"...You shoot anything in the head it's gonna pretty much die..."

Maybe, maybe not. I know of a deputy sheriff trying to put an injured horse down. .357 mag bounced off of the skull, hit a highway cop, killed him. I have shot injured cattle, if you don't hit the proper part of the skull, you cause a major nose bleed and probably a monster headache, but you don't kill the cow. Lotsa tough skulls out there...