shot placement

Old dog here, trying to learn new tricks. I have read several guys in the past talking about the "high shoulder shot" and it's effectiveness. Can somebody show a picture or diagram of where exactly this shot needs to go? What about angled to or away? I have always gone behind the shoulder, but as I get older I would rather not have to track a deer 50-100 yards even with good blood trail.

Thanks,

Works every time

^^^ yep

Take out the wheels and they don't go anywhere.

spot on with the pictures

those pictures are what I showed my kids when they were first learning to hunt. Saying shoot him in the shoulder or shoot him just behind the shoulder didn't mean anything to them. However, once I showed them the picture they were able to see exactly where the shoulder was on the deer. I even had them put the picture on their iPad's so we could look at it while they were in the blind.

These pictures would be for rifle shots. For bow hunting, you want the larger area around the heart and lungs for shot placement.

Yup. It'll put em down quick

Turn out the lights...
The Party's over

DRT with the high shoulder shot every time.

first in the pounch, then in the hams, and then a final show in the backstraps. that way i do not have anything to clean.

great placement in the earlier post.

Thanks, that looks like a winner!

I shoot every deer in the neck. I've never wounded a deer, either it is dead or I missed. But all the sausage is in good shape. No tracking, no mess. But the photos are a great way to show folks where to shoot. But since I'm retired I have all day and season to wait for my shot.
Excellent photos.

All in for the high shoulder

Great pics stxranchman. You must have a great camera and/or lens. Your pics are always a pleasure to see

We always called that the point of the shoulder......

When I was getting ready for my first season behind the trigger dad got a stack of old cabelas magazines with deer on the cover and said where would you shoot this one and I would point.

Probably going to get bashed for this, but what makes this shot so great? really wanting to lear. thanks

If don't right the deer will fall at the shot and likely not move. It hits front legs and central nervous system and its a huge high percentage area of the animal to shoot at. If you a little off forward you have a neck shot dead deer. If your a little back you have a clean behind the shoulders shot, you would have to miss pretty far low to hit too low and a little hi is a spine shot. Its a high percentage put them down in their tracks every time shot.

It does kinda mess up the front end of the animal though. But id rather be trimming shot up shoulders than looking for a lost deer!

these pics are useless there is no quartering away example j/k

I usually put the bullet just a bit further back - in the lungs.

makes a lot of sense. thanks!

I think the shot depends on terrain. In the south Texas brush where it can be very hard to track I think the high shoulder shot is almost necessary in more open country or woods where tracking can be somewhat easier as long as under growth isn't to thick it's not as important to drop them in place. I've shot deer in the lungs, high shoulder, and neck and they all died but the lung shots and heart shots tend to run a little ways.

I guess all the neck shooters quit arguing their tactics?

Here is one for those kill or miss neck shooters...

Great comments here.

My last 3 deer have been neck shots

I agree with the shoulder shot - I use the front leg and come straight up it - it not only breaks the shoulder down it is the largest mass on the deer so if the shot is off a little it still is a killing shot - I have done it since a little kid so it is automatic now -

I also tend to "overkill" somewhat. I use a 160 to 180 grain load in South Texas. Very few of the deer I have shot go more than 20-30 yards. Most drop in their tracks. I will give up a little usable meat as a trade off for a clean, sure kill

I am not a fan of the neck shot at all - too risky. Also not a fan of shooting at deer at super long range. I think as hunters we owe it to the animal to do everything in our power to make a high percentage, clean kill shot.

I got one with my truck the other night. Ranch hand caught the right shoulder folded him right up

That's funny. Couple weekends ago I was on a ranch road and a young coyote ran out of some bushes. I was gonna stop and shoot it but instead I floored it and chased him down and gave him a quick death with my truck tire.

