I don't like the high shoulder shot personally, I shot a doe several years ago with a .50 black powder, broke her spine and she obviously wasn't going anywhere but writhed in pain until I could load the rifle again and end her suffering with a head shot. I almost exclusively take head shots or a neck shot closer to the head where the chance of missing the spine is much less. I they're facing me I try to wait until the head is down and there is this nice dark line up the back of the neck that is a perfect aiming point or stick it between the ears and they never know what hit them. On moving shots I will shoot just behind the shoulder or I may not take the shot if I'm not confident of a quick and ethical kill.
On the subject of meat destruction, I am primarily of the school of saving as much meat as possible, it's one of the primary reasons I hunt. To have clean, lean red meat is the carnivore's dream for living well in our polluted, chemical infested world. I digress; it is true that slower heavy bullets, especially of larger caliber, penetrate better and destroy less meat than smaller hyper velocity rounds. For shorter ranges, 150 and in, the old 30-30 is hard to beat. I use the Hornady Leverevolution in mine which extends the range to about 200 and about 1 MOA accurate which plenty accurate for hunting anything I want to shoot at those ranges. I also hunt with 308 win (with heavier 175 bullets) and 6.5 Cree...... with 147s if I'm shooting farther. If I only had one cartridge to hunt with I would strongly consider a 338 win mag and 225 bullets, 308 with 175s or 7-08 with 160ish bullets. I also think that way too many people put far too much into the highest BC, newest technology and marketing hype than is practical. A Sierra Game King in any cartridge is more than enough to be very effective at ranges consistent with most hunter's skill set. I only use the Sierra as an example of old school bullets that have taken more game in the last fifty years than anyone knows and I could plug in Speer, Nosler, Remington Core-Lokt etc. just as well. The point is that the newest high performance, hyper velocity pump my ego latest and greatest don't mean squat when taking deer at the most common hunting ranges. The heart of a white tail is about the size of a naval orange and if you can hit the orange at whatever distance you're hunting, that's accurate enough to make a consistently ethical, fast kill. If you are hunting in area's where you could take a 600 yard or farther shot and have the skill and practice to be ethical, then a high velocity, high performing long range cartridge has merit.
Please consider that these are simply my opinions and preferences gained from over 55 years of hunting and shooting accurately in both the gun / shooting industry and in law enforcement. I fully embrace differing and opposing views as being your own and enjoy.
memtb
