neck shot

[montveil]

Where is the best place to hit a deer in the neck from a side shot?

[Bigeasy]

I have never been a fan of the neck shot on big game.  To much chance of a wounding shot.  Unless you hit the spine, or sever major blood vessels, I think the chest (lung/heart) shot is best.  If forced to take a neck shot, I would try to visualize where the spine was, and aim accordingly.. Years ago, I witnessed a friend shoot a doe in the neck with a 20ga slug, from about 15 yards.  She ran and ran and ran, and we did not find her.  For all I know, she survived.

Larry

[okieshooter]

follow a line from below the ear through the centerline of his neck back to his shoulder then go back another 10-15 inches. I have pulled a lot of neck shots in my younger poaching years so they would fall where they stood but I won't hardly do it anymore. A couple years ago I shot a doe in the head and back at camp everyone ooohed and awed until someone finally asked me how far she was. I grinned and told him about 7 steps. If you try it the closer to the head the better and the faster and more explosive the bullet the better in my opinion, I prefer not to try it.

[toytruck]

I hope your kidding about that poaching remark!!

[charles p]

I expect I have killed at least 50-100 deer with neck shots.  It is a drop right there shot.  I think the neck is probably the most dense tissue on a deer, thus bullet expansion and energy transfer is very efficient when struck in the neck.  I aim slightly above the centerline of the neck and not too far up from the junction of the shoulder and neck.  A high velocity round will knock a deer dead when struck here.  The nervous system will be destroyed and the deer should not take a step.  Many never even shudder when they hit the ground.  When shooting a deer near its head, I agree with the earlier poster about the ear alignment.  I don't usually shoot behind the head unless the opportunity is very close range.  I only take a head shot unless it is straight on and I can shoot the deer between the eyes.  I aim for the nose and the bullet hits between the eyes.  At 25 yds, I aim for point of impact.

I hunt with several rifles ranging from 25-06 up to 30-06 and I don't go lower than 120 grain bullets in the 25-06 or above 165 grain in my 30-06.  A lot of my rifles are in the 7mm size and I like 140 grain bullets for them, as well as for my 270.  It's probably been 30 years since I have used a 308 or 30-06 bullet other than a 150 grain.

Works for me.  I don't like tracking after dark.

[montveil]

Now I throw another wrench into the works.
I on rare occasions where my partner will be using my ML and I have to resort to the 223 with Nosler partition 60 grain bullets. 
Yes, I realize the 223 is marginal on Eastern deer but I am looking for the best shot placement.
Neck or behind the shoulder. Ranges will be at 75 yards to 100 max. and I can place the shot with accuracy.

Thanks again for any opinions

[yooper77]

I have taken deer with neck shots and they drop like stones.  I don’t shoot over 50 yards for such a shot.  All my neck shots were taken with 7x57 Mauser hand loaded with Herters 140 grain and 7x57 Mauser Ackley Improved hand loaded with Hornady 154 grain bullets.

If you use the 223 Remington with 60 grain Nosler Partitions I would wait for a very close 50 yards or under broad side double lung and forget the neck or head.  I would trust the Partition to peel back and hold together for penetration, but stay away from the shoulders.  Quartering away may be your best bet to get behind the ribs; I don’t know what such a small bullet would do when encountering a rib bone.

yooper77

[dukkillr]

I'm not much for neck shots but I've done it twice in the past 15 years.  Once on a hog at about 100, once during the Missouri rifle season last fall.  Both times at the base of the ear approximately where the skull and spine meet.  Both times, bang flop.

On the hog I was told to do that rather than have to mess with tracking after dark.  I'd never shot a hog before.  I'm not sure I'd do that again.

On the deer, I was hunting in extremely thick bedding cover and the deer was only visible from the top of the back up.  I'd passed the shot at 350 and 200 but I felt good at 75 with a dead rest and fading light.  No issues.  That buck is the one in my picture...

A good shot with a good rest should be able to hit a tennis ball 10 out of 10 times at 75 yards.  The area on the deer you are aiming for is at least that size. 

[SHOOTALL]

Its always funny how when a neck shot or running shot etc. comes up people think others should do . Way I see it is if you can make the shot go for it . Where to shoot the neck , if possible where it joins the body top 2/3's IMHO.

[Ethan]

i like to hold right where  the neck meets the head

[mechanic]

If you have a high energy round, any shot within 2" of the spine will drop the deer.  What you have to watch for, is that the deer may only be temporarily stunned and not dead.  I usually have an anchoring shot ready.  Also bear in mind that if the deer moves only a little while you are squeezing the trigger, you will miss or wound.  It's a percentage shot that I will take if circumstances are exact.

[Siskiyou]

I was huffing and puffing up a step deer trail with fresh tracks on it when I spotted a buck looking at me from around a large pine tree. All I could see of him was his head and neck.  My Savage 110CL was loaded with a favored load.  I held on the center of the neck and pulled the trigger.

The next thing I saw was the deer’s hooves because he was in somersault mode.  I am sure that his leaning out to see me and the steep slope cause the dynamic affect.   The 140-grain .277 bullet at over 3000 fps had little to do with it.

I shot a running buck at an angle in the front edge of the shoulder near the base of the neck with the 165-grain Nosler Partition running up the spine and exiting the neck on the other side.  What appeared to be ground bone fragments were found on the edge of the exit hole.  The deer crap his departure angel slightly and what was to be a behind the shoulder shot turned into high shoulder neck shot.  The deer went down so fast I lost him in the recoil.  My brain was saying where did he go?



I have re-thought the behind the shoulder shot I made on a book a couple years ago because of the bullet damage.  I keep asking myself if I should have made a neck shot.  The answer is No?  The deer had spotted my movement; it had tensed-up and was ready to go.  The slight window of opportunity I had to make a neck shot was lost when I brought the rifle up.  An attempted neck shot could have flattened the deer or crippled it.  I normally avoid a neck shot but ones to the base of the neck have been effective.  I shoot one in a steep, snow covered chute in Colorado.  That dead deer slide downhill very fast, in fact I was kind of looking for an escape route.

An, old-old hunting buddy is an outstanding shot who has taken many deer.  He goes to the default behind shoulder shot.

[Rock Home Isle]

Where is the best place to hit a deer in the neck from a side shot?

On a neck shot or even a spine shot...If the shot connects the animal is down...no question about it. But on a deer sized game animal, your looking at a target that is maybe 4", because if you hit bone the deed is done.

Years ago, my dad shot at a doe and tried for a the neck, off-hand, at ~125 yards with a 7mm Mag. He pulled the shot and clipped the neck low. He came and foun me and told me the story  about his "miss". But I had him show me where he took the shot and I found a very small trace of blood. I followed that blood-trail for 7 miles before I found the animal. I don't neck shoot, unless I'm leaned against a solid rest, shooting a scoped rifle, and the animal is close...not more than 100yards away.

I'll take a good solid heart/lung shot at any reasonable distance. I've dropped antelope at 600 yards. If I can see the animal I am very comfortable that I can keep the shot within a 10-15 inch center-mass kill zone.

Course that's just my personal mental block on neck shots.