Where do you prefer to aim on deer with Cast Boolits?

[Hamish]

Pokes holes in both airbags=Death

[Wolfdog91]

I'll never understand how taking head shots on deer type game is common and accepted as just something a good hunting should be able to do ( other wise you have no business in the field) I'm most of the world but it's so frowned upon in the US .

Then again I see how seriously my friends from across the pond take stuff compared the the average Americans hunter so guess I can't say I completely dis agree. Good nuff pie plate 3MOA @100yd accuracy is just unacceptable for most of them. Mean hold most Americans , big middle big blood trail , track. Most just plain arnt willing to spend the time or money to get to where you can competently take a head shot . Same with LR hunting.

I gotta say though after seeing some people stands ,the fact they got close to a bunch rest set up in the tings and how much they spend on their rifles you'd figure within 100yd ...... Idk I just find it weird when i watch these guys double lung a Southern whitetail from 80yd outta a box stand shooting off a rest and have it run 60yd with a 300 ultra whatever but I can drop a 300lbs hog with a CNS shot at 150 with a .223 ? Idk the math ain't mathing much to me but whatever I don't shoot deer mainly hogs but I just ..idk

[versa-06]

I don't even try for head shots on deer, too much risk it turning it's head at the last min. I usually shoot lung & heart shots unless I need to plant him where he stands then it's a high shoulder shot if possible. -06

[Outer Rondacker]

I'll never understand how taking head shots on deer type game is common and accepted as just something a good hunting should be able to do ( other wise you have no business in the field) I'm most of the world but it's so frowned upon in the US .

Then again I see how seriously my friends from across the pond take stuff compared the the average Americans hunter so guess I can't say I completely dis agree. Good nuff pie plate 3MOA @100yd accuracy is just unacceptable for most of them. Mean hold most Americans , big middle big blood trail , track. Most just plain arnt willing to spend the time or money to get to where you can competently take a head shot . Same with LR hunting.

I gotta say though after seeing some people stands ,the fact they got close to a bunch rest set up in the tings and how much they spend on their rifles you'd figure within 100yd ...... Idk I just find it weird when i watch these guys double lung a Southern whitetail from 80yd outta a box stand shooting off a rest and have it run 60yd with a 300 ultra whatever but I can drop a 300lbs hog with a CNS shot at 150 with a .223 ? Idk the math ain't mathing much to me but whatever I don't shoot deer mainly hogs but I just ..idk

I don't even try for head shots on deer, too much risk it turning it's head at the last min. I usually shoot lung & heart shots unless I need to plant him where he stands then it's a high shoulder shot if possible. -06

Guys I feel like I should explain my head shot reasoning. I do not shoot at running game. I hardly ever get a 75 yrd shot on big game. Its mostly closer. I shoot on a daily bases 1/2 inch targets with most of my scoped rifles at 50,75,100, and 121 yrds. The 121 yrd target is one inch. 22 air gun to 308. I honestly choose 243 win for deer. I shoot off a bench or on a Tri-pod, Bi-pod. Sure I fail to connect 1 out of 10 shots on the bigger guns. 22s and 223s I rarely ever miss. Its kinda not fun honestly. I am not great just have put my time in to get to where I am. I was told very long ago by and old timer when I was hungry you dont eat the head. It could of been a 30 pointer and I could not afford then or now to get it mounted so head it is. I would never take a head shot on a running animal. Let me ask where to you shoot the first pig you harvest before the bullets start flying? Every video I have watch shows head. Wolfdog is correct overseas head shots are the norm. They also take jack deer to the food pantry to give away the meat. Just adding some more info on a different point of view. Keep doing what works for you is what I think.

[M-Tecs]

Hunting ethics and morals are a regional and personal issue. While it is true that headshots are more common in some countries it is all true the laws and hunting styles are different. I know people that deer hunt in city parks in Germany with suppressed rifles. When they pull the trigger, their tag is filled regardless of if they hit or miss. They tend not to miss. They also have to remove the bloody soil if they field dress on site. No hair, no blood no nothing can be left that would indicate a deer was killed at that spot. In some other countries if you wound an animal but don't recover your tag is filled.

While under the right circumstances I will take a head shot I will never recommend it for the preferred shot placement for deer. The first deer I hit was a medium sized buck. I was 10 years old bow hunting. I made a bad shot that resulted in a gut shot. Dad I jumped it a couple of times over 3 day until we found it dead on the third day after the coyotes got on it. Judging for the scene it was still alive an put up a struggle. That bothered me greatly. I vowed to do better. Between archery, muzzleloader, handgun and rifle I've lost one with the rifle out of well over 300 big game animals.

Others view lost game differently. I know some that have less than a 50% recovery rate. Different animals are viewed differently also. I grew up in ranch country and you were expected to shoot at every coyote you see as long as it was safe. I've wounded a lot of coyotes.

Also, I find headshots the least desirable from a quality of meat standpoint. Archery killed meat tend to have less blood in it even compared to double lung rifle. One year I had my buck tag, my dads buck tag and a bonus doe tag. About five minutes after the season open two bucks were chasing a doe. I dropped the biggest buck first with a double lung. Next was the doe and last was the second buck with a head shot. It was confused as to where the shots were coming from, and it had stopped with only the head exposed. I field dressed them in the order I shot them. It was maybe 30 minutes until I gutted it. When I gutted the deer it did not bleed out very well. After it was skinned it oozed blood like I have never seen before. The meat was also a bloody nasty mess. That had not been an issue on the other deer I've head shot but they were gutted almost immediately.

