Ideally, a brain/spine shot is still the best choice for instant incapacitation - remember, your AR15/M4 bullet will impact as much as 2.5 inches below your point of aim at close range. 223/5.56mm round, can be effective killers of all but the largest animals. If people are in danger, your handgun is a poor choice of weapon. As we saw on the recent video of Canadian officers shooting cattle, you may have to empty your pistol (and even a second or third magazine) before the animal goes down. Body shots from your sidearm into the heart/lung area will eventually kill the creature, but even with small animals like a pit bull, the death will rarely be quick. ![]() ![]() Generally, but not always, a level shot at the base of the ear angling toward the imaginary center point the X illustrates will do the deed, but be prepared for follow-up shots. Since the X will be at the top of an animal’s head, you need to shoot from above or use the X to help you judge an appropriate aiming point from the side. The simplest way to calculate your aiming point, on almost any animal you may be called upon to kill, is to draw two imaginary lines up across the head, linking an eye to the opposite ear (left eye to right ear, etc.) and X marks the spot. But, the bullet must be placed precisely and even a large bull has a brain about half the size of a human, protected by a tough skull. When you can get close enough, and the target is somewhat stationary, a 9mm or larger handgun bullet will reliably penetrate into the cranial vault of any animal up to the size of domestic cattle, causing instant incapacitation and a quick death. A single bullet would have produced the same final result and saved the deer 45 minutes of needless pain.Īmmo, Weapons, and Aiming Points The average Police sidearm is a rather poor animal killer except when you can hit the brain or upper spine. Even then, the vet had to repeatedly dart the deer with about triple the normal-deadly dose of drugs. So, we called a vet and waited 45 minutes while the buck suffered - one horn was broken and dangling and a huge shard of glass had penetrated his chest cavity. We blood-trailed the buck to the downtown area, where the Chief of Police wouldn’t let me shoot the suffering beast because “it would look bad” to the gathering crowd. I once responded to a burglar alarm which turned out to be a set of commercial widows broken by a buck deer crashing through. Country folks rarely have the time or spare cash to call a vet for the task. If you think that, you grew up in the city. ![]() I hear some of you whining that these animals should put down by a veterinarian’s needle. Whether you must kill a small animal like a cat or dog or beasts as large as horses or cattle, you owe the creature as quick and humane a death as possible. I removed the collars and tags and turned the carcasses over to the landfill guy - justice was done. When it was all over, my AR-15 had two more bad canines to its credit. A short way along the Doberman’s escape route was the county landfill, where I found the dozer operator who confirmed the escaping dogs were still in the area. The caretaker there described the Dobermans who had knocked down the lady and injured her lap dog. On one call, I arrived to find that a blind lady had been attacked at her rural home by a pair of Doberman pinschers. I am an unabashed dog lover, but bad dogs simply cannot be tolerated. Killing dangerous or nuisance animals is never enjoyable work, but in some cases there is a degree of satisfaction involved. Having never personally shot an elephant, I can only claim the ability to have done a better, more humane job because I have killed dozens of other creatures, large and small, both as a hunter and a police officer. The unfortunate incident was caught on video and the elephant reportedly took two hours to finally bleed to death. The elephant story involved one named Tyke, who in 1994 killed her trainer and gored a handler before the Honolulu police opened fire - a total of 86 rounds according to one report. ![]() Scanning the Internet will generate many articles of officers forced to kill creatures ranging from cattle to tigers to a rampaging circus elephant. The scope of that tragedy was staggering, but the killing of large and/or dangerous animals is a regular occurrence for cops. The Noah’s Ark Massacre This topic came from a recent conversation with Police1 Senior Editor Doug Wyllie when I commented on the recent “ Noah’s Ark Massacre” of loose zoo animals in Ohio. Nearly 50 animals killed after Ohio zoo escape
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