leathal expectations

joes

OK so here goes. I was just in Texas for a pig and aoudad hunt and was lucky and shot an aoudad that weighed about 125 lbs. With a perfect shoulder shot from a .243 nolser ballistic tip the aoudad ran about 20 yards. Which got me thinking about the deer season this year. I shot two deer which both ran, one about 30 yards and one about 40 yards with a .308 interbond. What is a reasonable expectation of an avg. big game animal to travel after a leathal shot. Should we expect a instant drop? Let's hear it. Thanks, Joe.

shooter93

There are just too many variables involved to really say. A solid brain or spinal shot will drop them instantly but aside from that.....it's anyone's guess.

perry shooter

Many animals can run rather lond distance even after shot in a fatal spot To say a hand held rifle will instancely knock down even a deer size animal down every time is a myth. You can prove this with no more then a chicken When I was a kid we raised our own chickens for food and eggs You are given a wakeup call the first time you chop ones head off and it runs around for over a minute with a "fatal" wound. Just my $.02

shootlow

neck shoot them with a 7mm Rem Mag and they drop [:D]

Highball

I kept records when I was hunting.

Using the .243, I had a string of 1 shot deer kills..25 of them...every one neck shots. None took more then a step or two...and generally dropped to the shot.
That became my preferred shot, by the way...That rifle...a Ruger 77, serial number 25**...was sent bact to Ruger and reconditioned, then retired. I haven't fired it in 20 years.

A heart shot animal can run...and generally does..anywhere from 20 to 150 yards. Never had a heart shot go down easy. The lung shot is much the same...long death runs and a trailing job.

Fact is...with a heart shot , often there will be NO INDICATION of a hit..save for the instant break into a dead run..often leaving a splendid animal to rot as the novice figures that he 'missed'... I have found such animals and trailed them back to the spot of the shot..found a 7 point buck(Western) up on a mountain-side by Angel Fire that had run almost 200 yards from the shot...and the bullet was a heart shot.

A .22 in the brain will do about the same job as the 7 Mag...

Ain't the caliber...it is the shooter that determines the outcome of the shot...as long as you aren't using FMJ bullets...

Mr. Gunz

No, not all the time...sometimes the animals are dead and just dont know it yet

A J Christ

I guess I've used my Remington 788 in 308 on deer more than any other rifle. I can say I've never lost one and the furthest they ever gone is 100 yards, that was a snap shot in the last few minutes of deer season on a running doe. Heart shots, they'll flinch, go 10 to 30 yards and drop. A neck or spine shot drops them in place. I've used a 5.56 on them and it works but you have to be a little more careful of bullet placement, again a neck or spine shot and they drop on the spot. A heart shot and they go a few paces and drop.
A good hit with anything, a .22 rim fire included, will do it. A bad shot with even a 300 WinMag and you might loose it. Saw a buddy shoot a doe 3 times with a 30-30, chunks of meat on the ground, we tracked her for 2 miles and still lost it.
Guy named Bell killed a whole lot of elephants in Africa with a 7 X 57 Mauser so I guess you could say anything is lethal if you hit it right.

victorlvlb

I agree with Highball.
A good neck shot on anything up to the size of an elk.If its possible to hit the animals heart and break an upper leg, then the animal almost has to fall.Most head hunters will probably take the heart shot.

laogai

i've hunted 35 years, less than some who've replied, and generally agree with all the above. only add 2 thoughts:
1. the suggested neck shot will indeed drop anything quickly, IF placed right on spot. but it leaves less margin for error--if you are off by a few inches, it can become a non-lethal or a very long trailing job. i only neck shoot deer that are facing me, for that reason. centering the shoulder gives a much greater margin for error while still remaining lethal: heart, lungs, liver, spine, neck. and a north american game animal with a broken front shoulder may run, but not far at all, if deer 20-30 yards usually max.
2. is it really paramount to drop them on the spot? is the foliage/terrain so difficult that a 20-30 yard trail will be difficult? sometimes, like jungle-dense underbrush or a mountain cliff, but rarely. In those rare cases, break the neck; otherwise, center the shoulder as noted in the previous paragraph. my .02