Neck Shots

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azhunter122

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I shot a 2 point buck a while back (last year) and couldn't get to good of a view at him but knew that he was broadside so I took a shot and the way he was standing I hit him in the front neck with a winchester silvertip and he dropped in his tracks, fell a couple feet and I think he broke his neck falling over into a bush. Is the neck at all a good area to shoot and do you think the bullet may have killed him instantly? He tasted very good btw! He was young and extremely tender! lol
 
couldn't get to good of a view at him but knew that he was broadside so I took a shot
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IMHO, if I interpret your question correctly, you have a lot to learn before you should be allowed to go hunting. Short answer, yes - the neck CAN be a good shot if you understand the underlying bone structure.

Other answer - if you do not have a 100% understanding of how the animal is standing and are unable to place the crosshars EXACTLY where you intend to hit the animal, then it is an unethical and unsafe shot, and the kind that contributes to hunting accidents every year. I hope I misunderstood - if not, re-enlist in Hunter Safety classes ASAP.
 
IMHO as well. Why would you shoot a 2 point unless it was a cullable spike?\

NEVER take a shot you are unsure of. NEVER shoot at anything you do not have a clear target on. Where do you hunt? I want to make sure I stay away from there.

Sorry for the harsheness, but get yourself educated before going back into the woods to hunt.
 
And mine. Know & SEE your target. As for a neck shot, it does work, but as mentioned, you need to place the bullet precisely & know the anatomy of the critter at which you are shooting. I personally don't take them, opting for the heart/lung/boiler room shot.
 
I hope it doesn't hurt too hard to read their advice, azhunter. But they're right.

I hope it was just the way you worded your sentence. Sometimes we're sure of the target, but just choose the wrong way to say it. A gun is a dangerous tool, and we must always always be sure of the target and wait for the clean shot.

Answer to your question:
There is a LOT of muscle and windpipe in the neck to hit with a bullet, but those shots won't be lethal. There are also vertebrae and arteries, but much harder to hit. Now, a heart/lung kill zone is so much easier to get a clean kill. I would think that a clean broadside view would reveal a much wiser choice of target.

What part of arizona did you hunt?
 
I have seen over 2 dozen neck shots on deer and bear and shot 2 myself, all were using large high velocity rifles(.270, .308, .3006, 30-30) and all were dropped instantly or only made it a few yards. Shots to the neck with high velocity expanding bullets tend to cause a break or trauma to the spine as well as severing arteries, windpipe and/or muscles. I have also seen heart shot game run as far as 100 yards. Shot placement and bullet selection are key. I once saw a doe that had her bottom jaw shot off while I was hunting squirrels, I killed her instantly with one well placed heart shot using a .22 LR with Winchester high velocity HP ammo. It was a mercy kill to keep her from suffering, and yes it is against state law but sometimes moral law trumps that. Moral of the story, go with what you have and make your shot count.
 
Last season I spooked a nice buck and finally got it back in my crosshairs about 60 yards away. Problem was, all I could see was body between the trunks of two trees. It looked like the front shoulder to me and I almost took the shot before I thought better of it. A step later I saw the deer's tail and realized I would have shot that deer in the hip. Certainly a kill shot, but entirely too brutal for my taste, not to mention wasteful and messy.

Unfortunately, there is a learning curve when it comes to hunting and the prey pay the cost of our education. It's up to us to hunt conservatively until we're more certain of what we're doing.

BTW, neck shots are fine if the shot is good and the bullet selection is right. If someone sent me into the woods with a 30-06 and a 125 grain Ballistic Tip at max velocity, I'd pick a neck shot before heart/lung/shoulder but this all goes into pre-hunt planning and choosing the right load for the hunt you have planned.
 
I avoided taking my favored shoulder shot on a deer some years because all I had was a .223 and very rapidly expanding ammunition. I waited instead for a good neck shot, which never presented itself before the deer spooked.

I only use neck shots as finishers or for very close shots. There was a recent thread about where to aim on a deer. If I have plenty of time and a close shot, there is a spot underneath a deer's jaw/ear that is an instant kill.

John
 
I avoided taking my favored shoulder shot on a deer some years because all I had was a .223 and very rapidly expanding ammunition. I waited instead for a good neck shot, which never presented itself before the deer spooked.

I only use neck shots as finishers or for very close shots. There was a recent thread about where to aim on a deer. If I have plenty of time and a close shot, there is a spot underneath a deer's jaw/ear that is an instant kill.

