Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Informal poll- do you shoot through the shoulders on deer?

Where I learned to hunt( I am still learning), in Northern Maine and New Hampshire, the success rate on ANY deer was maybe 15%(much less on mature bucks).The country is akin to the Pacific NW with huge blocks of remote forest and low deer dendisties.

The notion that you could pick and choose shoulders or lungs in the limited ,fleeting opportunities up there is just laughable, and if you want A deer at all, you better shoot, fast, at whatever is offered because if you are really picky with your shot selection, you are gonna grow old,and never kill a deer at all.

I am jealous of those who get so many deer-shooting opportunities that they can wait for the things to stand just right and pick their shots before they shoot. Course, you could shoot up a whole ham on a single big Maine buck and still have more meat left over than with two of those little old Pacific NW blacktails !

SamO: The last deer I nailed was a real screw up on my part. I was aiming down at almost a 70 degree angle with obviously not much of the lower torso available. Don't know how I did it, but I hit high in the shoulder broadside and ran a 7 mm slug the full length of the right loin. Sad because the remaining meat was some of the finest tasting venison I've ever put on the table.

As far as meat retention goes, If I am close and there's no trophy potential, I'll try to rip the head off just below the jaw bones.

Yes. First choice. Usually instant death when done right. Still dead quickly if off a little. Seen it work to many times to think any thing else.

Battue

jds44,

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you have your head up your a$$. In addition to being flat out wrong on all counts.

Smelly up there, jds, or are you used to it?

I prefer a double lung, but there is usually some angle involved & that has me hitting offside shoulder most of the time. If I were needing to DRT, Bone would be crunched with the TSX's (.257,.284 & .308, so far) though they work VERY well on the lungers too.

I am not a huge Cooper fan, but that sounds like fast effective method for shot placement that would be hard to screw up, and doesn't cause over thinking the shot, like many tend to do.

Let's hear it then Bwana Jeff, how many deer have you killed in those 8 or 9 years to be such an expert? I'm guessing it ain't very many and that's why you continually spout the nonsense you do.

You aren't worth the breath, jds44.

PS - grow up!

Yeh, but the T-loins on a coues whitetail buck are about the same size as a Sabrett Hotdog!

F&S

Toltec, you are going to need to buy me a subscription to that rag <g>. Or convince me to get more haircuts.

PM sent.

Break schit, at the shot, and stuff dies.

But, we've had this conversation.....

Preferably, I shoot moose (they are a deer, right?) somewhere in the CNS. DRN! But that is generally in thick chit. I take the "best" shot that I can get that will most certainly secure the game, with the least meat damage. Circumstances make this a variable scale. Basically, I take the first, most lethal, most fastest put-down shot that I can get. I might wait a bit for the shot, or I might not, depending on circumstances. Shoulder shots are 3 or 4 down the lane....generally speaking. They tend to ruin meat - and on moose, I've not found them that effective. I prefer CNS, or boiler room (behind the shoulder) shots, but if I need to take the shoulder-breaking shot, so be it...

Caribou, (also a deer) live in open country - Most shots are through both lungs, just behind the shoulders. They ain't going far (neither would moose) but I'm sure of finding caribou within a couple hundred yards on open tundra or alpine. And seeing any bears that might be on them (Hey- it happened once! )

I don't understand how a small, thin-skinned animal can create two pages of debate (with the option of a few more pages of debate).

Some folks just can't stand simple...

+1 Bob.

Those that have never hunted here don't understand.

This isn't meant to admonish anyone who uses a differnt method,or to try to sway minds. Just the way I do it. I usually hunt where there is relativley little hunter pressure on public land and I quit hunting nasty rugged country years ago. So putting them down quickly is irrelevent to me.I always try for double lung shot, although I have nicked a few shoulders at times. Whether it is a humongus trophy animal or a meat deer, my main focus is to kill the animal with as less meat destruction as I can.I am very fussy about what meat goes in my freezer and I find that although some will grind up a blood shot shoulder and call it good meat, to me it is not very good.I see no sense in texas heart shots or taking shots at any angle presented just to put an animal on the ground. I don't have enough ego tied up in it to kill an animal at all cost

Although I have never used a TSX or other similar bulet, and probably they do not yield as much destruction as a std cup and core,I find it impossible to belive that they do not cause blood shot meat in a shoulder shot. Just from the hydrostatic shot alone and bone fragments,I would guess a substantial amount is present.

Although I have always been an elk hunter primarily, a deer tag or two is always in my pocket. Where I hunt the deer are exceptinally good eating, and when I am fortunate enough to draw a tag in the corn producing areas of eastern CO,the deer that live on corn all summer are outstanding fare.
I consider killing those deer as I would a finished beef and I sure would not want to waste a front quarter or two. Elk are about the same. I hunt where I see a substantial amount of elk and can afford to let one walk if shot presentation is not quite right. I have killed enough of both critters that I don't need to kill anymore to satisfy my ego, but I do like the meat.

From that response, I'm guessing I must be pretty close to the mark.

JDK:When I kill a buck in Northern Maine, I call EVERYONE!!
Hell, when I SEE a buck in Northern Maine, I talk about it for months

I've been trying to take deer with a blue ball (g) bat with head shots. I cannot afford to waste any precious meat.

I've gotten so good at not wasting any meat that nothing has died in the process...in other words: Shoot deer where they need to be hit. Your duty is to kill them, period.

If your that damn selective you ain't gonna have ANY meat and little grounds for claiming your shot selection is superior when you won't settle for anything else.

Your pretty persnickety for claiming to be curious.