Yep, I am not a big fan of the neck or head shot either. Not enough room for error. If the deer moves slightly, you are in trouble. Also, as I posted above, the wounded deer I shot in the neck wasn't dead after the shot. She kept looking up at me while laying on the ground, smoke was coming out of her neck, and she was gasping for breath. I never should have listened to my hunting buddy on that shot or not shooting her again.

The best performance I have had out of the Barnes X bullet in my shotgun was on a doe. It entered from the left rear hindquarters and we found it lodged in the right front shoulder. She dropped in her tracks. The sabot/bullet had all its petals completely opened and it completely destroyed the deer.

With a good shot in the heart and lungs, the deer is only running on pure adrenaline and is completely in shock.

However, if I was told I was going to die by a gun shot and I were given the choice of being shot in the brain and being shot in the chest, I would prefer to be shot in the brain. Problem is that most of the hunters out there cannot make a brain or spinal column shot consistantly, me included.

Same thoughts here with the heart/lung. This day and age we all can pass some unsure shots because meat hunting isn't needed. I had at one time seen the same buck on my wall 6 times before he presented that sure kill shot....meanwhile, it gave me thrill after thrill while playing the hunting game. I let many nice deer pass while unsure of the shot be it backround or just not that heart/lung shot......a lesson learned years ago.

I'll take a high shoulder shot myself. Little high and the neck is broken at the base. Little low, and the shoulder is done and the lungs are taken out. I've killed quite a few and they usually drop without even a quiver.

I normally shoot for the chest. Best IMO.

I have taken several neck shots and had good luck. But WT, your every time statement is not true. Case in point. In 1986, my dad killed a 172" deer on our farm. Killed it with a heart/lung chest shot with a 30-06. Word got out quick about this buck as there arent alot that big killed in that area. One of the neighbors came by the barn to see it and said that looked identical to a buck he shot at earlier in the season. I quizzed him about it and he said he couldnt believe he had missed. It was less than 100 yards and an easy shot with his 270. Even had the gun and the core lokt bullets he used with him. Said he tried to neck shoot it.

I was about ready to skin the buck anyway, so we peeled it and sure enough, in the meat just above the spine was a perfectly shaped 270 core lokt bullet. Why the bullet didnt pass thru or expand and kill the deer, I have no idea. Just a bullet and a bruise in the meat. Thats all there was.

I agree, I havent had any trouble with the neck shots I have taken either. But that broad stroked blanket statement of "every time" is not correct. I have seen otherwise.

Andy

I'll just throw this porcupine in ya'll bloomers.....how many deer over the years ya'll heard that got kilt by a 22lr? That question is just bein sarcastic....cause the answer is more than anybody would want to admit.

There is always an exception to the rule
 

Ok so by the grace of god one animal survived a neck shot, from a rifle no less,, absolutely amazing, but the story doesn't make sense, at 100 yards or less there is not a chance in he** that the bullet wouldn't of went all the way through the deers neck especially if as you say the bullet didn't even expand, I mean think about what you are saying here, it's not possible that what the guy told you is true. Either the distance is wrong, the bullet hit something else on its way to the deer, (which wouldn't go along with it being perfectly shaped),, the list of speculation could go on and on, but I can guarantee you this,,, something happend out of the ordinary, way out of the ordinary, I mean that is obvious. I still stand by what I said, barring an absolute act of god, or some other strange occurence if you center punch a deer right in the neck it will drop right where it stands and will not get up,,, ever!

Lilred, your going to start an uproar :D but by the way just for grins I've been told 22 mag is the choice round here. And the number of deer hit in that little reflective spot would have a whole lot of zeros behind it thats for sure. It don't make it right, sure ain't respectable, and it aint my style but its the gods honest truth and it happens every day, and night!!! And it boils my blood!!

No use arguing with juvies.... It happened. And of course, you gotta be right.... Everyone else is wrong....

:rolleyes:

I didn't say your wrong or it didn't happen
 

Hey I never said you were wrong or this didn't happen, I'm not argueing with you I'm just saying its an odd occurence is all, Strange things do happen there is no denying that. What about the buck I killed in 93' that had a hole all the way through it right behind the legs ( right where the heart is supposed to be) and it was big enough to put your fist into on the one side, it had been that way for quite awhile cause infection had set in, the deer wasn't even fit to eat but before I shot it ,, it was still running around and very much alive. Strange but true, so I guess the heart lung shot kills them everytime aint true either. Who knows what happened??? Certainly not I, I am not a scientist. I've sent almost 300 deer to the butcher in my lifetime and this season is just starting up, so if that still constitutes a juvie in the deer woods so be it. Hope you have a great season!

