Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bad idea

If I could text or email pics to some one. I could demarcated the land marks of the scapula on a live mule. We could totally hi jack the thread and plan a Zebra safari!

Obviously if someone is asking about breaking down or is my setup good enough for a shoulder shot, they are asking about bone.

And obviously as in my examples 'shoulder' the meat, covers much more than bone.

We have an elk camp on national forest while hunting the rez, at the same time there are Jr elk hunts in that state unit. Couple years ago a father with his son and son's friend were camped next to us. We have a large and family friendly camp and invariably most other hunters stop in and visit.

The father was somewhat physically challenged, in poor shape. His 15 year old son had a tag and the friend along for the trip, their first ever hunt. They needed help.

I told the father to take them out friday, the first day and if not successful I would take the boys into a roadless area saturday morning and kill a cow. That's how it turned out.

Driving and walking in we talked about lots of stuff, 40 years apart but they were going to the same highschool I did and on the football team. I also talked about shot placement... follow the front of the leg up above middle and shoot the shoulder.. no need to complicate it with long explanations.

A mile in we see a herd, work around for an ambush, a cow walks out at 50 yds, stands there broadside, young man is aiming, shoots, cow runs over a little rise, we walk over and she's dead.

I shot her in the shoulder just like you said!

Yes you did, great job!

And we packed her out listening to those boys retell the story again and again.

The shot was well back but still double lunged, if I had told him to shoot low in the armpit for the heart it would have been a gut shot.

Kent

Since they didn't hit where they aimed, I don't see the point. They could just as well have hit forward and missed or just grazed the brisket. The behind the shoulder shot is safest as it gives the best chance of hitting the animal.

And, you confirm the point that a hit just behind the shoulder is deadly.

And a miss behind the shoulder aim is gut and a rodeo, a miss forward from high shoulder is a missed elk or neck shot.

Just because I suggest a high shoulder shot doesn't mean they can shoot there.

This thread is about giving advice to someone you don't know or how they shoot. High shoulder is the biggest lethal area of the vitals.

Problem is people advise what they think they can do.

Since I changed from advising armpit up shots, I haven't had to knife someone's struggling elk in the dark.

Kent

Krp....well said. And to clarify my position I am eluding to shoulder blade the scapular bone. On a broadside elk.If one aims at that point above the the exit of the front leg picks one third to one half chest (about where the center of the neck is) you are in my opinion the epi center of the good stuff. This gives you a good chance to stone em. ( I still don't know what DRT means). It also stays away from the guts. If you think bone and blood is a mess....try rumen juice soaked flank steak and tenderloin. If one moves the point of aim caudal or ventral to that point then a error radius diameter of a pie plate will put some of that error radius no longer over the thorax, spine and neck (all lethal targets) but in fact will cover the abdomen.

I don't think 10 inches back from just behind the shoulder gives you a gut shot -- even on a deer. It will probably result in a liver shot, or still catch lung.

High shoulder is okay, if you don't mind completely missing the animal if you are high. If you are back and a little low it hits a no-mans-land and results in a wound the animal can recover from. I have nothing against the high shoulder, but I still prefer the behind the shoulder and half way down.

Post oak what lies in the abdomen left of the liver? How long is a whitetail rib cage? How many ribs does a whitetail have?. Where on a whitetail is the diaphragm? As in what rib does it start? Where does the front leg exit the whitetail thorax?

Reminds me of a guy at the range, had an elk tag and was talking it up. Shot his gun a few shots and it was 10 inches high at 100... He asked what I thought... I said he was high... He said that's ok an elk is 40 inches wide so 10 inches will hit it fine... that and he only had 7 bullets left in the box to hunt with.

Went on his merry way.

Kent