Shot Placement

[wayne1]

Your probably right BRICKBURN. "There no fool like an old fool." Now....where's me walking stick.:doh2:

 

[tiss kocovsky]

First I will state that I have never hunted outside of the U.S. and not hunted anything that made me prey. However, as a trained wildlife biologist, I can tell you that the heart of a 90 pound white tailed deer (odocoileus virginianus) is roughly 5 inches by 7 inches. A shot into the heart will cause an animal to bleed out within 30-45 seconds if left alone. Also, by hitting the heart, you have destroyed the uppermost lobe of both lungs, thus causing apoxia (no air). The combined result is a catostrophic loss of blood, great shock and rapid loss of blood pressure. Add to this the "large" target area, the low amount of usable meat, and the blood trail (tho I'm told the trackers in Africa don't really need the obvious signs we follow in America) and the clear choice of best shot is to take out the heart. But this is just my opinion. I too shall await the pro's opinion.

 

[Mekaniks]

I shot this bear at 40 yards with a .338 and a 185g TSX going 2950fps. It went in the left shoulder, hit the bone on the right shoulder and lost a "pettle" which came out the right side. The rest of the bullet turned south and went the full length of the bear and we found it just under the hide in the right rear quarter. The bear still went 50 yards up hill through heavy brush and trees before it piled up. When I was field dressing it my son asked to see the heart, but I couldn't find it because everything in the body cavity looked the same, Jello. So anyway, the moral of the story to killing dangerous game is to cause as much damage as possible with the first shot. Big calibers and good bullets are a must.

 

[bluey]

love the banana skin affect , of tthem barnes projectiles

 

[Velo Dog]

Wayne1,

If anyone else has said this already, please disregard an old geezer's cane tapping and mumbling over here by the fireplace.

Unlike the North American deer family (Alaska-Yukon moose to Florida Keys deer), with most of (not all) Africa's game animals, dangerous or not so much, when they are broadside or quartering slightly toward you....the shoulder shot IS the heart lung shot.
And the broadside shot through the rib cage is pretty much a gut shot.

Do not go hunting in Africa without reading Kevin "Doctari" Robertson's superb book: "The Perfect Shot" (Safari Press Publishing).
Likewise he has a DVD out of the same title (they might be sold as a package these days, not sure).

"I spent most of my money on Mausers, European optiks and hunting safaris, the rest I just wasted."

Best regards,
Velo Dog.