There are several options for a good, clean shot; which one you take depends on the game, the cartridge, and the bullet. But, how steady you are and how much confidence you have may be the most important of all.

Sometimes my hunting buddy, Joe Bishop, really ticks me off. He has a room full of great guns, but he does all his hunting with a pair of battered Sako's, one in 7mm Remington, the other in .375 H&H. He has a super reloading room and the knowledge to use it--but he doesn't do much reloading anymore because he tends to use the same loads in those two rifles. He has access to great places to shoot--at all ranges--within minutes of his house, but he doesn't practice all that much.

What upsets me about all this is that Bishop is one of the best natural marksmen I have ever seen. He knows his two Sako rifles intimately, he knows what loads they like, and I can't even say he should practice more because, in all of our hunts together on several continents, I have personally never seen Bishop miss or wound an animal! Sure, it has happened. It happens to everybody now and again--but I've never seen Joe perform any less than brilliantly.

Unfortunately Joe can't say the same about me. This is especially unnerving because I spend vast amounts of time at the range, not only sighting in and practicing, but making sure I have exactly the right load. It is true that I switch rifles far too much, partly because using different rifles is part of what I do, and partly because I'm a "gun guy" rather than a pure hunter; part of the fun is selecting and setting up exactly the right tool for the job at hand.

I practice hard and I generally shoot well. But, in my heart of hearts, I know that I am not as good a natural marksman as Joe Bishop. I've demonstrated that fact in front of him, and like the good hunting buddy he is, he isn't about to let me forget it. So every time I get ready to go on a hunt Bishop gets on the phone and says, "Remember, Boddington, 'shot placement!'"

This doesn't gall me in the least, because it's darned good advice that, all said and done, means more than everything else put together. A fair portion of my livelihood is derived from extolling the virtues of one cartridge or another, or talking about cartridges, bullets and different types of rifles for various game and hunting situations. That's okay, because there are significant differences in rifles, cartridges and bullets that make them more suitable for some situations than others. You could say these concepts are all interrelated, because the rifle, cartridge, and bullet you're using have some bearing on the shots you can accept and where you should place your shot. But in the field nothing, but nothing, is as important as shot placement.

Heart and lung shots are easy to visualize and vary little with all four-legged game animals. The lung shot is the largest target and offers the most room for error, so under most circumstances it is the author's preference.

By placing their shots properly skilled marksmen can take game successfully throughout their careers while using fairly light cartridges that conventional wisdom suggests are marginal or even inadequate for the game hunted. By the same token, every fall way too many thousands of sportsmen miss and wound game with cartridges that are absolutely adequate, if not overly powerful. I am a strong believer in adequate cartridges and appropriate bullets for the game to be hunted, and if anything I lean toward the heavy side of the equation. But if you don't put your bullet in the right place it doesn't matter how much power you have available; you will wound your game, and you may not be able to recover it. Game animals vary tremendously in size and build, but the ultimate destination of the bullet varies but little. The goal when shooting at game is always to take the animal down as cleanly and quickly as possible; this is an ethical and moral responsibility as well as pure common sense. It seems to me that, throughout the animal kingdom, there are just four anatomical options to accomplish this: Brain, spine, heart, lungs. Let's examine each of these, and then we'll turn to some special circumstances.

BRAIN AND NECK SHOTS
Although these two shots are quite different, I lump them together because, collectively, these are not only the very best but also the only certain--sure ways to absolutely, positively drop an animal in its tracks. That said, I don't like either shot, and for a couple of reasons. One reason I generally avoid head and neck shots is because I'm usually at least somewhat of a trophy hunter. A head shot on any horned or antlered animal is likely to break the skull cap and separate the horns, which makes for rotten photographs and, on a really good specimen, will preclude entry into the record books. A neck shot is also likely to cause a lot of damage to the cape. A taxidermist can usually fix even extreme damage--but, again, the photographs are likely to be a bit messy.

First and foremost, however, I tend to avoid head and neck shots because they are extremely tricky, with very little margin for error. If you slip up just slightly you will usually create a wound that is not immediately fatal, and may do so little damage that there is a very high likelihood of losing the animal. I've heard hunters describe brain shots as "hit or miss" propositions, implying that they're extremely sporting because it's either a clean miss or a clean kill. This is simply not true. A brain shot that goes too high is probably going to be a miss, depending on the size of the animal--but it just might clip off a horn or antler. A brain shot that is too low is likely to do horrible damage to the animal's nasal passages or jaw. The animal will likely die a lingering death, and circumstances alone--terrain, vegetation, tracking conditions--dictate whether or not recovery is possible.

So I avoid head and neck shots if anything simpler and equally sure is available. But there are times and places. Hunters whose primary goal is meat in the freezer often concentrate on these shots, because, when done right, they do cause the most instantaneous and humane death--and they damage the least edible meat. The requirements are a basic knowledge of the anatomy of the game you're hunting, a rifle accurate enough to get the bullet into a relatively small target, and a steady enough shooting position so that you absolutely know you can pull it off. All three vary with the animal and the situation!