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fieldsports tv headshooting deer


Redgum
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Watched the episode last night and a lovely bit of filming of what can be a boring evening sitting in a high seat seeing nothing but bats........But ...... what sort of message does it send out to the less experienced than, ' I can juggle eight hedgehogs while me pants are on fire and smoke a cigar through me ear' Mr Crow who is armed with a set up that's ( probably sponsored) worth well over five grand. Mr 'comb over' Jacoby does state 'this is not a hunt its pest control' of which the point he was making , I think ? was its ok to head shoot deer in the half light to control deer numbers over crops but not while your hunting.

Yes head shooting is ok if you can do it from a stable platform and you have Mr Crows self confessed magical abilities of knowing what a deer will do next, it does get a better price in the game dealers and the animal will not run and fall in the crop meaning you will have to get off your butt. But maybe just a note to say when its not ok to head shoot deer, why we may go for a boiler room shot instead, what to do if you blow the things jaw off in the half light, oh sorry, you can edit the bad shots can't you.

Maybe better an announcement at the beginning just to state this footage is for endorsing various shooting products and should not be copied in anyway at home. rant over. :no::no:

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Did not see the program but have seen enough deer walking around with jaws blown off in the last 40yrs to tell me not to advocate head shooting them in any event.

 

Same as.

 

I've Stalked/culled Deer for nearly 40 years and many many times I've had large numbers of Fallow and Red Deer raiding crop's never had to Nut one yet.

Amazing they was supposed to be causing so much damage it took him 4 days to address the problem !!!!!!! I'd have a fair bet his Combine dropped more grain than the Deer managed to eat. Yes the flatten it but so does wind and rain.

If seen fields of Wheat Barley Oat's Rape Pea's and Beans been hit hard by large numbers of Fallow and Red yet never ever seen bare patches or places where the Combine could not cut/collect the laid patches.

This week alone I've shot Fallow Roebuck and Muntjac and hope to for many years to come But calling Fallow Pricket's Spiker's I've shot load's of Deer attitude doe's not impress me at all.

My Rifles will clover leaf at 200yds But I've still managed to injure a Deer attempting a Rib shot HOW !!!! WHY !!!!! Because I'm human Deer are living breathing MOVING animals

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On a deer - any deer - the most mobile part is the head. Constantly moving, whether browsing, checking the surroundings, or flicking off flies, it's almost always in movement.

 

Not a shot for me.

+1

Why is it that these so called experts advocate marginal shooting? EG the shooting of pigeon and game at vast distances. It is possible but is it really what these experts should be advocating?

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Just putting it out there and I'm NOT a deer stalker. We shoot rabbits in the head. We shoot fox's in the head. We shoot most other things in the head. Wether it's air rifle, rim fire or cf.

What is wrong with shooting a deer in the head? If you know you can shoot it safely and humanely what's the problem? I understand the margin for error but if your rifle is zeroed at 80 and the animal is at 100 and you can put it bang on why not? That is a genuine question as I don't know the answer. Like I said I am not a deer stalker and haven't shot a deer before.

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Just putting it out there and I'm NOT a deer stalker. We shoot rabbits in the head. We shoot fox's in the head. We shoot most other things in the head. Wether it's air rifle, rim fire or cf.

What is wrong with shooting a deer in the head? If you know you can shoot it safely and humanely what's the problem? I understand the margin for error but if your rifle is zeroed at 80 and the animal is at 100 and you can put it bang on why not? That is a genuine question as I don't know the answer. Like I said I am not a deer stalker and haven't shot a deer before.

Simple answer is .

Miss placed Rib Shot a high percentage of the time the Deer even if the Deer goes to Wood it will lay down stiffen up where it can be tracked and dispatched.

Miss Placed Head Shot

The Deer will run and Run probably never found but will die a slow lingering suffering death .

I'll post a Picture in the next few days NOT gory but will show just how easy it is to miss a Fallow Deer brain

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A deers head is constantly moving while its body mass and bigger target is more stable, head shots are fine if you have the skill and position, not if your prone or on sticks. You have as much as an eight inch kill zone on a heart lung shot, with the head you don't. A badly placed head shot results in a lot of suffering for a deer that will die of thirst or blood poisoning.

post-22471-0-98924200-1472173828_thumb.jpg

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Simple answer is .

