 times. I nearly always go for a high shoulder shot or a center neck shot and I'm guessing that at least 75% of the game I have taken in my life dropped to the shot.

Of the 50 or so deer I've tagged, probably a third of them were high shoulder/CNS shots. All of those were DRT. The other two thirds were heart/lung shots. Most of those ran 20 - 60 yards, but a dozen or so were bang/flops. I've shot them with numerous cartridges, and the 30-06 is the one most likely to result in a bang/flop. Of the 20 or so shot with slugs, only a few dropped on the spot. In my own experience, I've seen higher velocity rounds have a more dramatic effect than the slower rounds.

I've been hunting 40 years in a state that I can legally take up to 10 deer (recently changed) and hunted out of state FOR 30+ years so probably killed 350-400 deer with 75% dropping to the shot. So around 300 I'd guess.
Of those most neck shots and high front shoulder.

Around 75 or so.
Neck/ shoulder or spine hit will drop em.
Anything else they go a little.
Im cool w DRT or DROT
Only shot 5 w HP rifle. Same effects by location.

I have had two slug gun hits fold em on the spot. Mid level broadside double lung, no shoulder contact.
Those w the WW High Impact Supremes. One just buckled (90 yards) the other reared up like a horse and sat on his ass and tipped over ( 50 yards ).
150 and 175# dressed. Not small, not big.

Depends on what I am shooting and.where they are hit. When I shoot them with the 300 Weatherby Pretty much everyone just drops and doesn't even wiggle. Muzzleloader most run. My smaller rifles through the ribs they run. If shot in spine head or point of the shoulder they drop.

For a long time I used a .308, 150 gr hornady spires. Started out with shoulder/breakdown both shoulders. DRT a lot.

Started liking neck shots, instant drops.

Mostly went back to boiler room shots if I have a few seconds to get what I want. And on those, they almost always seem to get a blast of adrenaline and haul ass for 50 yards and go black.

Lots of my kills now are with my Savage smokeless so with one shot, I stay with lung/heart.

Take a 125-150 kills in the woods, deer shot in the same front quarter panel, same bullet, some will run, some will flop. 🤷🏻‍♂️



They’ll take a bullet like a champ 😃👍

They’ll still run 100+ yards with no heart

I always hunted white tails out of a stand. Bow, gun ,muzzleloader all from stand. I like that I can see farther with the elevation. A little harder in bow season with all the leaves on. I have used a blind for turkey. Only seen them while calling & chasing down their location. Last one I shot at I missed. Turned out the choke was junk. Should have been a kill at 45-50 yds

What ever killing shot on the angle a animal presents I will take.
Thinking line of bullet path with barnes bullets makes it easy.
Punch thru bone and smash the chest cavity and on thru.
Just imagine the line......
Makes for some nasty gutting jobs at times with body length trsversing shots....
IDGAF about meat either.

Let whoever that gets my donated carcass worry about that schitt...

If I get a high shoulder break down shot opportunity.
I will take.

Deer tend to run like the energizer bunny when heart lung shot at times.

Yes Sir, that's what I was saying in original post. To go as far as they do with heart destroyed always amazed me.

I do “high shoulder” where the neck meets the shoulder. They drop right there. I’ve instructed my son to shoot there on the two deer he has shot (both with a 6mm), and they have dropped RIGHT THERE. Basically one third to one half of the way down from the top of the neck, where it meets the shoulder.

KY Whitetails. Predominantly does for meat. Heart/lung shots through the ribs to minimize meat loss. Over a 10 year period I had 17 of 18 DRT's with a .243 shooting 95gr Nosler Partition handloads. Switched to a .270 Win shooting Nosler Trophy Grade 130gr NAB's when I started going to Colorado for second rifle. Over last 5 years, 5 or 6 deer shot with .270. All one shot kills. Zero DRT's. Minimum 30 yard runs. This year 100 yard run at last light into the thick stuff. Same herd of deer. Same farm. Same shooter. Same shot placement. I started shooting the factory NAB load out of convenience. This year, switching back to hand loads with either 130gr NBT's or NPT's.

On deer, I have used a .22 Mag, .243's, a couple of .25-35's, .300 Savage, .30-30, .308 Winchester, .30-06, .338 Win Mag and .35 Whelen that I recall at the moment. Oh yes 20 gauge and 12 gauge slugs.

About one in four of the deer I have killed dropped in their tracks. Most of those were not pure heart and lung shots. Most were CNS hits of one kind or another or hits that included a shoulder blade or two. I tend to hold a bit high.

I have gotten more quick kills when using lighter for caliber bullets, especially boattails. I actually quit usung 165's in my '06's and .30 magnums to reduce the amount of bloodshot meat.

I did drop a couple of deer like I cut strings with chest hits. In gutting them I discovered the top of the heart had been hit. The only elk I have dropped in place was a small bull hit the same way with a 150 gr Power Point from a .308 Winchester.

Center punching the heart hasn't had the same effect. In several cases they have run. Usually 40+ yards. I once shot a deer through the heart with my .35 Whelen. It ran forty yards spraying blood out both sides and making the grass hay red.

I have shot about 20 deer with slugs 20 and 12 gauge, Sabots and Foster slugs. I only recall one that fell at the shot.

The first deer I ever killed was with a 50 caliber Hawken and she dropped in her tracks. I had it happen again a few years later with a 12 gauge slug and then another a couple of years ago with an inline shooting a 250 grain Keith bullet.
It’s only happened twice more, both times with a 30-30. The old 30-30 whacks em’.
I’ve had them go a few steps out to 75 yards but only those five dropped in their tracks.

