I can understand shootdonniebrook concerns regarding a game animal taking one big step in steep country. I advocate that a shoulder shot that breaks the shoulder and penetrates the chest cavity may aid the recover of game. And reduce the damage to meat, and loss of the animal.
I have spent much of my deer hunting life hunting 70 percent slopes, or in mountain man talk “beyond the point of repose.” I shot a buck across the canyon on a narrow ridge top. His final lunge put him over the edge and he slide to the bottom. Instead of a relative easy drag up the spine of the ridge he was on, I had to cut him into and carry the parts to the top of the hill where my vehicle was parked. Both the deer and I was covered in meat bees. (Yellow jackets) Instead of climbing the easier ridge top, I had to fight the face of a steep draw, one in which you go to one step up, and slide down two steps.
Another nice buck was shot behind the shoulder at about 40-yards with the .270 Winchester. The bullet destroyed the heart and lungs and did massive damage to the rib cage on the far side. The buck took a couple of steps, slide, and fell a few hundred feet downhill. I was lucky because there was a road down below.
I was watching a buck in my binoculars when my hunting partner shot it with a 165-grain bullet from a 30-06. I saw matter fly of the perfect behind the shoulder shot, along with steam coming out the entrance and exit holes. The buck took a few steeps and fell off a hundred foot cliff. It was great fun getting him back up to the top.
In another recent post I described encountering a cowboy coming out of the hills with the raw skull and horns of a Mule deer tied to the back of his saddle. He found the decaying buck while moving cattle off the summer range ahead of a snowstorm. The kill appeared to have happen on the closing weekend of deer season. I do not know why this deer was lost, but would a bone-smashing bullet made the difference?
I prefer to use heavy for caliber bullets because many times fatally shot deer do not drop on a dime. In the 6.5 I like 140 grain bullets, the .270 gets fed 140 or 150 grain bullets, the 7MM gets 160 and 175 grain bullets. And I like 165-grain bullets in .30 calibers for deer.
I normally do not take a shoulder shot, but it is not an option that I reject.
I would recommend you try a heavier bullet in the your 7 Mag. I still have a good supply of Speer 145 grain bullets for my 7Mag. They are accurate and the recoil is a little lighter. Speer recommends that bullets of 145 grains and lighter be restricted to antelope and smaller game. I traded a few boxes of 150 grain power points to my brother for 160 grain Speer Hot-Cor Spitzers. The heavier bullet will smash both shoulders of a deer along with causing masive damage inside the chest cavity. The choice maybe lost meat or a lost animal.
