Que? "hit in the lungs or heart" vs. "a little farther forward and a little higher"
Are you advocating Not going for the vitals?
No I am not I am suggesting that you aim a bit forward and a bit higher than the traditional American shot placement of low and behind the shoulder. Which will in fact take both lungs and the vascular "spaghetti" junction above the heart. It also tends to completely shut off the front quarters making a death run impossible.
A deer might run off if the projectile was an FMJ; but not an HP or SP
Desidog
Incorrect sir. I don't care what you hit them with, a shot even one that completely destroys the heart and lungs does not guarantee a dear which flops to the ground. In fact many times the reaction from a heart shot animal even with an explosively expanding round is to blindly rush off for up to several hundred yards before tipping over. I've seen it dozens and dozens of times.
A study was done on first shot tip overs and the conclusion was that a heart shot animal sometimes drops on the spot and sometimes doesn't depending on where in the heart the animal was hit. A low heart shot tended to not drop the animal and in fact several have been alive for a very long time with a hole in the lower heart.
The other major factor was if the heart was full of blood (diastole)or empty (systole) when the heart is relaxed and full of blood a bullet through the body of the heart tends to have an explosive and dramatic reaction often producing a severe stroke through hydrostatic referred shock to the brain. Basically an over pressure of the cardiovascular system. Having nearly the same effect as a brain shot.
If however the heart is empty when passing a bullet through the heart mussel the animal will tend to run off for a short distance before dying of asphyxia I.E. the inability to oxygenate the brain and organs due to the failure of the heart. Which is why many times a heart shot animal will rear up and paw at the sky or do one last death leap before collapsing. The lack of oxygen to the brain causes the animal to lose vision or "gray out" while still conscious just before death. Which is why they often crash into trees or brush during the death run the eyes are a heavy oxygen user and they give out before the critter does.
Also many animals that are heart shot that do a death run will not leave a blood trail. They can't because the heart has been destroyed to the point that it can not pump anymore therefore it does not have the ability to spray blood out of the wounds. I've found several animals that hunters have given up on because they were sure they hit but couldn't find any blood so they quit. When I put my dogs on it we generally find them within 200 yards in thick brush with a destroyed heart and very little or no blood trail.
A shot that takes out the vascular process above the heart will leave a 4 start blood trail because the heart muscle is still pumping. This shot also perforates both lungs and shocks or breaks the front shoulders. Making a death run pretty tough to do. Many times when I hit an animal in this manner they simply rear up on the hind legs and tip over.
Of course in the real world we very seldom are presented with a perfect standing broadside shot so we have to deal with many factors which make it necessary to use a bullet that has some penetration. Which of course comes back to my original statement that using a super explosive fragmenting bullet on big game is a really stupid idea.