Head Shooting Big Game

[Lowedown]

If you are going for that DRT kill I would recommend neck shots over head shots. Put that bullet in or next to the spinal column and it's lights out. With headshots your margin for error is greatly diminished so I'd avoid headshots unless you are super close, super steady, and super sure you won't have a better shot.

 

[Cactus kid]

"I'm a beginner hunter and i dont see how a 200 yard head shot is any different than shooting a grouse at 30 yards.."

Dunning, meet Kruger. You haven't even shot enough to realize how bad you suck at field shooting- and you are considering head shots.

If you don't like tracking an animal 20 yards you are going to HATE how far that animal goes when you f-up a head shot. There is a reason any experienced hunter never recommends a head shot. But experience is something you gain right after you need it.

Do some research on high shoulder shots. Bigger margin for error, instantly drops the animal, and no risk destroying the skull cap or antlers.

 

[Choupique]

or those of you that avoid it, is it mostly fear of ruining a trophy?

Nope. Small target that moves a lot. I've done it before, even with a bow. It's got to either be a finisher or a REALLY high confidence shot for me to do it.

Now small game on the other hand, different story. Head shot or it doesn't count.

 

[DangerRanger]

I will shoot deer in the head if the situation promotes it, but I don’t do it often. I’ll keep doing it occasionally.

 

[Jethro]

I don’t think after killing your first big game animal, you need to be considering head shots. Most definitely don’t think the fact that your deer went 20 yards after the shot is a good reason. 20 yards is nothing.

I killed my first antelope this fall with a head shot. Simply to not ruin any meat. 270 yards feeding. Entrance lower jaw, exit top of head between ears. Was a doe. I’m not new nor inexperienced.

 

[atmat]

I’ve killed a fair number of white tails with headshots. But those were always 50-75 yards and over corn. I probably wouldn’t try it any further than that.

High forward shoulder shots will get you the same thing (I.e., immediate incapacitation), though it of course comes with meat loss.

 

[Choupique]

though it of course comes with meat loss.

I said this in another thread - I'm caring less and less about this as I get older. I used to be paranoid about it and I still occasionally shoot does a little far back when I don't stop and think first. Now, I'm shooting straight for both shoulders if at all possible. Even if I have to completely throw both of them away, I don't care. I want the animal dead right there ASAP and that little bit of shoulder meat loss is vastly preferable to any risk at all of wounding/losing the animal completely.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

I shot this bear in between the eyes because that’s the shot I had. Had to thread the needle but was 100% confident.

 

[RockAndSage]

I definitely do, hence why I'm asking. Although grouse is a bad example, I only just moved to MT last year. Killed a lot more squirrels back in OH than I have grouse. Still not that many compared to pretty much anyone else on here as an adult onset hunter. And its not that the run bothers me or is something I can't accept. I think its more that I'm used to everything else I shoot (squirrels, grouse, turkey, raccoons) dropping instantly. And in my very limited experience, that's the result I prefer.

OP, welcome to the forum. And, points to you for asking questions like this - there are plenty of people who have the same questions, or will have a lot more information added to their knowledge by what others share in response. It's particularly interesting how many people have shared seeing jaws get blown off - I saw that when I was about 11, and it sticks with you, watching the animal bolt before they can get put down, knowing the agony they're going to be in for.

As you can see, just about everyone's saying it's a bad idea in most situations. A key thing to remember about reality-based shooting, is that people generally descend to their lowest level of competence - we don't rise to the occasion. Shooting for vitals, rather than head or even neck-shots, is a recognition of those limitations, and very much a way of respecting the life of that animal.

One final point to give some thought to: a .22 to a squirrel is about like a cannonball to a deer.

 

[Fetty Wapiti]

Ain't a damn thing wrong with head shots if you know your limitations and how it can go sideways in a hurry.

I would not encourage one to try for headshots on deer type game, but it works extremely well. We almost always shoot does in the head due to meat loss issues in the past. Sub 200 yards with a quarter minute gun works like a charm. As others have said, velocity and bullets that violently expand help reduce any chance of a critter getting away.

Hogs should only be shot in the head, no debate

 

[wpeach1912]

I have used it in a couple of scenarios mainly for meat preservation. Both instances using an approx 12-13lb rifle off of a gamechanger with heavy fill. One was at 180 yards and the other at 57. I would recommend shooting a lot to understand your limits and your gear’s limits if it’s something you want to pursue.