John
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I have been in the same situation before, and even with good "deer" rounds tend to wait for the right shot. I let a nice 12 walk off one day when I couldn't get a clean shot at the vitals. He walked straight away from me, and with the 180gr Win Silver Tips I could have taken it (lots of folks would have), but just don't want to just wound.
 
A neck shot is not the best shot to take because your target area while long is very narrow about 4 to 5 inches at the most. What you must do is sever the jugular and or sever the spine.

Having said that, I taken a neck shot over 2 dozen times and all the deer died with in a few feet of where they were standing. All of these shots close, less than 75 yards, and most were very close, less than 40 yards and some were as close as 3 to 5 yards. It also helps if the shot angle is not steep.

This is not a shot I would recommend. When I have taken this shot I did it because 1) it was the only shot I had 2) the deer was close 3) I was in some very thick stuff.


The Ol’ man said, “Son, don’t brag to me about the long shot you made! Brag to me about how close you got!”
 
My first shot at the spot I described was on a deer who had already been solidly shot with a .35 Remington a hour before. This deer just refused to understand he was dead! :what: When Doug and I walked up the deer jumped up and ran. I chased him with just my Glock 23 on my hip. When he lay down, I tried to put a 155-grain XTP in his chest.

When he was butchered later, we found that the chest round followed his skin around one side, instead of penetrating straight through. He then started to get back up, turning his head and stretching his neck up...and I put the second XTP in that groove in the neck, just underneath the jaw. Instant lights out. Thank god!
 
Why would you shoot a 2 point unless it was a cullable spike?
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While I agree that it doesn't make sense to shoot a 2-point, for me anyway, you should be aware that some studies have been performed which show that culling 1.5 yr old spikes is unnecessary because spike in their later mature years grow every bit of large and impressive racks as the 1.5 year old forkhorns - no difference in the later years. Don't shoot those spikes!
 
I had the "neck/head" shot conversation with a game biologist and two wardens with Wyoming Game and Fish. According to those folks, the head/neck shot is a low per centage shot and results in more wounded game than any other... YMMV
 
You are right premium, that's why I used the tern cullable. I do not consider a 1.5 year old spike cullable, at 2.5 though, it's time to remove him from the gene pool. I do not consider that a waste of a horned tag, as I do not actively hunt horns. Does are my meat for the year. I leave the horns for those that collect them, because I do not. I grew up on a working ranch, and if I brought a buck in, it was a shameful thing, grandpa was NOT one to disappoint. Just never got that out of my head.
 
The white spot underneath a deer's chin/head was a common and favorite target among the old time hunters in the East - at least a lot of the writing from the early 1900s claims so. I've used it and it works like a charm but it isn't the easiest shot to make.

Head/neck shots are (imho) great because when done right they are a DRT matter. But most of them really take a lot of thought and some careful shooting. As another poster noted, the point below an ear where the head joins the neck is one of the best. My favorite is at the base of the neck where it joins the body but even that is a precision shot in the realm of a .243, .250 Savage or .257 Roberts (et al). Carelessness with it though can easily result in a shot-off leg that means a long track for the hunter and long misery for the deer.

But a shot to the neck in between those two points is pretty dicy stuff though with any caliber. With the right bullet and the deer in the right position you'll probably get the windpipe and/or the juglar and/or the neck vertebrate and have a relatively short ways to track. But the "ifs" and the "probably" part of that scenario is bothersome.

The only other head shot I think is easy enough to be viable is when a deer is head-on and has it's head down grazing and the bullet can be sent into the top of the skull. The touchy part of this shot is that a grazing deer is constantly turning it's head slightly (laterally) as it snips off bites of browse so timing is everything.

With my 30/30 rifle, 30/30 Contender or .44 mag. SBH I usually go for through the shoulders and have never been disappointed.


YMMV

:cool:
 
I chased a neck-shot & pencil-holed big Muley buck a long way one time before I got it . . . deer didn't bleed, wasn't terribly hurt, went up & down ridges like normal. Haven't taken a neck shot since, even tho I shoot VERY well (but can be "off" on occasion) & had realized instant drops when I had taken them before at realistic ranges. My choice, but I wouldn't want to have the critter experience or have me experience this again. My personal opinion, nothing more, nothing less.
 
Hi, IMO it was a responsible shot because the way he was standing it would either be a neck or body shot so I took it. Also I took the 2 point because I am a meat hunter and not a trophy hunter.
 
