[sgt_zim]

There's a good section at africahunting.com on bullet placement for all sorts of game species - African, European, and North American.

On almost all game species, the heart is located in the same place in their bodies as it is in ours - just "behind" the sternum (just above the sternum for them since their bodies are horizontal and ours are vertical). IOW, very low in the chest. For white tails and hogs, that'll be right at their "elbow."

May not be news for some of you guys, but it will be for others.

 

[M700]

That is a good section on Africa Hunting.

Thanks for posting this. To take game, shot placement is so much more important than anything else.

Guy

 

[EdinCT]

When I started my children twenty years ago I bought Craig Bodington's The perfect Shot North American game edition which showed where vitals where in North American big game from all angles. I didn't agree with all of the pictures but it was a good resource.

 

[Cowboy23*]

Yes---agree that shot placement is key especially with smaller calibers.

 

[sgt_zim]

Yes---agree that shot placement is key especially with smaller calibers.

From my perspective, everything smaller than my 9.3x62 is a "smaller caliber."

 

[Sambane]

Yup ~ shot placement ~ key to it all.
Just prepare to allow yourself to do so properly!
Fitness, proper equipment and know everything about your quarry i.e. habitat, biology, habits etc.
Perfect post!
:elefant:

 

[truckjohn]

Game is not hard to kill. No game we have in North America will resist the common calibers and hunting ammo available.... But as a hunter you have to have some idea of where you are trying to hit.....

Target accuracy is one of the ironic things among a lot of deer hunters.... They slay deer/hogs... Lay them down dead on the ground... but on target - they can barely hit a coffee can at 50 yards.... How can this be? They know HOW to place their shot... Likewise target shooters can suffer the opposite problem.... They can stack up holes right next to eachother - but have serious trouble bringing down or recovering game. Why? They don’t aim at the right place........

It has amazed me - both my own misses and those poor shots I have witnessed from others - how we somehow managed to over shoot or under shoot - not by an inch or two.... But by well over a FOOT at ranges mostly under 30 yards.. How can I hit coke cans at double the range all day long - yet I completely miss a deer with a vital zone about 3x as large as the coke can.. No hit!!! That means over a foot off.... And it’s not the gun at fault...

 

[VinceA]

That pig pic doesn't look right. Their lungs are further forward than a deer. If you shoot one more than a inch of so back from the shoulder, gut shot. Other than that, great looking sight. Thanks.
V

 

[sgt_zim]

That pig pic doesn't look right. Their lungs are further forward than a deer. If you shoot one more than a inch of so back from the shoulder, gut shot. Other than that, great looking sight. Thanks.
V

Not an issue for me and pigs anyway. I rarely shoot at the boiler room.

Most mammals (all the ones I can think of, actually), the lungs stretch from clavicles down/back to the 7th or 8th rib, give or take a little.