7mm-08.... Avoid the shoulder?

[Bam Bam]

I will begin elk hunting this year (I moved to WY in 2020), and I am more accurate when shooting my 7mm-08 than with a borrowed 30-06 or 300 WSM. However, I am curious if a good 7mm-08 bullet will reliably punch through a bull elk's shoulder blade. Thoughts and personal experiences? (I do not intend to shoot over 350 yards).

 

[TheJason]

Yes it will.

 

[MThuntr]

It's probably wise to avoid the shoulder with most cartridges...ruins a lot of meat but sometimes you do need to send one into a shoulder to keep animals from ending up into a mess so picking a good bullet is best. I've seen 7mm08 go through a moose so I'm assuming it'll make it through an elk. I believe a significant number of guys on this forum use the 7mm08 without a second thought.

A strong constructed bullet (Partition, Accubond, Hammer, TTSX, etc) will help with making sure the bullet if it does hit bone will continue into the lungs and hopefully out the other side.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

que a @BuzzH picture montage of dead elk from a well placed 7mm-08 in 5, 4, 3, 2...

 

[woods89]

If you bone that shoulder out and hold it up to the light the light shines through most of it. Not the knuckle, of course, but that's pretty low and forward.
I don't think you'll have an issue with any reasonable combination. My elk rifle is a 6.5 Creedmoor, so you can guess where I stand.

 

[RobertD]

Shoot them in the heart/lungs brother, then you don't have to worry about it

 

[RaiderRich]

I concur with what has been said, a well constructed smaller caliber bullet that can be accurately shot will be more lethal than a larger caliber bullet that can not be shot by the same individual accurately.

 

[woods89]

Only thing I would add is that bullets really matter. Don't shoot a heavy copper bullet slow or a light and fairly frangible bullet fast and expect great results.
I use Bergers and Sierra TMK, so I want bullet weight as heavy as possible, which helps a lot with penetration. I've never shot copper, but if I did I would want to shoot light bullets as fast as I could for maximum upset. If I personally was on the copper train I would probably be tempted to step up to the 6.5 PRC over my Creedmoor.
I realize I may be poking a hornets nest here.........

 

[Lilhowie83]

My 12 year old says it will.

 

[The Hedgehog]

avoid the belly.

 

[Bam Bam]

Shoot them in the heart/lungs brother, then you don't have to worry about it

You don't prefer a shoulder shot on an elk? I have only shot deer up to this point, but as far as I can tell, the shoulder shot requires far less tracking than a heart shot.

 

[RobertD]

You don't prefer a shoulder shot on an elk? I have only shot deer up to this point, but as far as I can tell, the shoulder shot requires far less tracking than a heart shot.

I have too little experience to prefer anything when it comes to elk, haha, but my one elk I shot through the heart and liked the results.

In truth though I switched from a seven mag to a .308 recently so my preferred shot on critters has changed a bit in general.

 

[Gerald Martin]

My 12 year old says it will. View attachment 224520

This is as perfect a shot as you can get. Tight against the shoulder blade and through both lungs. I never understood the mentality of trying to blow bone fragments through good meat. Why does it matter if an elk runs 50 yards when it has a good blood trail?

 

[T Bone]

No issues on punching shoulders, even with my daughter's rifle shooting 120 grn btips.

 

[npaden]

My son hit the perfect spot on his bull last year and although the bull went down like a sack of potatoes and never got up again, it did take a follow up shot to finish him once we walked up to him. The first shot hit the biggest spot of bone in the shoulder and did not penetrate through to the vitals.

200 yard shot with a 140 grain Barnes TTSX.

Probably a extremely low chance of that happening but I would not intentionally shoot for the shoulder on an elk with the 7mm-08 regardless of the bullet choice. Just an inch or two farther back is a much better choice.

My 2 cents. Nathan.

 

[tjones]

You don't prefer a shoulder shot on an elk?

No

 

[Addicting]

You don't prefer a shoulder shot on an elk? I have only shot deer up to this point, but as far as I can tell, the shoulder shot requires far less tracking than a heart shot.

Nope, heart and lungs. The one I shot in the shoulder required a follow up shot 20 min later. No tracking but it didn’t need to suffer while it waited for me to get there.

 

[Gunner46]

Out of the 40+ big game tags I've filled only 1 was a shoulder shot, and that was more to my adrenaline burst than intention. So, 40+ minus 1 were lung shots....all were recovered.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Shoulders contain the flatiron steaks/roasts. Such a beautiful piece of meat that is destroyed by a high shoulder shot with a fragmented bullet/bone shards.

 

[TheJason]

You don't prefer a shoulder shot on an elk? I have only shot deer up to this point, but as far as I can tell, the shoulder shot requires far less tracking than a heart shot.

If you put a bullet in the > odds are pretty high you’ll watch it tip over. Usually within a few steps.