Whats the deal with all the head shot hunting lately?

[Tricky]

I still will always shoot a heart or lung shot, or I will let the deer keep walking by. Even if I am killing a coyote that always seem to pester my property I want it to die quickly and still respect it. My only real neck shot experience was on a hog with a pistol. It was less than 15 yards and was more of a self defense shot. I wouldn't make it a real time hunting shot. It just pains me that when I try and give them a little advice at the range, just like the guys did for me when I was starting out, they still insist on the head shots. They don't want to ruin the meat is one I get the most. I've shot deer with a .243 - 300wssm and as long as you are using a proper bullet it will be a non issue. They just dont respect the game animals, and shouldn't even be out there!

[timetohunt]

A lesson on deer anatomy and butchering charts should be included in these discussions, as well as what causes the deer to die as the result of the different target locations. A heart/lung shot damages very little meat - a few ribs and the internal organs which I can not make myself eat anyways. If you shoot a little forward of the chest you will hit the shoulders and ruin some of that meat but it should still be minimal compared to the total meat yeild.

[turner]

I am against head shots as well. I think at least some of it is caused by some who want to use minimal calibers and feel they are doing something "special" by killing a large animal with a small caliber & bullet to the head. Call me old fashioned, but not one thing impressive doing that IMHO.

Those who have done a lot of deer hunting also realize that a deer moves it's head a lot. Even an expert shot cannot always anticipate when a deer is going to move it's head. A shot at that moment may leave the deer with a crippling injury that leads to a long and painful death. Not sportsmanlike in my book.

As far as neck shots are concerned, I do make them when presented at a good range. My "neck" shots, however, are base of the neck shots which normally makes for DIT hits and recoveries. My last hog was a neck shot at 125 yds and worked as they always do. Of course a hog doesn't really have much of a neck either....lol.

[Hunting Man]

I have only shot one buck with a neck shot even when many others gave a short perfect shot. I just think a double lung shot is the best and has no meat damage. The neck shot is going to waste valuable and some of the best meat period. It is however a quick kill shot, I just don't care for them.

[Tricky]

A lot of the guys I know and hunt with say a neck shot on a hog is different then on a deer. Many of the larger hogs have a heavy armor plate that is hard to get through in some scenarios so I'm not against that. My issue is that what if your attempting a head shot and the deer and it moves just a bit like said by others. The worse meat damage I have ever had was on a doe with a 12 gauge at around 15 yards. It jumped up a little as I pulled the trigger and I hit it low, it dropped right there, but made a mess. I have taken a deer once before that had a piece of his ear missing and on his antler has a groove that looked like a bullet had went across his head. I was hog hunting and had a smaller pig run forward and I hit it by accident and blew a big part of his head off. I had to shoot a second shot and I was using a 270 at under a 100 yards. That was enough for me so even though it wasn't on purpose, it turned me off and I won't do that again.

[rdrader2002]

"Those who have done a lot of deer hunting also realize that a deer moves it's head a lot. Even an expert shot cannot always anticipate when a deer is going to move it's head. A shot at that moment may leave the deer with a crippling injury that leads to a long and painful death. Not sportsmanlike in my book." Well said Turner!

Have never tried a head shot, and never will, just for the reason mentioned by Turner.

Have tried one neck shot, and that was with a .30/30.
Nice 8 pt walked out of the brush ~ 50 yards away and then stopped.
I'll admit I got "buck fever" and put the first round high.
Buck froze, much to my surprise, instead of bolting.
Jacked a second round into the chamber, and took an extra second or two to get my breathing and adrenaline under control, then squeezed the trigger.
Buck took two steps and dropped.

But now I'm back to lung/heart region, preferring double lung shots.
They may run, but they won't run very far.
Most I've had one run with a double lung shot is 35-40 yards.

RR