Shot Placement On Deer

anyone consider head shots?? the have always worked great for me i dont like tracking deer after the shot
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I only consider head shots if it is the only opiton I have on a wounded animal. I don't hunt from a stand or blind where I always have a steady rest. A body shot always gives me a larger margin for error. I like to aim about half way up the rib cage just behind the shoulder. There isn't much meat to ruin in the ribs and since I usually only get one tag a year I want as much meat as I can get off of my deer.
 
very true...but if i can i always take a head shot....i shot stright on at a deer in the chest and took out his heart ...he droped like a sack of **** but it was not fun to clean ..lesson learned
 
One more quick question: if the deer is head-on (look out, it's coming right for us!), do I aim for the center of the chest, about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the ribcage, for a heart shot?
 
i would go for 1. i would aim for just behind the shoulder. to get to the heart and lung area. i figure that if it goes a little to the right it'll bust its shoulder and hopefully go deeper. a shotgun slug or a .30 , .35 cal. rifle should do it. i bow hunt too and neither one of these 3 choices are bow shots. definetly firearm shots. i would wait for a better shot if i saw that deer using a bow.
 
turkey.....head on in the chest works but is messy when you clean it especially if you hit the stomach and intestines
 
#1

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If I were presented with that mulie at that angle, I would take him in the neck, straight above the yellow #3 arrow, even with the bottom of his mouth. That will sever the spine. Notice how the spine of the deer curves in the diagrams.

1, 2, or 3 will likely kill him but will bust the shoulder and could get into the paunch and make a stinking mess. I would rather not clean $hi! out of the inside.
 
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I like Hiking Man's location. That has the greatest chance of a clean kill, even if the shot is a bit off. I don't like low shots or head shots on deer. Those shots often result in difficult tracking. The heart is a small target for many people under field conditions. It's one thing to hit the heart consistently on the range, quite another when in the woods.

Personally, I may be a good enough shot to take riskier shots, but I respect the game too much to let one run off and die a slow death, just because I pulled the shot a little. That's why I tend to aim for the center of the lungs.

Picher
 
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