BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
Where would you rather hit a deer if you had to choose (meaning you made a bad shot, not that you took a bad shot)? Why?
-
Help Support TNDeer:
Shoulder hit or gut hit...you decide
- Thread starter BowGuy84
- Start date
Wow, tough call for sure.
I would say shoulder simply because you have a better chance at having a slight blood trail than you do with a gut shot.
Granted you probably wouldn't have much sign but more than likely you would have more than with a gut shot.
Hard to find them when you don't know where they went.
I would say shoulder simply because you have a better chance at having a slight blood trail than you do with a gut shot.
Granted you probably wouldn't have much sign but more than likely you would have more than with a gut shot.
Hard to find them when you don't know where they went.
cozy23
Well-Known Member
Shoulder. I think it would slow em down more than a gut shot. Then again I have no experience with either... yet!
stik
Well-Known Member
shoulder because the deer is more likely to survive. i have hit a couple like that and didn't kill them.
horn master
Well-Known Member
shoulder
OCLhunter90
Well-Known Member
I�ve heard of plenty of deer surviving with a shoulder wound, too. They say they will definitly die with a gut shot, but tracking them is tough business.
Tough question, but I guess for me I would choose shoulder and hope the deer lives.
Tough question, but I guess for me I would choose shoulder and hope the deer lives.
WRbowhunter
Well-Known Member
agree with all. shoulder shot hoping the deer makes it. gut shot is bad buisness.
paradis1142
Well-Known Member
Through the shoulders, cleaner kill than a gut shot and a shorter blood trail.
BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
paradis1142 said:
Agreed but this is assuming limited penetration.
BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
stik said:
My thoughts too...I'll provide my reason for asking here in a bit.
papaw
Well-Known Member
If you are looking at a chance to recover the deer , gut shot for sure.
bigasports
Well-Known Member
Shoulder
You'd have to be more specific with your shot choices for e to choose.
If the deer were hit in the scapular crest and had no penetration, it might survive but it would suffer.
A gut shot deer where the stomach is hit, more specifically, the pyloric artery, is still a gut shot and will be dead in minutes if not seconds. Almost any side to side entrance/exit in the abdominal cavity means at the very least, septic shock and death. In cool weather with few coyotes or anything else to bother your deer, we'll find it, but we will wait. A LONG time. And unless you have killed a hundred deer or so, you won't argue on the decision to wait. (unless you have the freakish tracking skills of John Sloan).
A shoulder hit deer will generally get pushed by me. Stalked is more like it. Hoping for a second shot and to keep the wound bleeding.
But there are TONS of variables for bot wounds.
102
If the deer were hit in the scapular crest and had no penetration, it might survive but it would suffer.
A gut shot deer where the stomach is hit, more specifically, the pyloric artery, is still a gut shot and will be dead in minutes if not seconds. Almost any side to side entrance/exit in the abdominal cavity means at the very least, septic shock and death. In cool weather with few coyotes or anything else to bother your deer, we'll find it, but we will wait. A LONG time. And unless you have killed a hundred deer or so, you won't argue on the decision to wait. (unless you have the freakish tracking skills of John Sloan).
A shoulder hit deer will generally get pushed by me. Stalked is more like it. Hoping for a second shot and to keep the wound bleeding.
But there are TONS of variables for bot wounds.
102
BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
Enjoyed the answers guys, obviously there are lots of variables that determine this. Like I already said, I would traditionally take the shoulder shot because I think that is the best chance for the deer to survive.
My question steams from several thoughts
1) where to hold on a broadside deer. My buddies tend to shoot mid/back of the lungs. I, however, hold very tight to the crease. I like the exit in the armpit, and hate dealing with a gut shot deer. They are afraid of the shoulder shot. In my experience a shoulder shot will either give you a fine and fully functional deer or with enough penetration a clean kill.
2) Broadhead choice (yeah I know...dead horse). While any broadhead will kill if put in the right place, some are better for some poor shots, and others are better for other poor shots.
IMO large expandables only weakness (and one I fell victim to this past year) is a shoulder shot where adequate penetration isn't achieved.
