Deer hunting; headshots vs. heart/lung hits

Slone500 · #1 11-01-2011, 07:06 PM

When hunting for deer, or any other quadriped large game, what are the feelings from hunters on the head vs> heart/lung shot? I have been shooting target for years, hunted as a kid and never pursued it much, but think I may be entering the hunting game at this stage in my life. I saw a disturbing picture of a bad head shot on a whitetail, (took out lower jaw, was hanging) as the deer got away from the hunter, would obviously expire soon, and was and would suffer greatly, with no lower jaw to eat or drink. I'm sure every hunters worst nightmare, wanted to get some feedback on the head vs heart/lung shot. Both long and close range.
Thanks very much

densa44 · #2 11-01-2011, 07:10 PM

Why not shoot it in the neck? You are less likely to miss and the shot is lethal.

6.5swede · #3 11-01-2011, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by densa44

Why not shoot it in the neck? You are less likely to miss and the shot is lethal.

x2 necks shot on moose under 200 are deadly no more looking for animal and less chance of missing than a headshot

Richard B. · #4 11-01-2011, 07:23 PM

heart/lung area is bigger and easier to hit than either a head shot or a neck shot.

NayNay · #5 11-01-2011, 07:26 PM

This should get good real soon.....

Grizzly Adams · #6 11-01-2011, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by densa44

Why not shoot it in the neck? You are less likely to miss and the shot is lethal.

Lethal if you hit perfectly, otherwise you may give the poor thing a tracheotomy or just cut hair.

Why mess around, when you have relatively large area that's going drop him, no question.

Grizz

Eagle Eye · #7 11-01-2011, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Lethal if you hit perfectly, otherwise you may give the poor thing a tracheotomy or just cut hair. Why mess around, when you have relatively large area that's going drop him, no question.

Grizz

Absolutely correct. Shoot the lungs.

Ken07AOVette · #8 11-01-2011, 08:15 PM

Bread basket or not at all.

Cowtown guy · #9 11-01-2011, 08:16 PM

Again? Hasn't this been done 30 times?

Rman · #10 11-01-2011, 08:23 PM

Take the best shot that your skill and situation will allow. Head, neck, or heart.

R.

coreya3212 · #11 11-01-2011, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

Again? Hasn't this been done 30 times?

Yes again. Yes thirty times before. And yes fasten your lap belt cause we must go through this every week. Keep your eye out for our other weekly faves sure to be coming soon. -do you uses binos or just your rifle scope?
-ford , dodge, or chev? And any of the other threads that plague us over and over again.

Ps. My fave useless thread, "are long range shots ethical?

Alberta Bigbore · #12 11-01-2011, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

Again? Hasn't this been done 30 times?

31 now....

....personally ill wait out for the boiler room or nothing

gitrdun · #13 11-02-2011, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

Again? Hasn't this been done 30 times?

Seems like it, in the last 30 days.

huntinstuff · #14 11-01-2011, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

Absolutely correct. Shoot the lungs.

Yup. X2

Or, the deadly gizzard shot. Drops 'em instantly

Twisted Canuck · #15 11-01-2011, 10:02 PM

Well, I heard that if you just use a .375 UberSuperMagnum, it doesn't matter where you hit them, even in the knee, it'll kill em instantly. It's all that kinetic energy that gets transferred, the wound channel doesn't matter......

IBTL too!

Oh, and btw, I just filled my whitetail tag on a nice doe for sausage at last light. 70 yrds, broadside, grazing, 140 gr Nosler Ballistic tip from my 7mm08. Right in the heart. I should have taken pics because I can't even describe the size of the hole it made, I was shocked, going to switch to Partitions or TSX and save these for yotes..... Mostly shocked because she ran 30 yrds and dropped dead at the tree line, half her heart gone. Very easy tracking......I'm a heart and lung kinda shooter.

260 Rem · #16 11-01-2011, 10:11 PM

With a bipod & under good conditions, I would have no hesitation to put one between the eyes up to 100M. My last whitetail buck gave me no choice to do exactly that.

wbaj · #17 11-01-2011, 07:25 PM

Please do not put hunter and head shots into the same sentence. You owe it to the animal to provide a quick, clean kill all the time, every time with the highest potential of providing it. If I ever discovered my hunting partner attempted a head shot on purpose I am afraid he would soon discover extreme discomfort as a result of a one shot kick to his package!
Heart and or lung shots only.

TheKi · #18 11-02-2011, 10:14 PM

i find head shots to be unethical, a few years ago i was out with my grandfather and he took a shot at a coyotes head, aiming for its eye and mist low and blew of its jaw. still kinda hunts me seeing all the blood and parts of the jaw in the the snow and the flesh hanging off the yotes face after the 20 yard shot with a 22.250

#19 11-02-2011, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by little archer_99

i find head shots to be unethical, a few years ago i was out with my grandfather and he took a shot at a coyotes head, aiming for its eye and mist low and blew of its jaw. still kinda hunts me seeing all the blood and parts of the jaw in the the snow and the flesh hanging off the yotes face after the 20 yard shot with a 22.250

ya me too but some people on this forum beg to differ

Lefty-Canuck · #20 11-02-2011, 10:21 PM

IMHO ethics are a personal thing as long as what you do is legal within the rules, what are you comfortable doing? AND are you ok living with the consequences?...some people are all for one thing and all against another but consider themselves "ethical"...no sense in having a pee pee match about it.....in the big picture one persons opinion doesn't matter for squat anyhow....

