Shot Placement.....

[Willie]

In other words, "the spot" is not anywhere on the deer's skin, but is inside the critter. Remember that, and aim accordingly.

Deer Hunting - Shot Placement When Hunting Deer

 

[Hookeye]

I draw a line from the target goodies inside to me, which does create an aiming spot on the outside of the critter.
And I aim for an exact hit on that spot.

Of course animal movement will also change where that spot is. It's a constant data collection and adjustment deal.....up until the shot is made.

 

[NDhunter]

Shot placement is like life--it's common sense. I don't agree with the author, in that I would never take a head shot, no matter the conditions, but that is based off of me and my beliefs. If he has a MOA rifle and has the experience and doesn't wound a deer, I won't judge him.

With a bow, you're not going to want to purposefully aim for a shoulder. I'm guessing you might not want to with a lighter pistol bullet or a lighter .410 slug. The shoulders on older, brut bucks can be as thick as any human bone.

Bottom line for me is if you hit a deer in that pie-plate size are that houses the lungs, heart and liver it is going to die. Sure a spine shot, head shot, or artery shot might work. Why chance it?

I shot a rather large buck a couple of years ago. Caping him out to mount we found a Foster-type 12 gauge slug in his neck. The wound was healed and his body did not show any signs worse for the wear. The bucks neck stopped a 12 gauge slug, and he survived to breed on. He was a pretty nice buck, too. Maybe if that person would have tried a lung/heart shot, my buck would have been theirs. That is okay, though, I'll take him.

 

[Whitsettd8]

I've been fortunate and dropped every deer taken with a gun. I have lost 1 buck in archery that made me pretty sick. I spend alot of time with my equipment though and I know where that bullet is going once it leaves the gun. I shoot a .458 socom and I'll look for a double shoulder shot any time I can get it. Otherwise I'll draw the line that's going to pass though his vitals. I have a problem with the hunters that go to Walmart the day before grab their box of slugs go home pick up the old shot gun out of the closet and walk out into the woods without firing a shot all year. I hear more I hit him, gut shot him, must of pulled, hit tree branch bs excuses from bad hunters than I ever care to hear.

 

[Willie]

The only time I would do a head shot is on a previously wounded deer that is bedded and that is all I can see..

I did a close in neck shot with a MZ at Crane once. The deer was only 15 yards and he hung up with his chest behind a tree. He knew something was up so I shot him in the neck. I had to chase him down to the bottom of one of those ravines to finish him off. He would run, stagger and fall. Get back up and do it all over again. I was chasing him down the hill and I could not stop. Next thing I know he and I are face to face at 5 feet. I started to raise my gun and the buck turned to run again and I fired from the hip dropping him. No more neck shots after that episode..

 

[SNAGGLE TOOTH]

I will pass on a deer if I don't think that I can make a clean hit on the vitals. I simply just don't want to wound an animal and lose it nor do I like tracking for hours on end hoping to get a second chance or find the animal dead. This takes a measure of discipline but I get enough trigger time so I don't worry about waiting for the right shot on the right deer. I was not like this ten or twenty years ago so I understand all ends of things. To me the joy is in the hunt and a clean kill and the pleasant memory of the experience. After all, I have to open the freezer and eat that beast for a year, eh? Finally, my neighbors and friends are all accomplished deer hunters and I would be embarrassed to be considered a poor shot or sloppy. Positive peer pressure can be a good thing

 

[sportsman223]

Shoot for the exit hole so arrow passes through vitals on 1/4 towards, 1/4 away, or at hard angles. Broadside hopefully that is a given

 

[Hookeye]

I try to break a shoulder when gun hunting.
Some say it wastes meat.
Having your deer jump the fence and be taken by somebody else "wastes" more. Doe and a nice buck taken.
Figured I'd not give them the chance after that.
So on small parcel hunting, I break 'em down.

 

[Willie]

I try to break a shoulder when gun hunting.
Some say it wastes meat.
Having your deer jump the fence and be taken by somebody else "wastes" more. Doe and a nice buck taken.
Figured I'd not give them the chance after that.
So on small parcel hunting, I break 'em down.

...and on any "draw hunt" where a deer goes 150 yards and someone else will claim it.


.

 

[jmiller676]

I've done a head shot once, yes it was on purpose. She was bedded in the corn facing opposite of me. Wind swirled and her nose went up in the air. 15 yards and a slug gun she didn't move. I took the shot because a) it was the only one I had, b) I knew I could make it. All of my other deer have been lung/heart shots.

 

[Hookeye]

I've shot a few in the neck, one even with a bow. But he was close and it hit right on the money, Stevie Wonder could have found that deer......was down after 50 yards.

I don't do head shots, even if I know I can make it.

I dislike the mess they make. Call me weird, but I kinda like my dead critters to be a bit more photogenic (even if not taking a pic of them).

Heck, I even get weirded out with the rough handling of carcasses at the check in. It just seems a bit disrespectful.

 

[jmiller676]

Not deer related and a bit off topic but, the body cavity of turkeys gross me out. All the little ribs feels disgusting.

 

[Hookeye]

Turkeys? All those dang ticks swarming them freaks me out.

 

[avboiler11]

I took a 65yd head shot on a doe in Kentucky last year with a 80gr A-Max from a 223AI.

I had fired that rifle at least 600 times in the preceding 6 months, so to say I was confident with its accuracy and my ability was an understatement. Bang/flop, the "little" .224 bullet left a hole bigger than my fist from inside of the right eye to the right ear, and it was the most tender vension I've ever had.

CNS shots are really no big deal if one is proficient with their weapon and familiar with the ballistics of the chosen load.

 

[Willie]

Not doubting the shooting ability of anyone but a deer's head bob is a split second. What was a brain shot turns into a miss or worse yet a jaw blown off..

 

[Willie]

Turkeys? All those dang ticks swarming them freaks me out.

True dat.....

I was Carrying one out slung over my shoulder and I felt the seed ticks crawling on my carrying arm.

 

[Hookeye]

Not doubting the shooting ability of anyone but a deer's head bob is a split second. What was a brain shot turns into a miss or worse yet a jaw blown off..

EXACTLY! Fly bite, reaction to a sound etc.

 

[BoilerWes]

Not doubting the shooting ability of anyone but a deer's head bob is a split second. What was a brain shot turns into a miss or worse yet a jaw blown off..

I have read this argument a lot over the years in online message forums. A couple of things on this; anyone who has ever dispatched many critters in their life should know the easiest, most efficient, most ethical way is a head shot. Period. Secondly, I think the whole argument of missed head shots leading to jaws being blown off is a bunch of baloney. No doubt it could happen, but I have seen plenty of gut shot, flank shot, leg shot deer running around than I ever have one with a missing jaw.

Personally I could care less where a person chooses to shoot a deer, but a clean head shot will dispatch any animal in short order. No blood trail. DRT (dead right there),

 

[ar1973]

double lung nothing else . if he cant breath he cant live

 

[Hookeye]

Dispatching to me means up close, animal already down but not out.

Shot at distance? Go for where there is a bit of insurance IMHO


Head shot head shot, all this tactical BS I think stems from folks playing too much Call of Duty.

Read about it? I've seen one- buck with about a 7" black wound down the side of his head, where he was peeled to the bone (visible). Probably inch of black crust on either side of the opening.