Head Shots to Take Or Not to Take
12-20-2013, 04:23 AM
#21
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Northern WI
Posts: 853
With respect to meat loss, I know a shoulder shot generates a lot of blood, but if you take some time, you can still salvage a lot of the meat. Usually, I can get about 1/2 the dressed weight in de-boned meat and maybe lose 5 pounds on the bloody shot. If the meat seems a little bloody, I will mark it special on the package and not mix with other meat. But even this somewhat questionable meat has always been fine in stew. The blood will be on the outer layer, and if you remove that layer, what lies under is fine. I know butchers do not have time like this to separate meat out, but if I am doing the job myself I take the time. I will stick with the lung shot for both gun and bow - best of both worlds as it wastes little meat and is lethal.
12-20-2013, 07:02 AM
#24
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Where animals get eaten
Posts: 671
Iv made a few head shots.i wouldnt recomend one taken at long range but inside 50 yards i dont see the problom.if you cant hit a baseball size target at fifty yards should you be takeing heart/lung shots at 200 yards?i wouldnt make either shot freehanded either.only thing that bothered me was the eye balls popped out goofy look a head shot does so id rather take a neck shot.
12-20-2013, 07:49 AM
#25
Fork Horn
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 118
I consider myself a good shot but I wouldn't risk it. It's one thing shooting off a bench, it's another shooting offhand at a target that may move.
I think a good compromise is the neck. Never had a deer go anywhere when shot in the neck and they are deader than dead when they hit the ground. Plus it's a shot you can take regardless of how the deer is facing you.
I think a good compromise is the neck. Never had a deer go anywhere when shot in the neck and they are deader than dead when they hit the ground. Plus it's a shot you can take regardless of how the deer is facing you.
12-20-2013, 10:55 AM
#26
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Midlo, Va
Posts: 561
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.
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.
The operable words are "if done properly". What about if it is not done properly? Same as any other not done properly shot.
12-20-2013, 11:22 AM
#27
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 616
Excuse me if your going to quote me then quote me right. I said A head shot MADE properly. Not If done properly. Difference is as you can see in the completing not the doing.
12-20-2013, 11:38 AM
#28
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,425
I've only taken one head shot with my .243, it did the trick...
I've killed about two dozen deer with head shots though, they were taken with a .22 rimfire while squirrel hunting...
For deer calibers, I prefer a neck shot or the more traditional high shoulder shot or lung shot...
I've killed about two dozen deer with head shots though, they were taken with a .22 rimfire while squirrel hunting...
For deer calibers, I prefer a neck shot or the more traditional high shoulder shot or lung shot...
12-20-2013, 04:49 PM
#29
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
I've only taken one head shot with my .243, it did the trick...
I've killed about two dozen deer with head shots though, they were taken with a .22 rimfire while squirrel hunting...
For deer calibers, I prefer a neck shot or the more traditional high shoulder shot or lung shot...
I've killed about two dozen deer with head shots though, they were taken with a .22 rimfire while squirrel hunting...
For deer calibers, I prefer a neck shot or the more traditional high shoulder shot or lung shot...
***I didn't know it was legal to shoot deer with a 22 rimfire anywhere. Would that be in NC that appears to not address any minimum calibers in their Regs?
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 12-20-2013 at 05:11 PM.
12-20-2013, 05:19 PM
#30
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Where animals get eaten
Posts: 671
I beleive here in canada any native with a treaty card can use a .22 caliber rimfire or center fire to harvest their game.