Where do you aim?

[paceman]

For me if the deer is pretty close, under 100 yards, I will shoot them in the neck, any urther and I go for the vitals.

[TRZ II]

I like to hit the front shoulder so I don't have to butcher it. Not much good meat in front shoulder and it is the biggest target. Better to worry about "lost meat" after the deer is dead. To avoid a boiler room shot to save meat seems foolish

[highlife4me]

I shoot for the boiler room myself but one of my hunting buddies usually ends up shooting them in the foot! I do not enjoy tracking a wounded deer but we always seem to have some good stories to tell about them.

[MrCrappie]

Heart if I can or else lungs.

[Wanderer]

I like to hit the front shoulder so I don't have to butcher it. Not much good meat in front shoulder and it is the biggest target. Better to worry about "lost meat" after the deer is dead. To avoid a boiler room shot to save meat seems foolish

The best way to butcher a shoulder is to lop it off at the knee after separating it from the body, then toss the whole dang thing into a crock pot with stew stuff. When it's done you can about shake the meat off the blade and toss it out. It's good. And easy.

I'll stand on the side of the line with the guys who take neck shots when they can. It's not irresponsible if know what you're doing. Some people just shoot better than others. What's irresponsible is taking shots you want to make but don't know if you really can, just because you can.

I will add that I'll only do this with a scoped rifle. My shotgun isn't accurate enough for me try to pull it off even if it is an SBE. What I'd really like to try is the A-bolt slug gun. That could be sweet.

[RK]

Hiya -

Personally, if I can't get a clean shot at the vitals, I'll pass the shot up. I don't like neck shots (have trailed neck shot deer a LONG ways a couple times) and really dislike head shots. I'm 100% confident in a behind the shoulder shot, because it gives you by far the widest margin for error. A less than perfect shot will still put them down.

Re: heart shots...amazing how fast they can run with their lights out. They do some weird stuff sometimes. First really nice buck I ever shot, I had one lane to shoot, 80 yards away...pulled the trigger, and he took off like a scalded dog up a steep hill. Not knowing any better, I assumed I'd missed, and was wondering how as I watched him bound away. Then, just at the top of the hill where he'd have gone out of sight, while in mid-leap he hit dead center on a massive oak tree, and landed in a heap. Another ran 100 yards out into an alfalfa field, stopped, looked straight up in the air, reared up on his hind legs, and fell over dead. He landed on his back with his legs in the air like a dead horse.

I've had deer run way farther with heart shots than double-lung.