I saw an a few forum posts and articles about shot placement and the shoulder/shoulder blade. They say that when you aim for the middle-top of the shoulder the deer will drop on the spot due to the bone breaking and wont last much longer. Usually i aim for the traditional 'Kill Zone' and track the deer maybe 10 to 75 yards usually. Would a shoulder shot offer as much forgiveness if your off an inch or two and would it drop the deer in its tracks?
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"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."-George Mason
In the few times I have done it, it has worked excellent. Deer dropped dead, on the spot. However, you do ruin some decent meat when you take the shot. I would rather put it right behind the shoulder most of the time. If you are off behind the shoulder, you have a good chance of killing the deer via the lungs/spine. If you are off to the front, it could possible just be a flesh wound, depending on what you hit.
There are many places you can drop a deer dead on the spot, base of skull, spine, neck shot, right behind the ear, head shots, but those are all hard to hit unless you are very good at shooting accurately in hunting conditions. I shoot mine where I have room for error because I know I am not that good with shot placements. Lung and heart shot for me is where i like to aim.
I always aim behind the shoulder for the kill zone vital area. I know several people that always do neck shots.
Also I know one guy that actually aims dead center in the shoulder and shoots. His reasoning is he is too old to track a deer and too old for good shot placement and they can't go far with their shoulders both shattered to peices. Not my choice obviously but he said it works every time.
I know a guy that shoots right through the shoulder as well, it actually kinda irritated me when he told me that. In hunter-safety class they teach you that an inch or two off the point of the shoulder will drop him and he "might" run anywhere from a few feet to 75yards. My furthest shot 2 years ago at 325yds with my '06 was through the vitals (no specific organ) ran about 30 yards and my first deer I shot at about 250yds with a buddy's .257 Roberts was through the lung and he ran in a circle and dropped where he started. To me I'd rather walk an extra bit than ruin up to 15 lbs of meat and what if the bullet goes straight through both shoulders? Thats a good bit of the meat.
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The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.
—Patrick Henry
A shoulder shot is my prefered way to kill a Deer because there dead before they hit the ground.
I personaly think it's more humane to make this shoot and you rarely if ever have to track a Deer that has been shoulder shot.
You'll often times find piece's of lung, heart and bone on the ground after makeing this shot and that to me means I've made my very best shot.
Because We own it to the Deer, Bear or what ever large game were hunting.
Lastly haveing enough gun helps to...A.H
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Last edited by ArkansasHunter; 06-24-2009 at 05:23 PM.
We owe it to the Deer, Bear or what ever large game were hunting.
Lastly having enough gun helps too...A.H
I agree, shots should always be carefully placed if the situation permits. Too many people every year catch a glimpse of an animal and just point and shoot before it gets behind a bush or something to that effect. In turn wounding the animal; not quickly ending it.
The round used should also be considered for the type of game being hunted. I have heard that some states have laws on certain types of game. Here in tx as far as i know it is anything but rimfire can be used. I usually use my .308, but I have found myself every once in a great while using a 7mm-08, 7mm rem mag, or .257 roberts.
The round used should also be considered for the type of game being hunted. I have heard that some states have laws on certain types of game. Here in tx as far as i know it is anything but rimfire can be used.
Here in Wyoming its a minimum of .243 for Big Game.
Big Game here in Wyoming is Antelope(Bug-Eyed Goats or Stink-Goats), Mountain Goat,Big Horn Sheep, White-Tail, Mule-Deer, Elk, and Black Bear. I'm pretty sure theres Grizz up in the mountains but you dun hear much about them gettin taken. Coyote, the occasional Wolf and the like are all predators and can be taken on sight. Well Wolf can be if you have live-stock regularly being slaughtered by them.
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The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.
—Patrick Henry
This happend last year::: A nice 6pt Buck is at 9 oclock of me. He was angeling away from me so a broadside shot wasn't going to present it's self, yet he was close enough where a shot like Archetype wyo prefers to make for a few seconds.
I let the Buck walk because I knew his big brother was around somewhere LOL He never showed up LOL...And I'm not at all disappointed I didn't take a shot at the angeling away Buck...A.H
This happend last year::: A nice 6pt Buck is at 9 oclock of me. He was angeling away from me so a broadside shot wasn't going to present it's self, yet he was close enough where a shot like Archetype wyo prefers to make for a few seconds.
I let the Buck walk because I knew his big brother was around somewhere LOL He never showed up LOL...A.H
What do yah mean close enough to make a shot like I prefer? lol
__________________
The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.
—Patrick Henry
The Diagram i made shows area 1 the traditional kill zone which has the most forgiveness and usually is a guaranteed kill, thought it might run a few yards.
2 would be a center-top shoulder shot which is what i was asking about. Looks like if you shot a little to the left you would hit the top part of the vitals where as if you shot a little to the right, you would either hit the neck dead on, top of the neck, or bottom of the neck. If you shoot for a neck shot, most likely hit the neck if you had a fairly good idea where the neck is but if you miss it, you would hit the either lower flesh area (4) or the area above the neck (3).
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"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."-George Mason
I agree, shots should always be carefully placed if the situation permits. Too many people every year catch a glimpse of an animal and just point and shoot before it gets behind a bush or something to that effect. In turn wounding the animal; not quickly ending it.
The round used should also be considered for the type of game being hunted. I have heard that some states have laws on certain types of game. Here in tx as far as i know it is anything but rimfire can be used.
Same here. I use a Federal 180 Grain Soft Point. Cheap, accurate and reliable for the average shot. Probably wouldn't use it for longer ranges 250+ yds.
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"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."-George Mason
Archetype wyo What I meant was a shoulder shot was "not" presented. Yet the traditional shot was possible behind the shoulder "breifly" but I didn't take it either.
While the high shoulder shot does indeed drop them in there tracks you will also damage most of the meat on the front shoulders. I just stick to the traditional behind the shoulder shot, those shoulder's are good eatin!!
I always for right behind the shoulder hunting with a 12 gauge slug, but more often than not I seem to have the slug try to exit through the opposite shoulder blade and those fall dead in their tracks. I've never had a good behind the shoulder shot go further than 30 yards, and tracking them is not hard.
Since I don't trophy, I go for headshots. It's either a clean hit or miss
Not really. Have you never seen a deer with his lower jaw blown off? Talk about a slow agonizing death. I usually go for the heart/lung shot but for a long range shot I'll go through the shoulder. I don't eat shoulder meat anyway but I do give it away so it doesn't go to waste.
