Will definitely lose some meat with the shoulder shots, which I do, but its better than losing a whole deer. Its also nice to drive right up to them. I have to be careful with my ballistic tip loads in my 270 and 708, a behind the shoulder soft tissue shot is not optimal and has made for some tracking jobs I wish I would not have had. I deer can cover a lot of ground before it expires when there is no blood trial you better have a good idea of where it went or a good dog around. I shot a doe straight on a couple years ago, heart was destroyed, dang thing flipped and hit the ground hard, still to get up and run 50 yards, they are tough animals.
I'm glad to not see any mentions of neck shots in this thread. If you have a good rest and the confidence to pull them off, go for it. I just think there are too many factors, being in a tree, weather, rest, a target capable of moving, that make neck shots not optimal...and then you see the newbies come across neck shot threads and think they should try it. I killed a doe one opening day afternoon that had been neck shot I'm guessing earlier than morning. No reason for that mess.
Last edited by killerv; 04/02/19.
