tky1187

I was just curious, I've yet to shoot a deer with my flintlock and I was wondering if you shoot a deer in the front shoulder or even looking straight at you in the chest with a .490 round ballwill it drop on the spot?

cayugad

you can never tell what a deer will do when shot. I shot some in whatI thought not so great places and had then drop and others I drilled then in places I figured was a sure "plant you here hit" only to have then run off. If you really want to stop them right now, in almost for complete certainty has to be a shot that breaks or interrupts the spine of the animal. Solid spine hits in the back or neck seem to plant there 99% of the time. The problem is they are not the most easy shots to makes.

Head shots also work if you want to plant them, but he sure and hit the head/brain mass areaand not the jaw. There is nothing worse then seeing a deer running around starving to death with a broken or missing jaw. Also a word of warning, I have a friend that claims he shot a deer in the head with a roundball and it glanced off. It did knock the deer down, he reloaded, walked up to it, and it stood up, so he shot it again. When he inspected the head he claims there was a large chunk of hair missing where the ball hit and was deflected. I never saw the deer and sometimes this fellow I am referring to like to tell "a good story." It probably did happen but again, I never saw the deer.

The high shoulder shot is another that will put the deer down most of the time but not all of the time. Here again, I think that high shoulder hit breaks them down and disrupts the spine somewhat. I've dropped them by hitting them there.

I would just concern myself with putting the ball where it will destroy major organs; ie: heart and lungs. Roundballs when they get inside a deer can really take some strange paths. Good luck with your hunting.

roundball

A high shoulder shot is the highest oddsshot for instant death on a deer...IF...you're using a .30-06 or other high power centerfire rifle.

Theydeliver a ton and a half of energy and massivehydrostatic shock effect to the region around the impact of the projectile...so if the bullet itself doesn't take out the spine, the massive collateral shock effect will stun the spineenough to paralyze the deerenough to drop itand it'll suffocate before the stunned effect wears off.

Apatched round ball is not a projectile which delivers anywhere near that sort of massive energy and hyrostatic shock effect to a whole region, requiring a direct hit on the spine between the shoulders if a shoulder shot is take...and the spine is not very big...can almost think of a PRB like a long rangebroadhead...it pretty much has to hit stuff to do a lot of damage to it.

When I started using PRB'son shoulder shots,Idiscovered it would put them down, partially paralyzed butstrugglingto get up...andI'd have to shoot them a second time...so I quit using the shoulder shot and practiced enough so I can hit the heart every time...a direct shot to the heart is a certainty and they fall within sight.

A double lung shot is a high percentage shot also,but they can travel a longways depending on how good a double lung shot it is.

If you're very close, aprecise shotto the vertebratewhere the neck joins the bodywill drop them in their tracks...but a neck shot has risk too, it's sort of anall or nothing shot.

So for me, the heart shot is the best odds shot forcertain death and a short drag...you'll watch them fall from your stand.

My .02 cents...