Head shots-big game.

[jim in Anchorage]

I don't take them. I can't take the risk of condemning a animal to a slow death of starvation if I shoot it's jaw off.
I was talking about this just yesterday and a old hunting buddy of mine told me a story he never told me before. He head shot a deer it ran off. Figured he missed. Well that would be the end of the story but a member of his hunting party shot and killed the same deer 3-4 days latter. Turns out the deer was blind. Yeah turns out the shot my buddy took was not a miss, but went in one eye and out the other.
I've seen shot off jaws, but I never thought of blinding a animal.
Nasty stuff, and please don't tell me you never miss.

 

[buck460XVR]

Back when I was a kid, head shooting meat deer was the norm. This was back when open sighted 30-30 carbines were also the norm. Come later in the season when folks started shooting does and there was snow on the ground, it was not uncommon to follow a slight blood trail and find a doe with her jaw shot off. Sometimes the wound was still fresh and they got up and ran off without giving you a decent finishing shot. Sometimes the wound was several days old and the deer was weak and soaking wet from fever and dying of dehydration, unable to get up and too sour for most folks to eat. Shot a big doe one year while bow hunting and she had not one, but two bullet holes thru one ear. I'm thinking the other deer called her "Lucky". The little bit of meat lost by a boiler room shot is minuscule and not worth the notion one must go for the head to prevent meat loss. For a coup de gras @ point blank range I don't have a problem, but like you Jim, I advise folks to go for the shot that kills just as fast, gives more margin for error and leaves a much bigger blood trail when the shot is not perfect.

 

[.308 Norma]

Nasty stuff, and please don't tell me you never miss.

Nasty stuff indeed!
I've made a few successful head shots (close range, between the eyes or behind an ear) on big game over the years. But I remember one time when I tried to shoot a mule in the back of the head as he was standing facing away from me at about 200 yards. I had a good rest (a tree limb) and an accurate rifle. When I squeezed off the shot, that deer went down like he'd been hit in the back of the head with a sledge hammer. AND HE JUMPED RIGHT BACK UP AND RAN OFF!!! Dad and I eventually found him (an hour later) lying in the brush about 50 yards from where I'd last seen him. And when he jumped back up a second time, I shot him through the ribs. He collapsed and died then.
Anyway, long story short - my first shot had taken off one side of his antlers and had broken his skull. I doubt he would have lived much longer than he did with a broken skull. But it doesn't matter to me - he lived an hour after I shot him the first time. And that's TOO long as far as I'm concerned.
I won't try head shots on big game animals unless circumstances require them. Which was sort of the case with that mule deer whose skull I broke. The way he was standing kind of required a head shot, or a shot in the back of the neck, which might have been even more risky.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Nasty stuff indeed!
I've made a few successful head shots (close range, between the eyes or behind an ear) on big game over the years. But I remember one time when I tried to shoot a mule in the back of the head as he was standing facing away from me at about 200 yards. I had a good rest (a tree limb) and an accurate rifle. When I squeezed off the shot, that deer went down like he'd been hit in the back of the head with a sledge hammer. AND HE JUMPED RIGHT BACK UP AND RAN OFF!!! Dad and I eventually found him (an hour later) lying in the brush about 50 yards from where I'd last seen him. And when he jumped back up a second time, I shot him through the ribs. He collapsed and died then.
Anyway, long story short - my first shot had taken off one side of his antlers and had broken his skull. I doubt he would have lived much longer than he did with a broken skull. But it doesn't matter to me - he lived an hour after I shot him the first time. And that's TOO long as far as I'm concerned.
I won't try head shots on big game animals unless circumstances require them. Which was sort of the case with that mule deer whose skull I broke. The way he was standing kind of required a head shot, or a shot in the back of the neck, which might have been even more risky.

0

Nasty stuff indeed!
I've made a few successful head shots (close range, between the eyes or behind an ear) on big game over the years. But I remember one time when I tried to shoot a mule in the back of the head as he was standing facing away from me at about 200 yards. I had a good rest (a tree limb) and an accurate rifle. When I squeezed off the shot, that deer went down like he'd been hit in the back of the head with a sledge hammer. AND HE JUMPED RIGHT BACK UP AND RAN OFF!!! Dad and I eventually found him (an hour later) lying in the brush about 50 yards from where I'd last seen him. And when he jumped back up a second time, I shot him through the ribs. He collapsed and died then.
Anyway, long story short - my first shot had taken off one side of his antlers and had broken his skull. I doubt he would have lived much longer than he did with a broken skull. But it doesn't matter to me - he lived an hour after I shot him the first time. And that's TOO long as far as I'm concerned.
I won't try head shots on big game animals unless circumstances require them. Which was sort of the case with that mule deer whose skull I broke. The way he was standing kind of required a head shot, or a shot in the back of the neck, which might have been even more risky.

I saw the same thing. 3-4 of us where pushing a field big buck jumps up 75 yards away. Guy takes a shot buck goes down right now. Everyone runs up figuring the deer is dead and he jumps up. Well someone else dropped him with a heart shot and it turns out the first shot had hit him in the antler, knocking him out.
Don't know if he could have lived, but when you hurt a animal that bad make sure you finish it.
I'm not getting preachy- I've shot bears in the head because I needed them dead right now-but as a routine shot on a non dangerous Game, I hate it.

