vapahunter

First you talk about missing a head shot and then you talk taking a high per centage shot. Sorry a lung or heart shot is a much bigger area. I have had a deer with half it's head shot away still travel a long distance. Never happened with a heart/lung shot. Sorry dont buy the head shot unless very close and the deer is standing still.

Topgun 3006

Simple answer to Murby on his shock theory---No, missing the brain will not result in a quick kill and the animal more than likely will get away and suffer a long, painful death not being able to eat, drink, etc. Every year I read on different sites where people have found dead deer or killed deer with severe wounds to the nose and mouth that were still alive and in bad shape. See the other post regarding the member dispatching one hit there. A "near miss" when aiming at the brain just plain sucks and is not fair to a majestic animal like a deer or elk!!!

Murdy

I agree with TG. The brain is pretty well protected in the skull. A near hit might result in a concussion, but I don't think you could count on shock from a near miss to kill an animal. And even if you could, how much would it expand the target? An inch or two? It would still be far smaller than the lung area.

kswild

Miss the lung shot... shoot off one or both front legs. Point being deer are wounded from bad or misplaced shots of every conceivable angle and are lost to suffer a slow and miserable death by the thousands every year. Some hunters even come to forums such as this one we are now on asking how to track deer they have wounded and not been able to find. This is the choice the hunter makes every time he or she steps into the field to harvest their own food.
A head shot made properly is the quickest humane kill of any shots. Almost no tracking required. A miss is a miss in anyone's book and the individual must live with the consequences of every trigger pulled.

Murby

Thanks for the quick answer...

flags

I've made a few head shots but it has been awhile. My self imposed restrictions for such a shot is a max of 50 yards and the animal has to be completely still. Any movement or if the animal looks "flightly" and I'm punching the lungs. The biggest problem with a head shot is not that the target is too small but that the head moves more than any other part.

buffybr

Any shot can result in a miss for a variety of reasons. A deer's brain is about the size of a tennis ball, it's heart/lungs about the size of soccer ball. Which target is easier to hit?

One year two of the guys on our deer hunt tried head shots on whitetail bucks. Both of their bullets hit too low missing the brain and breaking the jaws. We didn't find either deer, and I'm sure they both suffered a long, painful death.

In my experience, the internal bloodiest hits that I've seen on animals has been from shoulder shots, especially if one or more bones have been hit. On a few occasions I've had to do a finishing shot on an animal and have shot them in the brain from only a few paces. None of them were overly bloody.

This Gemsbok had a deformed horn and an injured leg. My Professional Hunter asked me to put him down. He was very spooky and never stopped very long or in the open. My first shot was offhand at about 100 yards that dropped him but didn't kill him. We walked up to him and I put a second .375 bullet into his forehead, killing him instantly. As the picture shows, there was very little blood from that shot. The deer and other animals that I have had to finish that way looked the same.

Bbj270

I ever seen a head shot that resulted in a lot of mess cleaning up the deer. Blood didn't run down the body. It was only in the head.I agree bloodest is a shoulder shot when bones are broken.

BarnesX.308

Meat is better with a heart and/or lung shot. With a head shot, the animal dies instantly and the blood stays where is was when it died. In the muscle tissue. As the blood stays in the meat, it breaks down and gives the meat a gamey taste. The lung shot will bleed a deer better.

Valentine

And don't process or butcher deer? Just wondering.

I never advised the same.