Shooting Cattle

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JRoe

JRoe

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I've done this on a few occasions on different farms over the years ( usually at the Farmers request !). I've used rifle and shotgun. I'm curious as to what others use gun wise, load, shot placement etc etc.

Looking forward to your answers.

JR
 
JRoe said:
I've done this on a few occasions on different farms over the years ( usually at the Farmers request !). I've used rifle and shotgun. I'm curious as to what others use gun wise, load, shot placement etc etc.

Looking forward to your answers.

JR
Click to expand...
Jroe, I would hope it is at the farmers request !!!! he might be a bit cross otherwise.... made me chuckle though
 
Anything from a .22 rimfire upwards will work. The normal placement is at the intersection of two imaginary lines, drawn between each ear and the opposite eye.
 
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Z-Plex's positioning spot on.Over the years in both horse and cattle have noticed the larger the calibre the less kicking when they go down.My normal revolver was ex service .38 but on one occasion abroad shot a horse injured in a road accident with a .458. It when down and didn't move.
 
z-plex is right as to positioning as someone who has worked in slaughterhouses most cattle are stunned in that spot
cattle are shot with a humane killer which normaly works off a .22 blank and do kick for quite some time before BSC we were allowed to use a peth cane which was inserted into hole stun gun had made and was pushed down into spinal canal and worked in and out to speed up the kicking process thus allowing us to work on the animal quicker this process is now banned.
we had to destroy some cattle once that had gone virtually wild and were a danger to people and the vet present wanted us to shoot them in the side of the head so as not to damage the brain stem as this was going away to be analised due to cattle being over 30 months , this shot positioning wasnt realy suitable
we now always shoot in the front of the head with something like a .243 and never realy have any problems
cattle lend themselves to this shot position as they readily stand and look at you, unlike deer which have a head up stance looking down their nose at you cattle normally have nose down presenting a fairly easy target
i hope this helps
regards andy
 
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Z-Plex said:
Anything from a .22 rimfire upwards will work. The normal placement is at the intersection of two imaginary lines, drawn between each ear and the opposite eye.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Done loads (in Australia) with .22LR.

None got up but not a pleasant task 'cos they seem to give you a knowing look.
 
Hi. Have done all the domestic stock breeds over the years , all with consent of farmers , vet's police, etc, Placement depends on situation , type of animal , distance etc. Prefer to brain shoot if possible .22lr HV for Pigs- Lambs, Brain on cattle, horses, 308 win , also for heart shots just got to remember if they are pumped up with adrenalin they don't always drop straight away. The trick i found is to pick your shot it can be interesting with a ****ed of bull in the middle of a 40acre field of stood barley . Regards WIDU.





TO STRIVE. TO SEEK. TO FIND. AND NEVER TO YIELD.
 
Hi John,

I used to get asked quite often when I was keepering, generally cattle stuck in peat bogs which the crofter/farmer couldn't recover.

.270 in the back of the head was my chosen method. I also used to shoot seals for the bag net fisherman and again the .270 did the trick a seals head bobbing about in the sea is a tricky target from the top of 150ft cliffs!
 
Years ago when I worked in a slaughterhouse we always used a 410 for the bulls as the frontal boss was a bit solid for the humane killer.
Out in the field for close up cattle I use a 28 bore, if doing this always remember not to put the muzzle against the head, about 2 inches away is OK.
 
Agree with other posters. .22 will do, though I prefer a shotgun. Getting the angle right is important. This from the British Cattle Vets booklet:

"In cattle, the brain is situated high in the head. The target area is in the middle of the forehead at the crossing point of two imaginary lines drawn from the eye to the base of the opposite horn. The muzzle of the gun should be held at right angles to the skull so that the shot is directed through the cerebral cortex and into the brain stem."

The humane slaughter association does an excellent booklet on firearms for humane slaughter.
 
I was asked by a friend to shoot a horse. Reasons why are not important but the vet was present as well. They placed at my request a bucket of feed in the field for the animal and I shot it from about 30yds away as it would not come close enough to do the job at point blank. The poor thing never even twitched. 100grn from 25-06.