A neck shot has always been my favorite target with whitetails. I have not lost an animal, or failed to down the deer with a single shot. I am fairly particular about the angle with neck shots though. I won't try that shot unless the deer is facing me fairly square.
I try to picture a line drawn through the deer, and plan the angle of my shot accordingly, to hit the heart.

8x56,

How does a neck shot hit the heart? I am having one heck of a time trying to visualize that. If you are shooting the deer right between the shoulders as it is facing you, then I can see the bullet hitting the heart. I think the rest of us are talking about neck shots where the deer is standing broadside; however, a neck shot while the deer is facing you might be the best way to go because there is a really high chance of hitting the spine with the bullet mushrooming. On the broadside neck shot, the chance of hitting the spine with the bullet is rather small.

I can't remember what brand ammo I was using at the time federal or remington (now only winchester) but I once hit a buck running 4 out of 5 times in the neck and one in the side and it still managed to elude me enough to cross a road, jump a guide rail and go another 50yds...I never aim at the neck but I guess the words lead them was in my head..at @50yds from me I think the lead was too much at the time but didn't know back then. It was the last buck taken at my old homestead before rt 60 mowed down the house and put in a 4 lane road..it would have been standing in the middle of the road today...The deer is mounted on the wall. Destruction of the skin/ fur..was not even enough to mess up a mount....I call it a 9pt but the buck pool called it an 11. Reasons to get mounted were won pool and was last deer taken before destruction of my hunting grounds..now I say it was bad ammunition and my cousin had the same problem with it..no expansion..only pencil holes were made....but I would think taking that many hits in the neck would stop anything...Now do you use a shotgun where these neck shots are taken? Buckshot? Distance? What about the size of the deer itself..Some of the bigger ones are like bulls. Myself, I wouldn't take that shot unless it was a fine deer and was standing behind trees ready to run and that was the only shot I had without the possibility of a better one. This being the case, I did take one years ago and it dropped in it's tracks. I used winchester ammo on that one. Just my experiences. To each his own.

My grandfather told me of a guy that poached deer spotlighting with a 22 mag. Slight pop noise, drive away, come back 3 hours later on foot with rat terrier, drag deer to road, walk to truck, pick up at road. Must have killed them with chest shots cause he always let them set for 3 hours. My gandfather hated that guy and said he stole traps and dogs. He also hand a number of great upsate new york racks in his card room.

With the decoy deer used now to control this unlawful behavior I bet he would get busted.

Pistol hunting with guy who is a great shot, He had a small buck with a messed up rack on one side and he took a head shot at 15 yards with a 44 mag. He hit right under/behind the eye. The deer ran off straight toward my stand 1/2 a mile acrossed a huge corn field jumped the fence at 120 yards and stood there pawwing at the wound. I had a good rest off a 20 foot ladder stand and placed what i thought was a great shot into the deers shoulder with a T/C in .35 rem because he went down and only pushed with his back legs into the woods 1/8 mile away.

When we finally trailed this buck down it crossed a creek and backtracked awhile before dieing next to a large tree stump. I guess some deer go father than others because other then being a bit low my shot hit the chest and both legs just under the shoulder and the exit side leg was broken almost missing. I wish he had shot the lungs as that deer would not have got out of the field to my stand. To hard of a retrieval as the climb at night out of that bottom was a nightmare.

No head shot ever take by me after that. but this is a handgun/shotgun state.

sneaking up on a bedded deer tonight I got within 35yds of it over the crest of a hill when I checked behind me as I do all the time and a doe was sneaking up on me but it didn't know I was there...with the crossbow laying in my arms facing left, sure it would come on the right side of me...soon as the head got behind a tree, I flipped the bow and shot left handed 15 yds....both lungs and it only walked, not run, 5 more steps and fell over....just another lung shot that didn't go far....so black powder season starts in the morning here in pa. Maybe get another one early..
I made my phone call from the woods and daughter/son-in-law came back with my new cart...yep..works fine and heck with the dragging anymore....love them kids too...