RE: Accident or intentional?
 

I always aim for the vitals wether gun or bow hunting, The argument of saving meat for head shots came up one time and I asked the guy when was the last time he had bbq deer ribs for dinner. He replied he never saves them. I just looked at him,said EXACTLY. Then I left.

RE: Accident or intentional?
 

I've shot one deer in the head in my 13 year hunting career, it was a doe that I had shot in the spine. It went down, but was still trying to drag itself with its front feet. I slipped up about thirty yards from her, and the only thing I could see over the brush was her head, so I let her have it. Bullet went in her left ear, exited out the right. Quick and painless. In that situation at least. I wouldn't try a head shot under normal hunting circumstances.

RE: Accident or intentional?
 

Actually, it didn't ruin my hunt. Instead it helped it.Every year I can't wait for gun opener. I know my woods so I just let the gun hunters push them my way.

You have you opinion and I have mine. I respect your intention in trying toachieve a quick kill at last light because it saves you time and the deer suffering.Now respect my opinion: If it's getting too dark,doesn't it then become harder to hit a smaller target? It seems to me you would aim for what you could more easily see if light is fading. Yourmeans become counter productive to your intended end. Follow?

Let's do the your opinion my opinion thing once more... Iactually think you may need to chill out. There was no real issue or tension til you showed up. If you are a true believer in 1shotkills as yoursurname suggests, then you should always be taking the highestpercentage shot for a 1shotkill.

RE: Accident or intentional?
 

Update:

Upon close inspection while skinning/quartering, I have concluded by the ballistic evidence that the shot was intentional. The slug entered in the left nostril and exited the left jaw. If it were the other way around, enter jaw and exit snout, then the whole shout would be blown off. Instead, the slug entered as stated, expanding, and creating more and more damage as it passed. This means the hunter was very likely in a treestand or up on a hillshooting down at this deer that had its head turned to the right. Turned to the right because if it wasn't turned, the slug would've went straight into the deer taking out the top of the left shoulder. This also obviously means that the deer wasn't running away from the hunter but instead approaching. That being the case, there is more of a likelihood that it was un-alert and a more carefully placed shot was indeed possible.

Inspector HTH