The best place to shoot an animal is aiming for the vitals. The vitals are the lungs and the heart. They are located directly behind the front shoulder in the middle of the rib cage. It’s best to aim for a double lung shot. It has a higher margin of error. While the heart has a smaller room for error, we are aiming for a swift kill, and the lowest possibility of a wounding.
It’s important to aim for the vitals for several reasons. One reason is because if you aim for the head for example, you’re likely to either miss or injure the animal. It’s a small margin of error. Another reason is because if you have poor placement with your shot (which will probably happen at least once in your hunting career) you risk spoiling and ruining a portion of the meat.
Though it’s not the end of the world if you have a poor shot, it’s important to be able to recognize and appropriately deal with the damaged meat. Your biggest enemy is time. The longer you take, the more meat will be affected and you don’t want the risk of getting sick. So, it’s important to aim for the vitals. It provides you with the greatest opportunity to make the kill and preserve all the meat of the animal.
When lining up for a shot, the ideal position is for the animal to be broadside or slightly quartering away. It gives the shooter the opportunity to penetrate both lungs resulting in a quick death with virtually zero risk of ruining the meat. The next best shot is a quartering away angle. Just be aware of the stomach cavity. Depending on the angle of the animal quartering away, the lungs area may not be as exposed to you.
Practice a lot in the range, so that when it comes time to pull the trigger or release the string, you’ll be confident with your placement. Come on one of our hunts here at Top End Adventures and you might gain some valuable skills at finding the perfect shot when you’re hunting for elk, deer, moose, bear, and more. Give Marc a call at 208-867-6675 or use the Contact Form below to book a hunt or to get more information on upcoming hunts and prices!