First, let me emphasize that I am not claiming to be an expert. I simply have been wondering about an aspect of hunting recently and wanted to through it out on this board for discussion.
I've watched a ton of hunting DVD's and TV shows over the years. It is my opinion that the majority of animals (from predators to big game) shot on camera do not "drop in their tracks". While I realize that some of the animal's post "hit" movement may be the result of a less than well placed shot or a small caliber weapon that does not hit with enough force, it seems to happen often.
My father raised me to neck shoot all the game I've ever hunted. When I center-punch an animal in the neck it goes straight down like I'd turned the switch off. My dad has killed six big bull elk in his life time and shot all of them in the neck. On every occasion, the elk fell dead door nails in its' tracks. Based on my experience, the neck shot appears to send a tremendous shock wave to the brain and generally breaks the animals neck. The resulting brain and neck damage is typically so severe as to cause instantaneous death. Unlike a heart/lung shot, no amount a adrenaline will overcome a fatal neck shot. How many times have we hunters marveled at an animal with a serious hole in its heart and lungs go running up hill for a hundred yards after getting "tagged" in the "boiler"?
I don't want to sound like some kind of bleeding heart, but I wonder why the focus on shooting game animals through the heart/lungs? Rarely have I seen a heart/lung shot drop an animal in its tracks. 9 times out of ten it makes some sort of "run" before it drops. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be much more effective than a heart/lung archery shot.
I've often wondered if we are doing the sport of hunting a diservice by producing DVD's and TV shows that don't show more "drop-dead" kills? It certainly does not help our cause to have PITA or our non-hunting wives see these animals shot and not go down quickly. When I see a fellow on the Outdoor Channel talk about a "one shot" kill, it typically means he shot the animal once in the heart/lung area and then followed a blood trail to where the deer/elk/moose/etc has expired. My idea of a "one shot" kill means one shot and the animal went straight down dead.
I'm not critcizing anyone and to each hunter his own; however, I've often wondered why we don't employee more neck or even head shots in our hunting? Do we need more practice to have greater confidence in a neck/head shot, or have we simply been conditioned by years of magazine articles and TV shows to always aim for the heart/lungs?
I will be very interested to see how others feel about this.
I've watched a ton of hunting DVD's and TV shows over the years. It is my opinion that the majority of animals (from predators to big game) shot on camera do not "drop in their tracks". While I realize that some of the animal's post "hit" movement may be the result of a less than well placed shot or a small caliber weapon that does not hit with enough force, it seems to happen often.
My father raised me to neck shoot all the game I've ever hunted. When I center-punch an animal in the neck it goes straight down like I'd turned the switch off. My dad has killed six big bull elk in his life time and shot all of them in the neck. On every occasion, the elk fell dead door nails in its' tracks. Based on my experience, the neck shot appears to send a tremendous shock wave to the brain and generally breaks the animals neck. The resulting brain and neck damage is typically so severe as to cause instantaneous death. Unlike a heart/lung shot, no amount a adrenaline will overcome a fatal neck shot. How many times have we hunters marveled at an animal with a serious hole in its heart and lungs go running up hill for a hundred yards after getting "tagged" in the "boiler"?
I don't want to sound like some kind of bleeding heart, but I wonder why the focus on shooting game animals through the heart/lungs? Rarely have I seen a heart/lung shot drop an animal in its tracks. 9 times out of ten it makes some sort of "run" before it drops. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be much more effective than a heart/lung archery shot.
I've often wondered if we are doing the sport of hunting a diservice by producing DVD's and TV shows that don't show more "drop-dead" kills? It certainly does not help our cause to have PITA or our non-hunting wives see these animals shot and not go down quickly. When I see a fellow on the Outdoor Channel talk about a "one shot" kill, it typically means he shot the animal once in the heart/lung area and then followed a blood trail to where the deer/elk/moose/etc has expired. My idea of a "one shot" kill means one shot and the animal went straight down dead.
I'm not critcizing anyone and to each hunter his own; however, I've often wondered why we don't employee more neck or even head shots in our hunting? Do we need more practice to have greater confidence in a neck/head shot, or have we simply been conditioned by years of magazine articles and TV shows to always aim for the heart/lungs?
I will be very interested to see how others feel about this.