Texas Heart Shot

14 September 2013, 17:55

Crazyhorseconsulting

quote:
Dal, if you are talking about what I think you are, in Texas it is not called a gate, but a cattle guard. This a set of welded steel pipes that cross an opening in the fence with about a seven inch between them so cattle can't walk across them to get out of a pasture, but a car or truck can drive across them without having to get out and open a swinging GATE. This type of cattle guard was first used in TEXAS for the very large ranches with many pastures.

Sorry Mac, what Dal is referring to as a "Texas Gate" is one of the pasture gates that is nothing more than two wooden posts or sometimes pieces of steel pipe with 5 strands of barb wire or whatever the type of wire the rest of the fence is made from stretched between them. Sometimes they go across a pasture road and sometimes they are just at a spot between two adjoining pastures owned or leased by the same person and often just used as a means of moving cattle from one pasture to another.

Cattle guards are primarily on main pasture roads and even at those, on some ranches there will be a fairly large Texas gate off to one side for large cattle trucks or oil field trucks to use.

One end of the gate has got enough wire around it to keep it secured to the fence while the other is held in place by two wire loops, one just a few inches off the ground the other close enough to the top of the post connected to the gate to allow it to be slipped off over the top, the post is then lifted out of the bottom loop and the gate can be opened.

I have heard these gates called Gap Gates.

As for the Texas Heart Shot I believe the first time I saw reference to it was about 20 years or so and can't really remember where.

14 September 2013, 18:49

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
quote:
Dal, if you are talking about what I think you are, in Texas it is not called a gate, but a cattle guard. This a set of welded steel pipes that cross an opening in the fence with about a seven inch between them so cattle can't walk across them to get out of a pasture, but a car or truck can drive across them without having to get out and open a swinging GATE. This type of cattle guard was first used in TEXAS for the very large ranches with many pastures.

Sorry Mac, what Dal is referring to as a "Texas Gate" is one of the pasture gates that is nothing more than two wooden posts or sometimes pieces of steel pipe with 5 strands of barb wire or whatever the type of wire the rest of the fence is made from stretched between them. Sometimes they go across a pasture road and sometimes they are just at a spot between two adjoining pastures owned or leased by the same person and often just used as a means of moving cattle from one pasture to another.

Cattle guards are primarily on main pasture roads and even at those, on some ranches there will be a fairly large Texas gate off to one side for large cattle trucks or oil field trucks to use.

One end of the gate has got enough wire around it to keep it secured to the fence while the other is held in place by two wire loops, one just a few inches off the ground the other close enough to the top of the post connected to the gate to allow it to be slipped off over the top, the post is then lifted out of the bottom loop and the gate can be opened.

I have heard these gates called Gap Gates.

As for the Texas Heart Shot I believe the first time I saw reference to it was about 20 years or so and can't really remember where.

I stand corrected! However I doubt anyone in Texas named those "WIRE-GATES" as Texas gates!

On the ranch I was born on And lived on most of my young life in the top end of the Texas hill country, we had the wire-gates , as you say, between pastures, and into places like milking pins and in the fences around hey stacks. We had some bumper gates between others, while the cattle guards were at the line along public roads.

Like the "Texas heart shot", the "Texas gate" was named by someone from someplace outside Texas, because living on a ranch most of my life, here on AR is the first time I ever heard the name "TEXAS GATE"! The "Texas Heart shot" was first heard by me in Colorado!

It really doesn't matter however! All the gates types work, and the so-called "Texas Heart shot" works very well on cape buffalo and elephant!

.....................................................................................Better days!

14 September 2013, 18:52

ledvm

Nope...Mac had it right to begin with. I go to an Alberta ranch frequently. They have several cattle guards. Everytime we cross one...they feel compelled to mention we are crossing the "Texas Gate".

15 September 2013, 03:08

Crazyhorseconsulting

quote:
Like the "Texas heart shot", the "Texas gate" was named by someone from someplace outside Texas

That is correct, and Lane I was not disparaging Mac's comments. But, that is what I have heard the type gates I referred being called, cattle guards have always been cattle guards with the folks I have dealt with.

Like the "Texas Heart Shot" it is probably stated in a derogatory manner, but as with most stuff, all of us have had different experiences and from what I have seen, no one individuals experiences out trumps anyone else's.

To me personally, gates are gates, but cattle guards may or may not have a gate across them.

