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Deer anatomy lesson via dissection

I appreciate the share. It shows the difference in bow hunting vs gun. It is easy to take out the shoulder with a fire arm, not so with a broad head. As hunters it is our responsibility to be professional in regards to our quarry.
Agree. I always go for a high shoulder shot and drop them on the spot with firearms.

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Nice post I have never seen it presented like that. That guy was really good with a knife as well. How hard would it be to completely dissect a deer while giving a tutorial. Pretty impressive.
 
Here's another good video from the Masterpiece site. It demonstrates shot angles with a guy shooting arrows from an elevated stand into one of Masterpiece's amazing 3D targets. Wow, they make incredible targets!
 
From Dr. Grant Woods...

There isn’t normally a “dead space” between a deer’s spine and the top of the lungs.
Deer that are hit high in the lungs can travel a long ways and often don’t bleed much externally. The high entrance and exit holes results in most blood remaining in the deer. I recently hit a doe high and she traveled several hundred yards. It was tough to trail her and I ended up using a dog (legal in Missouri). You can see that shot and entrance and exit holes at:
 
Another simple video on anatomy and shot placement.
I wish he would have stressed that his demo was for shots that are perfectly broadside. There are hunters out there that can't seem to grasp the different aim points based on different body angles.
That's what I liked about the one Masterpiece video where the actually shoot the 3D target.
 
I wish he would have stressed that his demo was for shots that are perfectly broadside. There are hunters out there that can't seem to grasp the different aim points based on different body angles.
That's what I liked about the one Masterpiece video where the actually shoot the 3D target.
I am also sick of the every hunting video where they always say wait till he turns broadside when they are using a ml or gun. Shoot the chest from any angle with most firearms (not getting into the discussion of lightweight calibers like .223 or .243 for this one) in the right spot and it is a dead deer. I never wait for broadside and have never lost a deer with a firearm outside of a ml misfire.
 
I am also sick of the every hunting video where they always say wait till he turns broadside when they are using a ml or gun. Shoot the chest from any angle with most firearms (not getting into the discussion of lightweight calibers like .223 or .243 for this one) in the right spot and it is a dead deer. I never wait for broadside and have never lost a deer with a firearm outside of a ml misfire.

Woods hunting with a rifle, I rarely see a perfect broadside deer. I take the first decent shot the deer gives me, passing only head-on or tail-on shots.
 
Woods hunting with a rifle, I rarely see a perfect broadside deer. I take the first decent shot the deer gives me, passing only head-on or tail-on shots.
Head on with head Turned makes for a good shot. Lol Right at the base of the ear and they drop like a rock. If you cut their throat fast enough they will bleed out there and you wont hardly get your hands bloody guttin em

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I aim roughly 2in behind the crease. I cant put a percentage on how much larger that part of the kill zone is but you can see that it is. I'll also add if your deer starts to move that front part moves the most. There is a whole lot of vitals behind that crease.

Every deer Ive ever wounded but 1 was when I was tangling with that Vital V as guys call it. I do shoot flappers and skeet loads most the time though.
 
Good video. No dead zone! God's creation is amazing.

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This is gonna probably start some controversy but I'll share it anyway...

Now if we are strictly talking firearms, my aim point is center of the neck a couple of inches in front of the shoulder if I have a good angle and clear shot. If not, then the tried and true on the shoulder, just behind the shoulder or center of chest (if head on).

Years ago I watched a TV celebrity hunter and his wife take this shot at 160yds with a muzzle loader and the buck dropped right there. I must have replayed the video a dozen times to verify what I saw and sure enough the bullet impact was on the neck. No, they never mentioned where the bullet hit or even hinted on the aim point but it damn well showed up in the video.

So that year during the firearms season I shot a doe with a 12ga at 65yds the same way, in front of the shoulder on the neck and she dropped right there. Right there meaning in her tracks literally, not one step, no movement except her dropping straight to the ground. Ever since that time when the shot presented itself I took it, the closest being 20yds and the furthest at 82yds and every time it had the same effect, a dead doe laying in the last spot she stood. I like this shot also for the fact that it doesn't destroy the front shoulder and ruin the meat in the area.

As far as with a bow, with the videos posted in this chat I myself have changed my aim point slightly further back than the "vital vee" for a few reasons.
Most importantly it gives me more room to MISS the shoulder/ leg bone should I screw up the shot, deer moves, Mr. Murphy shows up etc. Ideally we all want a double lung shot with a piece of the heart for a quick clean ethical kill but know that sometimes it's not that easy or doesn't wind up that way. I consider any combination of lung/heart, lung/liver, liver and/or stomach to be lethal shots, what changes is how I proceed with the recovery. So altering my aim a tad rearward gives me a larger "kill" area.

What I think is lost in most discussions is the fact that from a shear killing point of view, an arrow mid-line or lower between the front shoulders and rear hams ends with a dead deer. Now yes there will be rare instances that the broad head misses everything vital on the inside and the animal lives. Whether a hunter can successfully recover a liver/stomach hit animal is another matter and this is where I find most discussions related to lethal hits to become obscure because these are two distinctly separate issues which get bundled together . One is a "bad shot" to the liver or gut (which is lethal) and the other is the challenges it presents due to little or no blood trail and mandatory wait time before beginning the tracking/recovery phase. But a liver or gut shot is a death sentence for a deer, the difference being the length of time it takes for it to expire.
 
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I would certainly hope that even a novice hunter would understand that when using a rifle to cull deer, especially in urban environments where they pay professionals to take deer, that head shots are mandatory. I would also certainly hope that no bowhunter would ever attempt to shoot a deer in the head with an arrow or bolt.
I am going to post a picture for you
 
You’d assume that they know better.

I would never shoot a head shot unless it was mandatory.
I also can’t understand a neck shot.


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