How to Kill a Cow

[angus9259]

Maybe everyone knows this - but up till a couple years ago, I didn't. Sadly I've had to use it a couple times since. Does everyone know how to shoot a cow for a quick kill? The "draw an X" formula and not "shoot between the eyes"? Are there any other methods that have worked I don't know about?

The "wait and see" topic on health and nutrition got me thinking about that....

 

[ez14.]

Heard a guy say in the side of the head before, but the one time I seen it tried the cow didn't even seem to notice just kept chewing her cud (she was shoot with a 9 mm pistol)

 

[ALACOWMAN]

https://www.google.com/search?q=head+sh ... ex3dP3h8VM:

 

[sstterry]

The shot should not be head-on, you should do it from an angle above. You are trying to have the bullet travel through the brain and into the spinal canal. I had to put a dog down last year that had been with us for 13 years. I researched it well because I did not want him to suffer (he didn't, it was instantaneous) but it took a long time to pull that trigger. :cry2:

 

[76 Bar]

Good Info:
https://vetmed.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/VDPAM/Beef/10_1291 On Farm Euthanasia.pdf

 

[sstterry]

Good Info:
https://vetmed.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/VDPAM/Beef/10_1291 On Farm Euthanasia.pdf

I can't imagine doing it with a shotgun unless you are using a slug!

 

[greybeard]

How to burn a cow (and evidently, with 3 pigs laid across it's belly and no, I don't know what 'sleepers' are)

image upload site

 

[Nesikep]

I've seen cows get back up after a 7mm to the head, and I've dropped them dead as rocks with a .22 LR.. placement is everything.
On a .22, I always sight it for the exact distance I plan on shooting from first, and then it's pretty much "draw an X".. and better a smidge high than low.
I always bleed them out after regardless of if they're for meat or not, just to be safe.

 

[sstterry]

How to burn a cow (and evidently, with 3 pigs laid across it's belly and no, I don't know what 'sleepers' are)

image upload site

Is that Slick's outdoor kitchen??? :lol2:

 

[Workinonit Farm]

and no, I don't know what 'sleepers' are)

Maybe "sleepers" are mattresses???

 

[greybeard]

i think it may mean rr crosstie or any other heavy hardwood beam. the pic came from an Australian website.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Like has been said already, the angle of the dangle is just as important as hitting the X. The best advice I ever got on the subject was to use the biggest gun available, even though a .22 will usually do it. The ranch I spent most of my time on, there were two options....Clean or dirty. Clean is the X. Dirty is a pair of lungs. Believe it or not, sometimes clean isn't a choice.

 

[snoopdog]

I shot one with a 3030 between the eyes , don't know where it went but it didn't penetrate her head , kinda scary . The one behind her ear did the trick though . And yes, im sure it hit .

 

[Bright Raven]

How to burn a cow (and evidently, with 3 pigs laid across it's belly and no, I don't know what 'sleepers' are)

image upload site

GB, the term "sleepers" was a term of common use by the generation my father grew up in. I heard the term used for any large "beam" or "timber" that was used as a foundation support. Any big timber placed down to provide support, the men in my father's generation called "sleepers".

 

[JMJ Farms]

If "tyres" are "tires" the that would be a sure way to get rid of a cow. And the surrounding 1673 yards of dirt after the EPA found out!

 

[wbvs58]

i think it may mean rr crosstie or any other heavy hardwood beam. the pic came from an Australian website.

Yep GB, this is straight from the horses mouth, we call railway crossties "sleepers".

Ken

 

[TCRanch]

I shot one with a 3030 between the eyes , don't know where it went but it didn't penetrate her head , kinda scary . The one behind her ear did the trick though . And yes, im sure it hit .

Neighbor of ours shot a bull twice with a 30-06 and that sumbuck ran through 3 pastures, jumped 3 fences before crossing the road & jumping the fence into our pasture. Lost him in the woods, another neighbor found him in his field a couple days later, still bleeding from the head & eventually ended it with an elephant gun (he's a big game hunter). First two shots must have hit the sinus cavity & did nothing but pizz off that bull.
That said, I've never put one down - I just can't & make my husband do it.

 

[greybeard]

If "tyres" are "tires"

they are. a sure clue to it being of Brit or Aus origin.

 

[slick4591]

Is that Slick's outdoor kitchen??? :lol2:

Ain't no spotted cows allowed in my kitchen! :lol:

 

[Logar]

I do not believe in cheaping out - get the biggest calibre you can find - draw the x, put the muzzle about an inch off that spot and pull the trigger. I use a 375 H&H - face on - it cuts through the brain and spine and drops them right now.

Immediately bleed it out - so that knife better be sharp and substantial.

Saw one on dogs here - my 16 year old guard dog went this way............

I called the vet to the house - she laid down on the lawn because she could barely walk any more and I sat with her - the vet gave her a shot of valium and she relaxed and went to sleep. He set up the IV and I made him let me do it. I pushed the drugs in to her - I told him a real man does not let another man do his dirty work - and cried like a baby as I did it.

Yeah it cost me, but she saved my wife's butt one night when there was an attempted break-in while I was away. Cops are about an hour away - the neighbors were in the yard in about 5 minutes - 8 pickup trucks full of PO'd guys and one lady with a shotgun. The two bad boys did not like the treatment or the worrying the dogs gave them.

They were tied tight with binder twine as well.

Best to all.