Folks,
Dropped in to see my mate and game-dealer this afternoon. As he shoots adjacent ground, we have a lot of contact and keep an eye out for any sign of anything untoward on our grounds.
He shared a sickening story with me.
After placing some hunters in high-seats, he was driving on a local road through his permissions, when a Fallow buck crossed in his car headlights. He could see the beast was showing obvious injury, so screeched to a halt, grabbed a rifle (fortunately NV equipped) and managed to put it out of its misery.
The wound was obviously caused by a miss-placed head shot. The classic blown away jaw resulted in a beast that was starving to death, in obvious agony. No fodder in the digestive system & decomposing tissue all pointed towards a wound that had been dealt at least five days previously.
Head shooting may well have a place in a restrained 'park' environment - but not IMO in the field. The fact that this was the result of a poachers bullet rather than a legitimate stalker matters not. He did not intend to miss. We never do.
Deer move unexpectedly & no-one shoots perfectly 100% of the time.
Both good reasons to give yourself maximum room for error, and use a chest shot whenever possible.
As for the poacher, well, let's just say that Sharia law has it's good points!
Rgds
Ian
Dropped in to see my mate and game-dealer this afternoon. As he shoots adjacent ground, we have a lot of contact and keep an eye out for any sign of anything untoward on our grounds.
He shared a sickening story with me.
After placing some hunters in high-seats, he was driving on a local road through his permissions, when a Fallow buck crossed in his car headlights. He could see the beast was showing obvious injury, so screeched to a halt, grabbed a rifle (fortunately NV equipped) and managed to put it out of its misery.
The wound was obviously caused by a miss-placed head shot. The classic blown away jaw resulted in a beast that was starving to death, in obvious agony. No fodder in the digestive system & decomposing tissue all pointed towards a wound that had been dealt at least five days previously.
Head shooting may well have a place in a restrained 'park' environment - but not IMO in the field. The fact that this was the result of a poachers bullet rather than a legitimate stalker matters not. He did not intend to miss. We never do.
Deer move unexpectedly & no-one shoots perfectly 100% of the time.
Both good reasons to give yourself maximum room for error, and use a chest shot whenever possible.
As for the poacher, well, let's just say that Sharia law has it's good points!
Rgds
Ian