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BigMike,
You are getting good advice from the heart/lung guys - especially the lung part.
What's missing is a hunter/rifle/ammo skills assesment. When I hunt big game I sight in on sandbags and usually get groups around 1 MOA with hunting loads. That way I know the mechanical limitations of the rifle and load. Then I shoot from a good support position like resting against a post or prone or a solid kneeling stance. That gives me a good evaluation of my potential from a tree stand or firing at stationary deer with time to rest against a tree. That's usually about 2 MOA under good conditions.
Now I double that to allow for the stress of a hunting situation with the adrenalin flowing and I've got a 4" group at 100 yards and that's with a rifle that groups 1" mechanically!
A deer's heart is a small target, as is it's neck (and bung hole), but they can be hit under optimum conditions. The rest of the time I shoot for a spot vertically centered in the chest cavity and at the rear crease of the shoulder muscle. If I miss 5" forward I bust the shoulder and major arteries. If I hit my spot or up to 5" to the rear I get both lungs. 5" high and I get the lungs and spine, 5" low is the heart/lung. This margin for error works out to 200 yards. After that you gotta know your stuff!
My best shot to date was 285 yards from a prone position with a rifle that shoots 1/2 MOA. The shot hit 4" above my intended point of aim and the deer went 18" straight down.
I've been doing it this way for 25 years and more than 100 deer later I've never lost one (knock on wood). Most fell where they stood, a few ran a short distance and I can count the tracking jobs on one hand (most due to poor bullet performance). Over half these were taken with a .243 using 100 gr factory ammo. The rest were a mix of .270, .308, 7mm mag, 20 ga slug and four with 44 mag in a pistol.
For elk, omit the .243...
Mikey
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