The 'High Shoulder' shot of dreams

[WildRose]

I hate to poo-poo what you're saying, BUT where you have indicated is NOT where a true 'high shoulder' shot is taken.
The high shoulder is where the shoulder blade/scapula bone is covering both the high lungs AND where the spine drops behind it.
Where you indicate is essentially the neck, where the spine is higher.
All of your info is pretty spot on, however, with a slight miss horizontally either left or right, you WILL hit either lungs (left in your diagram) or right into the spine. Both are killing shots.
The only problem I have encountered trying for a high shoulder shot was on an extremely steep uphill shot. I aimed where I wanted it to go, WRONG! The bullet hit above the shoulder bones/spine and passed clean through not hitting any vitals, BUT it did knock the deer down which gave me a second shot to take and kill the stag.
I am not proud of this, and it had me second guessing my abilities as a marksman and whether I should be using that shot.
Lots of deer hunters I know only ever shoot in the neck, this I have witnessed with differing results, some drop like pole-axed, others simply run off after dropping due to CNS shock but not a direct spine hit.

As has been stated since the invention of hunting, it's all about shot placement, shot placement and shot placement.
Even a spear is no good if you hit the animal in the back leg, you may slow it some, but it's still gonna outrun it's persuer.

Cheers.

If you aren't learning something every time you take a shot at an animal something is wrong. None of us is born with a wealth of experience and practice.

When I shot my Kudu in 2015 it was on a very steep hill and getting so late the only reasonable shot to take was to "spine him". My POA was just at the top of where the heart would be on a level shot. The bullet passed just above it and exited the spine almost perfectly centered between the shoulder blades.

Always imagine a straight line through your point of aim and what lies between that point and the projected exit point and you'll be in good shape.

 

[dougduey]

My aiming point was the intersection of middle of chest horizontal line and vertical line along front edge of leg. 300WSM using Berger 215 Hybrid, 2870 FPS at muzzle. Use same round for my long range and when I practice on prairie dogs (yep, almost vaporizes them).

So three of the four dropped DRT, never moved, fourth one ran 5-10 feet dropped dead. Common points: lost 1 shoulder on 3 of the 4, all 4 had exit holes out of rib area 3" to 3.5" in diameter, all had massive blood loss, all had damage to lungs and heart, barely nicked the spine on 2.

TexSavage is spot on where to place the shot. This hits the Thoracic Autonomic Nerve Complex and this makes them look like they've been hit by lightning. It's not a meat savers shot and you will lose some of the front quarter meat (use an all copper bullet to reduce the meat loss). This is where the Europeans shoot all of their game, unlike what I was taught. The beauty of this shot is you have a fair amount of fudge factor. A little left or right or higher or lower, it doesn't matter. All are lethal. It either destroys the central nervous system or causes extreme blood loss or both. Very rapid and ethical kill.
I changed to this shot position to mainly drop antelope in their tracks so I wouldn't get all that adrenaline in the meat if they ran. Everything has either been dead in its tracks or dropped within a step or two. Nothing like watching a bull elk look like someone pulled the rug out from underneath him.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I think the perfect high shoulder shot is about mid way down and back a little, right in the middle of the vital organs. At least we seem to be moving away from the high shoulder, mid and low shoulder are better.

 

[Gord0]

I've never attempted a high shoulder shot, as I like to give myself the most margin of error. I'm not perfect, deer move, wind gusts... About half way up, right in the "crease". I've missed high and back with my bow and took out the artery. Shot a little low on a heavily quartered away deer and sent most if his heart out the front if his neck/chest. He was a bang flop. I like having room for error!

 

[Hand Skills]

Thanks for all the positive feedback! I appreciate all the folks who have shared their experiences on the subject.

@MagnumManiac - In case I wasn't clear, the red arrows are indicating a measurement of how much muscle was above the spine, not an aim point. I appreciate criticism, but in this case I think we're saying the same thing!

Very hard to illustrate an accurate 'point of aim' for a 3 dimensional target in 2d (as you candidly pointed out).

