Coup de grâce,...with a .22?

[4ptbuck]

This question would be more pertainent to the road hunters out there, where there typically is a .22 sitting beside big bertha.

Has anybody pulled out a .22 for a Coup de grâce?

I've shot a deer on the side of the road, and have seen them drop. I've always been hesitant (but not slow) to put another in to the head, for fear of richochet, and/or explosive mess.

If a .22 was accessible, think it would work? It'd be 'tidier', and less likely to result in a massive richochets. You might even be able to save the skull cap for a European mount.

[Dannybuoy]

We all know (by reading the regs) that this would be illegal ... I have "finished " a deer by a shot from my 25-06 @ aprox 12" to the back of the head with a result of small entrance/small exit ... I have also finished the job with a 3" folding knife on a small mulie but this would not be for the faint of heart as they tend to make quite a noise ....

[Dannybuoy]

If you feel that you have to use the .22 .. imagine an X on the skull from eyes to antlers , put the shot where the lines intersect ... a .22 is all that is used on cattle and I am sure that beef have a thicker skull plate than a deer

[Gateholio]

x2 on Dannybuoy. I've slaughtered sheep, cows and pigs with a .22 in the head. Dogs too, but that's a different purpose...Use solids if you can.

Shoot them just as suggested.

It's illegal to hunt deer with a .22 in BC, of course. so I guess it's not legal.

[bearhunter338-06]

an old cattle rancher i had know hunted dear with his "22" off his horse. Told me once "as long as you get them in the ear they drop in there tracks, of course in the old day's i could ride up to them when they were feeding in the fields."

How much of this is true I don't know, but it sure was great listening to his stories. My friend is surely missed.

[4ptbuck]

Hmmm.... never though about the legalities of it. Seems to me that a .22 would be more practical, and less dangerous. I just never liked the thought of pulling the trigger of big bertha, at a target at my feet. Also I never did like the :eek: look of the deer afterwards. I also makes an E. mount hard when the skull plate is shattered. If taking a side profile shot, cause that what I been mainly presented with, where's the ideal spot? Everybody always talks about behind the ear, but that doesn't sound/look right to me. The ear hole seems ideal.

[Salty]

As Dannybouy and Gate say it will certainly work. I've killed cows with plain old vanilla .22lr soft points and its as instant a kill as it gets if you hit as Dannybouy describes.

Having said that I would not aproach a wounded deer with a two two. WTF are you going to do if it gets up and runs away before you get there? Shoot him a second time with your deer rifle if you have too. I don't understand your concern about ricochets unless you're hunting in a rock pit of something. ..

[4ptbuck]

I guess every situation is a little different. Don't think I said I'd approach a deer with a .22. But I've walked up to a few that I've shot on the side of the road. It was clear in my mind that it wasn't going anywhere. I had a choice, wait a minute, or pull up and shoot. I've always pulled up.

Am I the only one, and a bit of a chicken crap? Shooting my deer rifle into the dirt approx 3' from my feet just doesn't sit too well with me. The bullet is going to be going through hard bone, and may get defelected a bit, enough to get deflected to go straight down? The crater on the far side is failry impressive, and I've seen/heard the rock fly out from it, thankfully away from me.

[bighornbob]

For finishing a deer off I also never shoot them in the head. I aim at a point really high on the neck (you have to hit spine) and it does them just like a shot to the head. An added bonus is when your field dressing them a simple cut with a knife will take the head off as the spine is blasted into a couple hundred bits of bone.

BHB

[Salty]

Am I the only one, and a bit of a chicken crap? Shooting my deer rifle into the dirt approx 3' from my feet just doesn't sit too well with me. The bullet is going to be going through hard bone, and may get defelected a bit, enough to get deflected to go straight down? The crater on the far side is failry impressive, and I've seen/heard the rock fly out from it, thankfully away from me.

No, I hear you there 4pt. For instance a couple of deer ago I hit well - there were chunks of lung on the ground - but for some reason he was still gasping and not doing the death dance. Rather than doing the point blank thing I got to about 50 feet away, kneeled and carefully put one in his spinal cord near the base of the neck just in case he was suffering. ..

[hotload]

2 years ago I didn't hit a deer quite good enough, he was doing the chicken on the ground. I felt terrible, I grabbed it by the antlers and dispatched the deer immediately, with my SOG Jungle Primitive knife that I carry for many purposes, and I knew one day, this might be one of the reasons. If you really want to see a ricchochet, shoot large boned animals with a 22, not knowing what is behind it, doesn't help either. At my work I have actually seen photos of how a 22 bullet ricchochets around in someones head and then leaves at a much different spot than it went in. Never know what direction that might be?

[Phil A. Bowl]

So what do you guy's think is the SAFEST bet??

[Red Foreman]

So what do you guy's think is the SAFEST bet??