 

[eLightfoot]

I’ve shot a few pigs in the dome with good results, close up with iron sights.
I’ve shot a few deer in the head. One was running and I had a little too much lead, killed it stone dead.
Another was a buck my friend wounded with a brisket shot a couple days prior. I found it limping around. Shot it in the back of the neck to save meat. The deer took off running 100mph down a drainage and out of sight. I tracked it by hoof prints to where I found it bedded. Poor guy was a set of antlers and eyes. Every thing else was dangling hamburger. Bullet exited out the snout. Quickly sent one in the throat patch to end it.
Last one was this year on a buck I spotted at 700yrds. I watched it disappear into thick brush. I snuck in there and found the buck feeding at about 18 feet. Only shot was head so I put it on the neck/skull junction. Buck was instantly lights out, never even knew I was standing right next to it.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

My son domed this boar, exactly where I told him too. He was standing on tripod, about 50 yards.

 

[RockAndSage]

I’ve shot a few pigs in the dome with good results, close up with iron sights.
I’ve shot a few deer in the head. One was running and I had a little too much lead, killed it stone dead.
Another was a buck my friend wounded with a brisket shot a couple days prior. I found it limping around. Shot it in the back of the neck to save meat. The deer took off running 100mph down a drainage and out of sight. I tracked it by hoof prints to where I found it bedded. Poor guy was a set of antlers and eyes. Every thing else was dangling hamburger. Bullet exited out the snout. Quickly sent one in the throat patch to end it.
Last one was this year on a buck I spotted at 700yrds. I watched it disappear into thick brush. I snuck in there and found the buck feeding at about 18 feet. Only shot was head so I put it on the neck/skull junction. Buck was instantly lights out, never even knew I was standing right next to it.

That's a pretty cool rack on that buck, would enjoy seeing some other photos. Is this a CA muley, or one of the middle bucks closer to blacktail country they don't consider full mule deer? Either way, I like it.

 

[BigNate]

I have had only a few times I've gone for a head shot. The first was a beautiful blackmail at about 35 yards.

 

[Caseknife]

I shot a spike bull over 50 years ago, using my Dad's 270 Win with a 2 3/4x Stith Bearcub with a 3min Lee dot. The bull was looking at me from about 20 yards away, he was standing behind some regen firs, all I could see was his left eye, left antler and the tip of his nose. Put that Lee dot on his eye and shot, he didn't move, just kept looking at me. I took a step to my right and held on the top of the neck, down he went. Because it was getting dark and with a head shot the nervous system is going through major disconnect issues and all his legs were going like crazy, had to tie them off to trees one at a time so I wouldn't get kicked to death. Think a chicken with his head cut off.

Many years later, I was hunting with my Ruger Super Redhawk 44 mag. About day 5 or 6 of elk season. Ran across blood in the snow, kind of sprayed each side of the tracks. The tracks were splayed out like the animal was spooked, but normal stride, so not spooked. Tracked that elk for well over 1/2 mile down a draw, many trails led out of the draw but were uphill, this elk kept just going down. There was a branched antler hunt and a cow hunt going on, but I only had a spike only general tag, didn't know what I was going to find at the end of the tracks. Came around a corner in the draw and there was a spike bull with his lower jaw hanging, killed him with my 44 mag. He was so dehydrated that he would have died right where I got him, logs across the draw like a gate. Turns out he was shot about 4 days prior.

Long story short, I don't take head shots any longer.

 

[Livetohuntandfish]

Take this how you may. I use to do head shots on deer all the time when I was hunting for meat bucks. 700 rem in .308 with a 26inch bull barrel and weight was a boat anchor. Never bothered me one bit. Now in the present. I shoot ultra light high powers with carbon fiber everything. You couldn’t catch me trying to do head shots now. Take that how you may. For me the ultra light backpacking gun has given me a lot of advantages but also has its disadvantages.

 

[derekbeaudry]

the hunting party that I hunt with while deer hunting have a policy that under 200 yards standing shot on doe we shoot them in the head. Have shot many this way the last 15 years or so. Never had one get wounded or run off. The nice thing is if you miss they run away if you hit there is no tracking. That’s my experience

 

[grfox92]

Ain't a damn thing wrong with head shots if you know your limitations and how it can go sideways in a hurry.

I would not encourage one to try for headshots on deer type game, but it works extremely well. We almost always shoot does in the head due to meat loss issues in the past. Sub 200 yards with a quarter minute gun works like a charm. As others have said, velocity and bullets that violently expand help reduce any chance of a critter getting away.

Hogs should only be shot in the head, no debate

Quarter minute gun?

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

 

[Fetty Wapiti]

Quarter minute gun?

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

All day everyday. I did get a .43 5 shot with some hornady factory off the blem list when I was still breaking her in.