Your just trying to kill that Truck to buy a Ford

When you sent those pics I just envisioned you Giggling chasing that Yote down

I stand by my neck shots. But if you are not sure you can make the kill, don't shoot. Who knows what that doe was shot with either? Some shooters don't carry enough firepower with them for any shots. There is no such thing as too much power when shooting. That being said, some guys can really shoot a long way out and drop their target. For me, my feeder is 125 yards from my blind and I have ribbons in the brush marking the distance out to 250 yards so I know what I'm up against. There has only been a few times I've had to shoot out past my feeder as the Indian Corn really draws them to it. Once they are there the deer will stay until all of it is gone. My advise is take the shot you are comfortable with. I use every bit of the meat off the deer, even the meat off the head ( what little there is) for tamales, and the rest for SAUSAGE.

I used to take the high should shot but it destroys a lot of meat so now I take the heart shot...they don't run very far if you make a good shot.

I'm right with you. Point of the shoulder drops the deer right there, and if you miss a little forwards or backwards you are probably ok. With a heart shot, they're going to run, and if you miss back you've messed up badly.

I also use a large caliber. Don't mind sacrificing a little meat to make sure that deer is dead and recovered. Nothing worse than following a blood trail until it runs out and never recovering the animal.

I quit on neck shots after I watched a friend shoot one right through the neck and we never found her.

Can't argue with that!http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/images/icons/default/eek.gif
No neck shots for me.

Yes it does put them down. But I would only use it on a trophy deer. Most of the time I'm trying to save that shoulder meat.

what shoulder meat

break um down

Now y'all got me curious. How would y'all say the bullet used (size, speed, etc) plays into this... or does it at all?

Obviously if you're using something like a 7 mm mag, no worries on penetration through the shoulders; but what if you're using a something like a 22-250 that's lighter and smaller? Still shoulders, or would you move back and down a bit to the boiler room heart/lungs area?

When I was a kid, all I shot was a 22-250, and smack dab in the shoulder. They never knew what hit them.

If I'm shooting my 22-250 everything gets shot in the head or neck.

I have killed deer with a .223, 6mm, .270 and .280 with the high point of the shoulder shot since the early 1990's. I shoot nothing but Remington ammo in all but the .280. I watched a young lady kill a large bodied 4 yr old with a 22-250 with the high point of the shoulder shot. It is more about the bullet type used and where you put that bullet. Most of all with any caliber I always tell someone to shoot the caliber rifle they are used to and be able to put the bullet where you feel comfortable shooting.

What were you shooting in the .280? I just picked up a cherry Rem 700 Custom shop with fluted barrel that looks to be fired less than a box worth. Nice to see a factory gun without all the warning crap stamped in the barrel. I've got a few different factory loads to try out.

Oh yeah, I leave the "cool" head and neck shots to the Inter Web pros. I had a doe show up at my feeder once that had her mouth hanging open like an alligator. She was shot right thru the jaw. Poor girl suffered like that for a while, as her ribs and hips were very visible. I put her out of her misery, but no one on the lease owned up to the super pro head shot that missed its mark.

Mike

I've got to jump in and defend the neck shot. I've seen a lot of wounded deer from poor shot placement. I've had customers hit deer in every possible spot when they were standing still with a rest. I've seen some jaws blown off and general bad shooting.

I had never heard anyone suggest that a neck shot was a bad option until the Internet came around. I think it's the best place to shoot a deer. If you're going to head or neck shoot a deer and theyre not looking at you, whistle at them and take your shot when they look up at you and are standing still.

I can't tell you how many deer I've killed with these two shots. I do know a buddy and I killed 107 does and spikes the last two weeks of season one year, and every one was head shot with a 22-250. Not one took a step. This was on a large spread in west Texas we were guiding on at the time.

I will concede that a head shot is not the best option and makes an ugly looking dead deer. I will stand behind the neck shot as the quickest and best way to dispatch a deer. It's also easier to gut a neck shot animal, everything is cleaner,no sharp broken bones, and the cavity isn't full of blood.
This is just my opinion from personal experience and a lot of killing.

I dropped a deer using the same shot with a 22-250 a speed goat with a .270, a muley with a 6mm, and a cute little 319lb boar hog with a .243.. get the sweet spot and none will run without the right gear

Thanks for this post. All these years I've wanted to shoot them and they drop. I've been shooting about 5" too far back. No wonder why they run off and I have to track them. On one of those pics I would have shot way back. Very informative for me.

