to take or not to take a head shot on a deer?

[tackb]

I try to shoot all my does in the head,it makes for a more challenging shot and doesnt destroy any meat,if you have a problem with it dont do it,dont expect anyone to care that you dont think its a safe shot,keep your ethics to yourself.gun)Here of all places isnt the place to be preaching about shot choices,MANY hunters are against the entire theme of this forum,any shot can go wrong,S%@$ happens.

Plus one on the above statement.

If you are competant take the shot I've seen people who wound deer with the 'classic' heart/lung shot so why shouldn't I shoot the deer anywhere that I'm confident of killing it cleanly?

I shot 7 hinds (female reds) in scotland this year from 90m-240m every one of them was a head shot and DRT which makes finding them much easier than when they've all run 40-100m with the classic shot , My choice !

the original thread was written by a dinosaur who wants to impose his rules on us rather than improve himself.This type of person will be the ruin of all shooting sports eventually mark my words.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Plus one on the above statement.

If you are competant take the shot I've seen people who wound deer with the 'classic' heart/lung shot so why shouldn't I shoot the deer anywhere that I'm confident of killing it cleanly?

I shot 7 hinds (female reds) in scotland this year from 90m-240m every one of them was a head shot and DRT which makes finding them much easier than when they've all run 40-100m with the classic shot , My choice !

the original thread was written by a dinosaur who wants to impose his rules on us rather than improve himself.This type of person will be the ruin of all shooting sports eventually mark my words.

Nonya and Tack,

I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do. I only told a story about my own experience. If someone asks me what I think, I will do my best to give my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. If you all took it differently, I'm sorry.

Steve

 

[MachV]

Normaly I frown on head shots but this year found me doing just that. A buck got up out of his bed and stepped behind a couple of trees with only his head and the white of his neck showing. Last hour of the hunting season for me,its safe to shoot and if that guy takes off I got a better chance of winning the lottery than hitting him on the run throught he brush. I aim the first shot @ the white on his neck but he just stands there? The second was a little hurried but went high too but he is still just standing there watching me shoot @ him. I settle down and bury the front sight a little deeper, at the shot he starts running right @ me and the fourth shot tops his heart @ 15 yards and he piles up. While gutting him out I realize that the third shot hit him right in the kisser and he would definatly have blead out.
If the trees where not in the way I would definatly tryed for the boiler room, a head shot for me is second choice.
To each there own...Far be it from me to judge others on right or wrong and dont think for a second that you could talk me out of shooting this buck as long as its safe to do so!!

 

[tackb]

Nonya and Tack,

I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do. I only told a story about my own experience. If someone asks me what I think, I will do my best to give my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. If you all took it differently, I'm sorry.

Steve

I apologise If I've offended you and got you wrong,I'm a little sensitive about anybody saying 'I don't think a or b is the right way to do something as here in the uk we have been sold up the river by our very own NRA a number of times. There is room for all types of shooting within the shooting community and no one type is any more important or better than any other.
As shooters we have enough enemys without fighting amongst ourselves.

Happy hunting,Russ

ps,we've got a real bum deal in the uk , don't let it happen in the usa !

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Tack,

I see it and feel it coming here as well. Sportsmen of different types hate each other, anti's all work together. There has got to be a way to unite sportsmen of all kinds in order to protect the right and the heritage.

Steve

 

[Bruce Rickey]

While in the US Navy as a Special Warefare Officer, I learned two things. 1st NAVY stands for Never Again Volunteer Yourself and 2nd, Murphey was an optomist. If something can go wrong it will, so make sure you remove the vairables so what ever it is cant go wrong. That said, my longest head shot was on at Texas Sendaro at 275 yards. The deer was stairing straight at me. The bullet entered just 1/2 inch above and 1/4 inch to the right of being centered between his eyes. I had just lost a deer earlier that morning that was shot in the boiler room. We picked up parts of lung where the bullet exited, but the deer oddly enough did not leave a blood trail. (I have shot lots of deer and have had several pass through shots not leave a blood trail. Fortunatly, I have recovered almost every deer. Some took all day to find. The worst was a double lung shot doe that ran 400 yards and dropped in the middle of an uncut hayfield. No blood trail.) So I was determined not to track a deer again. I have quit shooting deer in the head and shoot in the chest only if I have to or saving the cape for a mount. I target a small area of the neck. I use the center or the top of the white patch as my aim point for height and center of mass of the neck from which ever angle the neck is presented to me. The good thing with a neck shot is you either hit and kill or miss and let live. You will never hit a deer in the neck and not kill it unless you just break the skin. In which case the deer will live to see another day.

Now pigs is another story, target is the rear base of the ear. Make it challanging and put the bullet in the ear cavity without breaking the ear itself or the skin around the ear. If they are quartering towards you put the bullet in the eye, Straight on make an X between the eyes and the ears and shoot the center of the X. Judge yourself on how close you come to these marks.

