Shoulder shots?

[BrownBear]

...price you pay for participating on a traditional muzzleloading focus website.

That qualifies as an unreserved cheap shot from a moderator! :barf: Sounds like you're inviting him to leave.

Bring yer ole round ball to the wide open space out west! Within the "traditional muzzleloading focus" of this website, whether in spirit or in dates of coverage, the guys who left the east coast learned the same lesson. Find a better answer or develop a taste for lizards.

 

[pargent]

Yes on Red deer all the time ,with every thing from .50 to .75 ,so you should have no worries on Whitetails :thumbsup:

 

[VEARL]

I try to go for a side shot into the vital area.
Some deer do not want to co-operate with the hunter.
It is times like this that I aim for and shoot them in the eye. They see it coming and freeze before dropping DRT. :blah:

 

[Vaino]

I've shot both elk and deer using both conicals and PRBs and aim behind the shoulder {lungs} w/ both projectiles....I'm a hunter and not a
"purist"....whatever gets the job done and both produced no lost animals. Prefer the .54 PRB but the .50 conical is also fine.....Fred

 

[stinkyfeet]

I do if I am hunting state land or open access areas where there is a large group of other hunters. Lost one big buck because it died in front of another hunter who tagged it without firing a shot(law states first to tag its their deer). But I use a 54 and 90 grains of 2F. A solid shoulder shot they either drop right there or might make it 50 yards at most. I have taken the same shot in heavy rain before to in thick cover, worried about rain washing blood away. It does ruin some meat though but a very lethal shot for close shots under 50-75 yards wouldnt take 100 yard shot aimed at shoulder. Just me

 

[Travis Gregory]

For those who worry about meat loss on a shoulder shot, I just finished butchering/grinding my recently killed shoulder shot deer and I was able to use all the meat from both shoulders right up to the hole made by the ball. I realize that is not always the case but it was for me this time. The deer my son killed 2 weeks ago was shot through the ribs right behind the shoulder with a ball and 10gr lighter load than what I use and the shoulder on the near side of the deer was almost a complete loss because it was blood shot so bad. Go figure.

 

[don hepler]

I've been hunting for many years, and taken a lot of deer. I hunt from a stand, these days, but straight broadside shots aren't always there. I'm patient, but a deer angling across in front of me, might offer a quartering shot, that requires a shoulder and pass thru lung on the far side. A 80 lb. deer, could be easy with 80 grains and round ball, from 50 yards or less. A lot of so-called 200 lb. deer, simply don't exist. When I was young, I shot a nice buck, and my buddy asked what I thought it weighed. I said 120 lbs., and he laughed, and said, you'll see. I had never weighed a field dressed deer, up until that point. It weighed, 75 lbs. This was not a little button buck, it was a typical healthy deer. Western deer, and deer from other parts of the country, will be much larger. That's why there is no absolute answer to your question. Your best shot is broadside lung, but that rarely happens. A deer angling toward you, and you try the lung shot, you might be a little back, and get a gut shot. There are a lot of factors, experience, the ability to place the shot accurately, size of animal, distance, position of the animal, amount of cover around the animal, steep up hill, down hill, and on and on.

 

[Walks with fire]

Thanks Ron for the photos and post. I always enjoy your posts. Looks like a good season for you. :thumbsup:

 

[Idaho Ron]

I had another good season with my Muzzleloaders. The hardest part is drawing the tags. Ron

 

[Rat Trapper]

If I have a rest in my blind, a standing doe that is not very far, and I want a hide with out a hole, then I will take a head shot. I do not do this all the time, just when I need a good hide and all the required things are present. It has to be a chip shot that leave no doubt of the out come. For all other shots, it is a double lung shot all the time.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

pure lead ball vs bone?
not a good idea! never done it never will.
As a elk guide I have seen way to many wounded elk by muzzleloaders using powerbelts not even R.B.'s after hitting leg bone.
Every one of my elk has been a lung heart shot and died under two mins.
Also I don't like trying to clean blood out of my shoulder roast.
and don't give me that (gotta anchor them) B.S.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I wasn't going to post since this is a PRB thread, but I decided to to show a different side of things. I use conicals. 460 gr paper patched flat nose wide meplat conicals to be exact. I do aim for a shoulder in some cases. On elk I tend to aim for the off shoulder. I pound the heart lungs and then the shoulder on the way out. This year I hunted for 4 days without seeing a single elk. On my last day of the hunt I found one next to private land. I had to flatten this elk and I had to do it in less than 200 yards. I could not allow this animal to get to private land. So when she came in I took out the shoulder.

The shot was 60 yards and I hit about 3" higher than I really wanted. The shot completely shattered the shoulder. The lungs were mush.

Then the bullet traveled to the flank where I found it under the hide. There are cases you need to lay them out flat. I know my conical loads will do it.
Later I had a deer hunt. Again I was on my last hunting day and found the biggest buck I had seen since the opening day when elk hunters scared a bunch of bucks I had my eye on. The shot I had because of brush was a shoulder shot. At the shot the buck was instantly dead. The fastest ML kill I have ever seen.

I personally don't know if a PRB would have performed different. All I am commenting on is how a well constructed conical will do with shoulder shots. The bullets I make get the job done. Ron

NICE RON!

 

[Idaho Ron]

and don't give me that (gotta anchor them) B.S.

The only times that gotta anchor them come into play for me is private land, and a deep canyon. I unfortunately have had to pack game out of deep canyons. I am getting a little too old and broke down to back pack out of deep canyons like I used to and entering private land to pack out game is no longer an option since the old time ranchers were replaced by big city Ted Turner types.
Thanks for the Atta Boy, you had a good year your self. I hope your elk was as good as mine is. I am amazed by the quality of this cow for the table. A real table trophy in my book. :thumbsup:
Ron

 

[Greenmtnboy]

and don't give me that (gotta anchor them) B.S.

The only times that gotta anchor them come into play for me is private land, and a deep canyon. I unfortunately have had to pack game out of deep canyons. I am getting a little too old and broke down to back pack out of deep canyons like I used to and entering private land to pack out game is no longer an option since the old time ranchers were replaced by big city Ted Turner types.
Thanks for the Atta Boy, you had a good year your self. I hope your elk was as good as mine is. I am amazed by the quality of this cow for the table. A real table trophy in my book. :thumbsup:
Ron

yup gotta agree with you there. here in CO I hike up light and pack heavy down hill and that is a gripe all in it's self.
Every time I pack meat up hill I gotta wonder why :youcrazy:
but ya a yummy cow. non hunting only organic hippies don't know what organic really means.

 

[nchawkeye]

Hunt the Dismal Swamp sometimes, you will learn eventually a high shoulder shot can ruin meat and save meat... :grin:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

oh and my anchor statement really applies to just about every center fire rifle hunter I have ever guided.
don't you got to anchor them.
I say buddy with that 300 weatherby mag you had best aim for the liver cus your still gonna bloody the shoulder.
:idunno:

 

[Mad Irish Jack]

Way back in the 1980's I dropped a nice running doe with a .54 caliber Lehigh County style long rifle. Shot through the left shoulder, put some bone frags in the front of the heart and a lung, passed through the right shoulder and recovered 98% of my .530 rb just under the hide. I used 70 gr FFg Goex and a .015 patch. I still use the load with excellent results today, in my .54 Early Lancaster since I built it in 1994. Most are pass throughs.