Neck shotting deer

stumo

stumo

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As the title says I'm looking for personal accounts, stories, and general "it's a good/bad idea (vs vital shot) because xyz"

Backstory: I'm quite new to hunting (very experienced shooting) 2 years ago I got my first mule deer on an initiation license on Vancouver Island. Guy I was with told me where to aim on the body, and, if I wasn't comfortable with that (or it wasn't a clean broadside) I could also shoot it in the neck.
Well 20 mins before sunset this guy was staring at us in the slash and turned away about 45° but looking back at us, so naturally I aimed at the chin and dropped it down a few inches and shot. I don't think it would've died quicker if it was hit by an asteroid.. dropped on the spot with no fuss. Probably 50yds or so, with a savage axis .223 (not mine) and Hornady superformance.

While we were skinning I noticed the actual hit wasn't even in the spine but right in the side of the neck and did not come out the other side.

From my understanding neck shots are way more risky than vital shots so my question is, going forward with my own setup now (.308) is there any reason I SHOULDN'T try this again being it went so well the first time, within reason and obviously not at greater distances.

Thanks all.
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homer76 said:
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I kinda had a feeling it was gonna go that way
 
I have used .223 for deer, as have several people that were new or recoil-averse, that hunted on my family's property.

Suggest you watch a large number of videos posted by UK area Game Keepers, esp., those doing culls, as well as market hunting. (they are allowed to sell game meat over there!)

Head-shots seem to be in the majority. But all shots seem to be in calm, and in control. Catching a deer with it's head down, feeding.

Just saying, it's probably the wrong caliber and tactics, if you feel the need to fire a shot in the general direction of a deer you jumped up out of a crop field...

But if you are willing to remain calm, pick your opportunities, it may well work for you.

That said, my 'STILL' preferred shot, is through the ribs, side on, behind the point of the 'elbow'. Not a lot of meat to be lost (other than the heart itself), and they don't run when the lungs and heart are shredded.

If you are sure of your shot and of your understanding of the deer anatomy, use what works for you.
 
Meh...I don't care much where, as long as it's clean kill.
Boiler room gonna kill them, sometimes they run a long way before they fold up, I've seen heavy deer hit with 300 Ultra, you could near stick your head in the exit hole, 15ft of blood and lungs sprayed in the snow where they were hit in open field, and still ran a 100m into the thickest brush and a ##### to find.
Seen others DRT with less gun hit same spot.
Neck or head is nice from a meat standpoint, not ruining anything. Neck is better with more explody stuff, want that varmint type bullet result, I wouldn't try it with a solid copper or bonded bullet...
I've hit a few neck shots, they usually fall over and game over, one time though I waited the 10 mins, walked over 75m to where it was, and it got up when I was about 15ft from it...bit of a WTF second and might have #### a little bit in my pants lol. It's was near bled out, only staggered 20ft or so, put one in its dome and ended that hunt.
Last year my brother dropped a nice bull moose with a head shot opening day, it snuck up behind him in his blind, he was set up looking over a cut, some of that scent piss stuff works pretty good lol, he never heard it until a little crack of a stick it stepped on, 20 yards completely behind him.
Slowly turned, had head or chest, front on shot, took the head, 270 with 130's, it dropped right there. Couldn't Texas mount the skull/rack, whole skull was wrecked, just splinters, zero meat loss though lol
 
For a few years now my brother inlaw got in the habit to shoot everything in the neck with his 300 RUM,
The only way to not waste meat with that cannon 😂
Shots are usually inside 150m on moose and bison!
 
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.
 
In over 50 years of hunting, I have had three first hand experiences with neck shot deer, that dropped at the shot, then got up and ran off. One was immediately shot again, the second was tracked for quote a ways and was shot again, the third was found in a bed, too weak to get up, after a very long tracking job. There have also been a couple instances where deer were lost after supposedly being shot in the neck, but since the deer were not recovered, we couldn't verify exactly where the bullets hit. I was not the shooter in any of those cases, as I only take neck shots, unless I am extremely close, and that is my only option.
 
my second or third deer was a neck shot, facing me from about 10 yards. 30 06 obliterated the neck vertabrae with a fist sized exit wound. It took longer for that doe to stop kicking than I expected but I believe she felt no pain and she certainly didn't run like a lot of double lung/heart shots. Lost a bit of neck meat but my greatest loss of meat was a shoulder shot buck quartering towards me, same cartridge and loading. He made it 40 yards with no heart/lungs/foreleg.
 
For me it depends on the situation. I've only shot a deer in the neck once. It was facing me directly, I was perfectly steady shooting off a pack. I didn't want to aim centre chest and risk the bullet driving through and possibly opening up stomach and intestines. Aimed about 5 inches under its chin. The bullet hit exactly where I was aiming, severed the windpipe and smashed the spine. All four legs folded and it went straight down. Unless I'm in a very similar situation again I will be aiming for heart/lungs. YMMV
 
Only head/neck shots for me have been very close or no other shot. Shot one at a very steep angle down, bullet entered just below the head and travelled down the spine to the chest cavity. Bloodshot all the meat along the spine. Pretty much to the tail! So much for no meat damage.
 
When I shot more through the course of the year I shot a lot of animals in the neck. It is very effective, and normally puts them down right now. I did have 1 deer that I didn’t hit any bone that ran about 100 yards, but it looked like someone dropped paint out is a waterbomber… about 5’ wide blood trail the whole way.

If you are confident in your shooting, the neck can be very effective.
 
OP, you are a beginner shooter, moreover a hunter. I'm a veteran hunter (68 years old), After killing over 300 big game animals, I only have taken one neck shot. As your title states, I suggest you refrain from neck shots. Why a neck shot? It's been stated millions of times, "in the boiler," which translates to, "behind the front leg," into the lungs.
 
A few years ago I took a nice whitetail Buck in the neck at about 100 yards with the .243. He had me busted and was staring at me head on as I came around a poplar windrow that was piled up. I was able to get into the prone position and shot him right in the white throat patch just below his chin.

Last year my bull elk I shot in the same spot just below the chin with the 30-06. He came in so quiet and I was standing on a slight rise hiding behind a big poplar tree. He was trying to circle me and came in through this low spot trying to get down wind of me. Right before I shot he was scent checking the air, and due to the terrain I couldn’t see anything on him except from the mid chest and up. He was shot at 9 yards.

Both these animals were facing me head on and after the shot didn’t make it one step. Both folded their legs like a steer and dropped right where they stood. What I like about that shot placement was there was 0 wasted meat.
 
While head and/or neck shots are legal, IMO, for the most part, they are unethical. However, there are RARE situations where a neck/head shot could be considered. Others can do as they like and can justify head/neck shots anyway they want, like I said, it IS legal but I was raised and taught to “hunt” ethically so that is how I choose to conduct myself. Others mileage may vary.
 
3 of 4 Columbia Blacktail deer our group harvested so far this month were taken with neck shots, one with a heart shot.
calibers used were .308 for one and 7mm rem mag for the others.
The neck shot deer all had broken necks and dropped in thier tracks. The heart shot deer (7mm rm) slow walked maybe 15 yards and dropped.
Meat loss due to shock was minimal on the neck shot deer and isolated to the neck area.
I'm not a fan of the concept of hunting with a .223 for most big game species when there are so many better choices but if the animal being shot drops dead with little suffering as it dies..... who am i to judge?
I would never recommend it as a hunting caliber for deer other than Sitka Blacktail and Fallow. Seeing as how the OP was indeed hunting Sitka Blacktails , the smaller cousin of the Columbia Blacktail and larger Mule deer, I'll just say, nice shot and well done ;)
 
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