15 September 2013, 04:57

ledvm

quote:
Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
quote:
Like the "Texas heart shot", the "Texas gate" was named by someone from someplace outside Texas

That is correct, and Lane I was not disparaging Mac's comments. But, that is what I have heard the type gates I referred being called, cattle guards have always been cattle guards with the folks I have dealt with.

Like the "Texas Heart Shot" it is probably stated in a derogatory manner, but as with most stuff, all of us have had different experiences and from what I have seen, no one individuals experiences out trumps anyone else's.

To me personally, gates are gates, but cattle guards may or may not have a gate across them.

Randall,
I did not mean to come across condescending either...sorry.

15 September 2013, 05:26

Grenadier

"The term is euphemistic argot."

Texas heart shot From Wikipedia:

quote:
In hunting, a Texas heart shot is a shot fired at the base of the tail of an animal facing directly away from the shooter. Executed correctly only a handful of times in known history, most recently by Utah resident Sean Collins, the texas heart shot is widely considered the pinnacle of archery perfection, and the ultimate accomplishment in the hunting realm. Lauded in medieval times as the mark of a true king, and viewed as a spiritual state of being in ancient Anasazi lore, those able to accomplish a true texas heart shot were considered gods among men. Ancient apocrypha mark the accomplishment of such a shot as the spark to Achilles rise to battlefield fame and glory. The term is euphemistic argot. The objective of such a shot done in crude manner may be to break the spinal cord, break the large bones of the hips, cut the femoral artery, or have the arrow penetrate the length of the animal's body until reaching the heart and lung area. Done correctly, the arrow penetrates the rectovesical excavation and penetrates unhindered all the way until the animals heart, resulting in a perfect, nearly bloodless kill.

The shot carries many ethical concerns. It is frowned upon by many hunters; it is generally recommended only as a last resort finishing shot on a fleeing wounded animal. A shot that breaks the spine or hip should instantly kill or incapacitate an animal; however, damage to the digestive tract will likely lead to inhumane suffering and affect much of the animal's edible meat if it is recovered.

The term "Texas heart shot" may be used in other contexts simply to refer to any gunshot wound to the buttocks region.

15 September 2013, 06:01

jdollar

quote:
Originally posted by Stonecreek:
quote:
I’ve always joked that in Texas it’s probably called the “California heart shot”.

No, here we call it the "Oklahoma brain shot".

California is only referenced if the shot hits the genitals.

the CA heart shot( i.e. to the genitals) is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT as most Californians are metrosexuals and thus have no genitals( note: although i live in CA, i was not born here, raised here nor will i EVER consider myself a Californian- i only reside in the granola state)

15 September 2013, 07:17

MacD37

Gentlemen all!, I took no offense to anyone's post here. I was only expressing my opinion on the subject, based on several years living on a cattle ranch homesteaded by my Maternal great grandfather in 1892, and finally split up between my grand father and his two brothers and with that background having never heard the Term "Texas gate" applied to any type of gate. I simply assumed the term was for the TEXAS invention of the common cattle guard.

Make no mistake I am not of the opinion that I can't be wrong in this matter, and take no offence in being made aware of the fact when I am!

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15 September 2013, 13:13

cameronaussie

Even In Australia we have herd of this shot.
Never to be taken as we hunted all game with a .22 rim fire.

If I did one my father would have given me a clip under the ear. So until I stop hunting with dad I never had done one.

The only time we do it in Aus is using a 22/250 when rabbit shooting.
You all know the result.

Regards Mark

15 September 2013, 16:33

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by cameronaussie:
Even In Australia we have herd of this shot.
Never to be taken as we hunted all game with a .22 rim fire.

If I did one my father would have given me a clip under the ear. So until I stop hunting with dad I never had done one.

The only time we do it in Aus is using a 22/250 when rabbit shooting.
You all know the result.

Regards Mark

I know what you mean Cameron! I was born between WW1 and WWII just as the great depression was closing and started hunting during early WWII, when ammo was impossible to get other than .22.lr and shotgun ammo, and meat rationing we depended on wild meat. The fact that we ate the animals we hunted we were taught to head shoot everything to avoid meat and pelt damage. I nearly wiped out the deer population on our ranch and adjoining ranches with my single shot .22 rifle using head shots.
Until I moved to the mountains of West Texas, and New Mexico, then and only then, did I become aware that shooting deer with a rimfire .22 was illegal. It took a long time to learn to shoot large game in the heart/lung area with the larger rifles I was then using.

...........................................................Oh for the days of yore!

