[bolobaby]

Oh you *can*, but do you really want to waste ammo or spend hours chasing a wounded deer through the wounds when the SHTF?

You gotta be efficient.

[jaydee770]

“...Oh you *can*, but do you really want to waste ammo or spend hours chasing a wounded deer through the wounds when the SHTF?...”

Well, you also have to do your part, get close and make the right shot. Poachers also don’t like chasing wounded deer on posted property either. ;-)

[Smokin' Joe]

Rules of thumb for Survival: Whitetail with a .22LR at under 50 yards, standing or walking slowly, high neck shot--either a serious bleeder, spinal hit (DRT), or clean miss. If it isn't a good side view with NOTHING but air in between, wait for a better shot.

Shot placement is everything.

Banging away at the rib cage isn't likely to do anything but give a good meat source some nasty wounds which will fester and ruin the meat, and kill the deer eventually (slowly and painfully)--something to be scrupulously avoided.

The resulting blood trail, even if the bullet punches through an intercostal muscle and hits lung, or even the heart, will be minimal and the chances of recovering the carcass slim without skilled or extensive tracking.

A lung shot may produce frothy and bright red blood, but not until that works its way up the bronchial tree and is blown out the nose. With a small bullet, that can take a few hundred yards and will be a hard trail to cut, especially if there is dense undergrowth. Larger bullets do more lung damage and provide a better blood trail quicker.