Thread: A question for the doubters

Although I have no scientific evidence for this, so am unlikely to impress @gimp, (and my apologies if this has already been covered in the screeds of research that I haven't looked at) but I find it hard to believe that the "shock' of a bullet entering an animal does not have a big impact on its immediate incapacitation. You sometimes see on slow motion video a ripple run through the animal when it is hit, as the bullet releases energy into the animal. I liken it to being hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. In this case, because the impact is spread over a large area, no wound channel is created and there is no apparent tissue damage, but the blow will definitely incapacitate. As we have all probably experienced, being "winded" can be totally incapacitating, to the point of not being able to stand or breath. Usually within a few minutes we recover, but in the case of a terminal bullet wound, the animal will not. I don't believe the results of a ballistic gel test would have any way to relate this effect to the shooting of an animal because there is no permanent physical damage caused that can be observed and measured.