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Shot Placement

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Uncle J

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Walden TN
I am curious if anyone uses or aims for the high shoulder shot on the forum, and if so what your experience has been. I've used the behind the shoulder (double lung) for decades with the occasional center of the front shoulder shot only a few times depending on scenario with great success, but never intentionally aimed for a high shoulder (tip of upper front shoulder). Videos are impressive watching this shot but always curious on first hand experiences. Obviously this question is geared toward the rifle hunters out there and not archery. Thanks in advance!
 
i've done it a couple of times but in both instances the deer were actually quartering to me so the entrance was forward of the shoulder with the exit behind the opposite shoulder. In both instances, one with a 7mm-08 the other with a .50 cal muzzleloader, the deer dropped where they stood. It's good shot. Just watch it, if you get too high then you just wound the deer. If you're low, then you're just a solid double lung shot. keep in mind, it's not as high in the shoulder as you might think. The spine takes a deep drop there in that region. Look up the Brachial Plexus, that's what you're aiming for.
 
Depends on the weapon I'm using and if I need to drop a deer on the spot. The high-shoulder shot can be extremely effective with high velocity bullets, but not so much with low velocity rounds. With a modern centerfire rifle firing rounds near 3,000 fps, and the need to drop a deer in its tracks, I'll take the high shoulder shot. If you hit fairly precisely, it works great. If you don't hit precisely, it can be disastrous. The vast majority of the time I go for the double lung hit right behind the front leg. The kill zone is much larger and extremely lethal. But if using a high-powered rifle, and it's critical the deer not run, then I'll take the high shoulder shot.
 
Same for me. Only when necessary. Great shot for a lot of Texas because of the thick, thorny brush covering the landscape you'd have to track a deer through. I'm not a fan because it ruins the front quarters and one of my favorite meals is an entire front quarter slow cooked in a turkey pan with vegetables. Great for large groups of family and/or friends and it eats like a really good pot roast. Meat just falls apart. It's the best way to eat the front quarters, IMO. Most people just grind it up if not damaged, or throw it away because it's too damaged from the shot. That's why I do my best to shoot for double lung behind shoulder. Then the bullet only has to bust a couple ribs and I don't lose much if any meat. Deer might run 50 or 100 yards but it dies in a couple seconds.
 
I'm in a similar situation with @tellico4x4 in that I hunt places that if they run far after the shot then it's going to be a nightmare of a recovery. I was hunting on a rock outcropping/bluff line before and had on literally take off over the edge. After that recovery that involved a LONG walk and some rope,snatch blocks, and atv I decided bigger caliber and high shoulder when hunting that location.
 
deerhunter10 said:
In situations for sure, personally just wouldn't do it with a muzzle loader. Just me.
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im curious about the muzzle loader - i was taught to always aim high shoulder with a muzzleloader because of finicky (or non existent) blood trails, that it was best to drop them in their tracks or as my mentor likes to say "deer just dont run as far in two wheel drive".
 
I've did it twice last season and both times the deer ran maybe 10 feet then collapsed. Makes for an easy track but the downside is ruined shoulder meat.

That's not something I'd do again unless I absolutely needed the deer to drop right there because of being near private property where I don't have permission to go get it.
 
I use a Marlin 35rem if i get the chance to shoot high shoulder i take it so far every one of them that i have shot in the high shoulder have dropped. I use to use a Remington 270 and that thing would floor them high shoulder shot.
 
Hduke86 said:
I'm in a similar situation with @tellico4x4 in that I hunt places that if they run far after the shot then it's going to be a nightmare of a recovery. I was hunting on a rock outcropping/bluff line before and had on literally take off over the edge. After that recovery that involved a LONG walk and some rope,snatch blocks, and atv I decided bigger caliber and high shoulder when hunting that location.
Click to expand...
Last MZ season I had a buck come out of a 3-year-old clearcut 8 feet high in blackberry briers and saplings and I didn't want him running back in there after the shot. Although MZ bullet doesn't produce the shock power of a centerfire rifle, I still took the high shoulder shot trying to knock him down on the spot. Luckily, it worked.
 
The only thing better than breaking one shoulder is breaking both shoulders. I'm a shoulder shooter with anything but archery.


High shoulder shots break shoulders and clip the spine shutting down the CNS, that's why the drop.


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