You got to watch out for the antlers though :razz:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/BLM_album/Pic%20post/choke-hold.jpg

[mark]

For deer I always use a knife to finish em off! take control of the rack with a hand and a foot (stand in it is best) I then knife em right in the heart, I actually try and cut off all the ventricles that attach to the heart. This all happens in 1 motion very quickly, and dont worry about what others will say here, if a deer cant get up it wont over power you! Smaller bucks Ive even wrestled down while they try to run. Wouldnt reccomend it for moose or elk!

[Will]

I'd think it would be alot easier and probably much better for the animal flopping around to recieve a faster second round from the gun that's already in your hand vs unloading it, retrieving second rifle, loading it and then dispatching said critter but that's just my oppinion. :???:

Of course a handgun would be a nice option for the "finisher" when required but that's a whole nother option we'll likely never see put to some real use up here......

I'd think however the best argument against the 22 is that's it's simply unlawful to do so as its been pointed out.

[Big7]

I've finished off quite a few big game animals (many moose for example) with a second shot behind the ear with my 7mag....other than it being really loud, at that range 2-10"s, you rarely get an exit and it doesn't destroy the skull plate.

I guess if you're really concerned about the cape/exits/skull plates etc. than either put another one in the boiler room and wait 30 seconds or take an extra minute or two to get you gear together before you walk up to it...the result is still the same.

[KodiakHntr]

I have to agree with Big7 here...Or if you aren't worried about the cape just put the muzzle up against the critters neck. I'm not sure how are guys are getting ricochets that could possibly come back and hit them from a high power rifle. If you are close enough to knife them or shoot them with a 22 you are close enough to use your rifle. I guess if you are executing them against a steel wall you might get a ricochet, but that would be about the only way.

I've sent more than a few deer to the big pasture in the sky that had been hit by cars, and even shooting through them into pavement I never had a bullet not dig into the ground. (Mind you once I did watch a cop pop a cap in an elks head that went through and whined off into never never land, but he was kneeling beside the elk, using a 9mm glock.)

[mrdoog]

For deer I always use a knife to finish em off! take control of the rack with a hand and a foot (stand in it is best) I then knife em right in the heart, I actually try and cut off all the ventricles that attach to the heart. This all happens in 1 motion very quickly, and dont worry about what others will say here, if a deer cant get up it wont over power you! Smaller bucks Ive even wrestled down while they try to run. Wouldnt reccomend it for moose or elk!

If I recall the ventricles are the chambers of the heart.
Can't cut them off because they are a void surrounded by muscle.


I just bang them in the back of the neck with whatever rifle I shot it with, simple and quick.

Learned at an early age that if you bang them in the ear their eyes pop out.

[Brambles]

I suggest this method,

"just let it go girl, just let it go"


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/jim_carrey_me_myself__irene_002.jpg

[hunter1947]

If I have to put an animal away after the first shot I always put it top part of the neck behind the ear.

I have only done this a couple times in my hunting days ,most of the time the animal is move less when I get up to it to tag it.

[Big Lew]

For finishing a deer off I also never shoot them in the head. I aim at a point really high on the neck (you have to hit spine) and it does them just like a shot to the head. An added bonus is when your field dressing them a simple cut with a knife will take the head off as the spine is blasted into a couple hundred bits of bone.

BHB

I have hunted for many years, taken a lot of deer and moose, never shot any in the head. Favourite shot for deer is in the neck, it is a large killing area, have never wounded any with this shot, and doesn't ruin any meat.

[open-sights]

Finished a Spike fork moose with a .22 once and caught a pile of flack from some of the guys on CGN, had to laugh, from point blank a .22 is as deadly as anything.

[Big Lew]

I have hunted for many years, taken a lot of deer and moose, never shot any in the head. Favourite shot for deer is in the neck, it is a large killing area, have never wounded any with this shot, and doesn't ruin any meat.
I really don't understand why you wouldn't use the same rifle you shot the animal with. Standing back a few feet and using a soft nose (normal legal bullet) is not dangerous.....a 22 bullet will more likely ricochet. Why use a illegal weapon such as a 22 or any handgun unless it was an emergency?

[M.Dean]

I have shot lots of game animals, big and small, I can't remember ever wrestling with one, have never stabbed one and never went for a smaller gun to finish it off. I think the norm is to shoot the animal and if you see it fall walk up to about 10 to 15 ft and take aim behind the head, down about 3 or 4 inches and fire again. I've seen lots of domestic animals shot with a 22, after the shot some one runs up, tips it's head and cuts the throat, the 22 stuns it, not killing it so it will bleed good. I've shot pigs wit a 22 that would go down with the first shot, then we stick them with a pig sticker and let them bleed, real messy! I've seen cows shot with a 22, go down, get up and start feeding again! Most now use a 22 mag or 223 etc.

