Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Define a "shoulder shot"

To no one in particular..
I'll be awful glad when this stinking heat of summer melts away and the cool days of November and December come upon us so we can get back into the field and FINALLY shoot another deer.

Generally i shoot behind the crease.

Dat about wraps it up!
I like succinct...
Ingwe

Here's what I call a shoulder shot. Sorry if I upset anyone.

My 257 Roberts load was a 120 grain Speer Hot-Cor over a published load of H4831.

120gr Speer Hot Core out of a 257AI at about 3050, has been my most-used load over the last 15 years or so. Don't know the exact number of deer, but it's been quite a few. Never recovered a bullet or lost a deer.

And the 120gr IS a heavy-for-caliber bullet in 257.

All I can say is that my experience with this bullet is VERY different from yours.

I'm glad it works for you. I know a lot of guys like the caliber. It just so happens that I had a couple bad experiences. I would probably like it better loaded with TSXs. My wife used it for a few years with Hot Cors. When we were getting ready to go caribou hunting we decided to get her a different rifle with a bit larger caliber, so we got a Winchester M70 Classic Compact in 308 caliber. She loves that little rifle. She used factory 180 grain Winchester Power Points for caribou, and they worked very well. My handloads with Varget and 165 grain Speer Hot Cors shoot better in the gun so that is what she uses for deer.

-

Plus a whole helluva lot of 1s............................

At that angle I go a little higher. I Want to get that spine too.

JM

Move that crosshair up and back about three inches each way. Basically put it between the current horizontal crosshair and that reddish spot higher up on the deer's shoulder. Hit that spot, and you bust the shoulder blades. Go low, and you're in the lungs. Go high, and you spine shoot it. Go forward, and you get the shoulder/leg joint.

Texas Heart Shot from a treestand using a 375 RUM or greater. Aim 2" below the "bullseye" and they drop in their tracks everytime. The best part is they are completely field dresses before they hit the ground.

Dude, if that red spot is the one I"m seeing, thats actually OVER the spine by a hair You miss that area and its bang flop, get up and run away with a flesh wound.

The diagrams are great. It does show that if you center punch the shoulders, you are not breaking anything but possibly ribs. It sounds like most are hitting the scapula when referring to "braking the shoulder." Thanks for clarifying, guys. As stated before, there are more than a few locations to place a shot that result in a dead deer.

Remember, the only credible proof of a bullet failing to penetrate is if the animal hit by the projectile in question is later recovered. The recovery must be before scavengers have destroyed the carcas so the shot placement can be confirmed, and the amount of damage from the failed bullet can be seen.

I have only confirmed one bullet failure. I shot a deer with a 30-06 and a handloaded 165gr Partition. The first shot did not drop him, so I followed with a second shot, putting him down instantly. The rear core of the first shot was lodged in the ON-SIDE hide just behind the shoulder. The second shot was just in front of the shoulder, breaking the spine/neck. The first shot did damage the lungs, as revealed when gutted. While skinning him out, I found a nice round hole in a rib from the first shot.

The best I can figure out is that it was a fluke occurance where the jacket material grabbed the rib while expanding and was stopped.

Best I can tell you is lung placement on failures, 165 sierra game king from an 06, and double lung punch, lung tissue on ground too... buck was killed 2-3 weeks later with a neck shot, showed all the healing scar material in each lung, dime sized basically....

I think a .338 Federal in an AR10 would be good for those
tough deer on the Internet!
whelennut