Hydrostatic shock, what's your opinion?

[OKIE2]

this is a little off subject but here is a mistry for you I shot a doe running broad
side to me with a 30 m1 carbine at about 70 yards.
I shot at her 2 times when we dressed it the only one hole we found in the skin was through the upper hind leg never hit the other leg and she took a nose dive the very second she was shot. Was dead when I walked up to her.

[MontanaRifleman]

Just a far reaching speculation here, but the deer may have had elevated blood pressure from fright and/or running which may have caused an overpressure in the brain via the blood vessels from the shock of the bullet. Or... maybe the deer had the equivillent of a heart attack from the shock and trauma fo the bullet.

Bottom line is in order to have death, the brain must cease to function and something must cause that.

[J E Custom]

Having killed several hundred deer sized animals with a bow and more than that with a rifle ,pistol,
muzzle loader ETC I will say there is a big difference in the effects of a rifle
kill compared to a bow kill.

If you shoot a dear that is at rest and not excited (NO Adrenalin) some times they won't
even move and just drop dead in a few seconds. if they are alerted they always run. there
is no damaged tissue around the wound and blood loss is heavy (Inside or out).

If you shoot a deer with a rifle and he is at rest he may not run at all but is normally knocked
out by the impact and expires while down.If he is alerted he may run even though he is
fatally wounded because of the Adrenalin.If shot in the guts with ether bow or gun they
will rarely go down immediately because the area can absorb a lot of energy without impacting
the more vital organs that are protected by the diaphragm.

There is now doubt that blood loss and lack of oxygen are the main causes of death after any
shot, bow or gun .But the shock of the impact and shock wave caused by the bullet shuts down
the central nervous system and causes the game to black out temporarily until it dies due
blood loss and trauma. As we all know some times an animal will wake up and run off if not
mortally wounded.

So I think it contributes to the overall effect of a gun shot on game and if trauma is enough
to cause excessive blood loss it can kill even though no vital organs are hit or affected.

J E CUSTOM

[MSLRHunter]

I have experienced both situations many times from deer hit in the same spot with the same bullet. As has been mentioned here before, I think that the "mood" of the deer when shot plays in to this, I have had more deer drop that were calm than were on edge. Also, I compare the shock theory to a boxer getting knocked out by a good punch. The amount of energy that an animal absorbs when struck by a rifle bullet is huge, sometimes this knocks them out, sometimes it doesn't.

[sp6x6]

Originally Posted by Oliveralan

MontanaRifleman:
I'm aware the normal way of dispatching game is to disrupt te bloodflow and oxygen supply to the brain. I'm wondering if it would be reliably faster to shoot an extremely fast bullet to cause massive shock and temporary wound channel trauma to kill the animal. Like aiming for the neck-spine junction and even if you miss a bit the shock will kill the game. Will test this shot next time I hunt deer.

I woulnt try it on purpose, I SHOT a bull bedded at 70 yrds. w/340 WM 6" BELOW ear. It got up went uphill for 1/2 mile before I gotem. Said never again in the neck, shot muley in neck, by mistake 80 yrd 325 wsm 2 mile to catch.

[sp6x6]

Ditto with JE Customs thought, SHOT A 340 FOR 20 yrs. seen alot of animals, just drop end of story. IN highschool I was out with this trapper checking the line, he had a wolverine, walks up and shot it in the head with his 22 pistol, when we get back and skin it, the 22 bullet is slightly bent and laying right on top the skull, never even cracked the skull?

[statjunk]

I have limited experience but I've noticed something over time. I think a dead right there might have something to do with a given bullets velocity at impact. I've noticed a distinct difference in an animals reaction to a shot depending on how far the critter is from the rifle. Longer shots, for me at least, result in DRT. Shorter shots result in some running.

I shoot a 300 WM.

It's hard to debate the shock factor when you shoot a deer in the ribs and the entire rack of ribs is purple. I've opened up deer before and struggled to find any intact vital organs. I'm shooting Speer SP BT 180gr.

Tom