The vet described where I should aim exactly as suggested above as well, using the lines drawn from eyes to ears.

What was interesting was that after the horse went down and the vet felt for a pulse, he just caught it fading out after the time it takes to walk that distance forward. He said he has put down hundreds of animals using their revolver but had never seen one the size of a horse succumb as quickly as after being struck with a rifle bullet.

I assume that to be down to bullets used possibly or the shock effect from a HV rifle bullet compared to the relatively low velocity of a .38?

Worth noting though, is in a lunch hut on a shoot I go to is the skull and horns of a highland cow. Imbedded in the eye socket is the first bullet fired at it from a 243. The base of the bullet is easily seen sticking out from the bone, with a couple of fracture lines running away from it. That obviously was not a fatal shot! An inadequate calibre? It must have been a bugger trying to catch up with it after that botch up!!!
 
i have done them with shotgun and point blank .
had to do some wild escape a few years ago and could not get closer then 100yrds whacked them with a .243 with 100grain soft points,
just recently shooting crazy highland cattle that are mad and whacking them with the 30.06 and 150grain softpoints and thats drops them on the spot which is handy as they are running about in a big wet bog and only can shoot them on the dry bits where the tractor can get to them.
 
In an emergency I think the humble shotgun is the tool of choice. Even a .410 delivers more energy that a large rifle. It's not as messy as you'd think.

We have a couple of .32 single shot humane killers in the practice. They work nicely and are easy to secure in the cars. The biggest issue is making sure you have the correct ammunition as some of the soft lead nosed bullets don't kill well. Sadly there is only one way to find out if that is the case.

Just be aware that larger rifles may exit and you are standing very close, possibly doing the deed inside a building.

Aiming point on cattle (not it differs between species especially the horse)

utf-8BSU1HMDAwOTctMjAxMTAyMTktMTgzMy5qcGc.jpg


(I don't own the image it belongs to the HSA)

[dead cow picture removed]
 
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Apache said:
In an emergency I think the humble shotgun is the tool of choice. Even a .410 delivers more energy that a large rifle. It's not as messy as you'd think.
Click to expand...

Apache

A 410 shotgun does not even come close to delivering the energy that a rifle does!

A 410 will typically deliver about 700ft/lbs of ME, a 100grn 243 delivers around 2000ft/lbs and move up to a 150grn .308 and you are pushing 2,500ft/lbs............

As a shotgun is being fired at point-blank range into the head of the animal, all the energy will be delivered as one impact, ME based on the weight and speed of the load...
 
Muir said:
22 magnum at the aforementioned spot. One shot and down it goes. ~Muir
Click to expand...

:thumb:

I used to know a long since passed away keeper who said to me that there was not a farm animal I could think of that he had not put down over the years with a .22RF
 
Remember local news film North Devon foot and mouth 2001? Shooting wild unpenned cattle in field with rifle in front of tv camera ....... not too be recommended (they stampeded after first one or two went down) ran through fences causing further contiguous culling!
 
22rf will work fine but bullet placement is everything.
When ranges become extended the 270 worked fine for me 130grain sp on head shots and on one occasion a hart shot beast went down with no stress.
 
I have shot quite a few cattle. A 12 bore to the previously mentioned spot is instant if the beast is immobilised. I have shot a few with a 38 special, again down and out.

I have done two at longer range, both at the request of a Vet who could not get close enough with a revolver. One was a bull which was effectively wild, the other was a casualty case bullock running around a field with one leg broken. In both cases I delivered head shots with the 270 at 40 to 50 yards, very effective.

At the time of the foot and mouth, I lived on the edge of an exclusion zone. The local cops were looking for volunteers to go up on the hills and shoot cattle and sheep who could not be caught up. They obviously were checking to see who had full bore rifles. They turned up at my front door to asking me to shoot a couple of hundred sheep up on a mountain. I flatly refused as I did not want to be the person shooting my neighbours livestock.

I heard of guys making good money at that. One guy in the area shot the barrel out of a 270 on sheep.
 
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