Head Shots on Deer?

[Hoskins]

I am a vital shot kinda guy. I will shoot at a deer that is facing me head on but my aiming point is the base of the neck. This shot drops them everytime, at least it has for me.

Cranky...hey man, if you are comfortable with taking headshots, were raised doing so, that's what you were taught to do, & are completely efficent at it...then have at it. No doubt that a correctly place headshot will be instant death for a deer...or any quarry for that matter. I just prefer the vitals, one reason is because I still get as excited when I got a deer in range as a dude getting lucky on his prom night!

[Crankylove]

Cranky...hey man, if you are comfortable with taking headshots, were raised doing so, that's what you were taught to do, & are completely efficent at it...then have at it

I was raised with shots to the vitals, the head shots my grandfather did were few and far between. I have no problem with other hunters using head shots, but they just aren't for me.

[LaserSpot]

This is also a safety issue to me as well. If all you can see is a deer's head is it really a good idea to shoot? More than one hunter has been killed by another who thought he was shooting at part of a deer that he saw through the brush.

If you're looking through a scope, you can tell the difference between a man starting at you, and a deer. Having part of the body covered doesn't make it hard to identify the target, or what's behind it.

I am a good shot, but I am not going to risk blowing a deers jaw off & having it starve to death. we owe it to our game to make the death as humne & respectful as possible.

There's plenty of ways to wound and cripple an animal. I took a head shot once because the buck was looking right at me from behind a big tree. All I could see was his rear end and his head; I thought he was about to bolt. When I was dressing him, I noticed that one of the front legs was completely shattered. The skin was healing and it looked like a clean entrance, so I assume it was from an arrow. If you're a good shot, you know when to pass up a shot. If you're a bad shot, any shot can be a crippler.

The only down side was I had to pop the eyeballs back in before my wife got there to help me dress it. Big mess in the snow (30-06 @ 70 yards); the gore isn't contained in the body cavity as it is with a lung shot.

[shortwave]

Patience, as a rule, will usually give me a much better shot than the head.

I'm sure there are times when a headshot is the only shot that will present itself but I can't remember a time its happened to me. Sure it has over the years. I don't practice for that shot so guess that deer walked, oh well.


Although I know hunters who take headshots, Ohio has a deer gun season where shotgun(slug only),pistol or B/P can be used. Trajectory's just not flat enough. I just don't feel comfortable taking them.

Again, I'll just wait and let the deer present me a better shot.

[phil mcwilliam]

Hunters will generally opt for a chest shot on a deer for the reasons you list.
I know plenty of professional meat shooters that will only take head shots, but this is usually done under a spotlight , with a rest ,for culling purposes only.

[Double Naught Spy]

Sure, the problem is that you don't know exactly why or when they will decide to unfreeze.

You never known when they will bolt either. If you are going to sit there and wait as long as possible, then you will miss the shot, but generally speaking at the distances mentioned that are short range, the bullet will be covering the distance in 1-2 tenths of a second. It isn't really an issue. What is an issue is how long the hunter opts to wait.

Fair enough. But, what will stop some new hunter who just bought a rifle from reading internet forums and getting the idea that head shots are the cool thing to do.

Absolutely nothing will stop a new hunter from doing something stupid, such as taking shots s/he isn't capable of making. Not disucssing a shot isn't going to stop it from being done by those who can't. Every year hunters take long range shots they had no business taking and by long range, I mean shots beyond which they are skilled or beyond which their guns are sighted for which they don't know how to properly compensate and said hunters end up wounding animals even though they may have hunted for years.

You may not like it and it may not be a shot for neophytes or the unskilled, but that doesn't make it wrong. Newbies probably should not hunt bear, but that doesn't stop the discussions of bear hunting because they think it is the cool thing to do.

[Kreyzhorse]

I prefer taking vital shots and wouldn't consider a head shot on a deer.

While I wouldn't take a head shot, if someone can take a clean, ethical head shot, I don't have a problem with it.

[ZeroJunk]

There is a reason why people feel the way they do about some things.

My hunting partner for decades is an excellent shot with anything. If nobody has broken it recently he has the third largest bull elk killed in MT. with a bow. I watched him lay down on the ground and shoot a 10 point whitetail at 380 yards through the heart.

But, he also shot the bottom jaw off a deer at 50 yards. Luckily he was able to get off a second shot and finish the deer.

I know he is a fantastic shot. I know he is an excellent hunter. I know he thought he knew when the deer was or wasn't going to move.

Giving up a 10 inch circle for a 3 inch circle that will move several times as fast on you is not logical. Maybe, if it is the only shot you have.

[publius]

I used to do it all the time on does, only at close range, less than 50 yards, and only when they were calm feeding. I did it to completely rule out meat destruction and to keep blood out of the body cavity. I quit doing it b/c it was so messy, massive amounts of blood and brain that are going to get in the bed of the truck and on the outside of the animal. I now use a very high neck shot, every bit as effective. You are going to destroy the blood vessels going to the brain and maybe hit the spinal cord.

