Instructional video on head-shots for deer hunting

[mtnman31]

Got this link forwarded to me. It's a video on making effective head shots on deer. Filmed with a high speed camera, it might be considered graphic for some.

http://whackstarhunters.com/head-shoot-deer/ (http://whackstarhunters.com/head-shoot-deer/)

Unless I've stalked up real close, I'm sticking with body shots; much less margin for error.

[white eagle]

no not for me
I kill deer without needing to try fancy shootin

[Wolfer]

Head shots are not for me. I've done it several times when that's the only shot offered but it's a last resort. I also only do it if I'm 100% confidant I can make the shot.

I see the risk of shooting off a nose or breaking a lower jaw as more than Im comfortable with.
Ive also found deer shot through the lungs to have less blood in the meat than deer that I've shot in the head or neck. Just my experience and opinion YMMV.

[Hogdaddy]

Neck Shots when I can,, DRT ; )
H/D

[M-Tecs]

Headshots tend to produce shot off jaws and snouts. I hunted private land next to a public management area for 30 plus years. Saw lots of deer with the jaw shot off.

[NSB]

I've seen too many shot with the lower jaw missing or a large hole in the nose that won't allow the deer to survive. It's not an ethical shot.

[dk17hmr]

I don't mind taking headshots, as they said head on or straight away. It's not for everyone and that's fine. I know a lot of people that can't pull it together long enough to make a chest shot, a guy has to know when he is over his head and not shoot.

I killed three antelope this year, one with a head shot, one with a neck shot, and one with a heart shot. The heart shot doe didn't take a step but didn't drop either, I put another bullet through her shoulders to make sure she didn't go anywhere, the other two were one and done. Had I of crawled another 75 yards closer I would have most likely shot her in the head or neck on the first shot.

[Texas by God]

If you are very close- fine. Long range head shots are chancey and not ethical. My opinion. Best, Thomas.

[dale2242]

The brain of a deer is as big as a tennis ball.
The vital area of a deer is as big as a plate.
How good are you?
Take the ethical shot....dale

[shredder]

The part of a deer that moves most suddenly and unpredictably is the head. Why take the risk of that kind of horrific wound if you are off just an inch or so? The rib cage is the ethical shot and has the largest margin of error. Hunting is not some sniper game from a concrete bench!

[MT Gianni]

Head shots only if I am close enough and an clearly see the ear hole without magnification and have 100% trust in my ability to put it there. Behind the leg with a cast bullet wastes very little meat and works well.

[MDC]

I generally take a high shoulder shot on deer. I do lose a little meat but I don't have to go look for them.
I too have seen deer with broken jaws and it's just sad. We had a doe on our place that had a broken arrow in her skull for two years. It had entered behind her left ear.
No one ever got a shot at her and after a couple of years she disappeared.

[sixshot]

You can never be sure that head won't move just as you start to break the shot, it happens. I watched a friend blow the lower jaw off a doe once & it makes me mad every time someone brags about being a head or neck shooter. How much meat do you waste shooting one through the lungs....really! I really get fired up over the guys that promote head shots & think its macho & that they are "great" shooters for trying it. Bad thing is many of them teach their kids the same ethics, that's sad. Some also say that way its a clean kill or a clean miss.....wow, is that common sense hunting or what. I didn't even watch the video.

Dick

[762 shooter]

A friend of mine made a neck shot on a fine 8 point. Looked and looked and found no deer or blood.

Two weeks later a nice 8 point stepped out at another stand and he put it down with a heart shot. That deer had an exit hole in it's neck the size of a softball. Looked like hamburger and was covered with maggots. You had to see that wound to appreciate what an animal can take and still be alive.

762

[runfiverun]

I think this subject comes up on here about every year.
and it leads to the same conclusion.
take what your comfortable with.
I'm not a big fan of the head shot, but I keep it open as a viable option.
the same as shooting into the liver, a high shoulder, or a frontal shot.
you need to know the inner workings of the animal and exactly where the vital parts are that shut it down.

the next question then is,,,, are you holding over or guessing at what internals your hitting when you take the shot?
if so then it doesn't matter what part of the animal your shooting at does it?

