Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

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Headshots on deer

Never - too risky
29
21%
Sometimes
72
51%
As often as I can
39
28%
 
Total votes: 140

eazenutz33
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by eazenutz33 »

head shot = no ruined meat :D


done it before, and i'll do it again
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by ghostdog662 »

I always go for the lung. If you can't breath you aren't running.

I wouldn't go for the head because they may move during bullet travel and you will either miss or not have a kill shot. Very painful and that's no way for any living creature to die.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by nice shot »

700PSS wrote:Head shots on deer whenever it's safe and appropriate (does only). If they're close enough and still enough, there's nothing better than instant "lights out". Couldn't be more humane than that and you save all the meat.

+1

Or if your a bad ass a neck shot.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by nice shot »

ghostdog662 wrote:I always go for the lung. If you can't breath you aren't running.
I wouldn't go for the head because they may move during bullet travel and you will either miss or not have a kill shot. Very painful and that's no way for any living creature to die.
Dont be offended by this, but your statement isnt completly true. With a large caliber round (.308 +) its not always the lung shot that did the kill. The kenetic energy from that round alone will knock a deer right on its ass in a quick hurry. Same sized deer shot from say a .223 could result in http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html (read paragraph 3 for results).

I guide on my families ranch during hunting season, and Im here to say that a lung shot is not always a show stopper by any means. A lot of times a lung shot, even if its a through and through, will result in the deer bleeding into the lungs themselves and not leaving much, if any trail to follow. This gets difficult to explain to a sassy, teary eyed, teenaged female hunter who just watched her first deer run off (God bless blood hounds!) and they eventually will get found, the trick is to find them before the mountain lions and coyotes.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by imyomama »

head shot sounds like a good idea until you see this

a deer's brain is under the size of a tennis ball .. so as long as you can guarantee that you can hit a swinging tennis ball on a string every time .. knock yourself out!

deer don't stay still for the picture...

personally I prefer a 6" target over a 2" target.

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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by imyomama »

some archer have the same idea.. mama would be proud!
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by Glock35 »

those pictures sucks but when you know how to do it, it isn't very risky; in S IL, in a tree stand, you can simply whistle at one when it is close & then take the shot...holds nice & still for ya.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by htate »

Actually the kill zone on a broadside deer is about 7" hoizontally from just behind the eye to the back of the neck at the base of the skull. The depth is is anywhere from 2" to 4" in that line. Much more if your willing to shoot the neck.

Any hit in that zone will hit the brain, sever the spine below the skull or blow out the artries and veins in the neck. It will stun the deer too, blood loss doing the job before it comes to. So you have close to 20 square inches minimum of target zone, not a 2" ball.

I'll edit this to add that the biggest problem with head shots is the people who try them without having the right equipment and/or don't have the patience and shooting skills to do it. Shooting one box of ammo a year during deer season is fine as long as you limit your shots to your capability.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by imyomama »

Glock35 wrote:those pictures sucks but when you know how to do it, it isn't very risky;
i'm sure that's exactly what the hunters though before they shot these deer.

I've seen a deer on my lease with their bottom jaw blown off... he was just ribs and bones!! that deer looked awful

all that just to satisfy someone's ego that they are a "top shot"

guess they were a couple inches too low for that head shot, but a shot in the vitals would have most likely killed that deer.

deer move their head quickly.. while the rest of their body is still...
if you have a possible head shot , chances are you have even a better chance at a perfect vital shot as well...
thinking making a head shot is hitting a 7 inch target is the first mistake... a deer's reflex is faster than yours ..
a deer can move it's head faster than your brain tells your finger to pull the trigger.. plus lock time and travel time...


I mark all my deer at the ranch so I can tell which is which and how often I see them
They are too hard to catch , so I shoot them in the ear. the more holes , the more time i've seen the same deer. it's a 4 inch target so it's easy and when you know how to do it, it isn't very risky. then again, I have the proper equipment :roll: :roll:
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by htate »

Ego doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm disappointed that people who don't want to make headshots always write the rest of us off as show-offs or worse. They always seem to be the same type that have to find fault in others to feel good about themselves. Oh wait; that was an unfair generality, right? :roll:

Headshots don't waste meat and they don't cause unecessary suffering. Unless you miss. But then, broken legs and gut-shot game is pretty common too. Coyotes get those deer eventually so you you never see them back in field like the photos above. But there are probably 4-5 of them out there for every one with a jaw shot off or an arrow through a non-vital area.

As for deer moving faster than the lock time and in-flight time of a bullet, maybe far enough out and/or maybe with a flintlock.
Last edited by htate on Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by nice shot »

imyomama wrote:
Glock35 wrote:those pictures sucks but when you know how to do it, it isn't very risky;
i'm sure that's exactly what the hunters though before they shot these deer.