Tag

I only make them when it's the only shot that's available, and the deer is within the range where a shotgun and buckshot would be effective. Ironically, it is the shot the old timers recommended when I first started deer hunting with a shotgun as a kid.

Yes sir for sure.

No neck shots unless they are shotgun close. And even then I'll most likely put it in the shoulder. I was taught that target as a kid and have taught my grandson the same target. I've had two neck-shot deer that the bullet missed the spine and left the deer unable to raise it's head as it ran off. Never again.
On an 'angled' shot, I always aim for the off shoulder. Makes for my favorite tracking job - 3 feet straight down.

right behind the shoulder. takes out heart and lungs. drops like a rock

Found this and thought it was interesting. Interactive Deer Shot Placement

Hey STX, is that no-show jones?

As someone who does all their own butchering, those shot placement pics made me cringe. Send a bullet through the thickest point of the shoulder blade? No thanks. Bone shards, bone shards everywhere! You'll be throwing away the top four inches of both backstraps, and you can pitch the idea of delicious shoulder roast right out the window! Behind-the-leg shots for me, thanks! Break a rib, jelly the lungs, break a rib on the way out. Nice pink frothy blood trail to follow, less than a handful of meat tossed.

I can appreciate the high shoulder shot for what it does, making them DRT, but I hunt to eat, and I'll accept the trade-off of having to do some tracking.

Where the backstrap transitions to neck strap and the meat around the shoulder blade isn't all that great to begin with.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly, that part is like eating shoe laces.
I don't care to track a deer in the terrain I hunt in, when I do have to there are two blood trails, the deer's blood trail going in and mine coming out from the brush and thorns.

My buddy and lease "manager" wants to always bring up neck shots, trying to convert me. On this particular subject, I, completely out of character, keep my big trap shut. I let him do his thing, listen to him brag (and occasionally listen to him BRIEFLY mention how his kid's deer ran off and they couldn't find it.) I'm with the OP. Bring up neck shots to an African PH, or any other experienced big-game guide for that matter.

I neck shot once, and while it dropped immediately, it floundered enough I shot it in the head to put it out of its misery. I won't say "never again" but it isn't a go to shot for me.

Shoulder shots jack up meat, or leaves it bloodshot, so those are out, too. Exception would be that buck-of-a-lifetime that I want down - meat be damned. Lung shots behind the shoulder are OK if you like tracking.

I go for a low shot behind the "elbow" either broadside or preferably quartering in or away. I'm shooting a 180gr Hornady Interlock (soft tip) hand load out of my .308 that liquefies the heart. DRT every time and typically fully bled out by the time I haul it back to camp.

The type of bullet on your cartridge matters as does caliber as does distance. I had a buddy shoulder shoot a larger than normal deer for our area at about 120 yds with his venerable .243 - a great deer caliber - only to have it run off. That distance with that caliber called for a move to a lung shot.

Yeah I am either going for head or high shoulder shots with my rifle this year from the blind. My blind isn't that far from the feeder but it's in a great location on my buddies land. I hit hogs right behind the ear with 223 and it drops them where they stand lol. With a bow I go for behind the shoulder shots.

When trimming the doe heard, that is almost exclusively what I use - 22-250 neck shot (sometimes in the dome depending on the rest) w/ a 50 v-max bullet....quick kill and the meat is all good. Don't have time to go tracking deer in the brush. That really isn't an ideal bullet for shoulder shots. It will most certainly kill them, but it destroys the meat and at long range, no exit.
For long range, a .270 or 7mm behind the shoulder. It's hard to get a good enough rest to get head/neck shots on does 250+ yards out; I'm not good enough to pull that off shooting from sticks or trying to make a quick shot from the truck.

I tacklem and chokem to death. Makes their eyes bug out.

before the meat is worried about the humane taking of the animal should be first and foremost IMO - more deer over my 60 plus years dropped with the shoulder blade shot - lose a little meat but the deer is dispatched in a humane way