Best thing is there is no tracking and chance of a deer running off and dying somewhere you can't find them.

 

[Eaglet]

I do not support the head shots philosophy. That said, I know many folks do that kind of shooting.


YouTube - Strictly Headshots

 

[dougedwards]

Are we forgetting that shots aimed at the heart or lungs can also go awry? Surely we have a smaller target when we aim at the head but some of us are more proficient at shot placment. I like the base of the neck myself. Just as affective as the head in my opinion.

Doug

 

[MontanaRifleman]

If you're confident you can make a good head shot, then do it. I personally will opt for the boiler room. I've read severl threads on this subject in different forums and one point that was raised is that a headshot that instantaneously kills an animal will leave blood in the meat. A boiler room shot will usually bleed the animal out fairly well.

I know of a guy who married a native Alaskan gal in one of the villages in NW AK. He takes nothing but headshots and kills 60+ caribou a year. Head shooting is the way all those guys do it, and they very rarely miss.

If a headshot is my only option, I would take it if I was confident about it. Remember, the size of a deer's brain is about the same as a tennis ball.

-MR

 

[AJ Peacock]

I've shot a bunch in the head and even more at the base of the head (just behind the ear). Less meat damage etc. Don't knock ANYBODY that can make whatever shot THEY can make. Hunters harvest animals, every shot we take is taken with forethought and concern (whether it's a head, cns, or boiler room shot). My furthest 'behind the ear' shot was 300yds with a 7mm Rem Mag. The buck dropped straight down! Some of the 'easterners' that saw me make the shot, thought it was lucky. I didn't think anything of it, that rifle puts it where you point it and thats that. If I had shot him in the boiler room, he would likely have run straight downhill and rolled to the bottom of a VERY deep/steep canyon.

AJ

 

[jerrschmitt]

I shoot head shots all the time. Deer are plentiful up here and we can get tags for about as many as we want. I always take two or three from the backyard bench,

This deer is standing at 150 yards. My 6BR will shoot under one inch groups at that range. I'm using a rest, the deer is standing. With a head shot, he will never know what hit him. Now if I was sitting in a tree stand and a deer comes running by, I'll take a lung shot. Just depends on the situation.

 

[HUAINAMACHERO]

I think we shouldnt criticize if someone takes head shoots on deer or not. I think it depends on the situation. All of my bucks have been shot to the boiler room, just because I wanted to mount them before I knew I was shooting at them, and because I like my meat bloodless. But as AJ Peacock explained the situation of having a buck drop right there or having a buck run straight downhill and rolled to the bottom of a VERY deep/steep canyon, may change the decision of where to shoot it at. If someone is capable of precisely shooting at the head at any given distance it is not our problem if they do. A lot of people is against hunting at long range distances, and we love it. No everybody has to agree with us.

 

[shootinfool]

Depends on the situation for me. I wont knock a person that does it when he knows he can do it. I think that he decision is up to them and everyone should respect that. I dont tell you how to shoot, only how i would shoot. I have made the shot before. Bottom line is I can only controll how i shoot, why argue or hate on someone else for the way they shoot.

 

[Ridge Runner]

As the father of the young lady in pink trousers that roy was refering to, I'm not a major advocate of head shooting deer, but it does work and there are times when it becomes advantagious to put the smack down on them, you know those instances when it'll be alot harder job getting the deer to the vehicle if you let them take a 50-60 yard death sprint, cause its always downhill.

Its probably happened a dozen times or so in the past when I intensionaly targeted the head to keep a game animal from getting into a rough place for retrieval. almost always the shot was less than 100 yards. There has been 2 instances of head shooting at longer ranges. I'll describe them

1) spotted 4 bedded does at 375 yards all but one were mostly obscured by brush, I set the rifle up, did my dope and was preparing for the shot. The targeted doe layed her head right along her side, perfectly in line with the onside shoulder. I placed the crosshair just under her eye and squeezed, at the report her head bobed a bit and she lay still, the other bedded does didn't even get up till they smelled blood. The .284 160 accubond entered exactly at POA, exited the head, entered the onside shoulder at about .30 caliber, and exited the offside shoulder into the ground. read it as "graveyard dead"

2) set up in a big field at first light, ranged a doe at 611 yards, the deer appeared to be slightly quartering away, but she was in fact broadside, first shot was a liver hit, she took 3 steps, layed down, to end her suffering as quickly as possible, I put another accubond through her head at 615 yards.

If a headshot is within your abilities, who are we to question anothers prowess with a rifle.

Just as when my daughter head shot the doe, we talked about it and she said the shot felt good, and when she was aiming she felt the feeling of confidance that we all feel when we know the outcome even before the trigger is pulled. so I told her "good job"
RR