Head Shots
#12
RE: Head Shots
ORIGINAL: .243Heartshot
Where on the head do you aim for a head shot in the ear or eye?
Where on the head do you aim for a head shot in the ear or eye?
#13
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The forests and farmland of Ohio
Posts: 625
RE: Head Shots
The reason for not taking is because of the low margin of error that is allowable. At close range a head shot can be taken quite easily as long as you know how your rifle shoots but further distances make it harder to be exactly on. This can lead to possibly wounding the deer. If you compare the size of a deer's brain to the size of the lungs and heart the brain is a much smaller area. Also at longer distances a bullet could be easily deflected by the skull depending on the power of the rifle and mass of the bullet. If you are to take a head shot you would want to aim between the eyes but up just a hair from the eye line. Many people have seen the consequences of making bad head shot leading to deer with broken off jaws or damaged faces leading to eventual starving that is the reason many choose not to. Although a bad shot at the lung/heart area can lead to a gut shot it is less likely due to the larger area the lungs/heart cover. It is all personal choice. It doesn't matter where on the body you want to shoot just make sure you know your gun and make ethical choices. I have shot 2 running deer in the back leg with a 12 ga. shotgun not wanting to but it happens although it seems unethical there is a main artery that runs along the femur that if hit the deer will bleed out very quickly. Although this kind of shot will ruin a lot of meat.
#16
RE: Head Shots
ORIGINAL: ipscshooter
Ear. Drops them like a rock. You most certainly don't want to be much forward of the ear, because if you get a little low, it seems to me that you could end up with a jaw shot and a wounded deer. If you're back by the ear, and you go a little low, you'll get spine, and/or jugular and they're still going to be dead instantly. Be aware that they do tend to twitch a bit afterward, kinda like when you chop the head off a chicken.
ORIGINAL: .243Heartshot
Where on the head do you aim for a head shot in the ear or eye?
Where on the head do you aim for a head shot in the ear or eye?
#17
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: SE, Pennsylvania
Posts: 174
RE: Head Shots
If you don't want to ruin much meat and are unsure about the small room for error with the head, shoot the neck. It is my favorite closer shot with the .243. They go right down and bleed out, which they wont do if shot in brain.
#18
RE: Head Shots
I took a head shot this yr st about 70 yds. In the past 10 yrs I've probably done that 3 or 4 times. You know if your rig is together or not and you should know your capabilities or lack thereof. I say if the situation feels right, your rifle is on, your hand is steady, then go for it. I've never batched a head shot the few times I've taken them but if I ever did I would never do it again.
A small hole in a pelt can be easily fixed with a little careful needle work. The one I'm doing this yr was a lung shot . . .it's turning out nice.
Actually, the reason I took a head shot this yr was that it was almost dark, I was in a really thick swampy place, and didn't want to have to track it . . . .forgot my flashlight. I was using my 30/30 with the Hornaday Leverlution . . .there was no exit . . .it wasn't pretty.
A small hole in a pelt can be easily fixed with a little careful needle work. The one I'm doing this yr was a lung shot . . .it's turning out nice.
Actually, the reason I took a head shot this yr was that it was almost dark, I was in a really thick swampy place, and didn't want to have to track it . . . .forgot my flashlight. I was using my 30/30 with the Hornaday Leverlution . . .there was no exit . . .it wasn't pretty.
#19
RE: Head Shots
ORIGINAL: Leafrivermac
I took a head shot this yr st about 70 yds. In the past 10 yrs I've probably done that 3 or 4 times. You know if your rig is together or not and you should know your capabilities or lack thereof. I say if the situation feels right, your rifle is on, your hand is steady, then go for it. I've never batched a head shot the few times I've taken them but if I ever did I would never do it again.
A small hole in a pelt can be easily fixed with a little careful needle work. The one I'm doing this yr was a lung shot . . .it's turning out nice.
Actually, the reason I took a head shot this yr was that it was almost dark, I was in a really thick swampy place, and didn't want to have to track it . . . .forgot my flashlight. I was using my 30/30 with the Hornaday Leverlution . . .there was no exit . . .it wasn't pretty.
I took a head shot this yr st about 70 yds. In the past 10 yrs I've probably done that 3 or 4 times. You know if your rig is together or not and you should know your capabilities or lack thereof. I say if the situation feels right, your rifle is on, your hand is steady, then go for it. I've never batched a head shot the few times I've taken them but if I ever did I would never do it again.
A small hole in a pelt can be easily fixed with a little careful needle work. The one I'm doing this yr was a lung shot . . .it's turning out nice.
Actually, the reason I took a head shot this yr was that it was almost dark, I was in a really thick swampy place, and didn't want to have to track it . . . .forgot my flashlight. I was using my 30/30 with the Hornaday Leverlution . . .there was no exit . . .it wasn't pretty.
#20
RE: Head Shots
Thats the whole point of NOT taking a head shot. You could blow off the deer jaw and wound the deer. I dont care how good of a shot you think you are, things can happen and you might not hit what you are aiming at. Why cant people understand that.
A few times I have shot thru brush going for a shoulder shot to have my round deflected as much as 20 inchs. . . .broke the deers spine just forward of the hips. Once , missed a deer entirely and the brush was pretty close to the deer. . . . .Maybe it's not ethical to shoot at any part of an animal if there is a chance of the bullet deflecting of of brush and missing the vitals.