Author Topic: head shots (Read 5876 times)

NONYA · « **Reply #30 on:** January 19, 2007, 08:20:33 AM »

if you cant kill a standing deer with a head/neck shot at 200 yards your not much of a shot,my little sister can do it all day long.I would sugget more practice if you hunt where this kind of distance is a possability.And to the guy trying to flame with little effect nobody said anything about 500 YARDS or RUNNING or a 30-30 so this thread shouldnt sound anything like your moron neighbor,seems anytime a 30-30 is involved there are some amazing tales to tell.

ken2222 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 19, 2007, 12:49:10 PM »

Well stated NONYA...nuff said.

Troggy · « **Reply #32 on:** January 20, 2007, 09:22:28 PM »

Head shots ruin too much meat that's why i shhot for the ham every time.

NONYA · « **Reply #33 on:** January 20, 2007, 10:57:28 PM »

ROFL,yhe that head meat is my favorite part,if it was up to me id shotem in the ass and just cut the heads off!!

kyelkhunter3006 · « **Reply #34 on:** January 21, 2007, 01:41:55 PM »

ROFLMAO,

Troggy's post was funny, Nonya's was hilarious.

454Puma · « **Reply #35 on:** February 14, 2007, 05:37:49 PM »

To the original question-you shoot small game in the head cause what little meat you get you don't want to ruin. You shoot big game in the heart/lung /shoulder because you don't want to cripple/maim/loose the animal! It's the largest and best target on big game! I myself shoot to take out the off shoulder-I have never had to track an animal more then 50 yds! Most are right where I shot them, never taking a step!

qajaq59 · « **Reply #36 on:** March 05, 2007, 02:38:43 AM »

T'ain't that hard folks.
I hunt with a 30-30, and if I can't hit a hog where I want, then obviously I need to get closer. And as I age I notice it becomes closer and closer and.......

Pinkerton · « **Reply #37 on:** March 15, 2007, 05:43:54 PM »

I've taken 3 head shots in my lifetime, three dead deer but after one this year, never will again, unless like NONYA outlined, a facing shot. I was hunting prairie deer in South Dakota this fall. wondered up to an irrigation ditch with some tall dry grass along the top. Peering through the grass at about 250yrds was a small hurd of whitetails, I had one doe and one anydeer tag left, after ranging the herd I picked out the largest doe at 244 yrds standing broadside. Sighted on the shoulder with my 300 Weatherby. At the time she was so still and I was prone laying against the top of the ditch and felt so solid, I decided to take the head shoot (longest I'd ever thought about) When I touched off, She spun a full circle and dropped in her tracks. The rest of the scattered and I started wandering up to her. The way she was laying looked just like the way a dog would, facing you with it's legs extended forward and it's chin on the ground. When I was about 50 yrds away she jumped up and ran. I was so shocked I'm suprised I was able to make another shot but got her on the run. Her lower jaw was gone. I could have easily lost her but was glad I didn't. I felt guilty and impulsive for taking that shot. Next time in a situation like that, I'll put it in the ribs.

*ROCK-MAN* · « **Reply #38 on:** May 07, 2007, 02:25:28 PM »

Spinal column? Isn't that where tha backstrap is?I never liked then ribs to much anyways.We had a buddy this past season on a hunt out west that went out with the guide to shoot a cow elk for meat we was all gonna split.He loads his own rounds for his 270 and is know as a dead shot.Alas he blew the cows jaw to splinters trying to save meat and they had to chase her around for about fifeteen minutes before he could get two more rounds into her to finish the job.Good thing them elks is so big cause he tore up some meat.

NONYA · « **Reply #39 on:** October 11, 2007, 09:18:18 AM »

Made a single 397 yard shot on a an antelope yesterday,hit her right where the spine and skull connect,she dropped like a rock and didnt twitch.

james · « **Reply #40 on:** October 11, 2007, 10:01:34 AM »

I made a 250 yard running head shot to fill my doe tag last week. The buck running in front of her didn't even break stride when she fell. The doe wasn't in the scope so I really don't know how quickly she fell but with a 30 cal just behind the eyes, I suspect she dropped on the spot. I later filled my buck tag with a standing 385 yard shot (just behind the shoulder). I may not be a great shot but who can complain of divine intervention.

