Thread: Projectile performance

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I agree with you on the 'quick and humane death', but is a shoulder shot actually a quick death or quicker death ? Just because it will generally drop the animal on the spot because of a 'spinal concussion' does that mean a more immediate death than any other lethal shot where the animal dies of blood loss ?

Earlier you said we should utilize every part of the deer. Other than head shooting a deer, this is pretty much impossible regardless of what projectile you use. So would you rather the risk of blowing a deers jaw off with a smaller margin of era head shot., all for the sake of saving a few more grams of meat rather than the hilar shot that might cause you some extra meat loss because of the projectile we choose to use but puts the animal down?

Originally Posted by Allizdog

Earlier you said we should utilize every part of the deer. Other than head shooting a deer, this is pretty much impossible regardless of what projectile you use. So would you rather the risk of blowing a deers jaw off with a smaller margin of era head shot., all for the sake of saving a few more grams of meat rather than the hilar shot that might cause you some extra meat loss because of the projectile we choose to use but puts the animal down?

Yes I wrote that I believe we should utilise every part, and to follow my own conscience and belief on this I recover the animals whole most times. The bones feed dogs. With a head shot I aim for the ear hole or the back of the head, neither results in a blown jaw. Only a centre head aim point does that. The base of the neck is a good shot but does ruin a chunk of tasty neck chops, so a centre lung shot is the best compromise imo.
To me a shoulder shot means high shoulder. To me a hilar shot is forward of the shoulder and lower
Of course mistakes will be made, where the animal did not appear to be at an angle and the bullet ends up damaging a leg for example, but this is totally different to intentionally shooting through the shoulder blades with no intention of keeping that meat.