Dos Perros
WKR
No advice to the OP, just wanted to comment that I think you're a thoughtful dude.
Every rifle on this forum is half moa or better with single digit sd/es.Hitting them in the head from a couple hundred yards isn’t easy. Hitting them in the brain is even harder. You’re talking about hitting a 4” target at 200-300 yards in the woods. From a bench, maybe but that’s just over Moa. Hell, lots of rifles won’t shoot moa in perfect conditions. Take a 20 year old Remington 700, propped on a pack, with an excited hunter which it sounds like might be a brand new hunter, and you tell me you think they’ll hit the brain at 200-300 yards
And 2 elk lost further proves my point. They obviously can’t hit them in the vitals, but you want them to shoot them in the brain? Lol, come on.
I’ll say it again. A head shot is a terrible idea at distance! You hit them in the nasal cavity if you’re 2-3” off, you hit them in the eyeball if you’re 1-2” off, you hit them in the jaw if you’re 2-3” low. All the will result in death, and possible a slow, painful starvation.