[tdoyka]

early on i shot several deer in the neck, some were drt, some ran a bit. the same goes with a lungs/heart shot. i have only shot one deer in the head, it was around 10+/- yards and i did not like it at all afterwords. as a hunter, i find that head shots are abhorrent. a good friend of mine shot a small 8pt in the head, but he ended up shooting the buck in the jaw. we tracked that poor deer for something like 6-7 hours until it got dark. two days later his cousin found it still alive. it could barely picks his own head up so his cousin knifed the deer's throat. while he was skinning it, a pus like thing went from its wound to clear along its back. he called up the game warden and the GW came and looked at it. he said that it was infected and he would give his cousin another buck tag. the GW took the deer away. i have heard that people have shot a deer in the head, they are surprised it ran away. and i tell them that story and some go on to shoot the deer thru the lungs/heart and others say i am full of @#!$ and keep on trying to shoot the deer in the head.

if i take a tennis ball and a soccer ball and tell the shooter that if they can hit either the tennis or soccer ball in 3 seconds they get $100. i wonder how many would shoot the tennis ball?

[rosst]

the last Deer taken ( Fallow ) was with a headshot, 50yrds from above with a .22lr - one of those unlikely occurrences that happen when all the stars are in line. i had checked the zero of the rifle that morning before i left to hunt for a Goat for the pot, exactly 50yrds using a rangefinder, the critter was at exactly 50yrds using the rangefinder . . . perfect conditions, took my time . . Bang Flop !
otherwise it is a No shot for me, the idea of blowing part of an animals face off just makes it to risky . . .

[rondog]

Sorry, not a fan of head shots on animals, I feel it's horribly disrespectful to the animal. Taking their life is bad enough, but I feel it should be done in a humane and respectful manner, and blowing their head apart like a cantaloupe is unnecessary and disgusting, in my opinion. Taking animals lives shouldn't be a game of being the grossest and goriest possible.

Strangely, I DON'T feel this way about humans. Criminals and enemy combatants - let 'em have it right between the eyes. Pop 'em like a grape. But they're not innocent and harmless grass-eaters that are tasty. They're predators in a kill-or-be-killed situation. A little brain matter splatter is a great de-motivator for their buddies too.

[TXGunNut]

I've never taken a head shot on a deer, I'll wait until a better shot presents itself. I'll take one on a hog now and then but that's an entirely different subject. Deer I've watched move their heads too much for me to have confidence in the shot. Lots of folks are better shooters than I and if they feel confident in the shot and can pull it off under hunting conditions I'm OK with it.

[MDC]

I'll take one on a hog now and then but that's an entirely different subject.

This is true on a pig, if they are quartering away I'll aim for the base of the skull where it meets the neck. If they are broadside, it goes in the ear hole.

[TCLouis]

Necks, especially back toward the body are DRT shots and fairly stable.

Heads move around in different directions and are much smaller with a lot of area that will kill the deer over a few days.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Over the years, I have hit a critter or two in the head. Never quite sure why it happened, but have only taken one critter one time when I aimed for the head.

Was on a "stand" at the friends on who's range I have spent much time shooting and developing loads.

This one time, the critter was at about the 100yd mark on the range, I was shooting my 45/70 which had recently been at this range for load development.

Took rested shot and the deer dropped at the shot.

However, I watched the deer twitch and jerk for what seemed like a long time when the norm is that those body reactions are over and done with by the time I walk to the downed critter.

Now, the deer was for all practical purposes, dead where it lay but even with a bullet through the brain, it continued to move for a long time, waaaaay longer then with a behind the shoulder lung shot, although it never once tried to raise it's head.

My preferred shot placement is and has always been behind the shoulders and I will continue to use that point of aim for game animals, big or small.

That shot placement looses little meat, and especially since I've use the 45/70 with my Wide Flat Nose cast bullet at a muzzle velocity of 1650fps that has been true. Deer typically are bang flop and elk are down in much less time then it takes to tell about it.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[mcdaniel.mac]

Over the years, I have hit a critter or two in the head. Never quite sure why it happened, but have only taken one critter one time when I aimed for the head.

Was on a "stand" at the friends on who's range I have spent much time shooting and developing loads.

This one time, the critter was at about the 100yd mark on the range, I was shooting my 45/70 which had recently been at this range for load development.

Took rested shot and the deer dropped at the shot.

However, I watched the deer twitch and jerk for what seemed like a long time when the norm is that those body reactions are over and done with by the time I walk to the downed critter.

