Salmo22
New member
I've watched a ton of predator hunting DVD's and notice that many of the coyotes, bobcats and "others" shot on camera do some serious spinning before they go down. While I realize that some of this spinning may be the result of a less than well placed shot or a small caliber weapon that does not hit with enough force, it seems to happen often.
My father raised me to neck shoot all the game I've ever hunted. When I center-punch a coyote in the neck it goes straight down like I'd turned the switch off. I've noticed that most of the coyotes shot on Mark Zepp's DVD's also drop dead without any spinning. I asked him once about this and he confirmed that he and his fellow hunter primarily neck shoot predators. My dad has killed six big bull elk in his life time and shot all of them in the neck. On every occasion, the elk fell dead door nails in its' tracks. Based on my experience, the neck shot appears to send a tremendous shock wave to the brain and generally breaks the animals neck. The resulting brain and neck damage is typically so severe as to cause instantaneous death. Unlike a heart/lung shot, no amount a adrenaline will overcome a fatal neck shot. How many times have we hunters marveled at an animal with a serious hole in its heart and lungs go running up hill for a hundred yards?
I don't want to sound like some kind of bleeding heart, but I wonder why the focus on shooting predators (or other game animals for that matter) through the heart/lungs? Rarely have I seen a heart/lung shot drop an animal in its tracks. 9 times out of ten it makes some sort of "run" before it drops - in the case of coyotes it spins. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be much more effective than a heart/lung archery shot.
I've often wondered if we are doing our sport a diservice by producing DVD's and TV shows that don't show more "drop-dead" kills? It certainly does not help our cause to have the PITA folks (or our non-hunting wives) see these animals shot and not go down quickly. When I see a fellow on the Outdoor Channel talk about a "one shot" kill, it typically means he shot the animal once in the heart/lung area and then followed a blood trail to where the deer/elk/moose/etc has expired. My idea of a "one shot" kill means one shot and the animal went straight down dead.
I'm not critcizing anyone and to each hunter his own; however, I've often wondered (especially with thin-skinned game like coyotes) why we don't employee more neck or head shots? Do we need more practice to have greater confidence in a neck/head shot, or have we simply been conditioned by years of magazine articles and TV shows to always aim for the heart/lungs?
Just some thoughts for the evening.
My father raised me to neck shoot all the game I've ever hunted. When I center-punch a coyote in the neck it goes straight down like I'd turned the switch off. I've noticed that most of the coyotes shot on Mark Zepp's DVD's also drop dead without any spinning. I asked him once about this and he confirmed that he and his fellow hunter primarily neck shoot predators. My dad has killed six big bull elk in his life time and shot all of them in the neck. On every occasion, the elk fell dead door nails in its' tracks. Based on my experience, the neck shot appears to send a tremendous shock wave to the brain and generally breaks the animals neck. The resulting brain and neck damage is typically so severe as to cause instantaneous death. Unlike a heart/lung shot, no amount a adrenaline will overcome a fatal neck shot. How many times have we hunters marveled at an animal with a serious hole in its heart and lungs go running up hill for a hundred yards?
I don't want to sound like some kind of bleeding heart, but I wonder why the focus on shooting predators (or other game animals for that matter) through the heart/lungs? Rarely have I seen a heart/lung shot drop an animal in its tracks. 9 times out of ten it makes some sort of "run" before it drops - in the case of coyotes it spins. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be much more effective than a heart/lung archery shot.
I've often wondered if we are doing our sport a diservice by producing DVD's and TV shows that don't show more "drop-dead" kills? It certainly does not help our cause to have the PITA folks (or our non-hunting wives) see these animals shot and not go down quickly. When I see a fellow on the Outdoor Channel talk about a "one shot" kill, it typically means he shot the animal once in the heart/lung area and then followed a blood trail to where the deer/elk/moose/etc has expired. My idea of a "one shot" kill means one shot and the animal went straight down dead.
I'm not critcizing anyone and to each hunter his own; however, I've often wondered (especially with thin-skinned game like coyotes) why we don't employee more neck or head shots? Do we need more practice to have greater confidence in a neck/head shot, or have we simply been conditioned by years of magazine articles and TV shows to always aim for the heart/lungs?
Just some thoughts for the evening.
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