head shots? is there anything wrong with them?

I like head shots also, but I use a 300 Win Mag & a 12 ga....it doesnt waste any meat, & if you miss ...the deer is ok. I kill between 6 - 12 deer a year...most are doe deer, so headshots when possible. If you are using a shotgun...try the Hevi-Shot buckshot. It has more range, groups tighter & has more energy than any lead buckshot. Hevi-Shot is 15-20% heavier than lead & will pass through a deer @ 80 & 90 yards..!!! We hunt deer with dogs in the lowcountry of SC, and I have done it numerous times each year..
 
Never, ever take a head shot in spite of what all the other posters have said on this site. The head is too small a target and if you hit the animal in the jaw he will run away and die a very slow and painful death.

NEVER, EVER listen to this sorry advise... While there are a few viable reasons to avoid the head shot... target size ain't one!
Obviously this guy can't hit a golfball at 100 yards with a 3 mph crosswind!:mad: With a steady grip (no beer) and a marlin 60 offhand, I am usually with in an inch of a 20 gauge hull at 100 yards... that is fairly close, close enuff for a deer size head no problem!
I have also dropped tree rats at a hundred with an intended "brainer" with a .22lr... heck 50 yards with the gammo pellet rifle and iron sights is almost easy...
My biggest risk when shooting deer size game is that long damn neck allows the head to bobble far to much for me to support 175 plus yard head shots...
Brent
 
Head shots, generally, are aesthetically yucky. Heart/lung shots mean a seriously large amount of blood all over the place. And that, chilluns, is why I prefer the neck shots. Not much mess, which suits my dainty nature for having clean hands at all times.

Now, neck meat grinds up into deerburger, which makes the world's finest spaghetti sauce. There is a magical synergy between deer meat and tomatoes. Absolutely yummy. But as I said to my wife, one time, "Darlin', if you feed me spaghetti one more time, you can pack up and go." I mean, there are limits!

IOW, if you take neck shots, you still have shoulders, hams, backstraps and the inner tenders (aka "poison sacs", but that's another story).

People worry too much. Picking fly poop out of pepper is not a worthwhile career.
 
This tread is very subjective.
I head shoot and hunt with a scoped 44mag.
Of all the years I been pistol hunting on very rare occasions I have gone for a heart or lung shot.
Any shot not well placed and executed can lead to a long and painful death of an animal.
Head shots insure the meat is adrenaline free and no wasted meat.
Yes it is very messy.
Clint Eastwood said it best in one of his Dirty Harry movies. "A mans got to know his limitations"
That's what it is about;knowing what you and your gun are capable of.
 
My hunting experience started with bow hunting, so habits learned there have influenced my gun hunting. I am strictly a heart/lung guy.

As Brent pointed out, that neck allows the head to move very quickly at the worst time.

Everyone has to decide for themselves.
 
Never, ever take a head shot in spite of what all the other posters have said on this site. The head is too small a target and if you hit the animal in the jaw he will run away and die a very slow and painful death.

Hmmmm...... you almost Never say Never or Always, number 1.
If you can't MAKE the shot, don't take it. This goes for ANY zone. If you can't HIT heart/lung at 500 yards, frikken don't shoot. If you can't hit a head at 100 yards, don't frikken shoot. It's that simple. KNOW YOUR LIMITS.

You owe it to your quarry to use more ethical shot, a shot that is much easier to undertake and that is a heart lung shot.

I've seen way more deer go off wounded, gut shot, from someone trying to hit the heart/lung than I have missed head shots. I agree... you owe it to the animal to make an effective shot. But what's an easy obtainable shot for you may or may not be for the next person.

If you can not get in a clear shot through the lights well, he got away pure and simple.
Lights? Hmmm.... we call the eyes "lights". Hence the term lights out. So I'm a bit confused, but it would seem you are advocating a heart/lung shot so I will take it in that context. You have way more chance of them NOT getting away pure and simple when shooting the center mass area than if you are shooting at the head. 6" high or low on a head shot and they should run off into the sunset. 6" high or low on a heart/lung shot and you have a wounded deer that will die slowly.

Those that advocate a head shot should be allowed to only have plastic guns and rubber bullets

Maybe those that aren't good enough shots to HIT a smaller target like that should be the ones only allowed to have plastic guns and rubber bullets. I'd much rather have a real gun in the hands of a marksman than in the hands of someone that can't hit the broad side of the barn from the inside. :D
 
OK... I grew up, and have lived my whole life (32 years) in rural Missouri. I've killed over 20 deer myself, and between my Dad, Uncles, Brother, Grandfather, and Mother (that's right she's killed 16), certainly over the 100 mark, and none of us has ever took a head shot on a deer. Not ever. Not only that, but among all of the deer I've seen shot, only once did I see a friend of a friend one time shoot one in the jaw. He grew up in the City, and he had heard somewhere (probably a forum like this) that "head shots" were the way to go. He was ridiculed mercilessly for the ignorance of such an action, and told he was no longer welcome to hunt on my friends farm.
 
One other consideration is that prion diseases like CWD are spread by neural tissue. A good headshot will tend to "distribute" neural tissue over a wide area.
 
Never, ever take a head shot in spite of what all the other posters have said on this site. The head is too small a target and if you hit the animal in the jaw he will run away and die a very slow and painful death.

Hmmmm...... you almost Never say Never or Always, number 1.
If you can't MAKE the shot, don't take it. This goes for ANY zone. If you can't HIT heart/lung at 500 yards, frikken don't shoot. If you can't hit a head at 100 yards, don't frikken shoot. It's that simple. KNOW YOUR LIMITS.


You owe it to your quarry to use more ethical shot, a shot that is much easier to undertake and that is a heart lung shot.

I've seen way more deer go off wounded, gut shot, from someone trying to hit the heart/lung than I have missed head shots. I agree... you owe it to the animal to make an effective shot. But what's an easy obtainable shot for you may or may not be for the next person.


If you can not get in a clear shot through the lights well, he got away pure and simple.

Lights? Hmmm.... we call the eyes "lights". Hence the term lights out. So I'm a bit confused, but it would seem you are advocating a heart/lung shot so I will take it in that context. You have way more chance of them NOT getting away pure and simple when shooting the center mass area than if you are shooting at the head. 6" high or low on a head shot and they should run off into the sunset. 6" high or low on a heart/lung shot and you have a wounded deer that will die slowly.



Those that advocate a head shot should be allowed to only have plastic guns and rubber bullets

Maybe those that aren't good enough shots to HIT a smaller target like that should be the ones only allowed to have plastic guns and rubber bullets. I'd much rather have a real gun in the hands of a marksman than in the hands of someone that can't hit the broad side of the barn from the inside.

What he said. ^ :D



One other consideration is that prion diseases like CWD are spread by neural tissue. A good headshot will tend to "distribute" neural tissue over a wide area.
Very true. CWD is found in neural tissues. Reducing exposure by avoiding these tissues is a good idea.

However, there are no proven scientific theories of how the disease is trasmitted. Even if the disease is transmitted by contact with infected tissue.... When was the last time you saw a deer eating another's tissue? Squirrels are cannibals. Deer are not.
There also hasn't been a single case of CWD ever being transmitted to humans.

So... I should be extra careful not to infect other animals, right? Wrong. CWD is thought to have been affecting these animals for thousands of years. Even when epidemics break out, the powers that be don't even feel the need to control it. Nature balances itself, when it comes to these diseases. The deer die off, their feed rebounds, and when the herd recovers; they feast upon the bountious harvest to quickly attain to their previous numbers.
 
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