303Guy · « **Reply #41 on:** October 14, 2007, 07:59:25 AM »

Quote from: NONYA on January 18, 2007, 08:18:02 AM

who said anything about a moving target?And the kill zone on a deers head is slightly larger than an orange.My rifle is 1.5" high at 100 and 0 at 200,if i cant kill a deer with a headshot at that range I wouldnt be in the field.Wait till the deer is facing you and put the bullet right above the nose,if you miss the brain you willl still sever the spinal cord,either way its an instant kill with 0 meat loss.You should be able to shoot a 200 yard group from your hunting rifle that makes this a safe shot.

NONYA , you talking about precision shooting. The way you do it will work. You obviously have the skill, the equipment, and the patience. As for me - I have visions of damaged jaws. I did it once. Got my quarry but decided never to try it again! (Sideways head shot that is).

303Guy

Sourdough · « **Reply #42 on:** December 16, 2007, 02:06:33 PM »

While my favorite shot is center of the shoulder shot, Circumstances often dictate a different shot. As for the neck shot I try and avoid it as much as possible, since there is about 50 to 80 lbs of meat on the neck of a moose, and 30 to 40 lbs on a caribou.

A few years ago I was out hunting Moose and spotted a moose lying on the side of a hill, about half way to the top. As we climbed the hill with snow machines we were hidden from view till we got near the moose. At 250 yards the moose raised it's head and looked at us. I stopped and told my partner if we try and get closer it will jump and run. So I sat down and placed the cross hairs right between it's eyes. The moose's head just dropped, I had hit right between the eyes, the uphill shot had moved my bullet to be dead on at 250 yards instead of the normal 200 yards I sight in for.

Last year I was hunting varmints, so the only bullets I had were 125gr varmint loads for my 30-06. The old miner I was staying with asked if I could shoot him a moose for meat for the winter. He had a tag, but his eye sight is so bad he can't see beyond 50 yards. He signed me a proxy so I went out and found him a moose. I stalked to 80 yards, and took a behind the ear shot. Dead moose, and that was the only shot I could have taken with the varmint load I had.

About five years ago I was out hunting moose with a muzzleloader. As I was returning to the cabin that night, a small bull challenged me for the right to the trail. Unfortunately I had no place to go due to deep snow and no reverse on the snow machine I was riding. I hate a head on shot, but I shot him dead center of the chest. Down to his knees he went, problem is he got up and continued the charge. I dove over the snow machine and into the deep snow beside the trail, scrambling under the low branches of a big spruce tree. He ran about 100 yards and fell.

But unless it is the only shot offered I will pass on the head shot, taking the center of the shoulder shot as the best one. Most of my shots are made with the animal standing broadside looking directly at me. So the head shot and the shoulder shot is there, I'll take the shoulder every time.

NONYA · « **Reply #43 on:** December 16, 2007, 04:26:27 PM »

This year all I could see of my buck was his head and some of his neck,he was bedded under a cliff 332 yards downhill from me,a 160 gr Barnes TSX behind the ear dropped him like a bad habit,recovered the bullet under the soft skin in the tip of his nose,expanded about half way,only traveled through about 10" of bone and head.

Davemuzz · « **Reply #44 on:** December 18, 2007, 08:17:02 AM »

This year I was hunting with a group of guys in our gun club. A drive was being done and one fellow had three doe come down by him and hold up in a small brush patch about 60 yards from him. He decided to take a head shot. The bullet hit a limb on the way in and hit the doe in the throat. He and another fellow tracked that doe for about a mile or maybe a little more. The doe was bleeding fairly heavily. She then ran into a posted no trespassing...don't even think of asking to go here.....area.

Needless to say, I'm quite certain the doe died within 24 hours. The fellow who took the shot had a lung shot. That was the shot that should have been made. Had a lung shot been taken, that deer would have ran under 100 yards and died.

I don't understand why any hunter does not take a lung shot. There is no meat in the rib section of a deer. If it's a nice size doe or buck, you will get a good neck roast and those, if prepared right, are quite tasty! Take the lung shot. There is no reason not to.

MHO

Dave

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #45 on:** December 18, 2007, 08:42:24 AM »

Everyone went straight to deer ! and rifle !
on turkeys i almost always aim at the head ! shot gun always rifle sometimes !
deer it depends on shot , range , weapon etc. we hunt with shot gun some, and deer are most often moving and almost everyone i know puts the bead or sights on the deer's head as the aiming point ! just like a rabbit or bird etc. !
with a rifle , we do the same for running deer ( not walking deer ! ) . if the deer is standing still ( lucky you ! ) and you can shoot then a head shot should be fine to say 150 + or - depending on ability ! of course we are talking a rifle that groups nicely for a 200 or so yard shot not a sks that groups 4 inches at 50 yards ! but say a rem 700 that goes an inch at 100 yards ever time you shoot it ( you do have to practice alot ) !
it all boils down to what you can do and what you can live with , not what you think others can live with or should do !