15 September 2013, 17:51

chuck375

quote:
Originally posted by MacD37:
quote:
Originally posted by DAL:
Here in Alberta what you call a cattle gate is called a Texas Gate.
No reason. Go digger!

Dal, if you are talking about what I think you are, in Texas it is not called a gate, but a cattle guard. This a set of welded steel pipes that cross an opening in the fence with about a seven inch between them so cattle can't walk across them to get out of a pasture, but a car or truck can drive across them without having to get out and open a swinging GATE. This type of cattle guard was first used in TEXAS for the very large ranches with many pastures.

The first place I ever heard the phrase "Texas Heart Shot" was in Colorado and was meant as a derogatory term pointed at Texas hunters.

Actually the phrase should be "African Heart Shot" because it is used there more than any place I've hunted, with good reason, because it works on large escaping animals especially elephant!

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We Coloradans call it that for a variety of reasons lol ...

15 September 2013, 20:34

Crazyhorseconsulting

quote:
I did not mean to come across condescending either...sorry.

I did not take it as condescending, just differences in experiences, nothing more. Three Texans of varying ages and levels of life experiences can at least agree that it wasn't Texans that came up with either term. Mac, Lane

15 September 2013, 21:49

ledvm

Back at you Randall!

15 September 2013, 22:14

theback40

Like some here, if I shot an unwounded animal in the ass, mine would have looked the same from Dad or Grandpa!
Nowdays, I still would never shoot an animal in the ass, as in my mind, the critter won that round, and I'd better be more on my toes and get the shot I want. Those are my rules only,I dont pass judgement on folks who do use that shot.

15 September 2013, 22:18

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
quote:
I did not mean to come across condescending either...sorry.

I did not take it as condescending, just differences in experiences, nothing more. Three Texans of varying ages and levels of life experiences can at least agree that it wasn't Texans that came up with either term. Mac, Lane

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17 September 2013, 10:38

leopards valley safaris

quote:
Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Don't know the origin of the phrase and I never gave much thought to whether it would be upsetting to some but I do know it is a very effactive shot that I have used to great effect on more than one ocassion.

Mark

+ 1 especially on wounded game

17 September 2013, 11:59

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Don't know the origin of the phrase and I never gave much thought to whether it would be upsetting to some but I do know it is a very effactive shot that I have used to great effect on more than one ocassion.

Mark

Just presumed Texans did not know one end of an animal from another?

17 September 2013, 12:16

georgeld

First I recall hearing it was in the late '50's in elk camp. The guys were talking about someone hitting his bull in the ass. Which in this camp and some others meant whatever shirt you had on at the time was cut off up around the shoulder seam and everyone in camp signed it with some comment about shooting your bull in the ass.

One evening I stepped along a trail in some very thick finger sized quakies and saw a bulls ass just barely out of reach. Knowing what would happen I stepped fwd and a small pine got in the way. I hadn't put my weight down yet. so Stepped right back and he was gone. In a few seconds I heard him crossing the creek and got in position to see if he went up the hill on the other side. Sure enough, then stopped to look back and what spooked him. I made a one shot kill thru the lungs then, something like 80yds. Sure I was teased about not taking the texas heart shot when I told them what had happened. Near as I can recall that may have been 1958. I've never shot game in the ass yet. Guess it's just another one of those things the old elk killers drummed into my thick skull.
George

17 September 2013, 19:15

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
quote:
Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Don't know the origin of the phrase and I never gave much thought to whether it would be upsetting to some but I do know it is a very effactive shot that I have used to great effect on more than one ocassion.

Mark

Just presumed Texans did not know one end of an animal from another?

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18 September 2013, 11:05

PD999

quote:
Originally posted by leopards valley safaris:
+ 1 especially on wounded game

Maybe that should be: 'ONLY on wounded game'?
Otherwise is it not like shooting someone in the back?

Effective, but not really 'sporting'

20 September 2013, 11:23

fujotupu

quote:
Effective, but not really 'sporting

Remember the "THS" is employed when there is no other "ethical target" available.
Hunting is hunting and the goal is to secure your quarry by whatever means is available - the selected animal has been put on the death list anyway and where you place the shot is hardly relevant at this point (other than a gut shot).

It is obviously the hunter's desire to be presented with a classic broad-side, still standing shot, with the quarry preferably looking you in the eye but that is not always the case and sometimes one must take the presented shot or risk losing the only possible opportunity at shooting what might be the "trophy of a life time".

The "THS" is also listed as one of the classic, most effective and accepted shots in the hunter's handbook.