I got tired of the deer running so far on the lung shot with the .30-06. I had killed 40 or 50 with lung shots and they almost always made 75 yards, sometimes, over 100 yards. I had a scope and was a pretty good shot so I started going for the neck shot. Right in the middle of the neck. I had about ten in a row that dropped right in their tracks with the neck shot.

Then I got into muzzleloading, I had a .50 T/C Hawken that I took into the woods sometimes. I had made about 4 lung shots with this rifle with good results.
One day, I had a nice 4 point buck standing at 30 yards and decided to try the neck shot with the Hawken. I pulled the trigger and the buck folded.
I sat there in the warm November sunshine, a wreath of blue smoke around me, I felt like a real bad ass, the dead buck laying there. I felt like Davy Crockett.

Just then, the buck flicked his ear. Just a death response I thought. Then he flicked his tail. Then he started to get up on his front legs. What the hell he was supposed to be dead.
I quickly poured the black powder down the barrel. The deer was on all four feet. I rammed home the ball, and grabbed the percussion cap, and the deer was gone! I saw a white tail. Didn't even get the cap on yet.

I went down to examine the spot, and I saw, about ten feet before where the deer had stood, a one inch grape vine that had just been cut in two. That .490 round ball hit that vine, and then must have gone high. Hit the meat high in the neck enough to stun the deer for ten seconds.

I was pretty good at blood tracking but there was no blood trail, just a few drops on the ground where he had fallen. I came back for the next three days looking for the deer, or for buzzards, but there was nothing. I think that deer lived.

If I had been using the Mauser I would have seen the grape vine blocking the neck, with the scope, and just gone for the lung shot.
If I had gone for the lung shot with the Hawken, and the bullet deflected high 3 inches, still a perfect lung shot he would not have gotten 50 yards.

About 15 deer shot in the neck went right down.One year I did a Texas heart shot on a doe about 75 yards away.I was shooting a 35 Whelen with 180 grain Barnes bullet.That deer fell right where it was shot and the bullet penetrated through the whole animal and ended up as a perfect mushroom just under the skin by the front of the chest.Another was a Mule Deer buck at 365 yards away cross canyon up hill with a strong cross wind.He was bedded on a shelf on the side of the hill sidewise from me.I held low and about two feet in front of him and pulled the trigger.Next I saw feet up in the air in the scope.Rifle was a 280AI firing 140 grain Nosler BTs.We could not find an entrance or exit hole on him.I must have scared him to death??

No entrance or exit wound? Never heard of that one before.

Must have been a geezer deer who had a heart attack. I mean, if a deer doesn't catch a 180 grain soft point bullet, or get eaten by wolves, or run over on the highway, it has to die of old age or something. Theoretically a deer could have a heart attack.

Animals don't always cooperate. That one got me laughing. Doesn't take much to reflect a shot especially an arrow.

30-30 is sufficient around here. In East Tn you don't get many shots over 100 yds. West Tn is flatter with chance for longer shots. Always liked the 30-30 & .35 Remington

Most have not taken a step.

Shooting the 41 mag,270,7x57,257 roberts imp.and the 36 whelen.

Could not say how many deer have been shot but these are what i have used.

I'd rather hear your hunting stories than talk politics. I've enjoyed reading everyone's experiences. Still amazed at the toughness of big game.

FWIW, I've learned over time that "perfect" heart/lung shots can be the hardest animals to track. When the heart and lung functions are immediately terminated, the animal is not pumping or blowing blood. They can go a long way before blood starts to drain from small holes.

Obviously, they don't go far, but it doesn't take that far to make recovery very difficult in the thick stuff if there is no blood trail.

Shot one at near dark & got down from stand to quickly. He ran into pine thicket right behind me. Came within 5-10 yards of him that night, but didn't find til next day. Didn't help that I gut shot him.

Blood trails are tough on pine needles, just by their color and the way a drop doesn't look like drop on loose straw.

I've taken about 45 deer and I can only think of 4 heart/lung shot deer that dropped on the spot: 1 was taken with a 30-06, one a 30-30, another with a 35 Whelen with 200 gr bullet and one with a 12 ga BRI sabot slug. Most ran off some distance, the longest being maybe 100 yrds.

My observations have been adequately expressed in this thread. Many times, as a matter of fact!

Many years ago my then 8 or 9 year old son was watching hunting shows on tv and when I walked into the room he turned to me and said "have you ever noticed that when a deer is looking at you when you shoot them they run and when they don't see you when you shoot them they fall right down?". I think my response was that I never really paid that much attention but you might be on to something. Thinking adrenalin plays a big part of what an animal does after the trigger is pulled. Food for thought

This. But there is only a junction and no joint as you know.,

^ ^ that's because they're already " expanded "

The bigger the hole, the faster the boat sinks

There is that for sure. Sharp kid.

Seems most scenarios have been covered . The one thing I have learned is if the bullet is placed where it needs to go , calibers don't much matter from 243 up .
I usually go for behind the shoulders . Usually thick around here and most of the time shots have to be done fairly quick .
Don't take B.S. brush shots .
No denying DRT CNS shots , just don't risk them unless I have time to secure a good rest which isn't often .
Kenneth

Same here Kenneth, deer don't pose in proper position for most of us. Sometimes only a few seconds to take a shot so I prefer behind shoulder. Btw my first centerfire was a model 700 .243. Wish I still had it as it was an excellent hunting rifle.

Probably 20 out of 100+. But most don't go over a few steps.

Kind of puzzling.It does not mean there was none.We just did not find it.Still have that buck on my reloading room wall.He is the biggest I ever shot.We were three miles plus to where we were parked and had to drag him out cut in half.

Agree. But the 25-06 I mentioned above has given me way more, and more dramatic, DRT results than my 30-06 kills. Your last sentence covers that....