LC

Big Racks · #21 11-02-2011, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

IMHO ethics are a personal thing as long as what you do is legal within the rules, what are you comfortable doing? AND are you ok living with the consequences?...some people are all for one thing and all against another but consider themselves "ethical"...no sense in having a pee pee match about it.....in the big picture one persons opinion doesn't matter for squat anyhow....

LC

Hey, nobody mentioned a pee-pee match going on. It's official...I WIN!!!

Big Racks · #22 11-02-2011, 10:48 PM

BTW, if I'm confident of the shot I'll take it. As Cat mentioned, the lung shot doesn't always present itself and no matter how patient you are, sometimes it just isn't going to. I've personally only ever taken one head shot (except for kill shots). Two years ago I was walking a cutline and a small wt doe crossed in front of me at about 50 yds. I figured she was long gone into the thick cr@p on the far side but when I tip toed up to where she'd gone in, lo and behold she was still just inside the treeline and looking at me. All I could see was her head, distance at this point was literally 15 yards. She must have felt hidden because she just stared at me like a dumb mulie might have. Options were let her go, wait for a lung shot (umm, she's already in the thick stuff so read: let her go), or pop her in the head. I did the latter. No question of the shot - I was more confident of that shot that I've been of 150 yd broadside shots, and not blowing my own horn but those I'm pretty danged confident of. I wanted meat in the freezer, she offered herself up. To be honest, it's not a shot I want to ever take again. I almost didn't take it, not for lack of confidence in the shot or of ethics, but rather because she was young and when I put the crosshairs on her she was looking right at me - I just felt guilty for lack of a better term. Sure tasted yummy though.

.257Weatherby · #23 11-03-2011, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slone500

I saw a disturbing picture of a bad head shot on a whitetail, (took out lower jaw, was hanging) as the deer got away from the hunter, would obviously expire soon, and was and would suffer greatly, with no lower jaw to eat or drink.

The facts are the animal will suffer for a very long time, not being able to eat or drink and the onset of infection adds to the list of suffering.
I have seen animals like this and it is not a pretty sight, I wont add further comment on this topic, nor will I condem the shooting abilities of the shooters in this forum, that is there choice to make where and how to take the shot.
Rob

catnthehat · #24 11-03-2011, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by .257Weatherby

The facts are the animal will suffer for a very long time, not being able to eat or drink and the onset of infection adds to the list of suffering.
I have seen animals like this and it is not a pretty sight, I wont add further comment on this topic, nor will I condem the shooting abilities of the shooters in this forum, that is there choice to make where and how to take the shot.
Rob

Crap, this isn't even worth replying to anymore.
Cat

pseelk · #25 11-03-2011, 04:01 PM

Its been mentioned that people have seen a case where a deer was hit in the jaw and the jaw was left mangled,that would be awful for sure,But that is probably the only place you could hit a deer in the head area that would not produce catastrophic results.Any modern legal cal hitting a deer almost any place else in the head would destroy the animals head and kill it instantlyIMHO

gitrdun · #26 11-03-2011, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pseelk

Its been mentioned that people have seen a case where a deer was hit in the jaw and the jaw was left mangled,that would be awful for sure,But that is probably the only place you could hit a deer in the head area that would not produce catastrophic results.Any modern legal cal hitting a deer almost any place else in the head would destroy the animals head and kill it instantlyIMHO

Yes, you are absolutely right. The distance between putting one in it's ear and putting one in the jaw is about 6". If we're talking a 100 yard shot or even 200 for that matter, to an accomplished target shooter the 6" off target is a monumental mile, and it won't even see you in the money. If a consistent "in the money" target shooter decides to put on in the ear lobe, I guarantee you that he or she won't be anymore than a MOA off target. To a loud mouth kid with a moustache acquired from mother's milk, heck he could hit it in the arse.

KegRiver · #27 11-03-2011, 04:26 PM

For those who think a head shot is a guaranteed kill.

As near as I can figure this bear was shot late last fall. This is how I found him this spring. All healed over but dying a slow slow death.

pseelk · #28 11-03-2011, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KegRiver

For those who think a head shot is a guaranteed kill.

As near as I can figure this bear was shot late last fall. This is how I found him this spring. All healed over but dying a slow slow death.

But again,shot in the lower jaw.Almost anywhere else in the head and his little head is gone.How do we know that the shooter was aiming at the bears head to start with?

pickrel pat · #29 11-03-2011, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pseelk

But again,shot in the lower jaw.Almost anywhere else in the head and his little head is gone.How do we know that the shooter was aiming at the bears head to start with?

fact is it WAS shot in the jaw, see what happens when you miss by a few inches?

#30 11-03-2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pseelk

But again,shot in the lower jaw.Almost anywhere else in the head and his little head is gone.How do we know that the shooter was aiming at the bears head to start with?

but as cat would say what if that was the only shot he could take then the trophy bear might get away wake up and go for the vitals not directed at you pseelk