Only shoot roe when their head is up?
- Thread starter Bavarianbrit
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John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Ah!
So this is different.
Shooting head down can mean a much higher chance of bursting the rumen.
It has no effect on whether or not the animal runs, but it can have quite an obvious effect on whether you have a clean carcass or a slimy tub of green…
Yes, it would wouldn’t it. I believe what he actually meant was to take the shot when the offside front leg was stepped forward of the still vertically positioned nearside leg. thus it being in front of the nearside leg; resulting in it being a bit out of the way when taking a broadside shot that’s quartering forwards slightly.
If you shoot any roe deer through the chest with a suitable bullet then it’s going to die very, very fast. Given that they are so small, to me the only thing I’m concerned about, is preventing meat loss whilst insuring a guaranteed fast / instant kill. This is easily done by blowing its heart and lungs to pieces and not it’s legs rumen or jaw.
Kindest regards, Olaf
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HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
In my experience, head up, but not ‘aware’ of any danger, reduces chances of shoulder damage and burst liver and rumen, as the shoulders are more upright aligned in posture.
They tend to just ‘drop’ to the shot, or jump and run a short distance. The head down,
I’ve found there’s a lot more damage, and they tend to make an instant sprint, and can go some distance. Deer don’t stand still and feed as you well know, so when head down, one leg will be offset against the other, which can change the angle of heart and lung position so that you can easily miss the hear and make lung only shots.
They all die, indeed. But, head up and not aware tends to lead to quicker and cleaner kills - what’s not to like
TringSaint
Well-Known Member
That assumes that you aim for a h+l shot.
The last roe I shot was head down and about 150m away - I shot it in the base of the skull /top of neck as it was feeding for longish periods and the head area was a good target.
Dropped like a sack of spuds!
Exactly that! If you manage to avoid that by going forward you then have broken shoulders
I shot a buck a couple of days ago, the only time he stood still was when he was head down & nibbling something.
He dropped to the shot with barely a half-step & a kick or two.
I had intended to hit him in my usual place of about, or slightly less than half-way up his chest
But, the bullet just clipped the very top of his heart
Maybe his stance had moved his innards around slightly, or maybe I slightly called the distance/drop incorrectly - it was just shy of 150m
Anyway, that head down deer was as close to the mythical dropped-on-the-spot as I'm likely to see for a while
The last Roe that I shot when stood head up ran well over 100m, and it didn't seem to be looking at me and it's ears weren't turned toward me either - so it didn't seem to be aware of me
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that deer do their own thing, whether living or as they're dying, and we're in all honesty only guessing as to what's going on
We'll probably never be 100% truly sure about exactly what's happening, even when they're doing it right in front of us
He dropped to the shot with barely a half-step & a kick or two.
I had intended to hit him in my usual place of about, or slightly less than half-way up his chest
But, the bullet just clipped the very top of his heart
Maybe his stance had moved his innards around slightly, or maybe I slightly called the distance/drop incorrectly - it was just shy of 150m
Anyway, that head down deer was as close to the mythical dropped-on-the-spot as I'm likely to see for a while
The last Roe that I shot when stood head up ran well over 100m, and it didn't seem to be looking at me and it's ears weren't turned toward me either - so it didn't seem to be aware of me
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that deer do their own thing, whether living or as they're dying, and we're in all honesty only guessing as to what's going on
We'll probably never be 100% truly sure about exactly what's happening, even when they're doing it right in front of us
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