Shot a deer in the head! it just ran off!

[Maltebyte]

or some animal like that .... Frikkin terminator!! haha not very realistic!

[Hylie Pistof]

headshot is not very safe to kill an animal ^^ they have very small brains and some have massive skulls that are hard to penetrate.
go for a heart or lung shot - magical triangle between the front legs (not to high) if it faces you, or along the frontlegs (a wee bit behind) from the side.

[Maltebyte]

Originally posted by Zorro:

So when an animal doesn't drop dead on the spot when you hit his jaw or when the bullet bounces of his skull, you call it "not very realistic"? Okay....

Look man! im no hunter guy okay i did not know bullets can bounce of your skull!!! or animal skulls i just thought it was pretty close that a rifle bullet to the head will do the trick right! I might shoot myself now see if the bullet bounces of my skull.

[Maltebyte]

Originally posted by Anar Kay:

headshot is not very safe to kill an animal ^^ they have very small brains and some have massive skulls that are hard to penetrate.
go for a heart or lung shot - magical triangle between the front legs (not to high) if it faces you, or along the frontlegs (a wee bit behind) from the side.

Will the animal bleed out if you hit it and it gets away?

[Hylie Pistof]

depends how and with what weapon you hit, most of the time it will if you use the right ammo and if you ar not so far that the bullet looses speed (thats more than 250 - 300 m). some ethical ammo can be a little weak, but if you use a bow for example (later for you i guess) they will bleed out for sure^^

[Maltebyte]

Originally posted by Zorro:

I never hunted in real life, it just seems common sense to me that any animal or even a human shot in the head, won't always die.

Yes i have heard of it! and that a bullet can bounce i just did a google search ... It just looked so fake you had to see it... deer came walking up to me "did not see me for some reason" and then i shot it in the head and it quickly jerks his head up and down BOING lool then ran off! then i shot it in the ARSE!!! haha dont know if they die after a while?

[Kak2R🍸🧀]

IRL hunters do not aim at the skull. Especially if you are trophy hunting, you don't want to ruin the trophy, and it's harder to hit the brain than it is to hit double lung anyway.

If you hit an organ, 99% of the time it will bleed out eventually.

Otherwise if you hit a body shot, it depends on the severity of it. Sometimes they bleed out, sometimes not. Once your tracking skill is high enough you can see the health of an animal from its blood. I find that if it drops below 50%, they'll die.

[Nicpus]

Yes they will sometimes die after awhile, Although it depends on the gun. Sometimes it can take quite awhile for them to die if you hitt em in the skull.

Aim around the shoulder area, Thats where youl find the lungs and heart.

[krzychuzokecia]

Originally posted by Maltebyte:

Yes i have heard of it! and that a bullet can bounce

No, bullet won't bounce (well, maybe if you're shooting .22LR at huge stag from 300 meters).

When you hit a deer in the head, and miss brain or neck, then you probably hit it in jaw, or it's nasal cavity. And deer have huge jaws and nasal cavities, while their brains are small. What happens then? If you hit it in the jaw - it will probably won't be able to eat, but at the same time, it can survive for a few days at least, maybe even weeks. Basically, until it starves to death. When you hit it's nasal cavity, you can hope that bleeding will be big enough for blood to fill the respiratory system - which will probably take some hours. But in most cases the animal will survive, as nose is not really "needed" to breathe, though there's naturally a big chance of infection. Many hunters have seen at least one animal with it's nose shot off by some rookie.

Why aiming for lungs? Because you cause huge internal bleeding, that gets even bigger with every heartbeat, and yet, every breath is less and less effective (air escapes from punctured lung). It's like the ending of Kill Bill (spoilers ahead!) when guy was hit with a punch that will make his heart explode after 5 steps - with punctured lung every step that animal (or human) takes makes it closer to death. With animal instinct telling it to run as fast as possible, you could possibly argue if it's you who is killing it, or if it's commiting suicide...

Edit: headshots are Hollywood over-rated anyway, military and LE snipers (and non-snipers too for that matter) are taught to aim for center mass for a variety of reasons. I could cite several high-profile cases of people hit in the head and not dying on the spot, but this post is probably gore enough already - it's Steam forum, not Liveleak.