[Jelvis]

--Joe Louis could knock a bull out with a six inch punch between the eyes. POW! Down it would go.
Jel-Joe Louis, Heavyweight Champ of Dah World.

[Salty]

I actually try and cut off all the ventricles that attach to the heart. This all happens in 1 motion very quickly,

And how exactly do yo accomplish this feat? :lol::lol::lol:

[Caveman]

A second round just below the skull in the neck, quick and easy, saves the skull plate and rack.

Once you get him down make sure Mark doesn't have his gun!! :p:p Right Georgia!! :wink: Just kidding Buddy!

[Jelvis]

One hunter up the east koots nailed an elk it went down and dropped in the gravel by the road, he walked up and wanted to put it out of misery and shot it at the base of the head at the neck. The blast spit gravel back in the hunter's face, BANG!
Think first!
Jel--shot spray back Jack, in face, Trace, think fast.

[Caveman]

One hunter up the east koots nailed an elk it went down and dropped in the gravel by the road, he walked up and wanted to put it out of misery and shot it at the base of the head at the neck. The blast spit gravel back in the hunter's face, BANG!
Think first!
Jel--shot spray back Jack, in face, Trace, think fast.


Probably was using an over powered Magnum!! :cool: Damn Road Hunters Anyways!!

[browningboy]

I remember a long time ago when it was only the wife and I we were on the way to Thalia Lake to relax and do some fishing when we just passed the Misseula Lake turn off there was a doe on the road that had been hit by a car, she was paralized at the ass end and was trying to get up and quite frantic as one could imagine, the one that hit her gone but another bystander was there warning traffic, so I had my 22 with me, came up behind her and shot her in the head, it worked well, then I dragged her to the side and left, probably not legal but to me was the right thing to do.

So in point in case, a 22 up close will do it, but not legal.8)

[Steeleco]

If the animal is due to expire, albeit slower than we'd like, finishing it with a .22 is more than ethical even if it's not legal.

I know it works just as well as any 30cal, but I'm not at liberty to discuss how I know this!!!

[ratherbefishin]

I guess a guy could always carry a couple of downloaded cast bullets for finishing off an animal if he needed to-at least thats what an old friend of mine did years ago.If I see a animal down and hit hard,,I generally just stand back a bit ,figure it deserves to die in peace without being traumatized by a human coming up on it.Besides,not startling it just might prevent an adrenaline rush which might enable it to get up and run.

[Gus]

[quote=Steeleco;397233]If the animal is due to expire, albeit slower than we'd like, finishing it with a .22 is more than ethical even if it's not legal.
quote]

I agree completely. I know of old timers who have taken down deer, bear, even moose with a .22 way back when. Back in the times when meat was needed and sometimes one had to jump on opportunities whenever they were presented. Just got to hit'em behind the ear and it dont take much.

Now that being said, I dont believe this to be a suitable or acceptable means of harvesting big game, my point being that a .22 bullet to the back of head is clearly efficient enough to dispatch a downed animal that just needs to be finished off, or get the nerves killed.

[sneg]

Generally I do not carry two rifles in the bush. If animal is downed and I can say it letally hit , but take some time before it expires I use a knife. if I m not sure about my shot (is it letal or not ?) than would put another bullet in the chest area from some distance. Of course I would wait and observe from distance downed animal before approach.

[Big Lew]

I remember a long time ago when it was only the wife and I we were on the way to Thalia Lake to relax and do some fishing when we just passed the Misseula Lake turn off there was a doe on the road that had been hit by a car, she was paralized at the ass end and was trying to get up and quite frantic as one could imagine, the one that hit her gone but another bystander was there warning traffic, so I had my 22 with me, came up behind her and shot her in the head, it worked well, then I dragged her to the side and left, probably not legal but to me was the right thing to do.

So in point in case, a 22 up close will do it, but not legal.8)

I would have done the same, but you were not hunting, it would be classed as an emergency situation. A 22 long rifle bullet is very deadly if placed properly. My dad killed a black bear with a 22 long rifle bullet many years ago by hitting it just behind the ear. ( It was too close to some calves and it was the only gun close at hand )

[browningboy]

I would have done the same, but you were not hunting, it would be classed as an emergency situation. A 22 long rifle bullet is very deadly if placed properly. My dad killed a black bear with a 22 long rifle bullet many years ago by hitting it just behind the ear. ( It was too close to some calves and it was the only gun close at hand )


No I wasn't hunting, just going fishing but always like to take the 22 to do some plinking / practise.

[SHAKER]

I don't know if it's legal to do it or not.... but I have used a 22 to give the last rights to a couple Deer that have been injured due to dogs or vehicles. Note: Local CO contacted me to do the job for him!
Worked very well with a copper jacketed hollow point right behind the ear!