Yes shoulder blades offer much protection for deer & elk sized animals, but they aren't bullet proof! (pun intended) There are setups that will "consistently" blow through the shoulder plate or scapula of both deer & elk. I say this because we've done it many times. I've also seen heads fail in their feeble attempts as well.

Most hunters use popular off the shelf fixed heads & many use mechs. You're limited in their use. Those heads do what they were built for, & do it well. Bone crushing penetration isn't one of them!

An arrow setup of 450grns & up tipped with a strong broadhead designed for such scapula type hits is what's needed.These are"worst case senario" setups! Heads like Grizzlies, Stingers, etc. will do the job well especially so on deer. The Silver Flame heads are best, they're designed for bone crushing penetration. 60lbs of KE & up, more is better, will blowthrough any part of a deer or elk. Be it leg shoulder or whatever!

The thing to remember is there's only certain angles or positions that you can hit here & penetrate that lead into the heart lung area. When faced with those angles & you accidentally crowd the shoulder you can be assured that your setup is designed to handle such encounters! I belive the new snufferss will also fit the bill with 60s KE & higher.

In the case of elk, you don't even have to crowd the shoulder at times, elk will dip down & back many times at the shot, putting the scapula right in line with your shot, Bummer! If shooting muzzys or TH or similar heads chances are you've crippled an animal & will not recover it! Been there done it! It's not a good feeling!

I'm not condoning shoulder shots, but crap happens, be prepared with a bone crushing setups!

Too, with enough KE & momentum, (that's the heavier setup) you will plow through those tough spots! Most bows today are well exceeding 60+# of KE.

My son shoots a recurve, he's shooting cedar shafts out ofhis 60# bow. The arrow wt is 625 grns, it was tipped with a 2-bladed swickey traveling at 175 fps. He shot a bull last year that I called in, I was standing 6-8' away at the shot, on his release the bull dropped down as I mentioned earlier that theydo at times, the shot caught him square in the scapula, it sounded like a bat hitting a tree, he did not intend for that to happen, it did though! The heavy arrow setup with the 2-bladed head blew through the scapula & caught both lungs! the bull was down in sec.

This isn't a first! Use the right setup & you'll be glad you did in those "worst case senario" situations. Don't worry aboiut losing a few fps in your setup with the extra wt!!--------Sure there's always variables, but put the odds in your favor with bone penetrating setups! Good Luck!-----ElkNut1