Davemuzz · « **Reply #46 on:** December 18, 2007, 01:28:25 PM »

Shootall,

I'm not tryin to flame you or anyone else on this subject. If you read my post again, this fellow that I was with took the shot and the bullet hit a limb (this was obvious when the area was looked at) about 20 feet before the doe. Just enough to deflect the bullet down and cause the fatal, but not immediately terminal hit.

My point was\is that if this were a lung shot and the same limb were hit, the result would be a dead deer under 100 yards. A 4" drop in the hit area isn't going to make a difference when the bullet hits the boiler room. No meat loss....dead deer. So....what's the down side?

Dave

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #47 on:** December 19, 2007, 05:16:22 AM »

Nonya
That is quite an animal. I was trying to get an estimate on the inside spread based on your shoulder width but the angle needs a bit of a change.

Do you see many 30" up in Montana? Seemed like Colorado used to be the place to go for this magical number but there was getting to be less n less of them.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #48 on:** December 19, 2007, 09:09:17 AM »

DAVEMUZZ, don't mean to flame you either but any shot that wasn't made is pure speculation !
I have seen deer with the heart blown to h- - - and still running ( guess some don't realize they are dead as quick as others !
have seen deer with lungs that looked like a weed whacker went thru. every breath caused a fountain of floth to shoot out every few feet .
then one was struck in the head with buckshot and no wound ! knocked the deer out , we loaded it in the truck before it came back to life , talk about a red neck fire drill !
a deflected bullet is just that , don't know anyone who can predict the flight path of one enough in a hunting situation well enough to incorporate in a shot .
And to be sure had there been a different aiming point , then one can assume no deflection took place .

Davemuzz · « **Reply #49 on:** December 19, 2007, 10:48:02 AM »

Shootall,

Point well made and heard. Tough...no, really impossible to "argue" with the "what if's".

I guess my only point is (in my example\situation) there is a higher probability of a dead deer in a shorter yardage, had the hunter went for the lung than the head. Remember "probability" being the key. Doesn't mean for certian....just means a better chance of it happening.

MHO

Dave

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #50 on:** December 20, 2007, 02:40:01 AM »

good point !
also as i get older i don't see as well scope or no scope and i feel alot of folks are in the same boat !
and do in fact use what i have learned over the years thru. success and failure to access a shot as to whether or not it is a high % shot or not , and have passed a few i would have taken at 20 !
don't know if its wisdom or wife getting tired of sewing shirt tails back on !
but it did make me aware skill level is different as we age and different for each hunter !
so if you are confident in a shot make it if not wait for one you can make !

Davemuzz · « **Reply #51 on:** December 20, 2007, 03:33:43 AM »

Quote from: SHOOTALL on December 20, 2007, 02:40:01 AM

don't know if its wisdom or wife getting tired of sewing shirt tails back on !

Shootall!!!.......Doesn't "wisdom" mean "I don't think I want to listen to my wife b____ about the shirt tail again" ?

Yeah.....Now the real challenge is to try and tell your son that!

Dave

qmastersgt · « **Reply #52 on:** December 20, 2007, 07:57:20 AM »

When after whitetail, if they are 40 yrds or less, I take the neck shot. Just above the shoulders, 6" or so. If they are out more than that, I take the chest. I try to shoot just behind the shoulders. I hate to mess up the meat. I know if I miss the heart, a big piece of lung will get sucked out of the exit wound. I kind of like tracking a little bit. I feel all Davy Crocket like. Unless it's dark, then it sucks. Different strokes for different folks. We all have a lot to learn from the next hunter, If we are not afraid to try something different.
Sami

Brithunter · « **Reply #53 on:** February 08, 2008, 11:26:24 PM »

Hi All,

The problem with head shots as I found out is that the Whitetail does not always react as it's supposed to. I shot a Button Buck through the head with a 138 grn BTSP at about 30 yards and the Buck dropped like a stone. Bullet entered below the ear however as I walked up to it. The Buck suddenly jumped up and I snatched a shot at it as it weaved towards the brush and missed. The Buck stopped swaying and I chambered another round and shot it through the back of the head form about 20 yards. The bullet went diagonally through the head entering behind the left eye and exiting below the right eye. Down he went again only to struggle to his feet but this time he could not lift his head so a third shot through the head which went in under the jaw and exited through the top finally blew his head apart and he dropped.