 

[MCgunner]

I take shoulder shots with adequate rifles on game animals. However, I have a new AR and put a green light on it to try to gangster a pig. So far, I've not had any luck even though the pigs are here in numbers. My neighbor across the road took 2 out in his front pasture the other night, sounded like a 300 win mag at 12 midnight. But, if I hunt with the .223, even though I'm using Barnes TSX 62 grain handloads, I'll be making head shots as the range should be close. I won't miss, but even if I did, it'll die and if you read that Warfarin thread going on here, a good pig is a dead pig, no matter how long it takes it to die or how much pain is inflicted.

But, I won't miss. That little Bushmaster might not be a .300 Win Mag, but the thing is accurate.

 

[Hanshi]

I never, ever try head shots on uninjured deer; never. I have shot a few in the neck, which generally works out; but most of the were by accident. What happened in all but one case was that just as the trigger broke the deer twitched. I'm not talking about long shots, either. All were from about 20 feet to 20 yards. The exception was a buck I lead too much on a 20 yard shot. All were DRT and never moved out of their footie prints. I use heart/lung shot religiously; but sometimes........@&%# happens.

 

[Dog Soldier]

The once a year deer hunters with a rusty Thuty-Thuty Winchester has a cold one. He always makes them "Head Shots".

 

[jim in Anchorage]

The once a year deer hunters with a rusty Thuty-Thuty Winchester has a cold one. He always makes them "Head Shots".

Yeah someone reprinted a 1925 ad here from Winchester that said the 1894 in 30-30 was a 500 yard deer gun and some of of our "I grew up in the country! Grampa shot mice at 500 yards with his 30-30!" posters thought that was reasonable.
None of us here are starving. If I don't get a moose I just swing by Safeway and buy some hamburger. Clean kills are all I care about.

 

[zb338]

I don't see any reason that a hunter should mess with head and neck shots. We all
have an obligation to kill our game swiftly and cleanly.

Zeke

 

[Dog Soldier]

We live with Moose on the lawn and Elk. There should be a bond between man and beast. They provide us with sustenance and we owe them the respect of a clean kill.
I am revolted by these stories of 1,000 yard shots at deer or Antelope. There is no way to retrieve a wounded likely gut shot animal from 1,000 yards away.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Hello any body home?

 

[jim in Anchorage]

View attachment 231825

Hello any body home?

Scrawny moose there dog. Come up to Alaska where the moose are moose and the men are men

 

[MCgunner]

Scrawny moose there dog. Come up to Alaska where the moose are moose and the men are men

And the sheep are nervous?

 

[jim in Anchorage]

And the sheep are nervous?

Takes some real effort for me to get a (Dall) sheep. Getting in hard rock shape, planning the hunt, scouting, figuring out how I'm getting in, gear etc.
A women is just down the road at a bar. Alaska myth busted.

 

[stringnut]

I want to shoot the biggest target possible which is the heart lung area. Usually if the head is available so is the chest. I have finished a couple of wounded deer with 22 and head shots because that is what I had. Even though the range was short it still made me a bit nervous. Someone else had made a bad shot and I didn't want to make the situation worse. The older I get the more I find can go wrong with an easy shot.

 

[Patocazador]

I was with a guy hunting moose in Wyoming back in '76. He tried to shoot a cow moose in the head with his .25-06. He shot the jaw off and she took off heading straight downhill showing only her butt. I sent one up her butt and she went down. That guy cussed me for ruining good meat with an a$$ shot. I just ignored him. He had most of a moose instead of none and there was no cripple out there starving to death.

 

[DM~]

Here's what I hate about a head shot, and I NEVER take them!

DM

 

[Captcurt]

Had a friend who shot a nice 10pt in Missouri. The buck had a 1" hole in the bridge of his nose that he was breathing through. His nostrils were full of dirt. It was an old wound because the skin was healed around the hole.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Scrawny moose there dog. Come up to Alaska where the moose are moose and the men are men

Jim, These are Schira Moose. They are the smallest moose. The mature Bulls weigh out at 1,000 pounds. The one pictured is a 2 year old after a long winter. Men are men and the cow moose are nervous.
http://www.summitpost.org/shiras-moose/404558

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Jim, These are Schira Moose. They are the smallest moose. The mature Bulls weigh out at 1,000 pounds. The one pictured is a 2 year old after a long winter. Men are men and the cow moose are nervous.
http://www.summitpost.org/shiras-moose/404558

You need to feed those poor animals- they look starved shoot I get 1000 LBs just off the ribs.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Here's what I hate about a head shot, and I NEVER take them!

DM

That's just bad. We don't need that. Again none of us are starving. Clean kill or nothing.

 

[.308 Norma]

I was with a guy hunting moose in Wyoming back in '76. He tried to shoot a cow moose in the head with his .25-06. He shot the jaw off and she took off heading straight downhill showing only her butt. I sent one up her butt and she went down. That guy cussed me for ruining good meat with an a$$ shot. I just ignored him. He had most of a moose instead of none and there was no cripple out there starving to death.

Oh God, Patocazador! That's a horrible story. I'm sorry you got cussed out, and I don't know how you ignored that guy. At least you saved the moose from a horrible, lingering death. Thank you!

 

[Dog Soldier]

You need to feed those poor animals- they look starved shoot I get 1000 LBs just off the ribs.

I used to think "Pecos Bill" from Texas told Big stories. But then Alaska is Bigger than Texas. And you have out done "Pecos Bill".

 

[eastbank]

in alaska men are men and so are the women, i,m thinking of that women i think her name is akins on the tv show( life below zero). eastbank.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

in alaska men are men and so are the women, i,m thinking of that women i think her name is akins on the tv show( life below zero). eastbank.

I think you mean Sue. If I had to spend 5 minutes with that woman my dislike of head shots might go away.