Neck shotting deer

I prefer a neck shot. That way I can save the shoulder meat. Granted I hunt on a family farm, and the deer are plentiful and easy, and usually I can get in to 300 yrs or less, so a neck shot for me is feasible and easy to make with a 30-06.
I have never had a deer run when I used a neck shot. Every one was a shot and drop. I see nothing wrong with a neck shot.
 
It's a very popular thing here in Nova Scotia to shoot deer in the head or neck. Part of that is that most people here hunt from a blind, either ground or elevated, and almost all hunters bait deer with apples or carrots. The deer get very relaxed and are preoccupied, and with shots usually 50 yards, give or take, a neck shot can be pretty manageable.

In all my years of hunting, I've only intentionally shot one animal in the neck, and that was a caribou bull that I shot, prone off a pack, at about 80 yards. Now, anyone that has hunted caribou can attest that they often stand there staring at you. They don't look around a lot and generally give you plenty of time for the shot. In this case, the bull went down like he was hit by lightning. His compadre stood there, looking at him, then looking at me, for a solid 30 seconds while he decided whether he should stay or go. Deer definitely don't stand around like that. Moose might come close, but I've never regretted putting a bullet behind the shoulder. Neck shots have considerably less margin for error.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't take a neck shot, but as a general rule, you probably shouldn't, especially if you have other options available.
 
Killed moose, caribou, bison and deer with neck shots. It is my preferred target. And .223 is effective with 55g soft points as we proved over the past 2 weeks.
 
bearhunter said:
I get excited, but you need to get some control.

You shot, you missed, you shot again and wounded, then you took another chance. You should have waited until you were under control.

We all make mistakes, this time you got lucky.
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Sounds to me like he settled in and did it right after he started the rodeo.
Once you have touched an animal with a bullet, you are obligated to finish it as quickly as you can.
In my opinion that means you put additional holes in it before it gets out of sight and is lost. You take the shot and the angle that you are offered in the moment and you finish the job. 20 yards and you can see his neck, you shoot him in the neck.
 
I’ve taken deer and moose with neck shots. A lot of them, really. For years, it was my favourite shot. When it works, it works very well. They go down like the hammer of Thor snatches their live away. It’s a pleasure to field dress a neck shot animal.

The margin of error on a neck shot is quite small. Depending on how the animal is standing you have at max a 3 to 4” kill window on a deer. Not much, depending on the situation.

However, my practice of neck shooting ended a number of years ago. Occasionally, if the spine is not hit directly, the animal is temporarily knocked out but then recovers and gets back up.

Once, I shot at a muley buck on the edge of a BIG central Alberta coulee. I wanted to anchor the animal so he wouldn’t run down over the bank and into the trees below. Everything went splendidly, to start…down he went, as planned. As I was walking over to tag the animal, he got back up and ran to the coulee, dragging his nose on the ground. Lots of tracking and two more follow-up shots were required on the wounded animal. I think it was 5 or 6 hours before he was dressed and in the truck. One follow-up shot ruined his hind quarter. So much for a clean kill! The original shot missed his spine by about 3/4 of an inch and cut the tendons to his neck. It knocked him out cold with his eyes open!

My education didn’t end there. The second time was a smallish white tail buck. I had a good rest and took what I thought was a reasonably good neck shot. Down he went and never twitched. We had a spot set up to dress the animals, so I tagged him and we quickly loaded him into my buddies hunting truck, a Suzuki Samurai.

Guess what? He came back to life 5 minutes down the road? The scene was scary and at the same time comical. He kicked the hell out of the inside of the truck. Panicked, we pulled over, jumped out and left both doors open. He thrashed around for a bit and once he got himself turned around in the back, he jumped out my door and ran away with his head held high…like he was never hit. We did not recover that animal (or my buck tag). FYI, this story gets bigger and more spectacular every year!

Bottom line, I don’t take neck shots anymore. If I need to anchor an animal, I will aim a bit forward and take out the front shoulder and usually the heart, too. The boiler room is a much higher probability shot. But, each to their own.
 
I think it's time for the usual cop out answer to complex questions like this, "It depends." If you've got the right kind of bullet in a chambering that imparts the right kind of energy at the right kind of range (inside the appropriate velocity/performance envelope), then go for it. I've done both neck and boiler room shots without issue, resulting in a quick end for the animal. It comes down to knowing how your particular rifle and load perform and their corresponding limitations. A neck shot with a .357 carbine at 150 yards? Perhaps not. A .30-06 or any full power cartridge at that same distance with a rapidly expanding bullet? You're not gonna have an issue.
 
