Neck shot ethics

Every chance I get. Farthest so far has been 550 yards. If the conditions are right I'll take it every time

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I love the neck shot, especially with splashy bullets and usually at 100 yards or less , we hunt heavy brush and cactus and a death run could be a lost deer without a good track dog
Plus it’s super clean when gutting/ no bloody mess
I shot this buck in the neck @ 110 yards DRT this year opener
Imo if you can’t shoot accurately then do a chest shot or stay home
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I see he has a face full of cactus needles.
 
I’ve shot several doe antelope and whitetail with neck shots. I like it about the best for does, especially in antelope, there’s just so little meat there anyways. If you hit the neck at all she is DRT, expansion of the bullet is going to shut down the central nervous system . In my experience on smaller does, you either kill them or miss them.


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I took my first one on purpose (don't ask lol) this year. Neck was all I could see, it was 90 yards, lights out!

only draw back was I ruined a very tasty roast.

I'd still rather take the crease behind the shoulder though, bigger target and potentially less wasted meat.
 
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I like the neck shot too. But as has been mentioned situation matters. If I’m within a hundred yards and the deer is oblivious to my presence it’s my favorite shot.
 
The suburban deer culling team around here shots them in the neck or behind the ear with 5.56.
They don’t want to chase deer.
But they are also at night, suppressed, thermal or spotlights and short range.
 
For all the neck shooters here, where on the neck are you aiming? Right behind the ear, limiting any neck meat wastage? Or mid-neck for perhaps a little more margin for error? Just curious. My hunting rifles are all sub-MOA rifles and I can hold my own shooting in the field so I'd have zero hesitation to take these shots given reasonable distances but just curious on particular aiming points.
 
For all the neck shooters here, where on the neck are you aiming? Right behind the ear, limiting any neck meat wastage? Or mid-neck for perhaps a little more margin for error? Just curious. My hunting rifles are all sub-MOA rifles and I can hold my own shooting in the field so I'd have zero hesitation to take these shots given reasonable distances but just curious on particular aiming points.
my sample size of 1 neck shot was mid-neck (didn't wanna miss)
 
For all the neck shooters here, where on the neck are you aiming? Right behind the ear, limiting any neck meat wastage? Or mid-neck for perhaps a little more margin for error? Just curious. My hunting rifles are all sub-MOA rifles and I can hold my own shooting in the field so I'd have zero hesitation to take these shots given reasonable distances but just curious on particular aiming points.
If they are looking at you, bottom of the white on their throat. Don't like taking the shot when their head is down personally, as they move their head alot. Side view, about middle to base of skull.
 
As I posted earlier I like the neck shot but I do have one failure on it
I shot a large buck ( about 200 lbs )in the neck with my 300wm and couldn’t find him .
The next week I saw him again chasing a doe and was shocked to see him running around with basically 1/2 his neck completely gone and him very sick
So I hammered him with a shoulder shot , he was fevered up and rotten full of maggots only thing holding the head on was some muscle and the spinal cord
A one in a million failure imo , very weird deal
I got the head and coyotes the meat ( next day only bones left)
 
Thats not a failure. That was a miss
Yeah I didn’t sever the spinal column while aiming for the white patch on the neck on a frontal shot and waited to long after the shot to pick him up with the truck, I assumed ( ass u me ) he was dead because of the shot location
I will blame it on the Rum & Dr Perpper I was drinking 😂😂😂
 
One head shot! I'll never do that again. Pretty awful sight!

I don't do neck shots nor head shots. There is already way more room to miss.
I don't shoot running/moving deer.
I don't shoot until I can get a broad side.
....and I seldom shoot over 100 yards or so.
My favorite shot is "high-shoulder".
I hunt an area that sits on top of a bluff about 100 feet high. It's a long tough haul if one gets over the edge of the bluff.
Ask me! LOL!
 
For all the neck shooters here, where on the neck are you aiming? Right behind the ear, limiting any neck meat wastage? Or mid-neck for perhaps a little more margin for error? Just curious. My hunting rifles are all sub-MOA rifles and I can hold my own shooting in the field so I'd have zero hesitation to take these shots given reasonable distances but just curious on particular aiming points.
Head on frontal, right under the chin. Anywhere from directly under the chin to 6" below. Side view, anywhere really. Center of the neck will always break the spinal column in MY experiences. I shoot bergers, eld m/x never had an issue.
If your a good enough shot, and your setup is steady enough, right about jawline height at the base of the skull works perfectly.

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