I'd love to see a photo of the shoulder bone after the deer has been skinned out and processed. I've seen a lot of "shoulder" shots in kill photos that most likely never hit the actual shoulder bone. A lot of people believe that following the leg directly up will get you into the shoulder, when in fact it's it's a little further forward than a lot of people believe it is.
This is what I am saying...most people are NOT shooting through the scapula. That triangle shaped plate above the joint...a very tough bone to get through.
It really all depends on how they are standing. In that pic the left scapula is way forward and ideally that's the shot you'd want. The right scapula is quite a bit farther back. I wish I'd taken a pic of the scapula from the deer I posted above. It never occurred to me. I process my own and I boned it out so I'm positive I went through it. If it happens again I'll be sure and take a pic, although I'm getting a feeling that if it happens again I should just stay quiet, keep it to myself and only take pics of the exit wound side.
Hey man, you can shoot em any way you want if you kill em. I ain't judging. I just know my set up currently won't do it. and I ain't sure even if I was shooting a 500 gr it would. My short power stroke sucks. when I ran numbers my MO and KE only went up a little bit...but I am not sure how much it would take to get through that bone.
Thanks for addressing all my points here, Justin. That is interesting what you mentioned about shots further back, because I hadn’t considered that before. And unfortunately, the anecdotal evidence is all we really have to go off of there. I think it’s been echoed by a lot of guys in here that first priority goes to taking ethical shots and hitting where you intend to. I was pretty locked into heavy arrows being vastly superior, but I can understand the other perspective a bit better now. Also, for what’s its worth, I think my opinion comes from the fact that I lost a buck due to hitting the opposite shoulder and not getting a pass through when I was young and though any bow and arrow would do. I like getting to hear other experiences, cause I honestly haven’t shot many deer with my bow.
I believe this is why some shoot to far back. On a broadside shot you have a sizable pocket above the leg below the scapula to the front shoulder without encountering bone. Straight up from the leg or maybe an inch back is the shot with largest margin of error. I believe many slide back a few inches not understanding the bone structure. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
For purposes of clarity, I would rather see everyone shooting a heavier arrow than a lighter arrow. If you're going to err one way or another, heavier has a lot more upside than lighter does. I'm personally shooting a 500 grain setup this year if that indicates my preference at all. And I will alternate between a small fixed blade and a larger cutting mechanical. Because I'm weird like that. My issue is simply with the "fad" of going ultra-heavy because some guy on YouTube says it's the right thing to do, and if you're not doing it, you're somehow missing out. It annoys me when I see young and inexperienced bowhunters focusing more on how much their arrow weighs than honing their abilities as a hunter. People are spending ridiculous amounts of money on arrow setups and expensive broadheads because they're buying into this mentality that it's what they need to have or they won't be able to ethically kill animals. My walls and freezer are full of deer killed in seconds with arrows ranging from 400-500 grains, which is more than enough to get the job done each and every time I loose an arrow. I don't know anything other than what you said here, but I can tell you that if you ran an arrow into a whitetail and it stopped in the shoulder on the other side, that whitetail was dead in pretty short order. It's virtually impossible to not get vital organs at any angle and still hit the off side shoulder. I've shot a pile of deer that way and none of them have lived very long. The vast majority of them did not have an exit hole. The more to shoot them, the more you'll learn that no two are the same. I've seen shots that look like they're perfect turn into wild goose chases, and shots that look like crap drop deer within sight.
Real world update. I killed my buck this year at 20 yards or so. My weight is 536 64DW and I went straight through the shoulder and it nicked the opposite side scapula. I did this on accident as the buck squatted backwards on the shot. I do not believe that my old arrow would have had the penatration to have killed him. I can't speak to diminishing returns but for me the sweet spot is 500-600.
