Collapsing an Age-Old Myth

[tyson12590]

For most of my hunting life I have heard hunters talk about the “No Zone” on deer. They are referring to the supposed gap between the lungs and the spine which when hit with a bow leads to unrecovered deer. I bought into this theory for a while and I still see respected hunters claiming it is true.

There is no doubt that many deer hit high are not recovered, so the warning may be helpful. The problem is that anatomically the lungs of mammals contact the inner chest cavity wall at all times unless air is introduced. This means that any hit that goes below the spine and enters the chest cavity forward of the diaphragm will impact lungs.

It may be that a deer can survive a high lung hit or that many of these shots are actually impacting above the spine and through the backstraps. Either way I think it is time to “collapse” this myth and stop teaching young hunters false information. I have left a link below that explains this concept for those who have doubts. It is a bit lengthy but I found it helpful and I think all hunters should understand this info.

Respiratory System 3, Pleural membranes - YouTube

Happy Hunting!

 

[BackSpasm]

I think the "no zone" is referring to the tissues and muscles outside of the pleural cavity entirely. Meaning above the pink area in the photo which is the lungs completely filling the pleural space.

Even in hyperinflated deer lungs in the other photo, you can see that up above the pleural space underneath the shoulder blade is a region with no lung

 

[Seekbigger]

I just always aim for the lower kill zone so not to worry if they duck the string a bit, but that’s just me, 40 yards or under I aim for the bottom heart region. If they duck a little, then it’s a double lung.