On broadside shots on elk, I shot the shoulder to better anchor them. Same on deer if I need to reduce post shot running distance, such as near a property line or other hunters nearby. Otherwise on broadside deer I shoot middle chest cavity just behind shoulder. However if canted broadside facing me I hold on shoulder to avoid pauch. Canted away shoot behind the front shoulder with exit out the back shoulder.
Shoulder shots
- Thread starter Onesock
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I hunt heavily timbered/brushy areas. I shoot shoulders with bonded bullet or partition to minimize meat loss and to break the animal down. It can be very difficult to find a deer that runs 60 to 80 yads after being lung shot when you can only see 10 yards in the worst areas.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Gotcha I was looking at the straight line and wondering if one of us had a color blindness issue or maybe both, HA!
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Works great every time in wide open large properties but I've seen them run easily 200-300 yards with their lungs both holed through and a good exit.
I've seen large boars, over 400lbs run almost twice that far and still get up on the prod when you catch up.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Very true and it's not uncommon to find little or no blood for the up to the first hundred yards or more, particularly with a high lung shot that is a little far back.
VTbluegrass
Well-Known Member
If I am after meat when hunting (does and scrubby bucks) I will avoid the shoulder at all cost.
When I see the mature deer I have been hunting all season I let the situation dictate. Sometimes cover, speed of the deer moving through, time of day will play in.
I swear though I'll take a quartering away shot for anchoring one and getting good blood if it does run.
When I see the mature deer I have been hunting all season I let the situation dictate. Sometimes cover, speed of the deer moving through, time of day will play in.
I swear though I'll take a quartering away shot for anchoring one and getting good blood if it does run.
HTJ
Well-Known Member
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- Mar 3, 2013
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Lot of great reply's. Personally I always try for a broadside **** behind the shoulder. No matter which hunting bullet you use, hydrostatic shock is how bullets kill. Putting a well placed shot into the boiler room will result in a very quick humane kill. High shoulder shots are trying to use this hydrostatic shock on the spinal cord. NOT good. Yes if done correctly animal will drop. Too much room for error and a winded animal. TV shows these shots but never shows any of the wounded shots! Ear or base of skull are way to risky I don't care who you are. Yes it kills and if done under the right conditions it's lights out. I have guided many hunts and have seen way too many animals fun off with broken jaws! Makes me sick. Take the proper shot and if possible let put it into the boiler room where you have the largest kill zone.
Donnie Spradling
Well-Known Member
My aiming point is usually just behind the shoulder on deer sized game. My stepson shot an old mature big bodied Whitetail on the shoulder 2 years ago. Tracking this deer I found some pieces of bone in the blood where he first laid down. Tracked another mile finding some blood but never found the deer. I usually hit them just behind the shoulder and have never had one go more than 50 yards bleeding very heavily.
May not get a good blood trail as it takes time to fill chest cavity. Scapula and shoulder meat are like a self sealing tank on large animals. The scapula is narrow only at the joint so may not break. Bullets sometimes do weird things like bouncing or blow up off bone. Prefer shooting under shoulder in line with the back side of the leg. Especially with light rifle like a 260 and 140gr bullets.
straitshooter57
Member
Having hunted Alaska Bear/Moose and in Africa, I have a different approach.
I don't disagree with anyone who believes in "anchoring" an animal. However, there are some animals that are too tough or too dangerous to take that simple approach. Or, there may be circumstances where the "bush" is so thick that you can't risk the chance of the animal running off -- especially the Alaska Grizzly Bear because their thick coats don't leave a blood trail.
So, IMHO, the best approach is, if possible, to wait until the animal is quartering away from you. Then you aim for the heart/lung area so that the bullet exits the heart/lungs and takes out the far shoulder. (For example, on a grizzly bear, a lung shot is 100% non-survivable and a heart shot is only 80% non-survivable.)
This technique does two things. First, it creates a non-survivable heart/lung shot and second, it also "anchors" the animal with the remaining bullet energy into the shoulder.
I don't disagree with anyone who believes in "anchoring" an animal. However, there are some animals that are too tough or too dangerous to take that simple approach. Or, there may be circumstances where the "bush" is so thick that you can't risk the chance of the animal running off -- especially the Alaska Grizzly Bear because their thick coats don't leave a blood trail.
So, IMHO, the best approach is, if possible, to wait until the animal is quartering away from you. Then you aim for the heart/lung area so that the bullet exits the heart/lungs and takes out the far shoulder. (For example, on a grizzly bear, a lung shot is 100% non-survivable and a heart shot is only 80% non-survivable.)
This technique does two things. First, it creates a non-survivable heart/lung shot and second, it also "anchors" the animal with the remaining bullet energy into the shoulder.
Quarter Round
Well-Known Member
I want them to stop right on the spot.
DavidleeCole
Well-Known Member
A sholder is my default aimpoint on any thing I have just shot so many animals their it is automatically the first place i go. If I have a second to think then I pull just behind the shoulder in the little pocket and make a double lung and heart shot. I know that any thing shot in the shoulder or just behind with any firearm that just has enough to get through into the chest cavity is dead and gone. Just give them enough time to relax and lay down.
My big game is white tail deer. If at all possible I aim center of shoulder. Most of my shots are under 300 and with most of the rifles I use in these areas I zero them 3 inch high at 100 yards and that will allow the rise and fall of the bullet not to be over 3 1/2 inch high or low all the way out to 300 yards. I aim center of shoulder and 99.9% of the time they are laying where they were standing. The past 30 years I have hunting in east NC where if a deer gets out of the fields or trails between cut overs it is swamp or so thick you about have to crawl to find them. I don't relish crawling around in especially after dark in cotton mouth territory. Now I am hunting in the mountains of TN. I want them down on the spot or they may go off down a very steep mountain into a laurel thicket and be very hard to get out or you just may find someone else tag on it by the time you get to it. When it really comes down to it there is not really that much REAL meat on the shoulders of a deer unless it is a monster. Most of it is plastic like film.
