Thread: Front on shots at Deer.

@Moa Hunter yup different thing that. there seems to be some leeway possibly depending on calibre and angle that suggests (as you discussed with me) that it is possible to put a shot square in the chest and pretty much everything other than the guts.
It would be akin to shooting it with an arrow. Bullet hasn't hit anything too major to mushroom up and make a bigger hole through everything
Nothing major hit or at least nothing bleeding quickly and no bone damage so they probably die a lot later if not found quickly.
Maybe different with an old school 303, 3006 etc that has enough mass to come out the back and smash a rear leg.
That is only a theory though

All I can say is, it’s amazing how small of a divet or short of shrub can conceal a carcas, and even more amazing how small these animals become when dead and laying flat. That said, front on shots especially shooting free handed leave a small vital zone, bullets can easily slip down between shoulder and rib, armpit and rib, animals can run a mile on adrenaline, especially one that’s pumped up on testosterone when in the rut

This thread has really surprised me, I have never had anything but bang flops from hitting the opening at the clavicle. Like, literally collapse where they stand. Just lucky so far maybe?

Originally Posted by LMcNab

This thread has really surprised me, I have never had anything but bang flops from hitting the opening at the clavicle. Like, literally collapse where they stand. Just lucky so far maybe?

Me too. It’s one of my favourite shots. Poleaxes them, DRT.

I do however believe that it’s got a lot to do with using a soft bullet that mushrooms broadly and sheds some weight. I’m aiming to put the bullet through the aorta as it comes down in between the front of the lungs. A front on hilar shot. Very deadly.

Originally Posted by LMcNab

This thread has really surprised me, I have never had anything but bang flops from hitting the opening at the clavicle. Like, literally collapse where they stand. Just lucky so far maybe?

I think it is more a case of being unlucky if it does happen. It’s an anomaly. Definitely not the usual outcome. As I think I said initially, I have shot plenty of animals front on but only ever had one run off not to be found.

Originally Posted by Shearer

I think it is more a case of being unlucky if it does happen. It’s an anomaly. Definitely not the usual outcome. As I think I said initially, I have shot plenty of animals front on but only ever had one run off not to be found.

Yup, happens to all of us. Because we haven’t found the deer, we’ve got no idea what went wrong. Because we understandably feel bad it leads to a great deal of speculation.

I don’t buy the argument that there’s a gap between the lungs down the middle of the deer that allows for a bullet to pass through doing minimal damage. If you are truly front on, and hit centre but a little bit high, you are still highly likely to massively damage the windpipe, main arteries and the major nerves running down from the brain. The peripheral shock damage will tear up the soft tissue of the lungs on the way through. The bullet will pass over the top of the hilar and the heart and into the liver behind the diaphragm. It might run a ways but the deer will die of blood loss in relatively short order, but as we know they can still make a surprising amount of ground.

Those that have lost deer and then come back later with the dog and then found that the deer was right there - like me not long ago - learn the hard way that deer can be bloody difficult to find in long grass and scrub once they fall over.

What I have seen firsthand (and proven with the skinning knife) is a deer shot front on at extremely close range and being struck a glancing blow. In the excitement old mate pulled the bullet to one side - too easy for it to glance off the outer side of the scapula or the humerus and exit the back of the shoulder without doing any internal damage. On that particular occasion the zoom was too high and the parallax set to 200yd or so, so the deer looked very blurry and in the haste of the moment that parallax error is potentially a miss or a wounded animal.

I remember one time in W.A. I was after a problem fox that had been causing havoc in the backyard. I only ever saw it at distance so when I went out one night looking for him I was set up to shoot him at 200+. Of course the bastard walked out of the scrub right in front of me, no more than 10m, and stopped to stare at me long enough for me to chamber around and shoot at him. All I could see in the scope was a red blur. I missed. Very cross.