front shoulder hit

[hookset6969]

Could not believe my eye's earlier this year when I couldn't find a nice 135-145" buck I had shot. Until 2 day's later when he showed up at 50 yard's on the other side of the creek line that I hunt. when I threw the bino's up I saw that I had been about 3-4" off of a perfect shot. The shot was 35yd's and the deer was perfectly broadside, I was using SPITFIRE broadhead's and they must have done absolutely nothing to this deer's shoulder. Well I'm sure they did something but it could have not been that severe seeing that this deer was not even limping. I process all my own deer and have seen first hand plenty of shoulder's but never thought they were this tough. Talk about body armour. Or just one tough deer.

[paulie]

Dr. Phillip Bishop wrote an article about this very subject in the November(09) issue (of D&DH PG 24)

[eagle eye]

I typically hunt with my bow throughout the year and will typically pass up a shot in favor of a quartering away just to avoid the scapula. When I do hunt with a gun I will aim directly at the same bone that I try so hard to avoid with great success. There are manufacturers of both bows and broad heads that will make us believe that we can shoot through the bone and I would personally caution against believing any of this. It is our responsibility as hunters to take animals in the most ethical ways possible and that includes well placed shots. Unfortunately with a bow there is no way to guarantee this. Due to the speed and the nature of the weapon even the most well intended shots like the one you spoke of happens at due to various reasons. In your case the best possible scenario happened for the animals sake.

[MSHunter]

Deer are incredibly tough animals and extremely well adapted to their environment.

[PrairieShadow]

I had this same experience 3 years ago. 400grn arrow out of a 74lb switchback at roughly 290fps @ 22yds stopped dead in its tracks on the scapula. I wouldnt have ever imagined the scapula would have stopped my arrow at that poundage/speed. I didnt ever see the deer again but am fairly confident that he survived.

Increadible animals!!

[Woods Walker]

It didn't take me long after boning out a few front shoulders to convince myself to AVOID that front shoulder with an arrow at all costs!
 
Anyone who's ever boned a deer shoulder will tell you the same thing.

[msbadger]

I agree with you guys...that being said this year I had this experience.....

I had this doe coming in and at 20 yards she started to turn away....I had the shot behind her shoulder but at the last moment...as I was releasing.... she turned her head and looked straight at me...I pulled the shot forward....this was a hundred gr. 4 blade muzzy on a 30 in wht tail extreme arrow ...I shoot instinctive /fingers and 51# off a 15yr. old Hoyt raider/intruder bow.

The first pic. shows where the hit went in(I tried pulling it out) and the other shows where it almost came out....on the impact she grunted and just tipped over in her tracks...kicked twice and was done...I'll tell you now... it even surprised me....the broad head lost all but one blade....we picked the other three out of the rib cage on opposite side of hit.....

On the same note...earlier I had a buck qrt. away at ten yrds...the hit was a bit high(16ft tree stand) but behind the shoulder and it hit and stuck in opposite shoulder...he went I think around 60 yrds with arrow sticking out of him then stopped...on starting to go again he did a side ways over stepping in to brush...a few moments later he crashed...40 min. passed and I started trailing to find a cleanly broken arrow and lost that deer...2 of us looked for 2 days....I saw him...a week later limping along  the ridge line at day break....he has a 4 blade muzzy and 9 in of arrow in him...if he made it through gun season...

[hookset6969]

I do know depending on where you hit them in that shoulder you can get through it in certain part's. I have a buck on the wall that dropped after 75yd's with an arrow that was no more than 6" in him. the hit was right in the shoulder with a thunderhead 3 blade 125gr head. I still have that shoulder plate somewhere showing the cut threw it. These expandable broadhead's are not going to get the penetration threw a shoulder that a fixed head would get IMO. However I stay away from that shoulder anyway's no matter what head I'm using, I just happened to pull this shot a little or the deer jumped my string somewhat. The shot was 35yd's so he had time to kick that shoulder back. Oh well atleast he is still alive. Welcome to the wonderful world of Bowhunting, I love it!!

[scotman]

scapula

Yea if you take a boned out scapula and try and break it in half you will get a good idea on how high up the scapula you can hit for it to go through. The closer to the joint the thicker it is.

Plus I would like to add the younger the deer the softer the scapula will be.