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Yep, the Kansas Doppel-Lunger is a good one. And you save all that precious shoulder meat!

I'm slow on the uptake at times but I've gone to neck or shoulder shots. Or angled bone smashers like Bob mentioned. So far, they haven't gone anywhere except straight down. Shoulder meat is far over-rated, someone around here said that.

I mean no disrespect and am not bagging on you in any way, but the deer in that pic is shot significantly too far back even if it was a quartering away shot. I know none of us, certainly not me, gets perfect shot placement every time, but if you are intentionally aiming that far back, bring it forward a bit and life will get easier. Ideally, I'd like to hit about 4 inches in front of the brown leaf and a little down on a broadside shot, maybe hit the leaf if quartering.

The bulk of the lungs lies between the shoulders. A "low" shoulder shot that misses the bones is a solid lung shot. As you move rear of the "elbow", the lungs start angling up. Imagine a line going from the elbow through the leaf to the bullet hole. That is approximately the rear of the lungs. Depending on the shot angle, you probably got some liver and clipped the rear lobe of the onside lung and pulverized the offside one.

Shoulder shots are where it's at, for me anyway.

We need you on the border

That's a riot! I'm still chucklin' here.

I hear what you're sayin' and appreciate that comment, RJY. But, that buck was quartering away and downhill (steep). I think going forward with the shot would have been a single-lunger.

Regardless, if I could do it over, I wouldn't do any of the mentioned... I'd put the bullet in his neck.

I'm thinking of trying that in-front-of-the-shoulder neck shot this year, where the spine comes off the shoulder toward the skull. The vertebrae are good sized right there, and there is a lot to hit if I don't hit bone but hit low. I just can't plan to shoot at meat if I don't have to, so I can't justify taking the shoulder shot. I know a lot of guys use it, and it anchors game right there, but I've not had anything screw me with tracking or packing by shooting for the heart/lungs.

HuntnShoot,

Which part of the shoulder, high or low? I haven't seen much meat on the high shoulder.

Jason

Where is Souci with the de-oxygenated animals and the "Rule"?

I come from a long line of breeders, so I was taught to shoot 'in the crease'. Whether through luck or whatever, I've kept the vast majority of shots thereabouts, and animals have died fast.

I like the 'aim for the opposite shoulder' that BobinNH mentioned, but I've shot up meat that I was unhappy about when doing that. It does work well though. I don't like to aim at meat that I can use. We turn shoulders into sausage and salami.

I don't like the high lung shots that were part of the rodeo stories earlier, and I've seen difficulties with these and animals not acting like they were hit. They died though. I've yet to see the rodeos last for miles, but I'm not calling BS. It just hasn't happened to me or those I've hunted with.

Given the limitations I deal with in my gun, optics, typical game ranges where I do the majority of my hunting, and my preference to save meat I like the lungs as a target. Trying to come up with another good place to shoot at animals that allow for smaller aimpoints because they are closer. I think the neck/shoulder junction spiner' is a viable choice. It will have to be a concerted effort though, because I trained myself for years to aim where I do without having to think about it. Most of the shooting happens pretty fast, as most of the animals I see and have taken, regardless of distance, aren't just standing around waiting to be shot, like they do on the shows.

I understand what you're saying... I've taken doppel-lung shots with rifles because my brain was trained with archery in mind, where I need to hit both lungs. And I'll be shooting the crease this August for bull elk with training wheels.

But on a high shoulder shot, there's not much meat. Or is there? I haven't seen much in the scapula area, and outside that area is the spine up higher, and lungs down lower.

For reference, I shot a buck last year with a TTSX at ~20y in the neck. Little if any bloodshot meat. First time I've used the Barnes.

Several of my early deer were UBER close when I shot them. Neck shots may have been the ticket, but I shot for heart/lungs. Funny that I never had an exit with 243 or 257R and 100gr bullets. Nothing went more than a few feet.

Now if I intentionally plan for woods distances, I bring a 44 lever, and still shoot for the crease. 44 bullets on meat deer can nearly remove the opposite leg for you, once you remove the hide...

I've got some decent-shooting cast bullets loaded for my '06 that I plan to try on game, shots 200 and in, and the lung shot isn't going to cut it, given the mild speeds/expansion. Thus the attempt to find another POA that breaks bones w/o making a mess of the butchering, but still gives me a bit of leg room for shooter error. Obviously, If I was confident in my ability to consistently hit it, the base of the skull would be the switch-flipper.

The other fly in this ointment is that the mythical elk, and even very many deer, aren't showing up where they were, and I've yet to find many of them anywhere near hunting season the last couple years. Thanks, wolves. What a great plan that reintroduction was.