[30-30remchester]

When a head shot is taken properly they work fine, HOWEVER , when they fail they fail miserably. I was a guide and every year we would find both deer and elk that had had their jaws blown off from bad head shots and were found after they had starved to death. A client tried a broadside head shot on a close elk. His shot was just inches off and totally blinded the elk. The elk escaped. Days later I found the elk with terrible infected wounds and was trying to walk through the forest. It was so stress it just stood there and let me walk up to it. It was just shivering from fright. Tell me this is a humane shot. We as hunters should never take such an inhumane shot.

[oneounceload]

IMO, part of the disagreement here comes about from the difference between stalk-style hunting in the West and the stand-style hunting done in the East and very few folks have done both. Wide open spaces with no baiting/food plots versus heavy cover and food plots tends to allow different styles of what is acceptable.

I know I, personally, do not do head shots due to MY personal ability; however, as I mentioned earlier about someone I knew - he was proficient with his TC Contender. So if you are one of those proficient shooters, go for it.

[Double Naught Spy]

We as hunters should never take such an inhumane shot.

Yep, and those gut shot animals don't enjoy their life much either, or the leg shot animals. Animals shot in the butt are very unhappy as well.

Hunters clip heads, necks, shoulders, guts, butts, and legs every year trying to make shoulder shots. Some manage to shoot themselves or manage to shoot other hunters. They shoot horses, dogs, and sometimes riders on horses, thinking them all to be be deer, elk, and moose. Sometimes they shoot forest rangers thinking they are coyotes. Sometimes they shoot people inside of houses because they are just that rotten when it comes to maturity and shooting skills.

There is nothing wrong with a humane shot and a head shot most definitely can be a humane shot. There is everything wrong with taking shots that should not be taken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY9Tt753K6A
http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=11568929
http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/73665192.html
http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/99254209.html
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/22772294/detail.html

You can see all sorts of horrible shots on Youtube. Some have been posted on this forum. In fact, every missed shot certainly had the potential to be an inhumane shot as the shot did not go where intended.

I posted the query to the following thread and was fairly shocked by the responses that were similar to mine. There are an apparently substantial number of hunters who start out their hunting season with guns for which they have not verified a zero. http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=401369

Hunting humanely often starts long before the hunter ever goes into the woods.

[TX Hunter]

At very Close Range I have taken Head Shots.
It will drop them in their tracks, and they never know what hit them.

[ZeroJunk]

I understand the argument some are making about gut shot deer and new hunters with ultra mags and no practice, but it is a strawman.

You are tyring to justify a small jumpy target because some can't hit a larger one. Makes no sense.

[oneounceload]

I understand the argument some are making about gut shot deer and new hunters with ultra mags and no practice, but it is a strawman.

You are tyring to justify a small jumpy target because some can't hit a larger one. Makes no sense.

NO strawman at all - having lived out West, I have seen folks shoot horses out from under a rider, people shooting cows that had "COW" painted in big letters on them, folks with something over 300 mag think they could shoot anything over 500 yards........yet i watched someone make head shots EVERY time he pulled the trigger. Is taking a head shot for everyone with a gun? Absolutely NOT.............but I would rather see a hunter who knows his limitations and is an expert with his choice of gun make a head shot than seeing the YAHOOS who couldn't hit their butts with both hands take random shots at something that moved

[LaserSpot]

I understand the argument some are making about gut shot deer and new hunters with ultra mags and no practice, but it is a strawman.

You are tyring to justify a small jumpy target because some can't hit a larger one. Makes no sense.

Double Naught makes a good point, the same one I made. If you're a good shot, you know when to pass up a shot. If you're a bad shot, any shot can be a crippler. The difficulty of hitting a target is relative to the distance. It's no harder to make a 50 yard head shot than a 150 yard heart/lung shot; a deer doesn't bob it's head like a chicken.

Plenty of deer die painfully from being gut shot, but the wound isn't ugly so it doesn't get the same sympathy.

I haven't tried the high neck shot; it's probably less likely to cripple if the angle is right for it. The ugly damage from a successful head shot is a reason that I may avoid it in the future. In my case, the deer had already been crippled, probably by another hunter.

[Miata Mike]

I have never taken a head shot on a deer, but have shot high in the throat once when the deer was looking right at me. I prefer the heart lung shot behind the shoulder. I hunt on only 20 acres and haven't had to venture onto the neighbors land to retrieve my deer yet, and would like to keep it that way.

[shortwave]

I've recovered gutshot deer by simply not tracking bloodtrail till the next morning(or many hours later) cause , as a rule, the deer will only run till it feels secure. It then beds down and if not pressed will usually expire right there.

