Head Shot on deer, Good or Bad?????
- Thread starter Jeffrthehunter
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bigngreen
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Every bullet thread t
Every bullet thread will have someone in it who brings up the need to be able to shoot a trophy bull through the butt.
Every bullet thread will have someone in it who brings up the need to be able to shoot a trophy bull through the butt.
D
Deleted member 48126
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500 yd head shots? Not everybody shoots a Creedmore.
aww crap it's a featured thread now....
bigngreen
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I don't personally like a head shot facing to the side or at me but looking away, it's all lethal, we used to go out with a fist full of whitetail tags and our 22-250's and fill the truck that way, they look away and pink mist!!
I don't have anything against head shots. I have a problem with people attempting 500 yd head shots. Under the right circumstances head shots are fine I have killed hundreds of hogs with them. Can you build a rifle accurate enough to make 500. 400. 300 yd head shots?
Head shot on deer: Good or Bad?
I'm voting BAD.
I've made head shots on hogs, from a blind, with a rest, at less than 100 yards, with the gun sighted in at 100 yards. Works great. The hogs die right there. Very convenient as I'm not wandering through the Texas brush at night to track a dead hog shot through the heart and/or lungs that decided to wander off 30 yards before realizing it was dead.
But deer, at many 100's of yards, are not the same thing. I've seen the "head shot" go bad on a buffalo hunt (really a buffalo 'shoot' as they aren't truly hunted). I swore after seeing that I would never attempt a head-shot on anything but a hog (in circumstances indicated above) or a squirrel in the future. It was a gruesome spectacle and wild game deserves better from us.
Of course you are a grown man, making your own decisions and living with them. And head shots are great!...until they are not. And it's too late to take it back after that. Best wishes to you in your future hunts. Let your conscience be your guide.
I'm voting BAD.
I've made head shots on hogs, from a blind, with a rest, at less than 100 yards, with the gun sighted in at 100 yards. Works great. The hogs die right there. Very convenient as I'm not wandering through the Texas brush at night to track a dead hog shot through the heart and/or lungs that decided to wander off 30 yards before realizing it was dead.
But deer, at many 100's of yards, are not the same thing. I've seen the "head shot" go bad on a buffalo hunt (really a buffalo 'shoot' as they aren't truly hunted). I swore after seeing that I would never attempt a head-shot on anything but a hog (in circumstances indicated above) or a squirrel in the future. It was a gruesome spectacle and wild game deserves better from us.
Of course you are a grown man, making your own decisions and living with them. And head shots are great!...until they are not. And it's too late to take it back after that. Best wishes to you in your future hunts. Let your conscience be your guide.
Plinker147
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Head shot good when you hit bad when you miss, that simple. hmmm that's all shots!!
Not saying I preach it but I've done it. It your rest is solid and conditions are right it's a good shot. There is a time and place for those types of shots. So saying you can't do head shots is like saying you can't shoot at 800 yards something might move or a breeze blah, blah, blah. If you can make the shot and practice it it's a good shot.
Not saying I preach it but I've done it. It your rest is solid and conditions are right it's a good shot. There is a time and place for those types of shots. So saying you can't do head shots is like saying you can't shoot at 800 yards something might move or a breeze blah, blah, blah. If you can make the shot and practice it it's a good shot.
At the yardage the OP is talking....bad, just wrong.
I have seen my grandfather, uncles and father shoot hundreds of hogs and steers in the head with 22 shorts no less. At a distance of inches not yards. All this for the family butchering days before the stupid laws changed. Nothing was for sale, only personal consumption.
I have seen my grandfather, uncles and father shoot hundreds of hogs and steers in the head with 22 shorts no less. At a distance of inches not yards. All this for the family butchering days before the stupid laws changed. Nothing was for sale, only personal consumption.
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Your talking a half moa gun, not all that hard to buy, it's getting a half moa or better shooter that knows when he's at or below that threshold on that shot that's difficult!
With a half MOA gun you would still have to be able to shoot better than the accuracy of the gun. Not to mention that this is a hunting situation not a bench.
While I probably wouldn't do it at that range... as has been said, it's all about the Indian. Sure, stuff happens and a good shot can be a bad one. But it happens. Boiler maker shots go bad all the time, long range shots are just a gust away from being bad shots, and don't get me started on archery. I bow hunt also, but let's be real. More deer are lost each year due to poor bow shots than any rifle. It's hunting, that's the name of the game, the chance for error is there. Minimizing that error is our responsibility as ethical hunters, it's simply an individual perspective. Now if we're talking about house cats... it's any spot that has hair on it is fair game!
I am not a big fan of head shot but I put an antelope doe out of her misery at ~500 yards a few years ago. She was bedded out in the open and I cannot get any closer and only shot opportunity is a head shot. A young hunter shot her at the jaw (not sure if he was aiming at the head or not) but I figure I owe it to the animal. I tagged it and gave it to the young hunter.
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I would rather aim a bit lower and shoot them in the neck though I typically only shoot for the boiler room. I've only shot a deer in the neck once and that was to avoid killing the deer behind it with a chest shot.
Most of the deer in our group get shot in the chest but my brother shot a deer in the head once with a .405 Winchester. We were walking in a drive and one of the standers shot a doe so my brother went to check for blood since the kid didn't know if he hit it or not. Turns out he ended up hitting it in the spine so as my brother walked up the hill looking it popped up on its front legs and my brother shot it in the head at 40 yards as the body was behind a small bump.
So we finished the drive and were all gathered around the deer talking when it let out this ungodly liquid gurgling gasping noise as it tried to stand up. Everybody scrambled behind me and I dispatched it with my .44 once everyone was clear, turns out my brother hit slightly low which knocked it out and it woke up with us all standing around it.
Honestly that was probably the most unsettling thing I've ever had happen while hunting and it's one of those sounds that even years later I can still clearly remember.
Most of the deer in our group get shot in the chest but my brother shot a deer in the head once with a .405 Winchester. We were walking in a drive and one of the standers shot a doe so my brother went to check for blood since the kid didn't know if he hit it or not. Turns out he ended up hitting it in the spine so as my brother walked up the hill looking it popped up on its front legs and my brother shot it in the head at 40 yards as the body was behind a small bump.
So we finished the drive and were all gathered around the deer talking when it let out this ungodly liquid gurgling gasping noise as it tried to stand up. Everybody scrambled behind me and I dispatched it with my .44 once everyone was clear, turns out my brother hit slightly low which knocked it out and it woke up with us all standing around it.
Honestly that was probably the most unsettling thing I've ever had happen while hunting and it's one of those sounds that even years later I can still clearly remember.
Headshots are for idiots trying to compensate. I have seen and had to dispatch of two deer that had their jaw hanging down from some $"'>£}! that tried to head shot the animal. Try headshots on steel and be humane about animals
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