I've seen a deer on my lease with their bottom jaw blown off... he was just ribs and bones!! that deer looked awful

all that just to satisfy someone's ego that they are a "top shot"

guess they were a couple inches too low for that head shot, but a shot in the vitals would have most likely killed that deer.

deer move their head quickly.. while the rest of their body is still...
if you have a possible head shot , chances are you have even a better chance at a perfect vital shot as well...
thinking making a head shot is hitting a 7 inch target is the first mistake... a deer's reflex is faster than yours ..
a deer can move it's head faster than your brain tells your finger to pull the trigger.. plus lock time and travel time...


I mark all my deer at the ranch so I can tell which is which and how often I see them
They are too hard to catch , so I shoot them in the ear. the more holes , the more time i've seen the same deer. it's a 4 inch target so it's easy and when you know how to do it, it isn't very risky. then again, I have the proper equipment :roll: :roll:

You can capture them and paint them. Belive it or not thats how they do it down here. Sometimes in pen traps, other times with helicopters. Paint em with blue paint on their back. Take the recordings and let em go. Once they cant find any deer with a clean back they use all the info to keep track of the deer. . . typically with ear tags or notches and not .22 holes :lol:

Making a trap is easier than you think and you can make it safe for you and the deer. Plenty of info all over the net.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by htate »

That was one of the original reason for paint ball guns; to mark cattle.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by rogerme »

htate wrote:That was one of the original reason for paint ball guns; to mark cattle.
That WAS there original use. Those of us who played years ago with our splatmasters with the co2 and 10 round tubes knew about it.


That aside Where you shoot the animal IMHO matters little as long as it is a good kill shot.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by htate »

From what I've read the very very first use was the forestry service. Rangers could cover a lot of ground marking trees for removal if they didn't have to walk up to each one to mark it. Then the cattle industry jumped on it quickly. Especially in South America where the ranches are such vast tracks of land.

But just so I stay on topic, I think its very cruel and pointless to head-shoot deer with paint ball guns. Or homeless people for that matter.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by imyomama »

htate wrote:
Headshots don't waste meat and they don't cause unecessary suffering. Unless you miss. But then, broken legs and gut-shot game is pretty common too.
that's my point exactly .. too many people are not even capable of hitting a 6 to 8 inch pie plate ... so hitting a moving tennis ball should be even more difficult ...

a neck shot should be just as easy, or easier as a head shot since you don't even have to worry about bullet drop as much.

I'm member of a private shooting club that opens their door to the public 2 weeks before season, it baffles me every year , seeing people that come in and how bad they shoot, and we have a state of the art range with concrete benches , sandbags etc..

I bet that if we put tennis balls hanging on a string , 80% + of the people would not be able to hit it on the first shot at 100 yards.

the other factor overlooked is close range miss...
an ar 15 with a scope mounted 3" from the bore when sighted in a 100 will hit 2 inches low at 20 yards... some people don't know or even think about that.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by htate »

I'm not normally one for more regulation and I'd hate to see potential hunters discouraged but in this case I think there should be a shooting proficiency test to qualify for a game license. Wing shooting and pistol too. The shooting skills section of standard hunter safety courses aren't enough.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by 700PSS »

If someone with the skill would shoot this thread in the head, it would be dead too. :P
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by Hoop »

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On permit one night hunting hogs checking my zero @ 80 yds. Entry was between the eyes.

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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by tsands974 »

Lights out motherf***er :) Nicely done.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by generaldisarray »

you've got some red on your shoe.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by Louis »

I was hunting in WV a bunch of years ago. It was before I had anything that cold pass as a dear rifle. I borrowed a Remington's 7400 semi-auto in 30/06. It had a high see through scope mount. I was shooting 180 grain spire point bullets. A buck came into my area but was staying in very thick cover. All I could ever see was the head and neck. Never the body. I anticipated his movement and lined up in a break in the cover. As soon as he stuck his head out I took the shot. It was 75 yards. I used the open sights. I was aiming at the base of the skull where it met the neck. I was off maybe 3 inches. Caught the buck in what I call the temple. The damage was incredible. Shattered the skull but did not blow up. The antlers would flop around when you moved the head. The eyes were both crushed and blew out the socket. Just strings of viscera hanging out the skull. To answer the question. I would take another head shot but only if I had no chance at a better one.
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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by icebug »

When going for meat hunt - yes, that's all I'm trying to do.
Head or neck shots.
I apologize in advance for slightly graphic pictures.

This was a roe doe @ approx. 100 meters.
6.5x55 SE, Barnes TTSX 100grs.

Image

And this little piggy went to the market...
Same bullet @ 50 meters

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Re: Headshots on deer - is that a smart thing to do?

Post by Boomstick06 »

Does only. We go on a "fill the freezer meat hunt" once a year and standing rule is head shot only after first deer. Saves more meat and more of a challenge to hit.
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