Bad practice

www.yorkshireroestalking.

Distinguished Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VZSedWb8s&feature=related
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i carnt believe what some people post on youtube, not being in reciept of all the facts about this animal i will reserve judgement. its a poor animal thats for sure.

Skipp.
 
Shouldnt have looked ruined my day.Aim for the engine room forget about spoiling meat .Bad practice caused by game dealers insistance on undamaged meat,neck shots are as bad as the animal is still aware due to oxgenated blood reaching brain
 
hi,

this deer has been here before and i do believe that the prognosis was blue tongue...or another disease rather than the shot option...

f.

not one to be revisited and i do remember the op been involved in it also
 
Are we really going to get into the debate about head shots again? It happens.

So does blowing off a front leg, gut shots, spine shots and so on...

I agree not nice to see, but as someone said on this forum before, if anyone has not had a bad shot then they are not shooting many deer.

How do we know that this was not just a shocking shot caused by a novice, getting the shakes and aiming at the shoulder, the bullet deflecting off cover en route to the animal, a bipod leg collapsing, a knock to the scope during the stalk and shifting zero. Who knows. Then again, perhaps it was a bad head shot:-|
 
All shots can go wrong for experienced and novice stalkers alike.
And the more you shoot the more chance there is, its just playing the odds.
But no one can argue that 6 inch is easier to hit than 2 1/2 inch.
Thats said it now.
Though I have shot a good number of deer in the head myself, in the correct circumstances.
They should only be attempted by experienced marksmen, or stick to the "boiler house" shot.
 
All shots can go wrong for experienced and novice stalkers alike.
And the more you shoot the more chance there is, its just playing the odds.
But no one can argue that 6 inch is easier to hit than 2 1/2 inch.
Thats said it now.
Though I have shot a good number of deer in the head myself, in the correct circumstances.
They should only be attempted by experienced marksmen, or stick to the "boiler house" shot.

Can't argue with that...;)
 
IMHO there is NO correct circumstances where a wild deer should be taken with a head shot .The head is a moving target.The natural action is graze, head up look for predators,head down graze.Even in a Roe that's over 3ft vertical movement plus side to side. I seen it for myself. My brother inlaw is superb shot ,he can hit a 5 pence piece at 100yds first time every time. I was out with him one day he took a head shot at just 40yds .Deer twisted its head just as shot was taken .Jaw blown off.Luckily it was sufficiently concussed to hit a fence where I hit it with a heart shot .Dropped on the spot. Not nice. Most people only tell you about the ones they hit not the ones that escape injured
 
Yawn..........................................

Some do some dont live with it

Admin lock this one before it gets silly
 
Stephen
nail on the head mate
5p at a 100, but fecked up at 40 yards on live quarry
would he of fecked up at 100??
that is the big question?
or
Are you saying He did not read the situ enough to realise the Deer was going to move it's head at the time the trigger was pulled
there is a big difference
not slating the brother in-law, just thinking out side the box here a little
as I hav been on both sides of the story and seen a bit
just remember not all chest shot deer are gathered
ATB
 
go on john explain them then,
For your benifit Frank.
:rolleyes:
I have seen first hand shots from both experienced and not so experienced shots go wrong. (friends not clients, as all clients shoot chest / neck never head).
Personally I have head shot deer and actually been lucky enough never had 1 go wrong.(that I can remember)(though I dont make a habit of this practice). I do not say others are wrong but its not for me (as a rule as stated).
But they have been close and I have been steady and confident.
The deer have been facing away from me and unaware of my pressence so not moving.So really atlas joint / head.
Another possible circumstance is to finish an animal off if everything is safe to do so.
Hope this helps you, we all have our idea of whats right this is mine.
Regards John (good shot --reload):cool:
 
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Even if you go for a chest shot @ 100m things can go wrong,nobody is perfect all of the time,it's ok you saying this is not acceptable but if your confident and everything seems good why not.let those that say they never miss or wound stand up and say so,cos everyone does,if not you don't shoot a lot of deer.i had a lad out with me doing a level2 stalk,very confident he was too,I never miss or wound he says,ok dokey I thinks,stalk into60 yards of a buck an missed beast clean.he shoots less than a dozen deer a year,like said earlier less chance of a mess up.this is why everybody should have a dog trained for deer.if your not confident of a clean kill don't pull the trigger,there is always another day;)
 
My examples for taking head/neck shots.

1. Deer standing looking straight at me. I will aim right in middle of face or the neck.

2. Deer standing looking straight away from me. I will aim for the area of the atlas joint. Bullet drops or strikes slightly higher it is still a clean kill.

3 & 4, Deer lying down, repeat as above.

If the animal is feeding and grazing with the head down, then I agree the likely-hood of a head/neck shot presenting itself is very slim however, a whistle, call, bark or even a shout at the animal will often present a shot like example no.1. Although the base of the neck is a fairly immobile area as is the rest of the animal.

My point is and it mirrors some of the comments above, not every time will a deer present a suitable target for head/neck shooting. As has already been said, there will be another day if this is the practice you employ. I have seen no more deer wounded either using this practice than when compared to the years I would generally have gone for heart/lung shots. Not just my practice but my stalking mates also. It had nothing to do with game dealer demands. It was to prevent deer, in particular Sika, running off into woods and making extraction/follow up too difficult. Both of us have GWP's trained in following up. Both of us would generally use a bullet of fairly rapid expansion. Currently a Sierra Gameking HPBT. They have a tendency to cause the kind of damage that allows for an inch or so of error and still cause fatal damage.

I would NEVER criticise a stalker who says that they always go for heart/lung shots as that is where they are comfortable in aiming for. Mind, when a couple of friends wanted to come out and assist on the Sika cull they were told that unless they were confident in shooting as I have described, then not to bother.

It is bad enough trying to recover and extract your own deer but I get a tad ****ed off when I have to find one for someone else, under a shut in wood, in the dark, by torchlight, now raining, pine needles down my neck, tired, moaning wife on the mobile saying dinner ruined....
 
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To follow on from stones approach it is as important to know when a deer is going to move so as to take a shot i have seen clients that have taken what should have been an easy chest shot but for some reason they have missed the signs of the deer and the deer has moved just as they are on the squeeze. Watch deer enough you will know when they are settled. For me its no to head shots even for the expearienced many a DEER will suffer from equipment failure How many time do you here some one say fe ck me my gun was off two inch to the left etc etc. Hope they were not the ones head shooting.
 
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What about....... if you're at 40m looking down over a hind and calf facing away from you in a little gully. Your above them from a bank and both are lying down completely still in poor weather. It's windy and near freezing.

I was there and I had never taken a head shot, under instruction the hind was shot in the back of the head and when the calf stood it was then shot broadside. There was no welfare issue at that range and lets be honest, it was a safer shot than trying a broadside 150m shot on the same windy day for example. There's no way that lying down for an extended wait hoping for the rise in those circumstance would have been necessary.

Dead is dead :rolleyes:
 
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