How on earth that buck still lived after two bullets through the head is beyond me. The whole thing took about 3-5 minutes and I got a clean carcase but due to this I will never use a head shot again. I shot a large Doe at the same spot a couple of days later and that was neck shot. I only had the head and neck visable and she was looking straight at me. I was tracking a younger Doe when this oen popped her head out so it was shoot her or get busted.

Graybeard · « **Reply #54 on:** February 09, 2008, 02:39:05 AM »

The real problem with a "head shot" is that there is a LOT more head that is not a killing shot than that which is a killing shot. If one spoke of a "brain shot" as opposed to a "head shot" then it is indeed a quickly deadly shot. BUT making that brain shot on a deer is not the easiest shot available most of the time and if you miss it you may just wound the deer to lose it and allow it to die a miserable and lingering death without recovering it.

Head shots are the recommended shot for small game and hogs but really not for deer. When they work they work spectacularly but when they don't work you may or may not even know you connected.

NONYA · « **Reply #55 on:** February 09, 2008, 10:50:08 AM »

Ive never lost head shot deer,only take the shot on occasions when the deer isnt moving and when I have a solid rest,odds are if you miss a head shot you miss the deer completly,if you miss a heart/lung shot you could very easily have a gut shot deer that you never see again,i would say the odds of a headshot turning into a bad shot are lower than when shooting for the vitals.

Graybeard · « **Reply #56 on:** February 09, 2008, 10:57:46 AM »

Not really. Have you ever attempted a head shot and missed? How do you KNOW you missed? If you do it often enough you will eventually hit and not kill and most times just assume you missed when in fact you might have removed a jaw or even severed the esophogus or some such which means a lingering painful death. Say what you will but you cannot know with certainty it was a miss rather than a wounding shot.

Too many of us have seen such wounded game first hand that others assumed they missed.

Davemuzz · « **Reply #57 on:** February 09, 2008, 12:07:44 PM »

Too many of us have seen such wounded game first hand that others assumed they missed.

I'll second that one. I saw that first hand this year. The shooter swore he missed and I saw the deer stop and bend it's head down to spit up blood. I could not shoot as the shooter was to my right and too many trees for me. (ricoche). The shooter and his buddy tracked that deer for well over 500 yards into a posted area that no one goes into. (get caught...get fined...no matter what!!!) The deer is dead....no doubt.

If you miss the boiler room enough to gut shoot the deer you have no business even attempting a head shot. If your good enough to take a head shot....then why not be certian to take the game with a lung shot? I see no advantage with a head shot. Don't tell me about the meat....a front leg doesn't hold that much to be concerned about. Besides, losing a front leg is better than losing the whole deer.

MHO

Dave

NONYA · « **Reply #58 on:** February 09, 2008, 12:17:26 PM »

Guess Im just lucky,i havnt lost a deer that I have attempted a head shot on,i dont take the shot unless i know its going down,I shoot at least one doe a year in the head,some times several.I like to whack em in the head,cut it off and give the hides to my friends mother who tans them and makes her indian goods from them.I havnt had a head shot go wrong,if you can shoot a 5 shot 1 group at 100 yards you can kill a deer with a headshot at the same distance,i do it every year.I made two this last season well over 300 yards,its not that hard if you put in the time it takes to be a proficient shooter and use the proper gear.If you dont like it dont do it but dont try to tell me its too risky or unethical,it kills quicker than any of your safer more ethical lung shots ever will.

Davemuzz · « **Reply #59 on:** February 09, 2008, 05:38:04 PM »

We all can't be Annie Oakley. Some of us can be....some of us think we can be. It's the one's who think they can be that end up thinking they missed...when they didn't. My wife's uncle would head shoot a buck darn near every year with a 222. He was the best darn shot i've ever seen. When he took the shot, he just didn't miss. You just didn't bet against him.

So, yeah Nonya...I won't argue that there are darn good shooters out there. I've seen 'em. I'm not one with enough confidence to take those shots. I think 98% of hunters out there shouldn't take those shots. But you and Uncle George....you guys are probably in that other 2% category.

MHO

Dave