Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting The high shoulder rifle shot

Mach3: I would NEVER under ANY circumstance intentionally shoot a Deer (Elk or Antelope) "high in the shoulder"!
I have seen Deer, Elk and Antelope that other people have "shot high in the shoulder" and the results are disgusting and wasteful.
PERIOD!
If a person has time to "shoot a Deer high in the shoulder" then that person has time to correctly shoot said Deer in the heart/lungs avoiding the shoulders and the wastefulness of that.
Sheesh.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I’ve done it and sure enough they lock up and fall over like flipping a table, I audibly laughed the first time I saw it…. Pretty funny.

but it did damage more meat so I shifted to neck shots for the most part….

Now if I’be not been shooting enough- or don’t trust the firearm, I do what Varmint guy doesn’t and center on the vitals..

Lighten up Francis.

High shoulder 4 life!

It hasn't yet, still waiting for it to happen.

I slip it right behind the shoulder....no way I'm wasting meat for absolutely no reason.

It's a good shot, if you've got it.

Been on my hands & knees crawling through prickly pear, mesquite following a virtually no existent blood trail in the Texas hill country. Kept a lookout for rattlesnake the whole time. No thanks. High shoulder shot for me.

If the deer does not present a high shoulder shot, do you pass on the deer?

One of the major advantages of "monolithic" bullets, such as the Barnes TTSX and a bunch of others, is they "waste" almost no meat, even with the high shoudler/spine shot, yet drop 'em right there. This is because they don't fragment nearly as much as lead-cored bullets.

Apparently many hunters still haven't realized this, because they've only used the same bullets for decades. The other factor, which is also obvious after somebody's used monos is that you can use a significantly smaller bullet, which will still kill very well (especially with the high shoulder shot), yet ruin very little meat.

A good example would be the pronghorn my wife killed on opening day here in Montana. She shot it through the shoulders at 200 yards with a 70-grain Hornady GMX from a .22-250, started at 3300 fps. This would ruin a LOT of meat with a typical lead-cored bullet, but the antelope dropped right there--and we lost maybe 2-3 ounces of meat.

But whatever....

I take whatever reasonable shot I’m offered. Dead is dead and little bit of lost meat if far preferable to losing an entire animal.

On the mono metal bullet theme, I prefer them for hunting when I can get them. Sadly they are really hard to find now.

I`d 10X over purposefully ruin shoulder or neck meat rather than the heart. I do tend to aim for forward lungs though if the right shot is presented that will take the lungs out but not the heart.

Most "ruined" meat is just superficial surface jello anyhow, unless frangible bullets at high speed or bone shrapnel is involved.

I’ve been a slow starter on the monos but was pleasantly surprised when a 120 TSX in a 7mm-08 broke both shoulder bones of a 150 lb buck and did not destroy the surrounding flesh. Didn’t mean to put it there and knew I was a little forward when I shot. But as MD says, it sure works. Next deer was a doe that was hit with meat in mind at the rear of the shoulder, no bone. 50 yd dash and done. Many of you have more stories than I but I’m sold.

Lots of factors left out on your part. Location, hunt conditions, shooting over bait, from a blind, etc…

I have no idea what your experience level is. Your question leads me to assume it’s limited and location specific.

For me high shoulder works, but is not a one size fits all solution to shooting deer

It's true about the heart. Right up there with tenderloin around here. I don't know anyone who eats the lights, though.

The family favors the shoulder shot. The kids are strictly limited to broadside on calm animals. I take the first make-able shot presented on older bucks.

Lighten up Francis.

High shoulder 4 life!
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Hear! Hear !

PREferred doesn’t mean ONLY.
Center neck is just as reliable, deadly & instant.

I specified ‘spine”’ In my post.
Spine is above the shoulder meat.

“sheesh” to you VG.

Jerry

I always try my very best to put it in the front half. If it happens to be high shoulder I’m good with it. I absolutely crushed a buck yesterday with a shot through both shoulders. I was pleasantly surprised at the minimal amount of meat lost considering it was relatively close range with a 130 Scirocco at warp speed out of my 270Wby. And like Tinman says, I’d way rather lose some shoulder that’s to be canned or ground than the heart.

I have done high shoulder it drops them with any adequate for deer caliber. About like shooting them in the head.

Preferred for me depends on where I'm hunting. If I walked in going up the mountain (majority of the time) I really like lung shot deer. If I walked in going down the mountain I'm a HUGE fan of the high shoulder shot.

Regardless of what I prefer, the shot I get is what I take...time is very limited and in most cases if I don't take the first clean, ethical shot there won't be another chance. Last two weeks have been hard quartering to me angles. One from the ground shooting up the mountain, one from a stand shooting down the mountain. I'm using cup/core and in both cases the near side shoulder was pretty ugly on damage.

I should probably give more TTSX bullets a try. I've really only used them in .224 calibers. Cup/core's have been good to me but I can see where the trade off and less bloodshot meat on shoulder shot deer would be a pro for the TTSX.

I hit a mule deer doe at approximately 212 yards with a 140 AB high shoulder shot out of 7mm-08. She was dead before she hit the ground. No blood or anything. No tacking either.

It's my preferred shot. I will gladly give up that 5# of silver skin and connective tissue infested meat for no tracking in a wooly ass creek bottom or having a deer cross a creek. And no I don't pass if all I have is a standard lung shot, I just shoot em like I would with a bow and watch em run for 30-50 yards wondering how far into the bottoms or down in a ravine this ordeal is going to take me.

Plus like others have said I get to keep the heart for slicing and frying, liver too even though that doesn't get messed up with a lung shot.