Last day of the season last year 2 deer 2 shots about 25 yards running...graveyard dead. Some may not like that, I don't really care I'm just saying a head shot has it's place and whether it's a good shot or bad shot has a lot more to do with the weapon used and the actual circumstances of the shot. If you've ever shotgun hunted in VA East of the Blue Ridge line during general firearms then you know about buckshot, running deer, and head shots. Take note of our fancy scent loc camo
Obviously you've never watched a deer with a blown off lower jaw thanks to a some dbag head hunter live for weeks....you don't need a mouth to breath just lungs and an esophagus that is intact. If you guys want I know of many people here that can post head shot "accidents"....You aim for the head and miss slightly but connect with part of the head that deer is gonna suffer beyond anything you can comprehend...you aim for the lungs/heart and miss the same distance slightly...you're talking gut or live or spine...ALL WILL KILL THE DEER and within reasonable time for recovery if the hunter doesn't push the deer.
Why would a lower jaw being blown off make a deer not be able to breathe? It will make them not be able to eat.
Buckshot is a different scenario all together as it is illegal in most states for good reason. I personally agree with a head shot with buckshot as you have a much larger pattern hitting the head and the chance of wounding is much smaller than going for the lungs. What kind of shot do you use? 00 ?
Winchester Supreme 00 (HV) 3 1/2" = 15 Copper Coated Lead Shot about .33 in size I've had good success with Federal #1 as well and that shell holds 20+ .30 cc lead shot but #1's are a pain to find.
Your right, I have never seen a deer run around without its jaw. I have only once shot a deer in the head, and It was devastating. I have seen/heard of many deer not recovered to poor body shots, If that the logic your using then I should no longer shoot at the shoulder...
"You aim for the head and miss slightly but connect with part of the head that deer is gonna suffer beyond anything you can comprehend..." But if you shoot a deer in the gut and it dies your ethical....... Why are ethics based on people preferences on where they shoot the deer not on the effectiveness of the shot. A deer shot in the lungs will suffer much more than deer shot in the brain, so does that make it unethical hunting? Of course not, but you since its a shot you would never take you call it "unethical".
You introduced the ethical card, not me. If you wanna play that game I'll play but don't tell me I didn't warn you. Only pictures I have handy (have more) a follower of Small Acre Hunting sent me these...he spent days trying to put this deer out of it's misery....yeah head shots are "super"
Unfortunately we have/had one on our farm as well and no one was able to put it down. Hate to think about how long it took to die.
Please tell me how a gut shot deer is so much better than a nose shot deer, both are awful, but why is gut shot so much better? Is it the period of time it takes to die?
Neither is optimal let alone a better thing. However, a gut shot deer if left to die will many times expire within hours...yes a painful death but much swifter than a deer with a blown off nose. That deer in the picture or many others I've had sent to me are taken over days, some make it weeks...trying to eat with a blown up snout just to survive. Yeah both suck and suck big time...but to put them as equals would be wrong IMO.
24 hours max a gut shot deer is dead. Could be a month on a messed up head shot. Think of what a non hunter (not a animal rights person) thinks too when they see a deer walking around missing part of its face? I'd be embarrassed as a hunter if a non hunter approached me and told me what they saw.
I agree both are bad, I cant get my mind wrapped around the idea that it is inconceivable to take a head shot ever because you "could" shoot the nose. I think that head shots have a place in rifle hunting, not bow hunting. take a turkey for example, you shoot them in the head with a shotgun but would never shoot one in the body with one. however with a bow you generally shoot them in the body, but some people do chose to make head shots with a bow. Would that be considered foolish? (I know turkey and deer are not anatomically identical, just a comparison of a similar idea on a different animal)
Yeah because no one ever wounds deer that live crippled or die slow when they are aiming at the body. Every shot taken at a game animal has the potential to wound or cripple, just ask a Bowhunter.
You have about a 10" circle that will kill within 10 seconds with a rifle on the body and even more area that will kill within hours. You have a 2" circle with a head shot that is constantly moving. And a high risk of wounding the animal that will suffer a long painful death. Remember, most of us can't use buckshot on a deer. Your case is different than the majority Each individual has to make that call for themselves and i have passed some nice deer that only presented me with a headshot. There may be times I would but as of now, the only time I attempted it was on a downed animal I was trying to finish off and that's the shot I had.
3 1/2" Slug right to the gear box! No true hunter should choose a head shot over the shoulder or Center Mass, heart is as big as the brain and the lungs are 4x the size.
I only take Texas heart shots, but was thinking of changing this year to jugular vein shots only to be more ethical, but after reading this it makes more sense to shoot for the head only. You guys are a real smart bunch and thanks for all of the help.
