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What to do if you hit a deer in the shoulder?

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ssrhythm:
Shoulder hits come in two main varieties…
1.  Shoulder blade
2.  Humerus bone hit

Shoulder blade…depending on what part of the shoulder blade you hit, it might be good or bad.  If you hit the “spine” or thickest part, penetration will depend on KE you just hit it with.  It’s probably going to result in wounded deer that bleeds well enough to track him into the next county, but no dice.  If you hit anywhere but that spine, penetration should get broadhead into the chest cavity where it will likely break off when the shoulder blade shears the shaft when it takes off running.  This deer will die.

Shoulder Bone or Humerus Bone hit.  This is the dreaded “WHACK!” hit.  Deer drops at sound of bow firing and loads the front end…this brings the humerus (upper leg bone) up in front of the vitals area and if you hit it, you know it from the very loud and awful sound that’s not unlike smacking a 2x4 with a hammer.  Anywhere you hit that bone squarely from where it balls into the shoulder socket all the way to the elbow…you are screwed.  It’ll bleed and keep bleeding enough to track it for as long as you feel like crawling and tracking….but it’s not going to die. 

I hope you never hit anything comprising the shoulder, but if you do, if the arrow breaks off, assume you got thru the blade and into the chest and look for him till you find him or can’t look anymore.  If he runs off with your arrow after the loud CRACK of head vs bone and you don’t find arrow broken in short order, look a while to make yourself feel better, but he’s not going to die.

ssrhythm:
And I shoulda prefaced the above post with….”This is MY experience…not a definitive guide to shoulder shots.”

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