I've shot many deer and moose, and yes every situation is different, distance, animal activity, and angle all play a roll in what I decide shot placement is going to be.

sometimes it will be a heart shot sometimes higher up in the lungs closer to the spine and sometimes it is a head shot or neck shot, its all situationally dependent.

but whatever I decide its based on what it the highest possibility of a clean kill.
 
bnk2 said:
I think it's time for the usual cop out answer to complex questions like this, "It depends." If you've got the right kind of bullet in a chambering that imparts the right kind of energy at the right kind of range (inside the appropriate velocity/performance envelope), then go for it.
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this I agree with 100%
while i admit to taking neck shots in this thread, by and large I'm looking for broadside heart/lung shots on the majority of big game species I hunt.
In our case the shots were all within the 20 yard range and with 7mm rem mag using 160gr partitions, on a Columbia Blacktail neck, you have to be an absolutely terrible shot to not break it's neck. Treestand hunting with that (or any) rifle, in that location we are sighted in for 50 yard zeros and take shots at 20 to 75 to be aware of the differences in impact points. Add in the elevated treestand at 18ft up a tree on a sloping mountainside and one sometimes have to shoot outside thier comfort zone to put that meat in the freezer. Shooting these deer with a 7mm rem mag requires precision shooting, even with the heart/lung shot or meat shock spreads like crazy. One of my deer this past trip I took with that shot , but that deer took the higher ground and presented perfectly. The others all angled downhill and took a trail that cuts right towards the foot of the stand. At 20 yards you can nearly count thier eyelashes at 4x ....... if you can't efficiently and humanely kill that target with a single head or high neck shot at that range..... I dunno what to say really...... go back to the range I guess?
 
KodiakHntr said:
Sounds to me like he settled in and did it right after he started the rodeo.
Once you have touched an animal with a bullet, you are obligated to finish it as quickly as you can.
In my opinion that means you put additional holes in it before it gets out of sight and is lost. You take the shot and the angle that you are offered in the moment and you finish the job. 20 yards and you can see his neck, you shoot him in the neck.
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I agree, he should have continued after wounding the animal. THAT ISN'T THE POINT.

HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL ON THE "FIRST SHOT" OR HE SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THE SHOT.

HOPEFULLY HE'S "LEARNED" FROM HIS MISTAKE.

The other mistake he made was bragging about shooting while NOT BEING IN CONTROL in the first place. The first two shots were spray and pray.

That's right up there with those that take "SOUND SHOTS" in thick brush IMHO.
 
bearhunter said:
I agree, he should have continued after wounding the animal. THAT ISN'T THE POINT.

HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL ON THE "FIRST SHOT" OR HE SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THE SHOT.

HOPEFULLY HE'S "LEARNED" FROM HIS MISTAKE.

The other mistake he made was bragging about shooting while NOT BEING IN CONTROL in the first place. The first two shots were spray and pray.

That's right up there with those that take "SOUND SHOTS" in thick brush IMHO.
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I certainly hope it made you feel better to type that in all caps.

Not sure I read it as “bragging” when someone starts off with “not my finest moment” though.
Sounded to me like he positively identified the animal as a legal buck prior to shooting though, hardly the same as shooting at sounds.
Probably isn’t the first person to miss a close shot from being a bit rattled when getting surprised by the target animal, probably won’t be the last.
 
Denver Steve said:
223 is way overkill...did not one else grow up neck shooting deer with a 22lr? Lol
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Dont laugh i watched a native guy i was out bird hunting with put down a big bull moose with a .22lr 10 feet away shot him in the eye did not take one step all four legs buckeled and there was a dead moose. My younger brother shot a black bear trying to get in his house oped the door and bang one shot in the eye with a cooey single shot in you guessed it .22lr bear ran across street we found it the next morning as there was no way i was going looking in middle of night for a bear shot in the face with a .22. Why you ask iys because at the time it was only gun he owned lol
 
I had to pick out lead from the neck of my bull elk, after I shot him in the lungs with barnes... someone else shot him before and didn't get it done.
 
