After years of wishing, I finally have a property where I get to be picky when I shoot. I like rib, neck, and shoulder meat, so I'd like to start chooting dem n da hed. Anyone else doing this?

Before the you can't do it brigade shows up, You can't do it, but I can, because I have determination. I know animals have smaller brains, and choose my shot placement accordingly. I can brain squirrels at 70 yards, pretty sure I can do deer at 150.

I've got a 20" Hbar BCM upper that seems perfect for the job. It's as accurate as any bolt gun I own. The flat ballistics of 5.56 out of a 20" barrel will be more forgiving if my range estimate is off, and it's plenty to crack a deer skull. I'll be putting a Trijicon Credo 4-16x on it once deer season ends. I won't be toting this rifle far, so weight isn't an issue.

I may look into getting a new trigger, all my lowers have milspec. I have never felt the need to upgrade, but the trigger on my Savages makes good shot placement easier.

For ammo, I plan on finding the most accurate expandable round for my upper, but affordable enough for me to practice with. Lighter rounds will give me a flatter trajectory, but I think I'd like to stick with heavier bullets in case I want to double lung one. 77gr is what the upper liked most in previous testing, so that's what I'll probably end up with.

Sure it's a harder shot but the real problem is the explanation. Everyone will think you shot it at night with a spot light because you aimed for the glowing eyes

I process them myself. I'm the only one who ever sees anything but cooked meat.

I'll also be waiting for broadside shots where I can hit just behind the eye. That'll scramble the brains good, and it doesn't look like they were spotlighted.

Best of luck. Aim small because you don’t have much room for error.
I’ve done it a few times and after the last couple flopping around and having to shoot them again I’ll never try it again

I’ve only done it once when I was young. I think I just got lucky

When you shoot one’s jaw off and a few minutes later it stands up and starts to leave and you don’t get another shot in it you won’t do it again. That’s if you are a true hunter and actually cares about what you are hunting.

I couldn't care less how you shot your deer .

A well placed head shot is obviously a lethal shot. For me and my ability, it’s not an ethical shot. I’d never attempt it. I’m good with losing a little shoulder meat to insure a humane kill.

This. I simply won't do it because the margin of error is just so small, and the head of a feeding deer moves more than anything. Slight movements mean BAD misses if all you're aiming for is the brain.

I've seen trail cam pics of emaciated does who are starving to death with a bottom jaw hanging off due to attempted head shots that went wrong. It's cruel.

It's all cool and stuff to brag about, but it's a matter of when, not if, you booger one up that way.

Personally, it's not worth it to me, but everyone's conscience is different.

I decided when i was young and dumb to shoot one between the eyes just to show a buddy i could. It was a young 7 point at about 125 yards. 270 130 gr ballistic tip hand loads (before you could buy them factory loaded) When i walked up to it, I said never again. He deserved better, antlers splayed out, eyes blown out sockets, head disfigured.

Pretty much why I only did it once as well. Mine was a doe and it made me sick.

Put me in the camp of not a head shooter.

It makes a horrible mess I won’t ever do it again.

I saw a doe shot in the head and thought I was going to throw up right there on the spot. Stay in the vital area, you can't go wrong there. Just saying....

I went on a track one time where the hunter accidentally blew the jaw off of a deer on a quartering away shot…….The deer had its head lowered and the hunter just jerked the shot to the right. We didn’t know this until I got there the next morning and we found teeth at the hit site. When we found the deer it was still alive and took off running……The spot where it had spent the night was the most gruesome blood trail scene I’ve ever witnessed. The deer had apparently spent the night walking around in about a 10-15 yard circle shaking its head back and forth slinging blood on EVERYTHING……the bushes, the ground, the trees up to head high……..kinda looked like as if you dipped a paint brush down in red paint over and over, slinging off the excess each time…….There was big gobs of blood in some places where it was trying to clot up but couldn’t……

We chased after it that morning but since it didnt have any kind of injury to its body it just wouldn’t bay up to be finished…….We finally had to just pull off of it and let it go. That deer likely died an ugly death once it finally got weak enough.

I hope you don't bow hunt if you're worried about that.

I will be spending the next year setting up a rifle and practicing at various ranges. This isn't something I'm taking casually.

I’ve done it a few times. It ain’t pretty but gets the job done and doesn’t waste any meat.

Why not set a guillotine inside some hog wire to a gravity feeder. Deer pops it’s head in to feed and you could activate it however you please. I’m thinking a .22 to some plink metal that activates the drop.

With a rifle’@50-100 yards absolutely but no further or closer. The sight and smell of it is a lot less offensive than a gut shot deer. Never really had one move a muscle after impact. Now listen close, never under any circumstance do it with a bow. I did when I was younger and it still haunts me if I think about it. After a lot of chasing and 2 arrows later she finally stopped moving. Dear God I still ask for your forgiveness for that terrible day in February in the swamps of S Louisiana.

A well placed double lung shot behind the shoulder is going to destroy less than a pound of meat. And with much more room for error to ensure an ethical kill.



Ok American Sniper. Be sure to come back on here admitting when you blow a jaw off. Hunting is wildly different than target shooting. It's a moving target at range and wind that isn't predetermined, and with a mediocre gun rest. 150 yards? Hell a perfectly sighted rifle will range anywhere from 3 inches low to 3 inches high depending on the arc of the bullet and how close or far the target is from 0 to 250 yards.