First off, hello everyone I am new to the forum though I have had friends show me this site months ago. I have been deer hunting for several seasons now but this is the worse! I was hunting with my pawpaw this weekend when a really nice 8 point walked out but the feeder was in the way for a good chest shot. his neck and head were visible, and I have heard lots of people...on here even...say do not shoot for the neck! So I went with the only kill shot I had. I shot for the head shot. The feeder was only 30-50 yards away and my pawpaw said that there was no deer in Texas that could take a SKS bullet to the noggin, so I took my time and slowly squeezed the trigger. Right when I shot the deer moved his head. I shot 2 more times as he hopped away, but have no clue where those rounds went. We looked for blood for what seemed like forever, at least 45 minutes. We found a small spray under the feeder and then drops here and there and some fur. But it is like he just disappeared! I haven't heard anything like that in my life of all the hunting magazines I have ever read! He got away, but as tough as he is to get one shot in the face and maybe 2 more body shots when he ran away and still be able to high tail it out of site, he must be one heck of a tough buck! Hopefully I will see him later this season when I have a 12 gage or my pawpaw's .30-06 or some other gun bigger than an SKS! How long do you think it will take for a buck that has been shot maybe 3 times or so to come back to the same feeder it was shot? It has been a few days and we still havent seen him on a game camera. Is he gone for good and I should just move on to the next buck or do yall think he will show up soon? Can't wait to get back in the stand and try him again!

good job make sure they make AR

Ya he was real big, but it doesnt matter, never found him. He probably made it though. I think I only hit him in the jaw or the nose.

Sounds like a jaw shot. I did the same thing last year, I've been hunting for 30 yrs, NEVER had a neck or head shot that ran off NEVER. But, never say never.....you hunt long enough, it happens. I blew the bottom jaw off a doe, one hunter on our ranch saw her 2 days later, but only for a second, no time for a shot. The worst part about this kind of shot is that the animal will suffer until it dies. I would much rather have a clean miss. It still bothers me, but like I said, you hunt enough and shoot enough deer, it will happen. Good Luck!!

Watch for buzzards. But hopefully you missed or just grazed him. Don't like for them to suffer but like lettheairoutofem said. Things happen if you hunt long enuff

I hope you missed there sniper

A buddy of mine hit a down in the jaw with a bow this year and he found her dead 200 yards from where she was hit. She still bled to death so there is a chance he is laying around there somewhere. I would rearly look around real good.

Title of the post is very fitting im glad you should be. It shows character, anyone who wouldnt be discusted is nobody I want to hunt with or should be hunting at all in my opinion.

Learn from mistakes. If its a deer at a feeder chances are you could have very easily waited for a better shot. Also if you are going to be neck/head shooting keeping shots inside a pie plate softbal or tennis ball at that range isnt good enough. Many people say you dont need better accuracy than minute of deer(be able to hit vitals) well that may be the case, but If im going to neck/head shoot i better be able to keep my shots at that distance within a quarter or its too big of a margin of error for me.

matt

What kind of ammo were you using?

I'd say disgusted goes all the way around. Redchevy hit it on the head, no pun intended. Why take a questionable shot on a deer that is frequenting the feeder. Now you have an animal that is either not returning to said feeder, assuming it is still alive, injured and will not be able to feed, or dead and a waste. The parting shots as it bounds away may have wounded it as well. 1 shot 1 kill sniper, it's hard to let one walk but far better to return for a solid shot, especially at 30-50 yards. I have never taken a neck/head shot because I dont like my chances of wounding the animal.

Good question here. Most SKS rounds sold are full metal jacket which are no good for hunting puposes. Make sure you have soft nose hunting rounds.. and resight the SKS with the new ammo.

I got made fun if for my scope question.

This is why I like to make sure my scope is dead on. I wouldn't be able sleep at night if this happen to me.


I pray that you find the buck.

Sean,you've learned the head shot lesson the hard way I hope. Vitals.

I dont, wast the deer waste the horns.

Welcome to the THF. You can get a lot of useful information on here and some light hearted too!!

My thoughts are your deer wont come back b/c it is likely dead if you shot it 3 times and once in the head. If you are in a 1 buck county my ethics say no you drew blood on a buck and you hunt for that buck and don't shoot another one until next year. Learn from this experience. Legally whether or not you are in a 1 buck county you can shoot another one but I wouldn't. That's my on that.

I wouldn't advise taking head/neck shots to anyone unless they were extremely proven and confident in their ability to hit exactly where they are aiming and the conditions are favorable.

Good Luck!



I don't get this comment 10ptr.

I think some of you think there is a chance I could still find this deer, it has been several days and I am sure if it did die coyotes got their thanksgiving meal. But if I do find it i will prolly get a euro mount to show off my first trophy buck. I was using soft point sks ammo by the way should have used ballistic tips I know, but hey you live and you learn right? I hope to soon trade that sks for an AR. Much more firepower I hear. Maybe then this won't happen again. When we foun blood some of it was real dark almost black. Pawpaw says this means I prolly just shot through some muscle and basically just made a flesh wound. I wanted to keep looking but after about 45 minutes he said we looked hard as we could have and he was ready to get home and eat and have a few beers. It was a long quiet ride home I tell ya!

I'm a big fan of the headshot on does, but on a buck? No way man. If ur gonna shoot vitals I would stick with sks. 30 cal bullet vs the ar, which is a 22. It would probably be more accurate but if I were you I would get me a nice bolt gun in anything from 243 to 270 or 7mm-08 for deer purposes. Tactical stuff doesn't belong in the deer woods IMO.

Just my .02 but you Should probably leave the assault rifles to hogs and invest in a good deer rifle....270, 30-06, or something along those lines. A little more knockdown

The bullet isnt your problem, if you made a good shot even with fmj in the head it would have done the job just fine.

Oh and if you ever do find your trophy and get a Euro done make sure when your braggin about it to tell everyone how the hunt went...

Procede in hunting and anything gun related with caution. With proper practice and preperation you most likely would be posting a picture of a nice deer instead of this!

x 1,000,000

You posted this as I was typing. Good advice! lol

One word will describe your hunt; Experience!

An experienced hunter would have never taken that shot!

Those (Ballistic Tips) aren't the answer either. IMO.

not to turn this into a bullet debate.

They can/will "explode". (Especially the higher velocity calibers) They are usually very accurate an fine for paper punching or varmints.

You need a soft point/copper jacketed bullet, and as RedChevy said on the accuracy....

Sorry for your loss but live and LEARN.