Is this an ethical shot?

[I. R. Lost]

Popsgun,
I have shot and eaten many whitetail and mule deer both bucks and does from corn fields to high mountains. The first thing about getting good meat is the animal hasn't been excited prior to the shot then cool it as quick as possible. Make a clean shot then gut and skin it as soon as possible, throat cutting just slows down the process and don't cut the leg glands like the old books may say. That just dirtys the knife and can transfer the scent to the meat. I agree that a head can move very quickly and turn a careful shot into a busted jaw, had that happen to me. I have refined my shots to trying to hit the heart no matter the angle or range. They do generally run a short distance then fall dead but rarely out of sight. Leave the sprinting over to it out of the hunt you may trip and brake a hip! Hitting high will ruin some of the best meat but you don't get meat unless you get the animal so that's your call. And do get that wind pipe out right away!

 

[NWTF Lobo]

What I like about a .62 caliber is it makes a big hole which leaves more blood for tracking (if you have to track) Black powder guns don't have the velocity of high powered modern rifles, the balls push their way through without the bloodshot damage of a modern bullet.

This is a Bison that was shot twice with a .62 round ball. I was carrying two guns which enabled me to get off the two shots.

The balls went completely through breaking rib bones but didn't damage any eatable meat.

 

[Muley Hunter]

All my life i've only taken double lung shots. A hole in both lungs is dead game no matter what it is. I've used .50 and.54 PRB's. Some would drop fast and some would run, but they all died and weren't hard to track.

  With your .62 and it being such a close shot the ball will expand good and could still go all the way through. You say you have uphill ground behind the deer when you shoot it. An expanded .62 ball is a big hole and could very well knock the deer down on the spot. The hill will stop the ball if it goes through. If it runs it won't be far.

   Personally, i'd take the safe shot and take a double lung shot. Maybe just a big low to catch some of the heart, but don't get too carried away with shooting it low. The lung shot will kill it.

 Good luck.

 

[Buck Conner1]

Pete is correct, when we hunt 1,600 - 2,000 lb. buffalo you always try to take advantage of each hunt, location of the animal, the sun, background to be sure if missed your not going to hit anyone or anything else, stalk as close as possible. Know your animal's anatomy from every angle, watch what he does if he hears something, does he smell the wind, how does he handle himself, etc.

Of a dozen animals I put down for myself and half that many for others that couldn't get the job done most were lung shots at 50 - 75 yards and yes a .62 caliber ball with 90 grains of 2FF will go through your animal and bounce across the prairie behind him. I have shot several behind the ear when not going down after a lung shot (if you get your animal spooked with a bad shot then there's a good chance a lung shot may not do the job).

This may sound like over kill until you get in a bad situation then you'll be glad you took these steps before hand in completing the job in a timely manner..

 

[NWTF Lobo]

This is a deer heart that was hit with a ball from a .62 rifle, very short tracking job

 

[patocazador]

This is a deer heart that was hit with a ball from a .62 rifle, very short tracking job

NWTF Lobo, none of your photos show up on my computer.

 

[stude283]

Noor mine.

 

[NWTF Lobo]

My last two pictures show in the body of your reply on my computer. How about previous pictures that I posted?

 

[exMember]

I've noticed this issue lately! if I edit the post simply by hitting edit and then hit save, the pictures show up fine? Im not sure whats causing this but I am looking into it.

 

[NWTF Lobo]

Do you See this deer heart?

 

[exMember]

Nope, only when I edit the post, let the pic load and his save, does the picture show up. This will be a server issue, it should not be at your end.

 

[NWTF Lobo]

I hope the problem get's fixed, as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words"