I am deciding on broadheads for next year and think I am going to go with the Ulmer head. I love a big cut when I can get it, but want slightly more penetration than my current set up. I think a steel chisel tip, and .5" smaller cutting diameter will offer this to me and allow me to keep holding in the crease as I prefer.
My question steams from several thoughts
1) where to hold on a broadside deer. My buddies tend to shoot mid/back of the lungs. I, however, hold very tight to the crease. I like the exit in the armpit, and hate dealing with a gut shot deer. They are afraid of the shoulder shot. In my experience a shoulder shot will either give you a fine and fully functional deer or with enough penetration a clean kill.
2) Broadhead choice (yeah I know...dead horse). While any broadhead will kill if put in the right place, some are better for some poor shots, and others are better for other poor shots.
IMO large expandables only weakness (and one I fell victim to this past year) is a shoulder shot where adequate penetration isn't achieved.
I am deciding on broadheads for next year and think I am going to go with the Ulmer head. I love a big cut when I can get it, but want slightly more penetration than my current set up. I think a steel chisel tip, and .5" smaller cutting diameter will offer this to me and allow me to keep holding in the crease as I prefer.
Great post BG84,
I too, prefer to hold near the crease. But again, it depends on the shot I have offered.
I learned the hard way, a long time ago, to take the first shot offered to me in a situation involving what MOST often turns out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. This has worked out VERY well for me over he past 30 years.
While my favorite shot is a slight quarter away, JUST behind the crease, I rarely get it on MATURE deer. The really BIG public land bucks, just don't tend to hold still very long, and RARELY stop exactly where my "bleeeaaat" stops them.
I too, despise gut shots, but trust me, I can flat find a gut shot deer. We have LOADS of practice. Inexperienced hunters tend do this most often,but I know several vets who have their share as well, including MUAH! You hunt long enough and kill enough, and it WILL happen to us ALL!
But make no mistake, I have seen MORTALLY wounded shoulder hit deer die in a day or two. We have found them as well.
AndI have also seen shoulder hit deer recover, heal, and pulled my arrow from them a year later.
102
I too, prefer to hold near the crease. But again, it depends on the shot I have offered.
I learned the hard way, a long time ago, to take the first shot offered to me in a situation involving what MOST often turns out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. This has worked out VERY well for me over he past 30 years.
While my favorite shot is a slight quarter away, JUST behind the crease, I rarely get it on MATURE deer. The really BIG public land bucks, just don't tend to hold still very long, and RARELY stop exactly where my "bleeeaaat" stops them.
I too, despise gut shots, but trust me, I can flat find a gut shot deer. We have LOADS of practice. Inexperienced hunters tend do this most often,but I know several vets who have their share as well, including MUAH! You hunt long enough and kill enough, and it WILL happen to us ALL!
But make no mistake, I have seen MORTALLY wounded shoulder hit deer die in a day or two. We have found them as well.
AndI have also seen shoulder hit deer recover, heal, and pulled my arrow from them a year later.
102
StalkingWolf
Well-Known Member
Too many variables. I hate to choose because I hate them both. But I have seen many gut shot deer recovered and very few recovered that have been pegged in the shoulder. I have seen many deer hit right in front of the back ham and die within 100 yards.
As you described above, most of my buds that shoot fixed broadheads aim for the crease area and would prefer a shoulder hit over a far back hit. Those of us who shoot expandables typically aim 2" back and 2" up from the crease (lungs) and would prefer a little further back hit (liver) over a shoulder hit (less penetration). With that said, my favorite, as can be said for a lot of hunters, is a "10 ringer", right in the crease (enter low and exit lower for a phenomenal blood trail). These deer rarely make it out of sight of the hunter and expire in an expeditious manner.
Years ago when i first started bowhunting and didnt know squat i would shoot deer in the middle of the shoulder and have a terrible time finding them. I had a buddy who everything he shot was easy tracking. One day i asked him what do you do different than me. He said i aim for the middle. That has worked for me since that day. Works even better with expandables. Of the course the angle of the deer has a great deal of where you want to enter the deer. I try to make my arrow exit just behind the offside shoulder about 1/3 way up.