I've never tracked a deer with say its lower jaw shot off. How much blood- trail would there be and would the deer bed down as if it were gutshot?

[Double Naught Spy]

I understand the argument some are making about gut shot deer and new hunters with ultra mags and no practice, but it is a strawman.

You are tyring to justify a small jumpy target because some can't hit a larger one. Makes no sense.

Maybe your deer drink too much caffeine or maybe you haven't patiently waited for a head shot.

You have misinterpreted my argument. My argument is about taking shots that should not be taken. It isn't about folks who can't hit a big target. You know, some of those poorly placed "head shots" being claimed as head shots weren't even head shots when they were taken. They were neck, chest, or shoulder shots...just like that little girl in the youtube vid above who shot her deer in the leg. She wasn't making a leg shot.

Some people should not be taking head shots. Some people should not be taking the shots they are taking even if they are skilled shooters. Some people should not be hunting at all. One should not be hunting and shooting beyond one's capabilities, the capabilities of the gear used, and the capabilities afforded by the situation. If you are going to be a humane, or ethical, or moral hunter (or whatever you want to call it), then you are going to know your bullet should be impacting at the distance of your target given the conditions at the time and you should be shooting for a part of your target that you know you can properly hit. People hate to admit it, but sometimes being a good hunter means NOT taking the shot, not being able to take a given animal because a proper shot isn't available.

How many times have you heard hunters say that they missed a shot or wounded an animal because...

the shot was rushed
they had buck fever and could not hold the rifle steady
the tree stand they were in was swaying too much in the wind
they were using an unsteady rest
the animal would not hold still
they were afraid the animal was going to get away
they had to shoot because it was the best buck they had seen this season

and so on.

How about those that shot at something they "thought" was their intended prey?

There may be times when a hunter has no business taking a head shot on a deer or other animal. There may be times when a hunter has no business taking a neck, chest, or shoulder shot. There are definitely times when a hunter should be taking no shot what-so-ever and whether or not a shot could and should be taken will come down to several factors. Location of the intended impact is one small aspect of whether or not a shot should be taken. That is my point.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories...t_702243.shtml
(donkey mistaken for deer)
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/cat...g-news/page/5/ (see 5 Dec 2007 about man who confused cow for a coyote)
http://www.rrstar.com/sports/columni...ts-annual-hunt
(horse mistaken for "really large buck")
http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/lo...e/1895028.aspx
http://guardian.co.tt/news/crime/201...ead-colleagues
http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=538
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/910280332
(Edward Taibi got excited and shot at a deer he had no business shooting at and shot into a home and killed a toddler and rec'd 2-8 years for it)

[shortwave]

People hate to admit it, but sometimes being a good hunter means not taking the shot, not being able to take a given animal because the shot isn't available.

People hate to admit it, but all the time, being a good hunter means NOT taking the shot, not being able to take a given animal because the shot isn't available.

Fixed it for ya DNS.

Should be the "Golden Rule" of every hunter!

[BIG P]

There are hunters that wont take head shots but carry fast action guns semi autos, lever,pumps for fast follow up shots.If you cant drop um standin still what makes you think you can when they're runnin 30 mph.That makes no sense to me either.

[bamaranger]

I'm in your corner on this one as well, Todd. For all the reasons you state.

I have seen jawless and maimed deer. Plus, who wants to see a deer w/ its eyes bugged out and the antlers askew?



T

[natman]

+1 from me, for all the reasons stated.

[Todd1700]

I believe you have stated an oxymoron. If a deer is standing and moving its head quite a bit, then it is not still.

Point taken, but I think we are splitting hairs here on the definition of "standing still". I of course ment that even when a deer stops running or walking that it will often keep moving it's head. Perhaps that's the better way to say it.

If you're looking through a scope, you can tell the difference between a man starting at you, and a deer. Having part of the body covered doesn't make it hard to identify the target, or what's behind it.

Ahhh, but not everyone hunts with a scoped firearm. And some hunt with very low powered scopes as well.

[ZeroJunk]

Maybe your deer drink too much caffeine or maybe you haven't patiently waited for a head shot.

Actually, I have shot one in the head. We were on Anticosti Island a few years ago because some of the guys that hunt with me in Montana wanted us to go. Lot of goings on to kill a deer when I can kill a bigger one in my back yard. I had decided not to kill a deer,but one of the other hunters convinced that they taste better than N.C. deer asking me to kill one for him as he had filled his tags. The guide deciding that my hunting partner and I weren't going to shoot anything was already wearing his street clothes and knowing the boss would get on him if he didn't do the work he asked that I shoot the deer in the head. Having a good rest I shot the deer in the left eye at about 75 yards thinking it was a more precise target.

One thing for sure, he didn't have to worry about getting any blood on him.

I still don't like it. Good discussion though.