Where to shoot an elk in the head with a .45 or 9mm hollow point

[Caspertoo]

Ok before you guys send me the "why the hell are you shooting an elk with a handgun", I work for a sheriff's office and sometimes we respond to crashes in the rural area where an elk has been hit and we have to kill it due to injury.  While some in my department carry shotguns with slugs, and some carry AR's, I carry a MP-5 which is great for using in a house, but is a pistol caliber sub gun. 


So my option is to shoot the elk with a 9mm hollow point.  Does anyone have a reference picture/diagram of where to shoot a elk with a handgun round at close range that will penetrate the skull?  The whole point of me shooting an elk is to put it out of its misery, but my recruit tonight took 11 round to put down a 5 or 6 year old bull. 


So...help?

 

[wapiti_will]

Honestly...I would avoid the skull with a 9mm or 45.  You may have success with a shot to the eye socket as the bone structure behind it is thinner, but a miss could generate an unfortunate ricochet.  I've seen guys try to dispatch elk with a head shot using a .45 and have rounds glance off the skull and end up exiting at random angles.  Never tried it myself, but possibly a shot to the spine/backside base of the head may be effective.
Not sure if you can go with options other than a hollow point, but I read a few articles a while back on handgun rounds and there effectiveness on breaking bone.  One article was specifically related to maximum damage to a black bear in the event you only had a .45 ACP.  Test results concluded the flat front and sharp shoulders of a semiwadcutter round did the best at penetrating hide and breaking bone.  But again, that article states a shot to the skull would glance off and was a waste of a round, but a +P round was able to effectively break shoulder joints and penetrate the ribs and sternum.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

Been in a similar career previous to my current one and had to shoot my fair share of roadkill. General rule of thumb draw a line from the eye to the base of the opposite ear, do the same on the other side and where the "x" meets is where you shoot. Depending on distance close range anything more than a 380 will do it. Backing up 1/2 dozen yards you might have varying results. I know for certain a 45acp will shut down a horse right now if hit in that spot. 9mm at 5' would kill an elk, has killed dozens of deer that way.

Seldom do they go "lights out" though. My suggestion is if they keep hanging on to keep shooting as terrible as it sounds. I was much more concerned about ending it quickly and out of public eye than saving a few rounds.

 

[blakeb21]

I am a LOE and have had to do this many times, backcountry_hunter is correct and more beef cows have been dispatched by a 22 lr than any other caliber by far. Shot placement is key. The good news is you have this expirence to hold over your rookie for some time. Good luck and be safe.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Idaho1]

I am a large animal veterinarian. You can humanely dispatch a wounded elk with a handgun by drawing an imaginary X from the eye sockets to the opposite ear. Where the lines cross is the exact spot to aim. I angle the shot slightly downward. A .22 will work fine on a horse. If you simply aim between the eyes, a profusely bloody nose will result and the animal will not die from the shot.... good luck Sir.