Miss placed Rib Shot a high percentage of the time the Deer even if the Deer goes to Wood it will lay down stiffen up where it can be tracked and dispatched.

Miss Placed Head Shot

The Deer will run and Run probably never found but will die a slow lingering suffering death .

I'll post a Picture in the next few days NOT gory but will show just how easy it is to miss a Fallow Deer brain

 

i too,like hendrix rifle am not a deer stalker and have never shot deer,but does the same not apply to any animal whether it be rabbit,fox or deer,surely any quarry can move its head just at the last minute and be injured and either run off or run in a warren to die the same way as an injured deer would,i can see by the pic redgum posted the result of a badly placed shot and its not a pretty sight,but as said that could have been a rabbit or fox,just my opinion and i also head shoot rabbit and fox

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What he's saying is right, if you can shoot 3-5 rounds in a finger nail then why not.

 

The biggest culprit of promoting less than adequate shooting is the DSC1 course.......I was horrified at the shooting test. I don't care how many DSC instructors jump on my back here.

 

The shooting on my course was truly truly awful. A woman must of had 6 goes to get the 3 rounds in the kill zone from prone. The DSC needs to change

 

I don't think the question to be answered here is head shooting. It's responsible shooting, I know I can head shoot all day long. But the next guy may not be able too and he then shouldn't take that shot.

 

Know your ability, work with your ability

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I know my rifle will shoot 1/2" groups if I do my part at 200m, it'll shoot 1/2" all day at 100m

 

Head shooting no thanks neck and boiler room happily if it's the right shot.

 

To those that say rabbits the head is so much smaller hit it with a 22 or 17 the expansion removes enough to destroy the brain bring fast death so the result tends to be clean kill or clean miss. A deer is so much larger you can injury with out killing over a large percentage of the head.

Edited by welshwarrior
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I'm not a deer shooter either and some interesting points being made.

 

For me, as has been said by a few people, the person pulling the trigger is the one responsible for their decisions as to shoot or not to shoot.

 

Only you know your own capabilities and your rifles.

 

We all want clean first shot kills, and it's so easy to judge others for taking a shot when perhaps you would not. But ultimately it's shooters decision.

 

A good point made regarding head shooting of other quarry and why not deer and some valid replies too.

 

This is what a forum is for and with regards new shooters seeing deer being headshot at least Andy crow gave HIS reasons for doing it. That doesn't mean you have too if you are not comfortable doing it.

 

Just accept there are many differing views and opinions

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I'm not a deer shooter either and some interesting points being made.

 

For me, as has been said by a few people, the person pulling the trigger is the one responsible for their decisions as to shoot or not to shoot.

 

Only you know your own capabilities and your rifles.

 

We all want clean first shot kills, and it's so easy to judge others for taking a shot when perhaps you would not. But ultimately it's shooters decision.

 

A good point made regarding head shooting of other quarry and why not deer and some valid replies too.

 

This is what a forum is for and with regards new shooters seeing deer being headshot at least Andy crow gave HIS reasons for doing it. That doesn't mean you have too if you are not comfortable doing it.

 

Just accept there are many differing views and opinions

Well said that man

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I was stalking red stags last week and of the 5 we had 2 were head shot. However we stalk this estate very regularly and this shot is incredibly rare for us, its just this trip that is the way it worked out. One was initially chest shot at 90 meters with a 3006 and stood wobbling for what seemed like about a minute before a follow up shot to the head dropped it. It had been shot perfectly with the first and would have died in the next few minutes, but the stalker i was with knows me well enough to know i would rather have them dead on the ground than suffering. The head was side on and the shot was just behind the eye. The shot was taken from the ground off a bipod, and the head of a red stag is about the size of a fox cub, with a kill zone the size of a small rabbit.

 

The 2nd was on the ground, looking at us at 35 meters, face on. The only shot available was between the eyes and without going into details we had a number to shoot and this one had to go.

