Thread: Head shot vs heart / lung which do you use most?

Originally Posted by Munsey

Unless you are selling game I can't see the point in neck or head shots, the only time is they are so dam close or you hunt with the wrong caliber

I know where your coming from but whats the right calibre Munsey? I have seen plenty of animals soak up all manner of big calibres and run, some never too be seen again. I like to try dropping them in their tracks.
If I am shooting meat for myself, I get close and it is always head or neck shot, so when I stick them they bleed out for ages as the heart is usually still pumping.
If someone can say every animal they have shot in the body has dropped on the spot, I would say they havnt shot many animals. There is no perfect calibre or shot in my opinion.

Aim big miss small

So for me lung/ heart on bush animals, Fellow I head shoot in the open, the area I shoot they dont tend to jump fences and in the open padpock a second shot is easy enough to get....and no meat wasted

I have seen some slow deaths with head shots... Animals with rotting noses and skinny as from people not quite getting it right... Its not nice and in the bush to much margin for error.... Good rest and close maybee head in the bush but my bush shots are 99% heart/ Lung

Originally Posted by R93

I know where your coming from but whats the right calibre Munsey? I have seen plenty of animals soak up all manner of big calibres and run, some never too be seen again. I like to try dropping them in their tracks.
If I am shooting meat for myself, I get close and it is always head or neck shot, so when I stick them they bleed out for ages as the heart is usually still pumping.
If someone can say every animal they have shot in the body has dropped on the spot, I would say they havnt shot many animals. There is no perfect calibre or shot in my opinion.

To true.
Take any calibre you like....Shoot enough deer and you will have your losses. When you shoot the open tops even the tips of the tussock can destroy a bullet on the way to a target and wound instead of kill. In the bush contact with a twig or a stick will destroy any projectile on its way to the target. The bush bucking capability that people might tell you about of their own high powered rifle can be pretty well ignored.

If in doubt go into any really dark patch of bush or jungle someday and fire a 20 round burst of tracer through the trees ..308/5.56 take you pick it wont make much difference. You will see that a larger percentage of these projectiles than you might think end up spinning off an nearly a right angle to the line of sight.

I don't really think about it. I'f I'm meat hunting and I get a chance I'll take a headshot. If I've got a bipod or a good rest and am probably no further than 150m. If any doubt comes into my mind I just aim for the boiler room.

I have taken a fallow at 250 with a target 22-250 and a high mag scope, but I probably wouldn't do that again (especially with my 7mm).

Goats etc I'll just go for the boiler room.

Some great comments. I probably should have added at the beginning that I mostly aim to mess up the lungs regardless of the initial point of impact (front or side on).

I like the shots to the center of the scapula .The animal loses traction and die at the scene by damage to the lungs and hydraulic shok .

Ah yes 'Linyera' the scapula shot. Once I found myself in a neat little clearing amoungst high kanuka on a bench down on the side of Wildsheep Spur. I just stumbled upon it during an aimless sidle along this spur picking up the odd deer as I went. A few people might know where wild sheep spur is, it is not visited often by hunters.

I sat on a rock and admired what a pretty little place it was I had found. A clear trickle of water ran through the middle of the clearing, the ground cover was half grass, half moss, and marks where a couple of yearling had been running up and down a soft pumice bank just having fun, stood out. It was a quiet place and sheltered without even the sound of wind through through the trees as you would find on a ridge, nor even could the sound of the stream from further down in the valley be heard. The only break in the silence were a few calls from a couple of bellbirds in the kowhai's, to hot to put much effort into it. The perfect place pick up a sika stag or just to sit in the afternoon sun and finish my smoke, which was just what I was doing at the time.
I was just mulling over the thought that no other human eyes had ever seen this spot before my own, nor any boot but my own had trod this way before. When, I spotted a little mound of bones all covered in moss near my feet. I gave the pile a kick and a scapula shot out of the pile, dislodging its cover of moss as it did so and there drilled as neatly as any machine could have done it, dead center, was the perfect hole made by some cullers 222.

Neck or high lung for me. head only if close and neck is obscured.

Usually just shoot where ever I can get a kill shot in, eg shoulder, neck and sometimes the head. 99% of my hunting is in the bush so rarely shoot past 100m and almost all freehand shots so like to aim for the shoulder.

with my lack of experience in shooting deer I just prefer to go for a shoulder or heart lung shot it is the safest for me and the one that I would feel most comfortable with.

Every time we squeeze the trigger (or pull it in my case) we should be thinking about the animal's anatomy. Its where the bullet goes after it strikes the animal that is the most important, but to achieve this we need to aim at the most appropriate spot. A high proportion of shots need to be angled into the vitals so understanding what makes an animal tick and the bits it requires to sustain life is very important.

I taught myself (and later my sons) to mark an imaginary X on the animal, and then imagine where the bullets will go if it stays on a direct path. You then move the X if you need to. You can do it in a flash. And it means killing with precision and humanly, rather than aiming at a big bit and ending up with the worst results.

The problem I've always had though is hitting the X

There are endless topics on this through google. Most are informative and very useful.

I use a lot of neck shots when the opportunities present. But am long enough in the teeth to know that this is not always possible or appropriate.

I use the "omg deer" aim at "chestish" area bang!!!!! Puff puff sputter wobble wobble.... You know what I mean lol

Before I took my kids hunting out I downloaded a heap of pics of deer and goats at all angles and got them to put dots on the place they would shoot (MS paint)....interesting exersize especialy the obscured veiws of them, I threw in a few I woun't shoot until they moved and they soon got the aim point sorted every time they are at work with nothing to do they have another look to see if there are new deer to shoot in the file

Shoulder shoot most of the time because that way i know if i break the 2 shoulders its game over rover, on fallow I'll neck shoot em and thats limited to ranges no further than 150m....
Hopefully get the AR a fallow kill soon!

Shootim in the big bit , can,t miss then