This is why I don’t like chest shots.

Not sure where you are buying your ammo from.

Here in Edinburgh I am paying just over £50 a box for 20 loaded rounds of Fox ammo, that includes VAT. And I am paying about £50 incl VAT for a box of 50 Fox or Peregrine bullets.

Factory ammo for leaded ammo is about £30 to £40 a box, or well over £50 for premium such as Norma. Even PPU is now £20 plus a box for 223. A friend just paid £60 plus for a box of 20 Norma 7x57 loaded with Partition bullets.
I was’t referring to the cost of the bullet, what I had in mind was the reduced carcass price at the dealer’s.
 
I was’t referring to the cost of the bullet, what I had in mind was the reduced carcass price at the dealer’s.
Better to pin the shoulders and lose a kilo or two than not have the beast at all!

In reality, your only talking a few quid plus if they’ve paid by the beast to shoot, you’ve already got your money in the animal , so the carcass is secondary income and really a bonus in the grand scheme of things.

I mean honestly, you talkinga packet of fags or two or 3 pints in the pub, and if you’re relying on the extra income of those 1-3 kg You really do need a question why you bother?

I personally cannot understand why people are nickel and diming over a few quid on a carcass!

That’s no personal dig that is my opinion wholesale, and I’m a bloke who is Done more tracks on headshot deer than i care to count over the years and recovered, hardly any of those animals just for a few quid more at the dealers!
 
Better to pin the shoulders and lose a kilo or two than not have the beast at all!

In reality, your only talking a few quid plus if they’ve paid by the beast to shoot, you’ve already got your money in the animal , so the carcass is secondary income and really a bonus in the grand scheme of things.

I mean honestly, you talkinga packet of fags or two or 3 pints in the pub, and if you’re relying on the extra income of those 1-3 kg You really do need a question why you bother?

I personally cannot understand why people are nickel and diming over a few quid on a carcass!

That’s no personal dig that is my opinion wholesale, and I’m a bloke who is Done more tracks on headshot deer than i care to count over the years and recovered, hardly any of those animals just for a few quid more at the dealers!
that last bit should be read well by all ! Missing a jaw or a broken esophagus and the deer will die of starvation quite likely before its injury , there isnt much to drop a beast in-front of the eyes either . Got a stag this summer with an antler broken in velvet near the base ( flies in abundance) it looked like a bad placed shot to me
There are times i head shoot but its not often , as i choose the best opportunity presented . If you need to shoot multiple from a group you simply cannot be broadside hart / lung shooting exclusively ( neither can you be brain shooting only or any other placement ) . I would however not take a brain shot faced with a good hart lung , yet some folks will
If your a real valued supplier of quantity i have noted that only damage to the haunch or saddle gets the carcass knocked back in price, that is where the money is
 
The thread has gone off track a bit (not that there ever really was one!) but as @VSS mentioned it once again I think the reasons why it shouldn't be taken in the wild have been covered above, I still stand by my opinion head shots are carried out by people new to deer stalking or on their own little power trip.
If it's in a fenced area where the deer can quickly be dispatched after a poor shot, that's a different scenario entirely.
I would do the latter if my livelihood depended on it, but not in the wild, I went down that road briefly when I first started shooting, I believe it was the 5th deer (might have been the 2nd) I head shot and I messed up, but quickly rectified my error.
As @Norfolk Deer Search says for the sake of a few quid lost put the deer first not your pocket.
 
I apparently always ask where the guide wants me to shoot them!
🦊🦊
Yep, me too. Guides have very different preferences - I've had the full range from "neck it" to "anywhere".
One chap I know likes them shot a touch back from the shoulder to prevent meat damage and doesn't mind a runner as he's got a good dog. Several have preferred them pinned as they don't get penalised by the game dealer. I've also had a guide tell me that once I'd shot the hind to shoot the calf anywhere - literally anywhere. This was later season but he didn't like leaving calves behind at any time of the year.
 
I have nothing by 100% respect for the OP for starting this thread, taking clients out is not easy, but it becomes easier if you treat them all like novices regardless of apparent experience, never unsupervised and told to shoot through the shoulders.

The only money being made in shooting deer is by selling stalking, anything earned from the carcass is just beer and bullets and of.
 
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