SHOT placement is the single most important factor in hunting. Even the most powerful cartridge will wound if the bullet does not hit a vital organ. Far too many hunters, in their excitement, simply aim for the centre of the animal. I have asked various accomplices, while watching an animal run off after their shot, where they aimed, and they couldn’t tell me – they had simply aimed ‘at the animal’. Some aim at whatever patch of hide they can see through the bush. This is inexcusable. Hunters have a moral obligation to kill the quarry as surely, quickly and cleanly as possible with the first shot.
Most shot-placement literature shows photos of animals superimposed with red dots indicating the aiming points. In many cases these show the animal in only two positions: fully broad-side and directly frontal. In the hunting field, however, the animal may be standing at various other angles, requiring very different aiming points if the bullet is to hit the vital organs. Instead of memorising red dots on the outer surface of the animal, you should be mentally visualising the position of the vital the animal, and aiming accordingly, which could mean anywhere on its body forward of the hind legs, depending on the angle at which it is standing.
