Originally Posted by GregW
Originally Posted by MILES58
Pay no attention to MCH. He's a been known to be a little short on fore thought some days.

Sometimes you do not get enough say in where you hit them with an arrow because of flight time. Even at 15 yards and 330 FPS you are nor the sole arbiter of where it will hit.

I would consider something like a NAP Thunderhead on a Full Metal Jacket arrow. I know that after penetrating a rib and the chest to the off side shoulder joint it still had enough momentum to split the ball of the joint into 3 equal pieces and still manage 8 inches protrusion on a big doe. Whether the identical shot would produce identical results on an elk I couldn't say, but I would bet if you hit the onside ball of the shoulder joint it would split it and still make it into the chest and maybe through. That was shooting a 490 grain crossbow FMJ (with head) so you'd be reasonably comparable at 32 inch draw at 71 lbs. The arrow might well bend or wrinkle the insert area in the process and be all done, but that happens and you are not sole arbiter of that either.



Ever shot an elk through the shoulders with an arrow? Literally, one of the worst spots, if not the worst to hit one at. Odds of recovery are slim..

Deer shoulders and elk shoulders are worlds apart...


I did not make the assumption he shot the elk in the shoulder on purpose. Only a half wit would intentionally shoot shoulders on any big game with a bow. It make very good sense to prepare for an accident by going to a heavy sturdy arrow and head. There is little to no downside to doing so.

I HAVE shot deer shoulders and leg bones on purpose before. I took boned out legs and pinned them to a block target and shot them to see for sure what happened. Even at 330 FPS and 15 yards A deer CAN move enough to be a big problem before the arrow gets there.