Now, the deer was for all practical purposes, dead where it lay but even with a bullet through the brain, it continued to move for a long time, waaaaay longer then with a behind the shoulder lung shot, although it never once tried to raise it's head.

My preferred shot placement is and has always been behind the shoulders and I will continue to use that point of aim for game animals, big or small.

That shot placement looses little meat, and especially since I've use the 45/70 with my Wide Flat Nose cast bullet at a muzzle velocity of 1650fps that has been true. Deer typically are bang flop and elk are down in much less time then it takes to tell about it.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
I see that with hogs occasionally on head shots. The tricky thing to remember about the brain is that it's the base, where the spine meets, that does the bulk of the motor signal control. Even a small round there will do it just fine.

I prefer the neck or shoulder for non-suids, but pigs get the headshot whenever possible. Takes the guesswork out, especially when shooting handgun-equivalent rounds lies a subsonic .30 caliber or slow .44mag.

[Markbo]

I have been head shooting does for 30 years. I have never wounded or maimed a single one. If memory serves I have missed 2 and yes I am 100% sure they were clean misses. I keep range reasonable, know my gun intimately and only shoot when they are not moving. It is very effective.

[MT Gianni]

Over the years, I have hit a critter or two in the head. Never quite sure why it happened, but have only taken one critter one time when I aimed for the head.

Was on a "stand" at the friends on who's range I have spent much time shooting and developing loads.

This one time, the critter was at about the 100yd mark on the range, I was shooting my 45/70 which had recently been at this range for load development.

Took rested shot and the deer dropped at the shot.

However, I watched the deer twitch and jerk for what seemed like a long time when the norm is that those body reactions are over and done with by the time I walk to the downed critter.

Now, the deer was for all practical purposes, dead where it lay but even with a bullet through the brain, it continued to move for a long time, waaaaay longer then with a behind the shoulder lung shot, although it never once tried to raise it's head.

My preferred shot placement is and has always been behind the shoulders and I will continue to use that point of aim for game animals, big or small.

That shot placement looses little meat, and especially since I've use the 45/70 with my Wide Flat Nose cast bullet at a muzzle velocity of 1650fps that has been true. Deer typically are bang flop and elk are down in much less time then it takes to tell about it.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
The last cow elk I shot I split the heart in half and the exiting bullet took out the canon bone on the off leg. She took a step and dropped but continued to jerk kick the leg for 10 minutes. I believe she died in seconds but sometimes animals do that.

[Blackwater]

I've only shot one deer in the head. It was a smallish doe at about 12 yds., facing directly away from me. Bullet entered just under the skull cap, and I saw that spray like in the Zappruder film of JFK's assassination. I am fully convinced that the jet stream upward caused the deer to fall faster than gravity alone could ever make it do. The only real problem came when dragging it out by the hind legs. The skull had been broken all to pieces, and a little gooey residue of the brain matter left inside made the most disgusting "gooshey" sounds, I nearly lost my lunch. Now I can clean a gut shot deer without much retching, and a lot of other stuff, but something about that sound just flat got to me. Haven't taken a head shot since.

And I guess aesthetically, I love the beauty of a deer enough that I just don't want to spoil it with a head shot. And when I don't HAVE to do that, I simply choose not to. I have no idea whether I'd have the same gut reaction to another head shot deer or not, but I simply don't want to find out.

I guess there's a little lace on my drawers after all? :mrgreen:

[Rick R]

And I guess aesthetically, I love the beauty of a deer enough that I just don't want to spoil it with a head shot. And when I don't HAVE to do that, I simply choose not to. I have no idea whether I'd have the same gut reaction to another head shot deer or not, but I simply don't want to find out.

I guess there's a little lace on my drawers after all? :mrgreen:

In 30 years of law enforcement I probably head shot a dozen or so road injured deer with my duty gun. Full of adrenaline and near traffic they needed to be euthanized immediately.

But due to the aesthetics and lace in my XL undies I've never taken a head shot at a deer under sporting circumstances.

[leftiye]

I've just gotta say it..... No offense meant to anybody, but this is close to the most useless idea i've heard, ever. Right there next to an instruction booklet or video for newborns as to how to mess up a diaper. There's only one thing in almost any head that's vital, and it (the brain, let's not get involved in trick jugular shots) is in the same place in almost all heads. A shrine to those who need to be told everything.