No-Man's Land - Fact or Fiction?

You can see both entrance holes at the tip of his ear and just behind it

These pictures are from my personal trail camera. They are from the 2022 season. Looks like the deer jumped the string a bit would be my guess. This Buck was finally killed this past season by the same hunter who put the arrow in it

That’s something!! What kind of rack did he grow after the injury and what did the wound look like when he was killed?

Hunt anything said:

That’s something!! What kind of rack did he grow after the injury and what did the wound look like when he was killed?

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Unfortunately I wasn't the lucky hunter to get him lol. I cant seem to find the picture of him after he was killed. If memory serves me he had about the same rack but with more mass at the antler base.

BryceM said:

There's a popular idea that gets floated around from time to time here and on other hunting Internet sites. The basic idea is that for deer or antelope, there is a space below the spine and above the vitals where an animal can be shot without causing significant damage. I've wandered around enough animal carcasses to know that no such space exists! I'm not a thoracic trauma surgeon or neurosurgeon, but I am a surgeon and have spent many fine hours working on the spine. I know a thing or two about terminal ballistics and what brings about the demise of an animal.

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Curious if you have any opinions on the impact of a shot that hits over the spine, but clips the spinous processes.

Incapacitating for an animal? Is enough energy transfered down to the vertebrae to pinch or sever the spinal cord?

I for one, am glad for these bisections. For averaged hunters like me, this just reinforces the value of double lung/heart shots.

OxfordTheCat said:

Curious if you have any opinions on the impact of a shot that hits over the spine, but clips the spinous processes.

Incapacitating for an animal? Is enough energy transfered down to the vertebrae to pinch or sever the spinal cord?

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The most common thing to happen is that the animal drops immediately, stunned from the shot.

Many hunters and some guides will then begin celebrating.

The hunters are usually shocked when the animal then gets up and runs away and is never found again.

Sabre said:

The most common thing to happen is that the animal drops immediately, stunned from the shot.

Many hunters and some guides will then begin celebrating.

The hunters are usually shocked when the animal then gets up and runs away and is never found again.

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I meant more if he had any conclusions about it: A shot 'in the area' stuns, and the animal recovers and bolts, but a shot which hits the processes is enough to sever the spinal cord and anchor the animal.

I don't know enough about spinal injuries, or neck shots I suppose.

OxfordTheCat said:

Curious if you have any opinions on the impact of a shot that hits over the spine, but clips the spinous processes.

Incapacitating for an animal? Is enough energy transfered down to the vertebrae to pinch or sever the spinal cord?

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Real world experience, no it is not incapacitating. I was lucky I was able to get a second shot into him to finish the job. Extreme downhill shot bullet broke off the bone projecting upward. It did keep him down long enough for me to get closer for the next shot.

OxfordTheCat said:

I meant more if he had any conclusions about it: A shot 'in the area' stuns, and the animal recovers and bolts, but a shot which hits the processes is enough to sever the spinal cord and anchor the animal.

I don't know enough about spinal injuries, or neck shots I suppose.

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The real world implications are going to vary a bit on each shot. The same is true for humans with injuries to the spinal column. It is possible to have traumatic injuries that break the bone, but do not sever the spinal cord. And it is possible to have less dramatic injuries that do sever or damage the spinal cord.

Directly speaking about shooting deer or other critters in those areas. Yes, it is possible to hit the spinal processes and cause a traumatic injury to the spinal cord which anchors the animal. It is not a rare occurrence, because of the devastating cavitation that occurs from firearms. However, the most common thing to happen is that it shocks their system without severing the spinal cord and they drop immediately, thrash a bit, look like they are dying, and then recover after a minute or so and get up and run away.

OxfordTheCat said:

Curious if you have any opinions on the impact of a shot that hits over the spine, but clips the spinous processes.

Incapacitating for an animal? Is enough energy transfered down to the vertebrae to pinch or sever the spinal cord?

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It depends.

I have some feel for people respond to bullets in this area, but most of what I’ve seen comes from low-velocity handgun rounds. With a rifle, everything changes.

A lower velocity bullet that doesn’t expand much will probably just do soft tissue damage and break a chunk off of the spinous process. An animal hit like that will probably just run off and go many, many miles. A hit in the spinous process will almost never cause disruption or “pinching” of the cord. To sever the cord, the bullet, or at the very least a large bone fragment, will need to pass directly through it. The cord is quite well protected by surrounding bone.

A high-velocity, expanding bullet will often cause enough of a “shock wave” that it will concuss the cord, causing it to go off-line for a bit. An animal hit like that will sometimes stay down, but will sometimes recover and go scampering off.

Of course, a bullet on this trajectory will also do tremendous damage to the paraspinal muscles (back straps). This sort of wound won’t be fatal any time soon, and won’t immediately incapacitate the animal, but will certainly have a high chance of infection, disability, and/or eventual death.