Thread: Kill zone %

Originally Posted by Pengy

I dont think I worded the original question very well.
What I meant is, if the head measures overall say, 350 mm x 160mm, what % of that area would you regard as kill zone . Same for Hilar.
I hear what you are saying Spook, and I agree 100% that there is no such thing as a guarenteed clean kill. This is pure wet Sunday curiosity.

@Toby. Now to be known as the "Nanny Chasing Texas Heart Shot Kid"

Just amended that title for you Pengy

More accurate description

Cheers
Pete

"kill shot" is an interesting term.
to have instantaneous loss of consciousness one would need to destroy the brain.
instantly disabling, would need to be a CNS (central nervous system) shot, spinal cord and brain.
rapidly fatal, heart/lung and all of the above.
fatal, liver, arterial bleed, etc. it could be a shot hitting the jaw causing death from starvation/dehydration, intestinal damage, broken leg or wounds causing infection and then death.
so i suppose it would depend on what you regard as a suitable/ethical kill?
greg

Which is why I used the term Clean Kill in my op.
I would trust that the vast majority of hunters would hope to acheive a clean kill, regardless.

Originally Posted by Wirehunt

Over 50% of the animal is kill zone. You can get all flowery with zones etc, but it's not that often the pretty shot presents itself. So you kill the fucker with a variation and get the bullet into where it matters..

Certainly a shot into more than 50% of the deer's body will cause it to die, eventually, I think Pengy was after 'drop kill' shots. I think it depends on one's tracking skills as to whether a shot is taken...if you are fucken useless at tracking, then make sure animal is standing still and give it one in the head, neck or heart...if you are good at tracking, then give it one or more whether it is standing still or running...as they say "when there is lead in the air, there is hope"...its more about what a badly placed shot will do, than a well placed one...that's why I advocate calibre and the charge behind it...nothing worse for time wasting than searching for an animal your mate took a crack at, on the run, with a fuchen .22 of any description..."I think I got it"

I believe that when a deer takes a body "hit" it has the ability to shut off the blood that is in the brain at this very point and that is why they can run for considerable distances with a heart shot. I have personally shot a sika stag face on in the chest, it turned downhill and went for greater than 100 metres. When gutted, its heart had been completely blown off at the pipes and was lying in the bottom of the heart/lung cavity. I have seen a broken legged hind mercy killed on a deer farm with a heart shot that still allowed it to run greater than 200 metres.

a heart shot wont necessarily give you a drop kill, imho, a red deer is a soft animal, if you use the likes of a .308 or bigger, they tend to fold up and drop on the spot or within a few steps when hit with a heart shot. but the same shot with say a .243 giving less "shock" may have the same animal run some way before "piling up"
so i suppose that would add the complexity of what caliber vs body% is a kill zone?
i know of a lot of people who were happy to hit the "big bit" when killing animals, i would be happy to hit the cns where possible and heart/lung if i dont have any other choice.
so, percentage? broad side facing or head side on? i dont like the angles of a side on head shot....... facing hmmmmm 20% ???? so, side of head say 18%.
greg

Which is why I hate heart shots with a passion, take out the lungs, this slightly higher shot will often shock the spine and drop them on the spot while the heart pumps all their blood out threw the lungs.

yep, high shoulder is a winner. a little high hits the spine. a little low is the top of the heart and lungs. a little back is lungs a little forward is spine and artery's to the head. but blowing out the shoulder blades drops them no matter what.
greg

Apart from total misses I have had two experiences with head shots..one, was trying to end the life of a yearling I had shot the front leg off the day before with my STW. Found it running around in the creek bed, it stopped to look at me, so thinking on saving some meat I give it a head shot with the .375 winny...right between the eyes...failed, bullet went in low and blew the complete face off below the eyes...it stood there long enough throwing its head around to give me time to lever another round in and give it one in the motor room from head on.
The second was taking a head shot at a sika that was arse on with its head around its side watching me and doing the ventriloquist act with its sounds...missed the head, shot up its arse, through the intestines and the 7mm exploded and blew 50 holes through the sides contaminated with gut content...the piss off was I carried it for bloody miles to the hut only to find I may as well of only taken the back legs.
When I had my dog it didn't matter where I placed the shot...now-a-days I shoot into the motor and rely on my tracking skills.

Have you read this wee article, I have posted it before somewhere

More or less this guy needed a bang flop shot, it is more about bullet selection than anything

Interesting and worth a read

Page 1 of Bill's 1999 article, "The Ultimate Deer Hunting Cartridge"

Interesting when you look at the heaviest deer he's shot. We have plenty of hinds here well bigger than that.

Yea but you can get the idea of what he is on about - "you need more violent bullet performance"

I don't know much about bullets or shooting , but you see lots of people recommending Targex and Amax's etc

Bang- flop , that's what everyone is after isn't it?

That's why I use BT's.

Originally Posted by moonhunt

Yea but you can get the idea of what he is on about - "you need more violent bullet performance"

I don't know much about bullets or shooting , but you see lots of people recommending Targex and Amax's etc

Bang- flop , that's what everyone is after isn't it?

Bang-flop is about placement of shot

pengy -toby could also be noted as"Arse end Arnold".
must admit though i once did the same to a rabbit in mid hop.confused at first where i hit him till we opened him up.spine obliterated and boiler room looked like badly made undercooked raspberry jam!