[onehorse]

This is a follow-up thread on Blackbird's question about bullet placement Specifically, he mentioned the "high lung" shot. Just about everyone has their favorite shot regarding bullet placement as their are lots of shots that get the job done. After many years of hunting and killing almost a hundred big game animals, I prefer that high lung shot when I have a broadside, and have had the best results with that shot over the years. Some of the kills have been nothing short of spectacular! That shot will deliver a lot of damage - shock and bleeding - without ruining any meat. Usually, this shot drops game in its tracks and it also offers the best results if the shot is a little off the mark. If the bullet happens to strike a little high, the spine will be broken and the animal will go down like it was hit by a Greyhound bus. A little low will hit the heart = dead animal. A little forward will break a shoulder or two, and animals with broken shoulders don't go very far. If the bullet hits a little to the rear, the liver will be struck and the animal will bleed out very quickly. I once had the best of all situations when, because of the particular shot angle, I hit the lungs, liver and spine of a buck antelope. This animal, like most high lung shot game, collapsed like a marionette whose strings had just been snipped!

 

[bighorn9]

shotplacement

Shootem between the eyes or behind the ear you don't have to look for them then they are laying there are you missed and they ran off.

 

[onehorse]

Shootem between the eyes or behind the ear you don't have to look for them then they are laying there are you missed and they ran off.

This could work on really close shooting, but I've seen lots of animals with jaws hanging down or other head wounds that were not recovered by the original shooter. The margin for error on head shots does not favor the hunter... or the game for that matter. And at long ranges (like we get out here in Montana) of 300 yards or more, a head shot is worst than foolish, it's down right unethical!

 

[Hunting Man]

Onehorse I agree 100%, and the whole head shot thing makes me associate it with poachers, sorry for the comparison, but that's what I think of those shots. I know they are instant kills but.........

 

[BruceBruce1959]

Onehorse I agree 100%, and the whole head shot thing makes me associate it with poachers, sorry for the comparison, but that's what I think of those shots. I know they are instant kills but.........

YUP, I agree too..

 

[bighorn9]

shotplacement

My grandfather hunted for many years with a old .303 British that he had customized the only places he would hunt was the thickest most rugged laurel thickets there is in the north east Georgia Mts. He would only use the head shot because if the deer didn't go right down there might be no chance of recovery most shots in these conditions are usually 25 yards are less you may only be able to see 30 - 50 yards. Therefore I think that this is the most ethical shot. I hunt in these same conditions he taught me that if you want to see and kill more an bigger bucks you got to hunt the places nobody else would even consider walking to like are favorite spot we call devils holler.

 

[flexj]

Headshots unethical??....think that one over a little more.

Just like this guy with a rifle I will take short range head shots in dense cover. If you are sure of the shot and the range is right it is much better than shooting deer in the spine to drop them. High lung shots work good for me about 50% of the time in more open ranges. I have a friend who intentionally takes spine shots in the dense cover to drop them...and I have stopped inviting him to hunt. It is terrible to intentionally wound a deer and then have to get down, walk over, and finish it off. I say the close range head shot is very reliable for me. You just have to make sure you can drive tacks @10-30 yards (that is the range I use it).

 

[Hunting Man]

I don't know or hunt with anyone that takes head shots. Just seems strange to me. It's a poacher's choise of shots is all I refered to, and reminded me of, and is something (I) wouldn't do. I do advicate the right to free opinions and thus can appreciate differing thoughts on this. It's just something I choose not to do and wouldn't teach my son to do. HM

 

[bighorn9]

shotplacement

I'm just saying with impenetrable cover less than a few yards away it's better to take the sure kill shot than a shot that will kill but the animal may run 5o -100 yards I would take the sure kill shot and not worry about an animal ending up coyote food. Besides if you can't put a bullet in a three inch circle at , thats about the size of a deers brain, then you don't need to be shooting a deer rifle at a deer anyhow!

 

[onehorse]

Flexi, if you are in the kind of cover that you described and are taking just 10-30 yards shots, have a really steady rest AND can ALWAYS hit that 3 inch target, maybe the head shot is OK for YOU, but lots of guys can't make that shot and DO wound deer with failed head shots. There's just no margin for error. As for your criticism of the high lung shot, type of bullet and how it expands, etc. have a lot to do with the success or failure of any shot at any range. I've killed almost 100 head of game from elk and caribou to deer and antelope, etc. in over 50 years of hunting, and that high lung shot has been the best killer by far at any range. Just my personal experience.

 

[Hunting Man]

40+ years of deer hunting with around 60? killed, I've never had the need to head shoot one. I hunt some of Pennsylvania's thickest mountain laural patches and some dark cedar swamps in northern Michigan and seem to find the traditional kill zone. If your thing is to head shoot game more power to you. Doesn't it make it hard for the taxidermist to put back the side of a head? Just asking.

 

[flexj]

I bet it would if I could ever shoot one worth hanging...

In reality I have only taken two head shots. Both were on does, and both were taking a drink out of the creek. It is rare that the situation is perfect for the head shot, but the occasion does come around now and then for me. Don't get me wrong...most of my shots find the traditional kill zone, and I am always surprised when they go bounding off.:surprised: