REAL percentage of DRT / bang-flops with shot to vitals

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

As we know, 90% of internet hunters get 95%-100% bang-flops with their weapon of choice (astounding what those whompbutt supermagnums will do in instantly draining all oxygenated blood supply from the body!).

In reality, those of us who hunt know that deer and other large game ordinarily run a ways, typically at least 30-50 yards, even with a good heart or 2-lung shot and further - sometimes much further - with a worse shot.

The question is, in YOUR experience (actual hunters only please), what percentage of shots on medium and large game result in bang-flops - not a single step further taken by the game - no tracking involved? Count ONLY shots to vitals area please!

Feel free to share your caliber/ bullet / load /rifle of choice.

See Poll.

My fairly limited results are 0% bang-flops with vitals shots, and 100% bang-flops with neck shots. Since my poll is asking about vitals shots, I'm going to vote 0%.

 

[R.W.Dale]

About 50% of these either a large bore muzzleloader was used or a 300wby

Shotgun using buckshot was the worst performer even at 10 feet!

 

[PotatoJudge]

I only counted my most used load as that seemed more fair, and also that's the only rifle load I've used since high school. I'm shooting a 30-06, 150 grain Ballistic Tip, 52 grains IMR 4064 for about 3,000 fps. Something like three deer and two pigs were bang-flops, while one small buck went 15-20 yards and promptly died (not a bang-flop obviously). I don't like that the load never exits the animal, but it's hard to change with such good success.

 

[jfdavis58]

I've had several neck breaking instant drops-guess I'm lucky. Vital area shots are an entirely different situation. Even a complete devastation of heart or lung and heart at critical junctions results in less than 1 in 5 instant, take no step drops. A quick 3-7 step bolt, then a wild staggering stop of 3-5 steps and more of a crumple to a heap or maybe a sudden plop with attendant rush of air from whatever lung remains.

At the other end from your inquiry-a sustained bolt of 25 or more yards has happened only a couple of times--say 1 in 5 on average.

My preferred caliber is 270Winchester with something high performance in 130grains. For me the stalking is the greater part of the experience-I've got plenty of beef in the freezer. I simply will not take a shot beyond 50 yards (preferring 15-30 yards as ideal and most satisfying) and absolutely no bad shot under any circumstances. I've come home with unfilled tags but still happy many times.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I'd say less than 10% of heart lung shots are bang floppers. I've had some spectacular bang flop kills with heart shots but they are the exception rather than the rule.

The only surefire way to get a 100% guaranteed bang flop is to disconnect the CNS other than that you can't count on it and I don't care what caliber you are shooting.

I've seen a 100 lb hog take a 500 grain full house .458 Lott through the heart and lungs run over 100 yards before expiring. I've seen a bull elk take 4 7mm through the lungs right behind the shoulder run for a mile or more. I once shot a pronghorn with a .300 Weatherby 3 times behind the shoulder with 165gr Sierra Hollow point Game kings. You could cover the group with the palm of your hand. That poor little buck never even knew he was hit and ran for a long time before he died.

I watched a friend blow a bowling ball sized hole out the back side of a pronghorn one day after hitting him perfectly with a 180 gr NBT at about 80 yards. That buck turned and ran over 300 yards with no heart or lungs left in his body.

I've personally seen a cape buffalo take 11 .458 rounds through the chest before giving up the ghost. I almost got killed by one who had two .470 NE rounds through the lungs and was alive enough nearly 30 minutes later to make a very convincing last stand.

I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of game animals shot and sometimes they flop sometimes they don't. It is entirely unpredictable no matter the caliber or the critter.

 

[Shawnee]

I work diligently at making CNS hits precisely because I have never seen even an extremely devastating lung shot with any caliber result in a DRT. So my poll answer is "zero".

Except for a couple times - any heart shot I've made has actually been an adjunct to an intended lung shot. I've seen a one or two heart shots result in collapse within perhaps 50 feet but technically that isn't a DRT.

