Head Shots to Take Or Not to Take
 

I saw a thread where a poster was calling head shots stupid. Well as some one who processes many many deer a season I some times advise my customers if they want the most meat and it is possible take a head shot.

Case in point. I have a customer that shot a small buck in the shoulder at 30 to 40 yards with a small cal .243 the result... on a 100 to 120 lb deer the customer was left with 28 lbs of meat. Both shoulders wasted and rib meat on both sides as well.

I advise all my meat hunters if possible take a head shot. I do the same. On my 11 point buck this year my second shot was a head shot that missed and hit the brow tine. The deer was facing away from me and all I could see was the back of the head. Misses are something that happens no matter where you aim or how good of shot you think you are. With bad results and wounded deer.

For me if I'm hunting meat and a head shot presents it's self
I am taking it. What say you? Friendly debate I'm not trying to start a war! :)

If you are that good, and have the discipline to only take a very high percentage shot, go for the head shot.

How many people do you know who fit the above criteria?

I know a couple. Most hunters I know should go for the lung shot.

ok processing deer, you have a place to hang them to let them drain, some folks do not have that luxury and I'll tell you this, head shot deer are way more bloody to deal with from skinning to cutting up than those shot in the heart, lung region. head shots kill, but I just don't like the bloody mess cleaning them up.
RR

Not very many. I only missed by 1 inch might as well be a mile.

I'll admit I've taken a couple head shots on deer but it was more of a stunt than anything and was done with a 22/250 from a rock solid rest under ideal conditions.

I guess at short range like 25 yds, with a scope, on a rest, with a standing still shot. Then maybe. Otherwise, you risk shooting off the jaw, which only leaves the deer to starve to death.

Exactly.
Too much risk of missing the brain and leaving a wounded deer out there.

But then if you are really good............. ? Maybe

I have the training to be that good but as Dirty Harry said, a good man always knows his limitations. No head shots for me.

I presume I was the one the OP referenced regarding stupid head shots and the reason is very simple. The brain is what must be hit when doing that and it is no bigger than a baseball on an ungulate. Some that do it say that they can shoot one hole groups and ones that can't are the ones that say don't take head shots. To that I say BS because you may shoot one hole groups on paper because that paper target doesn't move, while the head can move at the instant the shooter squeezes the trigger. That either results in a clean miss or, much worse, a wounded animal that probably won't be found and may be left to suffer a slow, painful, lingering death. A shot to the large vitals area is a very high percentage shot that doesn't lose enough meat on an ungulate to even matter and even if an animal moves a little at the shot you'll still kill it. If the animal isn't DRT when a person aims at the head they probably chalk it up as a miss, when in actuality they may have wounded that animal. My guess is that most people who process their own animals at home or do the gutless method in the field probably don't even mess with the rib meat anyway.

Question on this topic...
Wouldn't a near miss to the brain be enough to kill the animal anyhow with a high power weapon like a 30 cal? I would think the shock wave traveling through the tissue would be enough to cause such severe brain trauma that it would take the animal down pretty much instantly.
While I wouldn't think this to be the case with something small like a 22cal or an arrow, I would think a shotgun slug or high power rifle bullet would do the trick.

If you're under water and someone drops a grenade near you, the fragments don't need to actually hit you for the grenade to kill.. the shock wave will do it alone.

Since an animals brain is basically in a fluid, isn't it the same thing?

I have took 3 head shoots. Two were finishing shoots one was the only shot I had. The one I had a sturdy rest and I know I could make it. All with a 7mm remington. The one notion this year was to finish a doe I made a bad shot on she fell, but stuck her head up I just blew her nose and teeth off. Had to take another shot. The other a couple years ago was for some one who shot the deer first with a small caliber gun and he stumbled up to me.