The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Aimpoint for vitals on whitetails

MeekAndMild · November 18, 2004, 07:16 PM

I like to avoid the shoulders if at all possible, as I normally grind up the shoulder meat to hamburger and dislike the wastage that a shoulder hits make.

For face on angle shots I will aim for the hollow of the neck, what would be the collar bone triangle if deers had collar bones, trying to figure the angle so it misses the shoulder and exits so as to not get into the guts. High up, just beneath the spine there are a lot of very delicate blood vessels, then in the middle are the lung roots and at the bottom, the heart.

(My deer this year was a really big doe, biggest fattest one I've ever seen, hit in this hollow with a 240 grain .44 sabotted in a .50 cal rifle, which basically drilled the center of her left lung and exited just behind the ribs. She ran, or rather flopped, about 30 feet and you wouldn't believe the blood trail. It looked like somebody had splashed red paint with a big brush. Basically a lung hit with a big bullet cleans out the carcass so the meat stays clean.)

Rear quarter shots I try to avoid, as there isn't a specific aim point except as Roman says, the off front leg. In that case I'd aim in front of that marker so as to try to drill the center of the lungs. Only rear quarter shot I ever made was a few years ago. I flinched and it went a few inches low and severed the heart from its blood vessels.

Side shots I try to hit just behind the shoulder except when I'm using a .243. Then I try for the base of the neck, just in front of the shoulder, centered from top to bottom. The .243 doesn't tear up as much meat, but even so if you hit the shoulder there will be a few inches that will be too bruised to save. Roman is right about having an adequate bullet. I'm of the big-bullet-going-slow philosophy despite my love for the .243.

November 18, 2004, 07:16 PM	#3
MeekAndMild Senior Member Join Date: August 2, 2001 Posts: 4,988	I like to avoid the shoulders if at all possible, as I normally grind up the shoulder meat to hamburger and dislike the wastage that a shoulder hits make. For face on angle shots I will aim for the hollow of the neck, what would be the collar bone triangle if deers had collar bones, trying to figure the angle so it misses the shoulder and exits so as to not get into the guts. High up, just beneath the spine there are a lot of very delicate blood vessels, then in the middle are the lung roots and at the bottom, the heart. (My deer this year was a really big doe, biggest fattest one I've ever seen, hit in this hollow with a 240 grain .44 sabotted in a .50 cal rifle, which basically drilled the center of her left lung and exited just behind the ribs. She ran, or rather flopped, about 30 feet and you wouldn't believe the blood trail. It looked like somebody had splashed red paint with a big brush. Basically a lung hit with a big bullet cleans out the carcass so the meat stays clean.) Rear quarter shots I try to avoid, as there isn't a specific aim point except as Roman says, the off front leg. In that case I'd aim in front of that marker so as to try to drill the center of the lungs. Only rear quarter shot I ever made was a few years ago. I flinched and it went a few inches low and severed the heart from its blood vessels. Side shots I try to hit just behind the shoulder except when I'm using a .243. Then I try for the base of the neck, just in front of the shoulder, centered from top to bottom. The .243 doesn't tear up as much meat, but even so if you hit the shoulder there will be a few inches that will be too bruised to save. Roman is right about having an adequate bullet. I'm of the big-bullet-going-slow philosophy despite my love for the .243. __________________ In a few years when the dust finally clears and people start counting their change there is a pretty good chance that President Obama may become known as The Great Absquatulator. You heard it first here on TFL.