In many instances a run of 30-40yds. is not really a big problem if the hunter is prepared to deal well with such an event. But we all know there are sometimes conditions existing that make a DRT virtually mandatory.

Good thread !

 

[caribou]

Been at it steady for 22 years now hunting year round, so I see some patterns in my shooting.

M-39 Sako with Czech LPS
870 Remington 3" mag 12 gauge.
.22lr Romainian Trainer, that replaced my Winchester pump .22lr I lost boating. I discard unaccurat rifles, and carve my name into the ones that are tried and true.No scopes.
I have a gun for every occasion, and a back up when one is "down"

I hunt on open Tundra mostly.

Unless its further than 200 yards, I will always aim for the neck and head.
I would call the spine/brain a "Vital"

The percentage is based on my shooting.

I will say 30% of my shots are Drop Dead Hits.
30% will be hits will walk /run abit and go down for lack of blood to the brain (Permanently)
30% are either a total miss, or a bad hit, that left "splat" of blood on the snow, insted of a trail, and I followed up to keep them from getting far.
10% are in need of a third shot, because sometimes I just cant connect.Often I am shooting multipul animals, and after the leader and a maby a second Caribou are down, the rest figure us out andmove off, and we shoot again when theys stop to look back at us, and thats it, 'cause they wont stop a second time.
3 Caribou are plenty of work and fill the sled, but we can get 5 a day 365.....it depends on our needs, and if theres even any Caribou around.

All the long shots are at the chest, and they all run/walk/limp, 100%.



The most difficult shots are from a boat. The boat is bouncing, moving forward, the animal is moving and often at odd angles.
The hardest shot ever?
Head shooting swimming Muskrats for food and fur in the Spring flood, from a boat with a .22lr....oh man, no one beats my wife shooting Muskrats.

 

[hankdatank1362]

I've killed maybe 20 deer in my lifetime, so that's not a lot to go on. But I'd wager to say at least 15 of them went down right in the corn pile where I shot 'em. They might not be dead, but after a .30-06 punches through their left or right shoulder, into their lungs and heart, and maybe through or near the other shoulder, they're not going to far.

One that didn't DRT , I remember especially vividly. Perfect shot placement, but the darn deer still took off like a scalded jackrabbit. I figured I'd be out all night tracking him, when after he ran about 100 yards, I saw him double back and head right back to the corn pile. When he got back to the corn, he dropped straight down and died. Darndes thing I'd ever seen.

 

[justice4all]

I voted 20-30%, but I'm considering the brain to be a vital organ...although some folks get along just fine without one for years...

Last game animal I shot was a black bear, that was dead before he hit the ground from a 348 grain powerbelt through the right ear as he stood broadside. You can kinda see the entrance wound in this picture.

 

[SammyIamToday]

About 50% for me. Usually with .25-06 of all things. .30-30 has never done it for me. .308 sometimes. 7mm Rem Mag was 50% exactly (killed 2 deer with it and sold it). About all I hunt with.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Two people said that they consider the brain/CNS to be a "vital" organ, so let me clarify this please - I am talking heart/lung shots ONLY (or bad shots missing anything vital), not CNS shots. That's what I mean by "vitals", as opposed to CNS, as I implied from my statement in post #1:

My fairly limited results are 0% bang-flops with vitals shots, and 100% bang-flops with neck shots. Since my poll is asking about vitals shots, I'm going to vote 0%.

H&H Hunter, who is more experienced than most any set of 3 dozen other hunters reading this combined, speaks the truth and verifies that it's a quite low percentage.

And yet.....

14 people have voted 51% or more, and 4 people voted 81% or more - oh brother.

They might not be dead, but after a .30-06 punches through their left or right shoulder, into their lungs and heart, and maybe through or near the other shoulder, they're not going to far.