Some hunters are just starting out, and many do not process themselves. Depending on presentation, the scapula may not be covering the lungs at all. My point is the term 'high shoulder' can be misleading.

Every presentation is unique, and as a result, most shots are too.

@Ckgworks - I think you are spot on. Im curious about your markup - could you PM it to me if you're not comfortable posting? It's pretty hard to find good nervous system diagrams. My understanding is the 'autonomic plexus' descends rearward from T1-T2-T3. They run toward the posterior and join up with the aorta (for lack of a better term). The 'lung' branch continues back, while the 'heart' and 'recurrent laryngeal' nerve kind of loop around the aorta and follow it down to the heart.

For me it's kind of funny - over the years I've tried getting fancy with shot placement, sometimes to poor effect. With decades of experience and countless necropsies, I've zeroed in on the small zone between the heart and spine as my preferred target. The funny part is, that's right between the front legs, and halfway up the chest! Not a new concept - I have come full circle! (The only real difference is now I aim a lot smaller.)

There are exceptions - I know it's not a shoulder shot, but we've found a follow up into the hump of a moose is a pretty good way of crumpling them when retrieval is a concern. Works great when they are facing away too. I can't think of a single instance where I've intentionally placed my first shot above the spine though...

 

[Ckgworks]

The only reason I didn't attach it, was I didn't want to derail your thread......I had already deleted it, so I tried to recreate it on my phone, I hope it comes through. The black dot is close to what I consider the "autonomic plexus region"....maybe a touch forward/up. My finger kept getting drawn towards the junction of all the arteries at the lungs/heart........Your description of it sounds about right. Like you said good diagrams are hard to find, and they're all a little different.

In my experience, An animal shot here, will have a hole through the "shoulder" when it is removed from the carcass, but not necessarily through the scapula. I have been trying to teach my kids to pull a bullet into this region, but it's hard to pick a point to aim at......seems like there is always a nice tuft of hair on the leg crease to aim at, and I'd rather they focus on hitting a spot.....it'll come with time and experience for them. The deer that they have managed to shoot here, Drop right there with lots of blood and I feel better that if they have a misshap the bullet is still going into vitals. Very little meat lost as well...... Just my 2 cents, I can't tell anyone else where to shoot but for me This is the only "shoulder" shot I'll take, but I don't really think of it as a shoulder shot.

.

 

[dougduey]

The only reason I didn't attach it, was I didn't want to derail your thread......I had already deleted it, so I tried to recreate it on my phone, I hope it comes through. The black dot is close to what I consider the "autonomic plexus region"....maybe a touch forward/up. My finger kept getting drawn towards the junction of all the arteries at the lungs/heart........Your description of it sounds about right. Like you said good diagrams are hard to find, and they're all a little different.

In my experience, An animal shot here, will have a hole through the "shoulder" when it is removed from the carcass, but not necessarily through the scapula. I have been trying to teach my kids to pull a bullet into this region, but it's hard to pick a point to aim at......seems like there is always a nice tuft of hair on the leg crease to aim at, and I'd rather they focus on hitting a spot.....it'll come with time and experience for them. The deer that they have managed to shoot here, Drop right there with lots of blood and I feel better that if they have a misshap the bullet is still going into vitals. Very little meat lost as well...... Just my 2 cents, I can't tell anyone else where to shoot but for me This is the only "shoulder" shot I'll take, but I don't really think of it as a shoulder shot.

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Ckgworks,
Your shot placement is perfect. The true high shoulder shot is higher than your mark on the diagram. It's actually hitting the scapula which drives it into the spine, and this, in turn, severed the spinal cord and is "lights out" on the animal. It's exactly as Nathan Foster describes on his site. I'm in the medical field, so I pay attention to anatomy. The shot placement on your diagram gives one the most room for error and the highest probability of destroying the CNS. I was originally taught to shoot just behind the elbow joint and hit the heart and rear lungs. Worked fine for the short distance shots in the cedar swamps of Michigan, but I never liked it when the deer still were able to run and I had to track them. It took an old timer in Colorado to change my ways and shoot for the spot you illustrated

 

[Pdvdh]

The high shoulder shot of nightmares. A dream gone bad ...