Shoulder shots

[flylo]

I shot a rabbit with my Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Mag the day I got it on my 21st Bday long long ago, all that was left was the ears & the skin between so I don't recommend you try this.

 

[Korhil78]

I go for double lung on everything. Never have lost an animal yet. Just my preference.

 

[preventec47]

I hand load max plus a little bit more 7mm Rem Mag with 110gr Barnes and take only rib/lung shots so as to preserve meat in the shoulders etc and I wanted the most explosive package I could load to eliminate a pencil through the lungs hole etc. I estimate in the 3650 fps ballpark. 150yds is usually my max distance and so far no deer ( about a dozen ) have run more than four or five yards... Actually that is about how far their first jump or leap is because there is really no running.

 

[Darrel]

Shoulder shots 100%. Hunt close to property lines and don't care to track after dark in the poison ivy and honey locust trees. Have seen lung shot deer go a long ways usually into nastiest cover there is

 

[Lapuatom]

High shoulder shot is always my aiming point for elk and deer. With Berger bullets works very well.

High shoulder breaks the spine. DOA

 

[Lapuatom]

This? Lifted the picture from the errornet.

View attachment 165732

Amen

 

[BigJohnH]

The problem with shoulder shot is the destruction of the meat in them!

 

[Hoss50]

I do not purposefully shoulder shoot elk or deer. I lung shoot them. All the recent animals myself, and hunting partners have put down have been lung shots with Berger bullets. Most are 135gr or smaller. That is part of the reason I don't shoulder shoot. Small bullets vs. Big shoulders.

Bergers tend to grenade when they get inside too, and I dont want a wounded animal.

We have shot 4 cow elk and 2 mulies with Bergers over the last few years. All included lung shots, and none went more than about 40 yards.

We did hit 1 shoulder on a cow elk this year on accident, but we didn't investigate the wound much during cleaning, we had 2 elk to process and it was dark. It messed up the leg, but the lung shot is what put it down for the count. It would have died from the shoulder shot, but it was not a DRT. It went about 20 yards after the lung shot.

If I was going to purposefully shoot shoulders i would use heavier constructed bullets like Barnes or Nosler Partitions.

 

[zb338]

Shoulder shots? That's a new one.

Zeke

 

[Lazy D]

If it's inside of 200 yards I always neck shoot 'em. They drop in their tracks period. Never had to track one and never lose an ounce of meat. Maybes cleaning them at easy too. The only down side is if they are standing under the feeder, they pour blood out all over the corn. I've never had a shoulder shot drop in their tracks. Maybe I need to be shooting a bigger caliber if I'm gonna shoulder shoot one.

 

[stx]

If it's inside of 200 yards I always neck shoot 'em. They drop in their tracks period. Never had to track one and never lose an ounce of meat. Maybes cleaning them at easy too. The only down side is if they are standing under the feeder, they pour blood out all over the corn. I've never had a shoulder shot drop in their tracks. Maybe I need to be shooting a bigger caliber if I'm gonna shoulder shoot one.

90+% of our shoulder shots drop in their tracks and I don't allow any of my hunters to shoot a deer under a feeder!

 

[Lazy D]

90+% of our shoulder shots drop in their tracks and I don't allow any of my hunters to shoot a deer under a feeder!

I guess since I'm hunting my own land I'll shoot'em where I want.

 

[COBrad]

I avoid shoulder shots almost always, ruins too much meat. I've shot several elk with Bergers and quit using them for the same reason. I'll take a shoulder shot if it's all that's offered or on the rare occasion I need to drop one where it stands. The best bullet I've used for high shoulder shots was Barnes, great penetration but not too destructive. Going to try the Hammer bullets soon.

 

[Hand Skills]

I only see a green line there. Where's the blue line? The only blue I see is the spinal cord which is often my primary target when I need to drop them without a step.

Exactly. The blue line on that drawing represents the spinal cord, above which there is NO VITAL TISSUE.

The spinal cord itself is runs pretty low through the neck and chest. Or, to put it another way, there is a lot of shoulder blade ABOVE the spine.

I know you get it, but not everyone does.

(Disregard the green dot - I lifted this from a bowhunting website)