"Not going too far" is not the same (at all) as DRT/bang-flop. And you put your corn in a pile, eh? No one I know (among those that use bait) does that, since it is common knowledge that corn in a pile will rot quickly due to moisture builup - it also provides a breeding ground for poisonous bacteria that the deer will quickly learn not to eat.

 

[Art Eatman]

Other than two bad hits, I have never, ever had a deer go more than 50 yards after I shot it. Even then, I only recall two, specifically; I won't say there weren't maybe a couple more but I just don't recall.

I do know that I've tagged some forty or so bucks that didn't go anywhere at all. DRT. Probably 90% neck shots. A guesstimate would be half with a .243 and half with an '06.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Thanks Art. But question is how many, AMONG THOSE NOT shot in the CNS (including neck), dropped without running? As I clarified in the post just above yours.

 

[3pairs12]

I may have mis voted. 31-41%. I was counting neck shots. Now rereading I would go with closer to 25%. I have seen a couple heart shots that DRTed them but have never made one.

 

[LeonCarr]

Most of the deer and hogs I have shot (90% or so) have been DRT. Before everyone says "liar, liar, pants on fire" , I use mostly head/neck shots or the high shoulder shot on deer, and head/neck junction shots on hogs. Yes, I pass up a lot of shots that most folks would take. I use these tactics based on hunting in East Texas, where heavy cover and small parcels of land are prevalent (My biggest whitetail buck, a 140 class 9 point, was shot on a 110 acre farm). If you don't drop it on the spot, ya might not ever see it again. A buddy of mine hunted his 26 acre place this weekend, passed on a not so great 4-point that later jumped his fence over to the next ranch, and 10 seconds after that he heard BOOM .

Knowing the anatomy of the animals you are hunting will go a long way to dropping the animal on the spot, instead of having to follow a wounded animal all over the country. A great resource is The Perfect Shot series of books by Craig Boddington and Kevin Robertson.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

I'm not gonna claim skill, but I've only bagged three deer and they all dropped right then and there, but that's because I hit the spine in each and every one of them. It was luck I guess.

 

[HunterGirl]

I only take heart/lung shots....and out of 35 or more deer - I've had two drop in their tracks, two or three drop after a few steps and the rest ran 20 yards or more.

 

[frogomatic]

I do consider the spine/brain to be vital organs, and those are my preferred targets. Since I moved to Missouri, and began rifle hunting, I'm 100% bang/flop. 5 years, 5 shots, 5 deer, all dead on the spot. 2 were taken with spine shots, were instantly paralyzed and only went as far as gravity would take them. the other 3 were brain shots at close range, all dead instantly. and no need for a supermagnum. Just an old lever gun and some 45 long colt.

 

[foghornl]

Never had to track one more than 50 yards.

One ran around for a while, but ran in a circle...dropped about 10 yards from where first hit.

One I hit with a 12-Ga slug...thought I had missed at first. Deer walked around a bit, leaned up against a tree, kinda coughed...flop.

 

[john1911]

Trying to remember the deer I've killed. I'm going to say around 1 in 4 (25%) dropped on the spot. All the rest fell in sight. This is with a shotgun/slugs, .50 muzzleloader with magnum charges and magnum handguns.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I like how deer that run 45 yds get considered DRT for the purposes of this thread

 

[H&Hhunter]

I guess we need to call that SDDRT Slightly Delayed Dead Right There.

 

[koja48]

Majority of deer I've shot have dropped, tho I've often wondered what the folks on the TV shows are using, since most of those tend to run off. Had goats run off a bit (but those are tough critters) and elk tend to be a bit more durable. Moose likewise (or they are too stubborn to either drop or run). Antelope are likely the most fragile of the lot when a solid hit was made.

 

[B.D. Turner]

Using a Browning BAR II Safari in 300 win mag I have never had to ever look for a whitetail deer.

 

[Harve Curry]

I voted 50%. thinking back that's what I come up with. Elk or Deer. I use a 308, 30-06, 45-70 and muzzleloaders.