 

I would not go taking long range head shots, and have shot deer horribly injured by others in the past, i think it is written up here some years ago, but it is a tool in the box that though rarely used has its place.

 

I watches the show online and thought the shots and reason for them were well described, down to the low light shown being a camera issue and not a scope one.

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Well said belly47.

 

For the record I have shot many red deer and some roe and I have never taken a head shot. But then again I have never shot from the relative comfort of a high seat nor did I know the precise distance to the quarry as Crow did. The usual scenario for my hind stalking was lying prone, sometimes in snow, and trying to regulate both my breathing and my shivering.

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Always a contentious issue.

I have shot quite a few deer and can only remember taking two headshots

Both went perfectly well, but both were relatively close and prone off a bipod

Some never do it, some never take any other shot, and others take it when the situation is right.

As has been said, you have to live with the consequences of any shot going south, so only you can make that decision - it is your responsibility to get it right.

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The other differences is if ur shooting a rabbit with an airgun ur pretty much forced to shoot to the head as airguns often not got enough energy to otherwise to get a clean kill to the chest. That mentaliy carries on into ur 22lr (and if u want to eat it after a 17hmr shot) even thou u have plenty of power

But also a rabbits head is relatively small, pretty much if u hit thay head from any direction u should be get enough damage to the brain to kill it.

 

Deer, foxes head are a different shape with the jaw and esp from side on, be pretty easy to only take the jaw off and do no serious damage to deer, so highly mobile with little or no blood trail so very very hard to follow up. And will end up starving to death over a failrly long time, not nice

A good reason why brain shooting should only be done from front or back and not side on.

 

Also perhaps we should stop calling it head shooting too, in reality it is brain shooting, the brain is the only target that will get a clean kil in that area.

In some deer u might only be talking about a a 1" circle even in larger deer with pretty big heads the brain is still a pretty small area. And when u add that to the fact its attached to a highly mobile neck, it can easily move a few inches in any direction in the blink of an eye with little or no warning.

 

20 or 30 years ago no one bothered shooting deer or foxes in the head/brain.

Infact as a boy i got ####ed of my head keeper for needlessly shooting a fox in the head, he drummed it in to me to go for the % shot all the time which usually is chest, u usually have pretty big marigns for error and still get a clean kill, so even a pulled less than perfect shot will usually still humanely kill the deer, with the head/brain any marign for error is alomst non existant

Sometimes it will be only shot on, which is fair enough if u have to get ur cull done and have the skill and experience, but it involves far more than just cloverleafing bullets (which many can't do anyway) but also reading the deer and anticipating if it will move its head is actually more important, which is where many more inexperienced folk wil fall down.

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Believe me, it is quite possible to shoot the lower jaw off a rabbit even win a .22rf , or even its nose.

As it is with a 17, just makes a lot more mess... And due to expanding round kills.

 

I think the title of the show was actually "when to headshoot" not "go out and headshoot" crow made it clear where to shoot it and when not to shoot it also to not shoot head on. He also said you have to be very accurate and mentioned the finger nail. He was confident in his ability and rifle.

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This Rutting Fallow Buck was shot with a .300 Win-Mag using a Lapua Mega 185 gr Projectile.

I had a German sitting in a High Seat for a Rutting Fallow Buck this due to Rutting ( approximately 70yrd away ) the Buck kept offing face on shot's. So i instructed the German to take a Low ( between the legs ) frontal chest shot.

Without warning with the Buck having it's head down Booooom the Buck goes down gets straight up and walked as though drunk away quickly grabbing my Rifle i managed to shoot it through the Rib's.

After i had given the German one Helluva B%llocking he told me excitement etc had overcome him so he tried to shoot the Buck between the shoulder blades when it's head was down unfortunately the Buck lifted it's Head.

I've Head Shot plenty of Park Red and Fallow BUT always with Fast/Quick Fragmenting Polymer Tipped Projectile.

Some may ask so why not use these for general Deer Stalking Easy shoot a Deer through the Rib's with these type of Projectile and your get a Fist size entry wound because the Projectile disintegrates/fragments on impact.post-22823-0-99278700-1472205291_thumb.jpg

post-22823-0-40233600-1472205323_thumb.jpg

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