whitetail shot placement

[PanhandleGlocker]

At 10 years old My very first deer I heart shot and he dropped.

At 11 years old My Second deer I head shot but that wasn’t on purpose… now you see, my dad didn’t like spending money on scopes so I had a POS NcStar scope on my rifle. It was sighted in at the beginning of season but I aimed for the heart… and hit him in the head. Instant drop. I also thought it was a doe that’s why I picked that deer to shoot… it was the smallest 6 point I’ve ever seen. Got all the meat on that one.

 

[retrieverman]

How much meat do you lose with the high shoulder? I've hit the heart, lungs, and a couple in the neck but didn't want to mess up the groceries so never tried it.

I hit a buck high shoulder with my 20.5" barrel .308 and 178 A-Max.
I was higher than the deer and at 225 yards.
Both shoulders ruined no front tenderloins and some of the back strap ruined and many inches of neck meat ruined.
Bullet exited with a huge hole on the off side.
Dropped on the spot though.
Next time I used that same 178 A-Max load was a doe staring at me at 15 yards .
Shot it through the neck.
She fell over backwards all 4 legs straight up in the air stiff.

It unzipped the hide from the base of the skull to the shoulder blades.
My buddy thought I cut the hide with my knife. Perfect straight line.
No edible neck meat.

I stopped using that 178 A-Max.
Just tore up too much meat but really put the kill on them and made me think this may be an excellent elk bullet.

I have struck out this year so far.
But I have found many Oyster Mushrooms and a buddy found a Lions Mane and gave me some of it

Bullet choice is going to be a factor in how much damage/meat waste. An Amax, SST, or ballistic tip are typically going to cause more trauma than a cast lead or cup and core.
I’m a big fan of Corelokt bullets in a centerfire and cast lead in a muzzleloader and have killed a bunch of deer and pigs with them, and in my experience, there’s never been “excessive“ meat trauma.
I’ve also killed quite a few with a 150 gr SST out of a 270 Win, and there’s definitely been more meat damage using them.