Wounded Deer

Labman said:
Man that's a shame! Did you get your deer in the end? Sometimes it cand take quite a while for a deer to fall, even with a lung shot. That's why IMO neck/head shots are the best way to go...the deer usually goes down in a hurry.
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Headshots are pretty risky.

If you miss and blow the jaw off the animals starving to death.

But theres no denying the fact they go down quick.
 
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If you miss and blow the jaw off the animals starving to death.
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And will likely not know it - you'll just think 'oh i missed' and then the animal dies horribly and the meat is wasted while you're off doing dental work on the next one.

Once in a while it's a worth while shot to make - but it's not worth it just to save yourself a 30 yard walk in most cases.
 
I took a newbie hunting this past season, and she took her first mulie. Not a clean kill, the animal was running and she hit it in the hind 1/4. It went for about a kilometer. Notwithstanding her buck fever, I was very proud of this 40-ish woman, who tracked it the entire way so as to not lose her kill, despite her being thoroughly exhausted by the time she dispatched the downed deer.
Two valuable lessons learned in one day.
 
droid1963 said:
I took a newbie hunting this past season, and she took her first mulie. Not a clean kill, the animal was running and she hit it in the hind 1/4. It went for about a kilometer. Notwithstanding her buck fever, I was very proud of this 40-ish woman, who tracked it the entire way so as to not lose her kill, despite her being thoroughly exhausted by the time she dispatched the downed deer.
Two valuable lessons learned in one day.
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Not ideal at all eh?

Was it a texas heart shot or a 90` to the quarters?

What caliber was it? (just interested!)
 
Northman999 said:
I've also seen a moose hit "perfectly" in the boiler trot/stagger 30 yards to the edge of a fast moving and silty river and fall in and never be seen again. Personally, I don't take a boiler shot unless I can also break a front shoulder either going in or going out. I just know too many experienced guys who have had one or more animals get away when they were sure the animal would go down at any second.
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Amen to that.I won't pretend that's the only shot I'll take,but I prefer a 1/4ing away shot on moose to hit the far shoulder if possible.If you knock a moose off his feet,he usually won't get back up,but they can go a long way on a broadside passthrough.As mentioned in a previous post,that can make the difference between an easy retreival or a long day/night of lugging.
 
the_big_mike said:
Headshots are pretty risky.

If you miss and blow the jaw off the animals starving to death.

But theres no denying the fact they go down quick.
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If a person is against high risk to wound shots then lets target all high risk to wound shots and not single out one.
The amount of animals gut shot while on the run far surpasses the animals wounded by a head/neck shot gone south. Of all the animals I have found which had been wounded and crawled off to die none suffered from gun shot wounds to the head or neck all were gut shot. If I were a betting man I would bet they too had a less than banner few days.
How about the hunter who sees an animal at a distance which far exceeds his/her ability. They guesstimate the hold over and aim for center mass hoping for a hit leave alone a well placed humane killing shot.
 
If a person is against high risk to wound shots then lets target all high risk to wound shots and not single out one.
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Fair enough - all high risk shots should be avoided wherever possible. People should know based on their skills what 'high risk' is for them.
 
the_big_mike said:
Headshots are pretty risky.

If you miss and blow the jaw off the animals starving to death.

But theres no denying the fact they go down quick.
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Yah it's like pie plate vs golf ball sized target.
I doubt many hunters take the time at the range to practice such shots.
 
I'd say of all my lung shot deer the furthest one has gone would be 100 yards,straight down a bloody hill that I had to drag him back up.One doe I shot years ago droped in her tracks and still had the fern in her mouth she was eating.The buck I shot this year at 40 yards with a stout loaded 325wsm 180grn balistic tip went 25 yards before fallin over and his lungs looked like they went through a blender.I've had quick kills with the 7.62x39 also but my favorate is the 308win with the 165grn nosler partition ,makes a nice exit wound so if he dosen't drop you can follow the blood trail easily.
 
Calum said:
Yah it's like pie plate vs golf ball sized target.
I doubt many hunters take the time at the range to practice such shots.
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I will go further and say it would be interesting to see how many hunters practice through out the year, how many pound out a few rounds prior to the season to make sure their are still zeroed in and how many don't fire a shot prior to the hunting season taking for granted their firearm is still sighted in from the year before.
The best case scenario is the animal never hears the shot that kills it.
 
Calum said:
Yah it's like pie plate vs golf ball sized target.
I doubt many hunters take the time at the range to practice such shots.
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walksalot said:
I will go further and say it would be interesting to see how many hunters practice through out the year, how many pound out a few rounds prior to the season to make sure their are still zeroed in and how many don't fire a shot prior to the hunting season taking for granted their firearm is still sighted in from the year before.
The best case scenario is the animal never hears the shot that kills it.
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Two great, and incredibly easy practices are:

Pie plate (ten inch circle target) at 100yds. Offhand shot, starting at a carry position. Give yourself three seconds to get the shot off. You'll start off terrible, but if you do this consistently, you eventually become 100 percent. I have a CZ 17 HMR, I use this rifle for this practice because it is cheap. And I can't see were I am hitting, so I don;t become frustrated. I can regularily go 10 for 10 if I keep practicing (eventually it becomes a muscle memory).

The second one is a 10 inch circle at 200yds, and you can use your field position, or shooting sticks, no bi-pods, you'll never do it in the 6 seconds you are going to give yourself.
Start from standing and then give yourself 6 seconds to get a round into the plate. I don't know too many people who walk around with bi-pods fully deployed.
Again you'll eventually get 10 for 10 consistantly if you do your part.

I highly recommend a 17 HMR or a 22 hornet type of rifle, as this will make the practice cheap for the long run.


And as for the real topic, I've seen them go as far as 100yds or so with jelly soup for a ticker and wind bags. In Alberta if you shoot the animal on land you have permission on, and it crossed into posted, or private land, you have the right to enter the property and claim the animal WITHOUT your firearm. Personally, I'd talk to the landowner, and then a CO if I had to, just to keep the paperwork down.
 
Some can make it quite a ways with nothing left for lungs. When you think about it, how much ground can a deer cover in a few seconds at say, 30 mph? (Hint,44 feet per second) If they retain enough lungs for even labored breathing they can go farther.
African antelope and buffalo have a two chambered lung. The ground that they can cover with a good hit can be amazing.
 
I work part time for an elk,white -tail,fallow deer game farm . seen lots of deer n elk go 100yrds -300 yds with both lungs and heart shot to hell with a large variety of calibres incuding lots of big magnums .trailed a gut shot buck just under 5 miles after it was left to bed for 1 hr . the blood trail it left even a novice could follow .
I've seen a doe shot through both front legs with both legs broken and the brisket creased go 100yds. adenaline what a beautiful thing.
 
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