I’m not telling anyone that aiming at a deers shoulder is better than not. If you have a broadside shot, I prefer to aim straight above the elbow, top of lower third of deer. But I can draw 70+lbs easily, 30” draw. I have no qualms about shooting a whitetail from any angle of conditions are good(inside of 20 yards) and I don’t see a better shot presenting itself.
this deer should’ve walked ten yards broadside. Instead, he walked seven steps from me at a hard quartering angle on the ground. He hit my scent cloud, tensed up, and was about to bolt. I hit less than 1” from where I aimed. The arrow went through almost the thickest part of the shoulder bone, then cracked the thickest part of the scapula on its way through that. The arrow went through both lungs, heart, liver, and cut a hole just behind last rib. When he dropped to run, he sheared the arrow where it was caught between shoulder and rib. The arrow buried to fletching before being cut in half. Sharpened Broadhead back in quiver. Deer was somewhere north of 200lbs.
520 grain arrow going roughly 275fps.
Would this arrow have killed the deer if I hit directly on the joint of the shoulder? I can’t prove it, but I suspect it would have no issue, given how it penetrated that much bone plus some when adding it all up. I’ve gotten away from 3 blade heads as I’d prefer increased penetration of 2blades.
but if you can send a 500-600 grain arrow 250-280fps, I’m pretty confident that you can break any bone standing in the way of a whitetail’s vitals. maybe I’m a bad guy for saying it. Maybe some folks shouldn’t take shots like that with improperly tuned equipment and frazzled nerves and crappy components.
this is my uneducated unqualified opinion. But I’d love to see someone prove me wrong!
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