So this morning I shot one of our designated cull deer. Nice deer 163# maybe 3 years old. He was a cull deer because he was a 9 point. Since the rut hasn’t started in our county (Bucks still running together) We wanted him taken out because we didn’t want him breeding and 9 points begats 9 points. The deer I shot last year was a 10 point and weighed 225#. I shot it using the high shoulder shot. It worked ok last year, but the shot was made from a 12 foot tower shooting down hill. The bullet penetrated at the right place of impact, but the extreme downward angle caused the bullet to exit the left shoulder, damaging the shoulder meat.
So this year the shot was more level, was 115 yards. The shot was made with a Fierce Mountain Reaper in 7prc with Hornady Precision Hunter, 175gr ELDX. Point of impact was perfect, and deer dropped where he stood. The attached photo may be a little graphic. The photo was taken inside the ribcage. Notice where the bullet came through the ribs and the damage on the spine.
Thanks for the pic… I have been wanting to do a high shoulder shot, but I wasn’t sure about the loss of meat so your explanation and image helped clear up a lot.
The photo has the point of impact circled, the bullet travel was probably 4 to 5"s lower in the left shoulder. This deer ran about 20 yards, hence the bullet probably did not hit spine.
As an interesting side note, notice all the broken tines and missing right eye. I actually thought he was a scrapper and lost the eye doing battle. However my taxidermist said he had been shot in the eye. Most likely a .22 from a poacher after this 10 point.
Shot an 8 point on this the last weekend of Texas deer season. Once again I used the high shoulder shot and he dropped where he stood. I used the 6.5prc this time with one of my reloads, and the devastation to the spine was amazing. The shot was from a ridge at 165 yards.
hey guys, out of curiosity , I was almost all in into the high shoulder but couldn’t help but think…
does it actually kill the animal or just make him paraplegic?
I guess if you miscalculated the distance you miss or it goes in the vitals.
I feel like a shoot at the base of the skull would actually blow up the cervical spine and actually kill it but higher chance to miss.
any thoughts?
Shot two this season, both aiming for the high shoulder shot.
155 AMAX at 300 yards impact was spot on and went completely through the animal…but did not kill immediately, took a few minutes to bleed out.
125 Ballistic Tip at 560 yards impact was spot on and the deer dropped in her tracks…but it did not kill and required a finishing shot. When we skinned the animal the bullet had penetrated into the shoulder joint sections, totally destroying them so it was impossible for the animal to move, but did not rupture any vitals or major arteries causing a bleed out.
Having given two recent examples, I will say that on other occasions the shot has done exactly what RRCoffman1 said, and the animal dropped and was dead almost immediately. I think what happens with those is the round gets into the deer “nerve bundle” just above the high shoulder area, which equates to their central nervous system, and when that is hit it causes a “CNS shutdown” of everything. Same principle as seen in military or police sniping, but of course the human CNS is located on a basic circular line from just under the nose around the skull.
High shoulder is a good placement for stopping an animal in their tracks.
I also have deer that drop on high shoulder shot but it does not kill them. Front legs done but still some kicking in the back. So more time than not in my experience takes a finishing shot.
But a shot through lungs and heart is not instant either. So I would say only brain shot would be instant 100% of the time but that can be a risky and tough shot. Works on crocs too!
I hit spine at shoulder this year and when walking up to him - still alive at head. Not brain dead. Maybe I am not as good of shot or I have poor shot placement. Did not take a step but not 100% lights out.
Ross, think your shots are fine, but bullets do something different each time on flesh. I saw a game camera picture this week of a doe, with 5-6 inches of meat missing off her neck from just above where the neck meets the back, moving up towards her head. The picture looked like there was actually a piece of hide or tendons still attached making a bridge across the top of the wound connecting both sides. But the wound was 3-4 inches deep at the middle, hard to believe that didnt get the spinal cord. Not the same but regarding bullet wounds; we had a tomcat that wandered up the road to see the ladies a few years ago; well someone probably was trying to sleep and didnt appreciate the yowling going on between him and the other boys in competition for some love. They shot him, a neighbor found him and we took him to the vet. The bullet creased the top of his right shoulder blade, went under his spine, and out the other side. We could almost see completely through the cat…but it did not kill him. The vet worked on him, but he came home in 6 weeks fine. You could take your finger and find the u-shaped cut from the bullet in the top of his shoulder.
The other thing is what bullet are you shooting. I only shoot Hornady ELDX bullets in my reloads, and they tend to fragment especially when it hits the spine. The two deer I shot this year, one was with a 7prc, the other was a 6.5prc.
I only shoot barnes monolithics. Certainly they do not fragment but in my 300 WM I get good expansions. On deer of course I have pass throughs but at those velocities and size of exit hole getting good expansions. I do have captured bullets from elk. A spine is only a few inches wide. I assume that the result of a high shoulder shot is not hitting spine always but the hydroshock that swamps out the nerves in that area - allowing for some margin of error. In this case I think in my experience that some animal are not brain dead instantly. Incapacitated for sure but still some signs of life.