[Albrus]

Originally posted by krzychuzokecia:

Originally posted by Maltebyte:

Yes i have heard of it! and that a bullet can bounce

No, bullet won't bounce (well, maybe if you're shooting .22LR at huge stag from 300 meters).

When you hit a deer in the head, and miss brain or neck, then you probably hit it in jaw, or it's nasal cavity. And deer have huge jaws and nasal cavities, while their brains are small. What happens then? If you hit it in the jaw - it will probably won't be able to eat, but at the same time, it can survive for a few days at least, maybe even weeks. Basically, until it starves to death. When you hit it's nasal cavity, you can hope that bleeding will be big enough for blood to fill the respiratory system - which will probably take some hours. But in most cases the animal will survive, as nose is not really "needed" to breathe, though there's naturally a big chance of infection. Many hunters have seen at least one animal with it's nose shot off by some rookie.

Why aiming for lungs? Because you cause huge internal bleeding, that gets even bigger with every heartbeat, and yet, every breath is less and less effective (air escapes from punctured lung). It's like the ending of Kill Bill (spoilers ahead!) when guy was hit with a punch that will make his heart explode after 5 steps - with punctured lung every step that animal (or human) takes makes it closer to death. With animal instinct telling it to run as fast as possible, you could possibly argue if it's you who is killing it, or if it's commiting suicide...

Edit: headshots are Hollywood over-rated anyway, military and LE snipers (and non-snipers too for that matter) are taught to aim for center mass for a variety of reasons. I could cite several high-profile cases of people hit in the head and not dying on the spot, but this post is probably gore enough already - it's Steam forum, not Liveleak.

I'm not a hunter, but I've seen some videos of hunters shooting at animals. They mostly shoot at the heart and lungs, but they also sometimes shoot at the spine or the cervical vertebra. Because when the spine is damaged, a part of the body loses contact with the brain and the animal can no longer run and immediately falls. This is also implemented in the game. I shoot exactly at the middle cervical vertebra if the deer is within 80 meters. And it works. No deer has ever run away after such a shot. But it seems to me that after such damage to the nervous system, the animal is still aware of everything for some time, because the brain is not damaged and the blood circulation is functioning. Can shots to the neck vertebrae be called humane?

[Albrus]

Regarding headshots: the skull is not thin bone. The bullet can ricochet off the head if the caliber is too small or the angle of impact is not + / - 90°. But even if it does, it can change direction and go past the brain. For these reasons, the animal can survive. I don't think it's not realistic.

[hunterPRO1]

this isn't like shooting a person in cod in the head. in animals there is alot more skull then brain, and shooting in the jaw irl i have seen result in a slow death over the course of weeks.
it can work but it has to be centered on the brain.

Originally posted by Maltebyte:

Originally posted by Zorro:

So when an animal doesn't drop dead on the spot when you hit his jaw or when the bullet bounces of his skull, you call it "not very realistic"? Okay....

Look man! im no hunter guy okay i did not know bullets can bounce of your skull!!! or animal skulls i just thought it was pretty close that a rifle bullet to the head will do the trick right! I might shoot myself now see if the bullet bounces of my skull.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3879522/Gunshot-wounds-head-no-longer-fatal-Victims-42-chance-survival-study-reveals.html

[Red River]

I just shot a deer in da head x2 and it ran off but died a few hundred yards later lol

Weight: 105.85 kg (233.36 lbs)
Time of Harvest: 2023-02-05 22:07 UTC
Shots Hit: 2
Shot Distance: 102.28m (335.56ft)
Weapons Used:
.243 Bolt Action Rifle

# Hunter: Weapon Scope Ammunition Shot Distance Animal State Body Part Stance Platform
1 red_river .243 Bolt Action Rifle ✓ .243 Nosler Ballistic Tip 102.280 m (335.6 ft) Walking Head (Skull) Standing Tower
2 red_river .243 Bolt Action Rifle ✓ .243 Nosler Ballistic Tip 162.640 m (533.6 ft) Running Head Standing Tower