What kills faster??

[longbawl]

double lung for me also.I have shot them double lung they ran 15yds stopped an looked back to see what just stung them. then stumbled a few steps and fell over. Heart shot run like they were on fire until they crash

[Brian Krebs]

I have had heart shot deer run 180 yards; I have also had a heart shot deer run a hundred yards;and start to feed; and one mounted a doe; then fall over dead. I have heart shot elk; that literally stumbled sideways and fell over dead.
 It seems like the heart shot produces adrenaline; and they can cover ground; but I suspect taking the veins off the top of it keeps oxygen from getting to the brain - which drops them like fast.
  lung shot deer I figure will go 60 yards tops.
I have shot for both the heart and the lungs; and I think shooting for the lungs is a better way to go; as a low shot that would take out the lungs; could miss the heart altogether.
 
  Double lung hit; and they do down fast !

[nutmeg]

My experience also mirrors Biggies. My heart shot deer blew out of there like their arses were on fire. I've had lung shot deer bolt also but the heart shot ones appear to be in real panic.
The double lung hit causes both lungs to collapse immediately.(bilateral pneumothorax) Think of two baloons having an arrow through them. No oxygen and the deer suffocates and dies quickly along with massive blood loss.(hemorragic shock) A deer must lose 1/3 of it's blood volume to die.
The lung area on an average deer is 8 to 10 inches in diameter and is a higher percentage shot than deliberately aiming the heart which is akin to trying to hit a tennis ball behind a picket fence when you consider that the heart is protected by ribs.
Finally, a deer running full tilt can cover up to 25 ft. per leap. Only six leaps could put the animal out to 50 yds before piling up. Just my 2c
(nut)

[Terry Green]

In my experience, the double lungs are the way to a much shorter blood trail than a heart shot.

[wingnut]

I've shot a few animals in the heart (only because I shot low) and a bunch through both lungs.  The double lung is by far the best IMHO.  They go down fast and most often do not run.  The heart shot gets the "donkey kick" and then off they go like a scalded cat.

Mike

[jimneye]

I heart shot a doe a couple of years ago,  she went on a death run and died within earshot.  As I tracked her I noticed that she didn't bleed, so I just went in the dirrection of the crash.  Had I not heard her crash I might not have been able to recover her in the thick brush.  My guess is that when the arrow cut her heart, it stopped beating and quit pumping blood resulting in no blood trail. I prefer lungs

[JEFF B]

dbl lung. only way to go sometimes they just stand there and think what the hell was that. and the rest is history.LOL!!!

[TradPaul]

Awesome advice guy's, i was thinking DBL lung only based on what seemed to be common sence, and since wild animals dont go into shock like we think it would make sence to hit them so they cant breathe. Everyone thank you so much for taking the time to mentor this newbie in the hunting field. I was just telling a friend of mine that i felt comfortible with my nerves and my shooting, but i was alittle iffy on the shot placement...now i feel very confident in the success of my first hunt. I'll keep ya'll posted on the results     ..with pic's of course......
   :D  

P.

[JimB]

Add to that,the fact that the heart is a much smaller target and is often shielded by the upper leg bone,especially on broadside animals.The lungs extend back behind the upper leg bone several inches.I'm never mad when I get a heart hit but I'm always aiming for double lung.

[Don Batten]

Paul, shoot em in the lungs. Like the other guys say its a shorter trail. Also one thing i do whick I know is not a new idea by any means. I guess I got this from a Barry Wensel dvd. Shoot bright fletching so you can see where you hit the deer and then decide how long you need to wait to track. I can tell some stories about gun hunters in my neck of the woods that shot a big buck down in the road and went right in to get him and guess what? never found . I know of at least 10 different cases. It's hard to stay calm and wait after the shot, but 30 to 60min will save you some time in the long run. Good hunting. hope you score. Don

[swamp donkey]

I'm new to the Trad Gang here so might as well get my feet wet , the farthest I've had a double lung go was 60 yards , most being from 15 to 30 yards , I've had 1 heart only shot that went well over 100 yards

[swampbuck]

A friend of mine "heart" shot a deer yrs ago and finally put a finishing shot in it 6hrs later...he did indeed hit the heart as he thought but only clipped the lower tip.....sometimes what we think we hit isn't really

By the way a BH thru the tenderloins leaves a mess and the deer don't go far.....not from personal experiance but I have seem the results from others whom accidently hit there...less than 20 yrd recovery

[Jacko]

I have not shot deer but have shot pigs and goats . Generally goats and pigs will cover a fair patch of ground with a double lung shot or a heart shot [ 50 to 100 yards ] . Like you folks say with deer , pigs and goats kick their back legs up and sprint for a bit with a heart muscle shot. Not knowing names of the arteries that come out the top of the heart they tend to pile up faster when the arteries that feed fresh blood are severed which also takes out lungs . Its a differant spot shaped like a issosilies triangle on each beast but when you hit it - a quick trot or a spin around and they are down .

Mind you a mate of mine shot a chital deer behind the shoulder , perfect height - hit it through the back legs , severed the femoral artery . Basically dead on the spot , you cant pick how an individual animal will react - some are just plain determined others give up .

[Ben Maher]

the double lung shot ,to me, is the preferred shot. Never had a double lung shot travel more than 30 yards . 1 heartshot large billy( b'head had taken a lung as well) expired just as quick but at a full tilt run , travelled twice as far. Either shot is great, but double lung is what i shoot for. Ben

[Whump]

Whump Sez; A double lung shot is a short track only if you do not puncture the diaphram. If the animal is quartering to you only slightly and you puncture the dia. that animal can go 200yds. They cannot breath so the lungs fill up with blood much more slowly. If you get a square broad side shot you will get a very short recovery because the animal can expand and contract its lungs which opens and closes the cuts and causes a quick bleed out---not so if you puncture the dia. I have taken more than a few whitetails that I shot through from front to back and they traveled 80 to 200 yds---during the gutting process I have found both lungs punctured and the liver hit with an exit out by the family jewels and the blood trail was also very light. When you locate the animal there will be no blood in the nose at all. So if you think you have a double lung shot and you find little or no blood you have most likely punctured the diaphram so trail slowly and look for a very sparse blood trail. Hunt safe.  

[AdamH]

Either for me, but you oughta see em go down when hit in the Femoral Artery, happened to me once by accident, watched the deer go down in 40 yards !! No I don't recommend tryin it on purpose...

[Tdog]

They seem to go down faster when you take the air out of them. We do need to show respect with this thread. We are talking about a life/ a gift..

[BodarkOkie]

My experience tells me that a deer can run farther w/o blood than they can w/o air.  I've seen a couple of deer shot through the heart and run spooked clear out of the county.  

The double lungers seldom make it out of the pasture.

Just my observations.  Lungs are also a much larger target than
the heart and less protected.  So, why shoot for the heart?????

[Guru]

I've had short, and seemingly longish trails with both dbl lung, and pure heart shots.....to me every hit, on every diff. animal can be have a different out come.

 I will this though.....two of my biggest deer were hit so low that they had a single blade slice along the bottom (I'm talkin' just sliced the very bottom)of their hearts and neither of them made it over 60yds.......here's the biggest....

 


Here's one that hit the near lung and centered the heart.....he also made it about 60yds.....

 


  hit for hit...they all seem to be a little different.....

[Gordon martiniuk]

I have taken many whitetails with a bow Both Heart and double lung shots are short trails but my heart shots have been the shortest 10 to 25 yards double lung about 20 to 40 yards my 2 cents worth