head shots? is there anything wrong with them?

Dont miss. The vital area is larger than the head, yes. Anywhere on the vital area of a deer , it will take far longer to kill a deer than the head will. You hit them in the head, they are dead before the bullet exits the head. You shoot them in the lungs, the run for a few hundred yards sometimes and slowly die.
 
Head shots are great, if you can get a clear headshot take it. You sound like you know the effective range of your load and the pattern, go for it. I take mostly chest shots, but thats because most of my shots are between 200 and 300 yards. I have taken headshots and love em,but they were at about 80 yards and 150 yards standing still, off a solid rest. I can't think of much a load of buckshot to the brain bucket isn't going to drop inside your effective range.
 
Just to make it clear, most of my shots are within bow range. 200 FT. is pretty long in the piney woods and swamps. When forced to go for the long ones (200+ yds.) I'm using another rifle and going for vitals.
 
12 gauge with #1 buck shot...20 yards
Click to expand...
This makes sense. Shotgun pellets spread out and hit moving targets. A deers head is bigger than the target area of a quail or dove.

Problems my hunting buddies have had with head shots occurred with rifles at longer distances. At 150 yards bullet travel time after the flash is about 1/6th of a second. Mostly problems told to me were guys having to track deer with jaw injuries from where the deer jerked its head up at the flash.

This is a totally different world from shotgun hunting.
 
I take heart and lung shots with a 30-06. They almost never go anywhere. When they do it's not far, usually 50 ft. or less. If you ever see a deer with his jaw shot off you'll give up head shots. It's an ugly, long dying.
 
Thats why you shoot them from behind, they dont see no stinkin muzzle flash. No Jaw to blow off either. It takes a little patience, But , just wait until they look over to the side or behind them.
 
I'm not so stuck on one shot that it's all I'll take.

If an animal is broadside, I'll take a heart/lung shot; pretty much every time. If I'm offered a head on shot, or a tail end shot, I'll take a neck shot.

You just have to know the vital areas, and take what's offered. A nice heart/lund shot behind the shoulder with a well constructed bullet ruins very little meat. Just make it a point to miss the shoulder blade, which is certainly no more tricky than waiting for a head shot.

Daryl
 
Shots

A good hunter will consider the situation he is in. And then he will shoot accordingly. I have seen times when a head shot was the only reasonable killing shot. However I will admit that I do not like taking head shots.

IMO if you want the most reliable "drop them in their tracks" shot. Then you should shoot 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the front shoulder. You have the largest margin of error with this shot. And the high shoulder shot will definitely drop them dead on the spot.

You may have a little meat loss. However someone said earlier that the front shoulders have 15 pounds of meat in them. I have never shot a deer with that much meat on the front shoulders, and a large deer here in WV runs about 125-150#. You are lucky if you get 5# of meat from the front shoulders on a 125# deer. Tom.
 
Hogghead they must be weighing the bones too.:D I don't usually go through the shoulder but it will most definitely take out the lungs. I rarely use shoulder meat myself. More trouble than it's worth. I usually give the front shoulders and ribs away to someone that wouldn't have any deer meat otherwise.
 
deermaster, rereading the thread, don't let us rifle hunters throw you off. Even though I hunt 90% of the time with a rifle I've hunted with a shotgun enough to know that your method is a good one. If you can hit a dove or a quail at 25 yards you can hit a deer head. And it sounds like you've proven your technique with experience. ;)
 
Nothing at all wrong with head shots if you are shooting at a calm animal and know it won't move at the moment of truth. I used head shots for does for years but switched to a very high neck shot for does and cull bucks. Same lethal results with a little bigger target area and doesn't ruin the antlers on the bucks.
 
swampghost

I do like to eat the heart and the inners.Im just saying deer can be very tough to bring down,even when good shots are made.Im outside to down my game.Not take chances on making a perfect brain shot.I'll it takes is one branch to throw a bullet or a arrow off.But you do what you want.It's just my 2 cents.
 
Head shots? Yes, of course. That is my favorite shot on deer, in fact, I insist on it. Why spoil the meat? Why chase a wounded deer? A bullet in the brain drops the animal like a wet dishcloth.
 
indeed.. wet dishcloth. Very good analogy. There is almost always some flopping and twitching going on. I have even had deer run in circles for a minute like "Curly" from the " Three Stooges"
Meat loss sucks.
Losing a wounded animal sucks even more
Tracking deer in this part of the world aint easy. Every damn plant here is genetically designed to KILL YOU! I have a special hatred for the dreaded "Waitaminute!" bush. It will stop you in your tracks.
Cactus, mesquites, yucca, waitaminute, rocks and rattlesnakes make tracking deer damned near impossible
 
When using a "rifle", I find head shots on game to be irresponsible most of the time. Rabbits, squirrel and treed game being the exceptions. The brain on critters is very small compared to the size of the head and wounding shots are very likely. The worst example of this is when people recommend head shots on coyotes with a rimfire. Nothing worse than leaving a critter with a lower jaw blown off or a bad wound on the head/neck that will cause a very slow and painful death. A head/neck wound is far worse than "gut shots".

But in your case when using a shotgun with buck shot, I think a head/neck shot makes a lot of sense. You patterned your gun and know it's capabilities. Don't be tempted by shots that are beyond the distances you are speaking of and you should do fine.
 
Guess I outa get one point straight. I shoot head neck shots on 98% of the an animals I shoot, but as above posts, point out the different aspect of the shot. I wait for the right shot period. In my hunting days from 2000 I was pretty much retired and just plain waited for my shot. That is the latitude I had and still have. I was hunting every single day of the season and could AFFORD, my shot. That is not the same for the guy that only gets to hunt 4 days out of the entire season.
Ken:D
 
Neck

What about the neck? Bigger critical area. Drops it instantly. For me it sounds strange to use a shotgun on deeer, but that's maybe my european attitude. We use rifles against deer.
 
i shoot for the head if possible... why i use 150 grain full metal jackets.... small hole....instant drop... guaranteed... nice deal in my book.
 
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