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Where do I shoot them?

nksmfamjp

nksmfamjp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
3,498
So, when I was a young hunter, I was taught to shoot right at the rear crease of the front leg…..bottom half of the animal. My experience was this was generally effective, but if I shot too far into the rear, I always hit the stomach. Mind you, these were typically 100 to 300 yard shots.

Then, I got some info/family experience that told me to shoot center of the front shoulder. For several years, this was really effective, but I was generally shooting a 30-06 so it has the penetrating capability to get through this. It was still hard on bullets. I recovered a couple that were badly mangled.

Now I read about people shooting high shoulder and I wonder if there is a shot opportunity there or if I just need to continue shooting in the crease behind the front shoulder. I've gone back to shooting for the crease because it makes a good target and it is effective with pistol or rifle rounds. Much better with pistol rounds than trying to break down the shoulder complex. Remember a pistol round is gonna have about 600 foot pounds of energy compared to a rifle having 1500 to 2000 ftpounds of energy. Yes, energy is a very arguable subject, but energy is the potential that the bullet arrives at the animal with to open the bullet and do damage within the animal and it's the remaining energy that keeps propel it forward out the backside in my mind energy x bullet design x shot placement tells me if this thing is gonna exit or not.

So I go back to where should I be shooting them if we could curate these answers around a 6.5 Creedmoor at about 600 yards, that would be great. I think it 200 or 300 yards, I can just shoot it in the crease behind the shoulder and be just fine.
 
nksmfamjp said:
So, when I was a young hunter, I was taught to shoot right at the rear crease of the front leg…..bottom half of the animal. My experience was this was generally effective, but if I shot too far into the rear, I always hit the stomach. Mind you, these were typically 100 to 300 yard shots.

Then, I got some info/family experience that told me to shoot center of the front shoulder. For several years, this was really effective, but I was generally shooting a 30-06 so it has the penetrating capability to get through this. It was still hard on bullets. I recovered a couple that were badly mangled.

Now I read about people shooting high shoulder and I wonder if there is a shot opportunity there or if I just need to continue shooting in the crease behind the front shoulder. I've gone back to shooting for the crease because it makes a good target and it is effective with pistol or rifle rounds. Much better with pistol rounds than trying to break down the shoulder complex. Remember a pistol round is gonna have about 600 foot pounds of energy compared to a rifle having 1500 to 2000 ftpounds of energy. Yes, energy is a very arguable subject, but energy is the potential that the bullet arrives at the animal with to open the bullet and do damage within the animal and it's the remaining energy that keeps propel it forward out the backside in my mind energy x bullet design x shot placement tells me if this thing is gonna exit or not.

So I go back to where should I be shooting them if we could curate these answers around a 6.5 Creedmoor at about 600 yards, that would be great. I think it 200 or 300 yards, I can just shoot it in the crease behind the shoulder and be just fine.
Click to expand...



@Barbourcreek, James, I cannot find your excellent video on heart vs. high shoulder shot placement on WT.
 
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When I was first introduced to hunting, pre teens, I like you was taught to place the bullet behind the shoulder. We wanted a almost guaranteed lethal shot as this would/should take out the lungs…..plus, we wanted meat for the table.

High shoulder is great, minimal meat loss……very lethal!!! But, little room for error! A misjudged distance, or a bit of shooter's error…..and we have a complete miss or a wounded animal!

I much prefer a high probability kill shot, with minimal meat loss. The DRT shots look great in the movies, and provide bragging rights….we hear very little about the "muffed" shots!

I still feel that way, about game meant for the table. Shoulder shots are for very large animals or animals not meant for the table.

Bullet recovery……I'm extremely disappointed "IF" I do not get an exit wound on anything smaller than a mature moose…..and only then, if it's a raking shot! I demand a lot from my bullets! 😉 JMO memtb
 
I like to shoot behind the shoulder but you need to pay attention to where the leg is. If it is back and you shoot behind the shoulder you're going to get a rear lung liver shot. If you pull it right which is a tendency for right handers even worse. I either wait till the leg goes forward or shoot the shoulder tight.
 
I've concentrated in this area and they don't go far. Archery or firearms.
 

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Behind the shoulder usually works for me. Best case scenario is the presented shoulder is forward but this almost never seems to work perfectly. I've generally not minded what position the shoulder is with a rifle because opportunities happen quick in the field. Add in angles and quartering shots and it changes obviously, but a well placed shot behind the shoulder has never failed me.
 
In the field, many shot angles are not perpendicular like some teaching videos, so I mentally visualize a line through the heart area from my view point and through the other side. That may require and angle from the back of the ribs that exits in front of the opposing shoulder, or it may be entering in front of the near shoulder and exiting back the opposing ribs or so. I have shot them head on at the base of the front neck and between both shoulders, but if I am in certain terrain where an animal may only need a few yards to enter thick, hard brush, swampy wet lands, large water bodies or into deep canyons/ravines, I may take a high shoulder to drop him right there. There have been rare occasions when I was looking down at an animal who was in thick, short cover, and I placed the shot into the top of the shoulders through the spine and out the front of the chest area.
 

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