There is alotof discussion on shoulder hits and penetration with broadheads.

One personwill say I blew through both shoulders and the next person will say I only got 2" of penetration. This will happen because of the anatomy of the shoulder area.Also, alot will be determined by what angle the deer was standing, what it did on the shot and what position the front leg and shoulder was at when the arrow went into the deer.

To many times the broadhead will take the blame but most of the time it's simply the difference of 1" on shot placement.

NO broadhead, NONE, will go through the "knuckle" of the shoulder. But most quality broadheads will blow through the shoulder "area", if you miss the "knuckle". Again, this may only be a 1" difference in shot placement but it is reality.

Lets not be so quick to blame the broadhead but blame ourselves and a little bad luck.

Gospel.

And....

ANY BH will go through the cartilage.

I agree. I shot my first buck with a 55Lb bow and Muzzy MX 4's broadheads at about 8 or 9 yards from the ground. It only penetrated about 8 inches, maybe less.

I have hit two deer in the shoulder and did not recover either of them.....friggin on 500 yard long tiny blood trails that led out into the middle of the forest! I will not shoot for the shoulder and do not shoot with anything more than slightly and I mean slightly quartering too.

I should add in that my buck went less than 40 yards. But i backed out for a couple hours because i saw the arrow sticking out real far and got worried (not that i wasnt already freaking out)

Did you recover it?

8" is a LONG way into the vitals area of a deer.

I've broken 3 ridge bones on shoulder hits. All were from the inside out(opposite shoulder).

Once I hit a doe an 1" down from where the joint of the ridge bone meets the next one down, it separated that joint but did not break any bone, just chipped it.

I've sent a couple thru the flat parts of the scapula as well. That's not much resistance.

Get real. Better add a lot more specifics to this line.

LT

I had this happen to me last year, hunting off the ground, had a 150"+ come in at 8 yards,I freakin pulled my shot, and hit the deer square in the shoulder joint, one his first bounce my arrow fell out, got a whole 1 1/2 of penetration.[:'(]
I was pulling 68# and using a 100gr. Muzzy (Bad to the Bone....maybe, but no match for the joint)

LOL...

OK....unless we're SPECIFICALLY pulling 200#'s and the deer is in spots.

I was referring to normal whitetails with normal bowhunting equip.