Moo-cow headshot - caliber?

[Moserkr]

Ive been offered a moo-cow by my relatives if my friend and I do the hard work of processing it. What caliber would everyone recommend to put it down?

Backstory: Cow has lumpy jaw and isnt maintaining weight now so its got to go. Relatives are splitting a good portion of the meat to my friend and I for the work. We have done elk before so I figure the gutless method on a cow should work, then grab the loins, heart, and liver. 95% of the meat will go to ground as this cow has not been grained and was supposed to be a breeder.

Thank you all for the help and Id appreciate any other tips for killing or butchering the cow.

 

[BackofBeyond]

.30-30 has always been my go-to.

 

[Nick87]

@shrapnel.....

 

[D_Walt]

How wild is this cow? Will it come up to you with feed? Just about anything will work, get straight on with its head down and shoot so the bullet goes straight into the brain. 30-30 works great for this task.

If it’s a wild cow I would say .223 with a 77tmk would be good out to 900 or so.

 

[MTLabrador]

.357 mag, .44 mag, .45 Colt, etc.

I’ve seen a 9mm not get much penetration, although it wasn’t a great shot, and that led to a bit of a rodeo.

 

[Sask hunter]

Anything.

 

[np307]

Hit it in the head with a maul.

 

[golfer]

22mag

 

[Nick87]

.357 mag, .44 mag, .45 Colt, etc.

I’ve seen a 9mm not get much penetration, although it wasn’t a great shot, and that led to a bit of a rodeo.

Me Myself and Irene?

 

[Valley1320]

Just shoot it in the head with a 22 mag or something. Make sure you bleed it tho if you shoot it in the head

 

[MTLabrador]

Me Mtself and Irene?

It actually involved a sheriff’s deputy and an overturned stock trailer and progressed very quickly to a 12 gauge slug… So you’re not far off.

 

[MThuntr]

If it’s a wild cow I would say .223 with a 77tmk would be good out to 900 or so.

Dang you beat me to it!

 

[Nick87]

Just shoot it in the head with a 22 mag or something. Make sure you bleed it tho if you shoot it in the head

I've seen some steers soak up a .22 in the head a few times. Unless you get it in just the right spot.

Edit just noticed you said mag probably makes a little bit of difference.

 

[Nick87]

I'll bet you could get a local crossbow hunter to pay you to let them shoot it....

 

[TrapperJ]

I've shot a few cows for my uncle and I always used my 22 mag and if that didn't do it then a 25.06 of his did

 

[TrapperJ]

I'm guessing it's literally a cow and not a bull so if you ain't worried about keeping the skull then shoot it with whatever you want

 

[Jwill]

Have helped a friend butcher a couple this way, .22 seemed to get the job done just fine. You can do gutless and still take the ribs off with a sawzall btw if you want to keep those too. We also usually made a bunch of stock/bone broth with the leg bones.

 

[GrantK]

22 mag is what all the butchers I know use if they aren't using a captive bolt.

 

[sccritterkiller]

We would just lead them into the barn under the hook and then .22 to the head. Bucket on a tractor helps a lot.

 

[TrapperJ]

Probably to be safe a 50 cal anti material rifle would be good