Moo-cow headshot - caliber?

I had this buddy, we used to hunt dove on his place. He had this aggressive cow that used to come after people. One day he’s like we should go hunt by the pasture. I was like yea there is a pile of birds but what about that cow. He’s like I’m tired of that cow, I don’t care what my wife says, that thing comes after us today and I’m shooting it and butchering it. I thought he was joking. So, and there we were, 1911 point blank, dropped it where it stood.
Similar thing happened to me and my pops once. My cousin had this one particularly aggressive scrawny longhorn cow that got a little to aggressive one day. Dad dropped her as she charged with a 50. muzzleloader. Her nose was damn near laying on his boot.
 
I love it when people say shooting something is like shooting a cow. This cow did not give up easily, as a matter of fact, it was a longer hunt than some other game I killed that fall.

Try a 40-90 Sharps bottleneck and you won't be sorry...



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Well, you can't kill it too much. If you're unsure or it's your first time, maybe error on the side of overkill. If you know right where to shoot it, a 22 will work, but dealing with a wounded cow isn't fun!
 
Done a few. Any cartridge you would use deer hunting. Shoot the cow just behind the ear angled into the brain stem. I’ve observed some nasty scenes when a .22 isn’t correctly placed on a frontal shot !
 
Most butchers use a 22mag or 22lr even if they aren’t using captive bolt. Unless it’s a bull you don’t need more. It’s more about location and angle. I’ll try attaching an image. You go from one side of the poll and dra a line to the opposite eye. Then repeat that on the other side of the poll. Where it forms an x is where you want to shoot.

If unsure going a little larger on the gun won’t hurt. Also depends how close you are to it.IMG_2359.png
 
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