AZ I think some of the guys were under the impression that you didn't know it was a 2 point. I nother words they assumed that you didn't know what you were shooting at. If you did, more power to ya. It's your tag, use it was you wish so long as you do so legally.
Regarding neck shots, they can be good or bad. Several years ago I hunted with a friend who used a 22-250 loaded with match grade hollowpoints. These type bullets with their tiny openings may or may not expand. Well he proceeded to shoot a small Central Texas buck in the neck which dropped at the shot. He gathered his belongings and began walking to the buck. Before he could get to him, he rose to his feet, look around a left post haste. Likely the bullet did not exapnd but he hit close enough to the spine to temporarily stun the deer.
Likewise, in 1987 on an elk hunt in the San Jaun Wilderness of Colorado I lobbed a shot at a bull across a canyon at extremely long range. (I was young and dumb, but knew everything ;)) To my utter surprize, he drop immediately. I made my way across the canyon and when I approached the bull, who was laying there on his side, without moving a muscle i saw hi roll his left eye around and looked at me. I quickly finished him off with a lung shot. Upon skinning him, I discovered that the bullet, a .284" 154 gr. Hornady, had hit him near the junction of the neck and shoulder, angled down under the spine, missing the jugular vein and exited low in the opposite side of the neck. I have no doubt that in a few minutes more that bull would have been up and off!
I see no need for neck shots, myself. I stick to lung shots and live with a little...very little...ruined meat.
35W
 
ok, now I see, also I shot him knowing that he was a buck and also before the shot my friend was spotting and said that he was a 2 point. Most of the time when I spot the first thinh that I see are the antlers becasuse they are always moving them when they feed.
 
Neck shooting is fairly common in the uk. I occassionally do it. But you must be dead sure of your rifle, your shooting and your ground. will neck soot from a solid rest only at moderate range. On our roe deer there is a gorget patch the same as your whitetail. from face on it makes a good aim point.

However, one time i was culling some fallow does in a park and i was faced with a group face on 120 yards away i was shooting from sticks. a body shot was out of the question, they were all standing in a lump. so i took a neck shot. I was unsure if i hit i didn't see any reaction to shot, but then i never do with the recoil. as i followed up i saw the doe down on the ground with her head up. At about 20 yards i finished her with a chest shot. when i got to her the side of her head was just about shot off.

the neck shot is a low percentage shot only for controlled situations and a side on (butchers) shot is far preferable. infact it is better to pass the neck shot up and wait in most circumstances.

i practise by shooting one of them very small coke tins 125ml off of sticks.
i practise a lot with the .22 and i am a good shot. I very rarely take a neckshot.

steve
 
Why would you shoot a 2 point unless it was a cullable spike?
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Because he walked within range of me during deer season. That's why I shot one last season. Not everyone is a trophy hunter. I've got a nice wall hanger in my living room, but I've shot a few little ones too. When you hunt on a 50 acre lot, it doesn't make any sense to practice QDM because if you don't shoot it your neighbor will! That's my take on it anyway. If you don't want to shoot the little guys, than more power to you, but there's no sense knocking the people who do shoot them.
 
Why would you shoot a 2 point unless it was a cullable spike?
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Because I can now see the bottom of my freezer. Horns don't matter all that much unless the freezer is nicely stocked. Same reason I took a doe last year. Please forgive me for that.

I think neck shots are a good idea in many situations. Your situation was one of them.
 
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I was pretty much an outlaw as a kid, except when it came time for hunting. I didn't want to get left at home when the grownups went off to camp.

My father was pretty much the patriarch of the group. He had two common sayings, "When you shoot 'em in the white spot, they don't go very far," and, "Camp meat is a spike buck shot in the neck. Don't be bringing some six-point in here, trying to sell your mistake for camp meat."

I wuz Obadiah Obedient when the Patriarch spoke.

I'll admit there are times when Mr. Zen sez, "Naw, Art, not this time," and I go on and take the easy shot into the heart/lungs. I grumble, though, knowing that when you cut through the diaphragm, it's gonna get messy. :)
 
I killed a spike a couple years ago. I considered him fair size, he was just under 170lbs. 20yd shot, 000 Buckshot. Small head, spike antlers, but very tasty.
 
Why shoot a two point?
Because you cant eat horns.

I generally only shoot mature bucks and many times I have let that forkhorn walk and then a min latter BOOM! But that is just how it goes.
 
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