Most of my animals I killed hit the dirt immediately. However, when an animal has fled after a fatal wound, there is great anticipation following a good blood-trail, knowing that the POI and bullet selection was perfect. For beginner and novice hunters, this will aid in hunting skills, knowing how to follow a blood-trail, reconizing the colour of blood (liver, lung, heart). There is great self satisfaction in this skill.

It's unfortunate that people who shoot head and neck are missing out on this opportunity to teach others, such as children, beginner and novice hunters. Bow hunters in particular are great at this skill, being that most animals had fled.
 
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track said:
Most of my animals I killed hit the dirt immediately. However, when an animal has fled after a fatal wound, there is great anticipation following a good blood-trail, knowing that the POI and bullet selection was perfect. For beginner and novice hunters, this will aid in hunting skills, knowing how to follow a blood-trail, reconizing the colour of blood (liver, lung, heart). There is great self satisfaction in this skill.

It's unfortunate that people who shoot head and neck are missing out on this opportunity to teach others, such as children, beginner and novice hunters. Bow hunters in particular are great at this skill, being that most animals had fled.
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reeking of superiority is how that comes across..... do what i do or you are an unethical hunter LOL
no desire to spar with you or be adversarial , but it deserves a response.
I could easily bow hunt from my tree stand instead of using a rifle. I found my location over 20 years ago and studied those animals hard to become successful at filling those tags every year. Most hunters in that particular area don't see anywhere near the same success because they don;t hunt it like we do.
I once took a very proficient bow hunter with many seasons of big game archery kills including africa and new zealand to my treestand location. He had never harvested a columbia blacktail though he had tried a bunch of times before he came with me. He , and everyone else i've taken in there, have been awestruck at the numbers and how close the deer actually get. He passed on a few smaller bucks and finally got an opportunity at a nice big bodied 4x3. The shot was good with the deer at 25 yards or so but that deer was the only deer i have had to bloodtrail and track down. It went well over 100 yards down the mountain and took the entire day.... and my dog to find it in that extreme coastal mountain terrain. He made what any bow hunter would agree, was a solid shot in the vitals but that deer still went the distance it did. Watching that play out caused me to decide right then and there that I would only bow hunt if it was absoltely necessary for survival (which it's not). I don't preach to others that bow hunting is unethical and i don't believe that either.... it's just not for me. I want to see instantaneous death when i pull the trigger and have practiced my shooting skills over and over and over to accomplish quick and efficient kills..... pride myself in actually...... and that is what I teach new hunters. Know the anatomy of your quarry , know your rifle and load, sight in for every hunt and only take the shot if you are 100% sure it's a kill shot.
Out in the flatlands or foothills of the rockies hunting mulies and whitetail is one thing..... hunting Columbia Blacktails in the steep coastal bc mountains is a completey different ballgame. I won't be judged as unethical by anyone here for taking a neck shot... in fact it's really hard to take anyone seriously who tries to tow that "holier than thou" line with me LOL In 23 years hunting that mountainside for those deer, the furthest a deer has gone after i've put a bullet in it was "maybe" 10 yards..... incidentally the necks shots made on our trip dropped the animals where they stood.... stone cold dead.
 
Shot placement is up to the shooter, what the animal presents, experience, and proficiency. That's it. The "ethics" thing is also up to the individual. Plenty of old timers will say that if you haven't had an animal get away on you, then you haven't hunted much, or enough.
The other big part of shot placement is knowing what is where, what it looks like, and what it does. This includes organs, skeletal stucture, and function. A deer neck is actually a decent sized target at most resonable hunting ranges, if one knows what it looks naked.

Bottom line... Do you. You're the one that has to make the decions and deal with the consequences, as opposed to a bunch of dudes that don't even know each other and weren't even there, trying to out do each other on the internet, forcing their ethics on others, and blowin a lot of hot air doing it.

Just go hunt and shoot.
Popcorn indeed.

R.
 
9.3mauser said:
My feeling is, if you have to ask you probably shouldn't be doing it. An experienced hunter and good shot isn't going to care about other's opinions about shot placement or caliber. Those asking are probably inexperienced, ( or trying to stir the pot) and should give the idea a lot of sober second thought before attempting it.

The main objection is the target is small and in motion more than the body. Only the head is smaller and moves more. There's little margin for error. My advice to new hunters is to always go for the largest, steadiest target available, which is the heart/lung area. That's the target with the fewest question marks, whether it's target movement, shooter movement from being nervous and shaky, wind deflection, bullet deflection, errors in estimating range, and so on.
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This is extremely well said!
 
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