If you are killing 100% of the animals you head shoot no one criticize that. If you take a head shot and think you missed (cause it didn't drop) yet your neighbor has to kill a deer with a shot off jaw or snout you are very much open to criticism. I don't like having to illegally cleaning up other people's messes.

One thing about brain shots that needs to be kept in mind is that there is zero blood loss. Field dressing ASAP helps even though the heart isn't pumping any blood out. I first discovered that when I had three tags. Two buck tags and a doe tag. Two bucks were following a doe. I dropped the biggest buck on the spot. Second shot put the doe down about 50 feet away. The second buck turned at the second shot and ran between the two downed deer. It stopped and I shot it through the brain. I dragged them together to field dress them. I did the brain shot last. After skinning brain shot buck the amount of blood oozing out was like something out of a horror movie. Same for the meat. Taste was adversely affected. The other two were normal. The first buck was a neck shot and the doe was a shoulder shot.

Later I helped skinning and processing 23 deer headshot by LE in a metro herd reduction. Most weren't field dressed for several hours. They all oozed blood after skinning and the meat was a bloody mess.

From 1970 to 2005 I deer hunted on land next to an open management area the was mostly swamp and tall grass. Due to the vegetation people that hunted there took a lot of head shot since that was all they could see. The result was lots of deer came thru the area I hunted with lower jaws and noses shot off. One year I put 3 out of their misery. Thru the years total was a couple of dozen or more. Unless it was the first or second day of the season they were left for coyote food.

IMHO headshots have a place for people that are close to 100% recovery of the animal for every shot fired. For people that take a shot and state I missed because it didn't go down not so much.

[Winger Ed.]

i watch these guys double lung a Southern whitetail from 80yd outta a box stand shooting off a rest and have it run 60yd with a 300 ultra whatever but I can drop a 300lbs hog with a CNS shot at 150 with a .223 ? Idk the math ain't mathing much to me but whatever I don't shoot deer mainly hogs but I just ..idk

I've wondered about that too.
My guess is the bullet is traveling so fast, and is too hard or too pointed so it can't/doesn't expand fast enough.
It goes in & out before it can expand unless it hit a bone to either expand, or create a shock wave causing damage.

I've shot deer with a few different kinds of 90% full pressure jacketed in .30 and .270 cal.
If it slipped between bones, the wound channel was less than spectacular.
Hitting one with a .30 cal. RN or SP cast at the same range, same rifle, and in pretty much the same place---
it looked like a baseball went through there.

[M-Tecs]

I've wondered about that too.
My guess is the bullet is traveling so fast, and is too hard or too pointed so it can't/doesn't expand fast enough.
It goes in & out before it can expand unless it hit a bone to either expand, or create a shock wave causing damage.

I've shot deer with a few different kinds of 90% full pressure jacketed in .30 and .270 cal.
If it slipped between bones, the wound channel was less than spectacular.
Hitting one with a .30 cal. RN or SP cast at the same range, same rifle, and in pretty much the same place---
it looked like a baseball went through there.

Speed increases expansion and hydrostatic shock period. Bullet design and construction also plays into the energy transfer. AP won't expand on game regardless of speed. A good visual is shoot a prairie dog with a FMJ at 1,200 FPS verse 4,000 FPS. Only one will show any type of explosive affects.

Most hunting show are sponsored and using free supplied premium bullets that are generally designed for very control expansion to maximize penetration and minimize meat loss. With jacked being pointy has zero influence on expansion. Nosler Ballistic Tips out of a 270 or 30 cal with Nosler BT don't need to hit a rib to be very explosive. I find them to destroy too much meat, so I don't use them for shooting deer. Lot and lots of very long pointy jacketed varmint bullets available that will turn a PD into a ball of pink mist.

One of the people I hunted with used a 300 Weatherby Mag with 125 grain Nosler Ballistic tips at around 4,200 FPS. Very little of the deer was usable but it dropped them like the Hammer of Thor.

[Outer Rondacker]

Would you guys say its acceptable to use a 223 cal with a 55g bullet going 2950ish to harvest a deer?

Regardless the answer then would you say its ok to be using a 55g bullet at just under 4100 fps? This is what I shoot out of my 243 win. 4080ish and yes I know its smoking and a hot load. Guys there is no bullet to recover on a head shot. Not bragging but I have 100% harvest rate to this day. Guess I am just lucky. Now if you will excuse me I need to go load some 405g 45-70s to go squirrel hunting. Just making some fun I am glad you guys are here to talk to all my hunting buddies are dried up and I can not take another 30-06 BS story.

[lightload]

I grew up in Wolfdog's area and hunted in the county north of him. I never knew anybody who took head shots on deer and never heard of it either. I understand his point.

[versa-06]

As was stated earlier; I have found that a deer doesn't bleed out well with a head shot. That's another reason why I don't prefer to shoot them in the head.