Generally, the best place to shoot a deer is in the chest. Depending on
conditions, it may be difficult to target specific parts of the chest. If the animal is moving, or
very far away, or if the wind is blowing, or you are breathing heavily, you
may just have to "point" the rifle at the center of the animal's chest, and
fire. If you have time to set up a good shot, there are some areas of the
chest that are better than others to protect as much meat as possible.
Assuming a broadside shot, if you want to hit the deer in the heart, line the vertical crosshair over the front
leg (or maybe an inch or two behind it), and line the horizontal crosshair about
1/3 the way up the body. When bow hunting, always aim for the heart if you can.
The main goal is that your deer drop as soon as possible. At left, the arrow
just barely hit the tip of the heart, opening a gash in a ventricle. A better
shot would have been 2" forward and 2" higher.
I try
to avoid firing the bullet through the front leg. If the bone or shoulder blade
is shattered, you'll wreck the shoulder roast, and generally reduce the scrap
that can be used to grind into burger. With a doe or a small buck, you can shoot
it in the neck without ruining a lot of meat. Try to keep it very low, close to
the chest. If you shoot a large buck in the middle of the neck, you'll loose a
lot of meat for grinding. In general, low and forward in the chest is my goal
for protecting as much meat as possible. The base of the neck is also
very good. This ruins very little meat,
and often times drops the animal in it's tracks. The hydraulic pressure
wave induced in the jugular vein or carotid artery, renders the animal
unconscious, yet it lives long enough to
bleed out properly. Try not to shoot the deer in the head. It may die instantly, and
will not bleed out as it should. A deer that has thoroughly bled out will
taste better. That's what they do in slaughter houses. If you shoot your
animal in the guts, you'll create quite a mess. You likely won't ruin all the meat,
but it's going to be a serious drag field dressing it. This is especially true
if you hit the stomach sack. With great care, you can cleanly gut your deer.
Use plenty of clean water to wash out the carcass. Don't age a gut-shot deer. You do not want to give the bacteria a chance to grow and
spread. Even with this perfect shot, the deer still ran 125 yards. Needless to
say, it bled out very well.
Cuts Affected
Hold the cursor over different areas of the image to see what cut of meat is
affected.
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running Internet Explorer.
May not work properly for other configurations.
(PLEASE WAIT FOR THE IMAGE TO FULLY LOAD.)
Generally, the best place to shoot a deer is in the chest. Depending on
conditions, it may be difficult to target specific parts of the chest. If the animal is moving, or
very far away, or if the wind is blowing, or you are breathing heavily, you
may just have to "point" the rifle at the center of the animal's chest, and
fire. If you have time to set up a good shot, there are some areas of the
chest that are better than others to protect as much meat as possible.
Assuming a broadside shot, if you want to hit the deer in the heart, line the vertical crosshair over the front
leg (or maybe an inch or two behind it), and line the horizontal crosshair about
1/3 the way up the body. When bow hunting, always aim for the heart if you can.
The main goal is that your deer drop as soon as possible. At left, the arrow
just barely hit the tip of the heart, opening a gash in a ventricle. A better
shot would have been 2" forward and 2" higher. 
I try
to avoid firing the bullet through the front leg. If the bone or shoulder blade
is shattered, you'll wreck the shoulder roast, and generally reduce the scrap
that can be used to grind into burger. With a doe or a small buck, you can shoot
it in the neck without ruining a lot of meat. Try to keep it very low, close to
the chest. If you shoot a large buck in the middle of the neck, you'll loose a
lot of meat for grinding. In general, low and forward in the chest is my goal
for protecting as much meat as possible. The base of the neck is also
very good. This ruins very little meat,
and often times drops the animal in it's tracks. The hydraulic pressure
wave induced in the jugular vein or carotid artery, renders the animal
unconscious, yet it lives long enough to
bleed out properly. Try not to shoot the deer in the head. It may die instantly, and
will not bleed out as it should. A deer that has thoroughly bled out will
taste better. That's what they do in slaughter houses. If you shoot your
animal in the guts, you'll create quite a mess. You likely won't ruin all the meat,
but it's going to be a serious drag field dressing it. This is especially true
if you hit the stomach sack. With great care, you can cleanly gut your deer.
Use plenty of clean water to wash out the carcass. Don't age a gut-shot deer. You do not want to give the bacteria a chance to grow and
spread. Even with this perfect shot, the deer still ran 125 yards. Needless to
say, it bled out very well.