With the start of each hunting season, several topics always seem to come up: how mature is a buck before you shoot it? How do you make venison? What caliber is the best hunting rifle for this year? Is shoulder mounting better than Euro mounting? Whatever decision hunters make, the combination of cold beer and fire seems to fuel endless hot takes that end in conviction.

A single question in hunting raises an especially wide range of opinions: where is the best shot placement for a quick humane kill? Several answers carry a strong argument, but people usually stick with what has worked in the past.

Heart Shot

In today’s hunting world, the heart shot has become the most popular option for shooting deer, as it is a small, yet potentially fatal target. The beauty of the heart is its position within the vital organs, where it provides support to the body.

If you take a heart shot, you should aim right behind the front shoulder, but just slightly below the shoulder line. You can also damage the lungs with a well-placed shot if an artery is hit.

A successful heart shot depends on the angle where the deer is standing and where you are ready to shoot. Ideally, it should be standing broadside, but it is possible to hit it while it is quartering.

Lung Shot

If you use the right caliber for the job, you can easily kill deer with the lungs. And as long as you are using a rifle that is meant for deer hunting, they are wildly effective, killing deer with ease.

Depending on how much blood they are losing, they can run anywhere from 30 yards to 200 yards after the shot is fired. It is best to stay put after the shot to allow them to expire, but even then they could run. A decent tracker, however, won’t have any problem finding a blood trail, and that well-placed shot will surely cause them to drop.

High Shoulder

An arrow will not penetrate enough with the high shoulder shot, bowhunters should stick with the first two options. The high shoulder shot is exclusive to firearms because an arrow won’t penetrate enough.

Properly placed, you would still strike the lungs and a few of the same vessels as with the lung shot, but you would also likely hit the scapula and possibly the spinal cord, preventing the deer from moving anyway.

The shoulder shot does damage the venison game meat, but if you are confident in your ability to hit the shot and don’t want the wounded animal to go anywhere, it’s an option.

Neck Shot

When you shoot a neck shot, you are shooting to either sever the spinal cord or any of the major arteries or jugular through the neck. If you shoot anything, you will most likely kill the animal. Most won’t even move, so you don’t have to worry about blood trailing. In addition, if you intend to take this shot with a bow, we recommend a lot of practice at the shooting range. Please also note that this shot is not recommended for bow hunters.

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