Neck shooting revisited

3119 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Zachary, Mar 25, 2003

Graybeard

Discussion Starter · Nov 27, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

I have almost zero experience with neck shots as I've never intentionally taken one. I always aim for the lungs/heart area if it is available to me from the angle I have to shoot. I know lots of folks like the neck shot and swear by it but there really is a small target there well hidden and if you don't know your deer anatomy pretty well and place the bullet precisely you can fail to damage the spine. Yeah the shock might put it down but will it kill it? If you miss low you might take out the esophogus and that's a fatal shot but not for days.

I aim for the shoulder or just behind it myself.

GB

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Grinder

· #2 · Nov 27, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

Every deer I've ever shot in the neck has went down like a rock and stayed there.

If I'm close enough and can get an open shot, I'll usually shoot does in the head. The neck shot is an extremely lethal shot, if you know where you're shooting. I like between the shoulder blades as well.

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jeff f

· #3 · Nov 28, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

i have shot between 30-35 whitetails with neck shots. weapons ranged from 22 rimfire short to 300 weatherby and includes a 44 cap and ball 1858 remington revolver. i have yet to see one move a single inch. i believe the negative experience you guys had was purely nerves. the deer was dead but "twitching". very rare for them to even do that. you hit in the neck, they go down, period.

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Frog123

· #4 · Nov 28, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

I'm like most others. I've seen it go both ways. I've hit deer in the neck and killed them instantly and I've hit 'em in the throat and chased 'em all over the country side. I do agree with what was said earlier. A deer with a ripped out throat is a memorable (usually bad) thing. Mine was a spike that was feeding in a food plot and turned when the shot was made. It was right at dusk and turning dark quickly, lucky for me there was a good snow on the ground which made trailing easier. I Finaly spotted the deer on the next hill side bedded, actually I heard its noisy breathing. With the deer silhouetted against a white hill side I took the only shot I had available, another neck shot. Struck high in the neck with another 130gr. psp from a .270 ended the chase. Two "neck" shots on the same deer which eventually lead to the same outcome. Under more "controlled" conditions I have put crippled car struck deer down with neck (and head) shots. Three that surprised me the most were deer that I shot with handguns with supposedly good "fight stopper" rounds. The first was a 160lb six point that I watched get hit. It was lying in the road thrashing with a broken back. I put one 125gr JHP from a .357 behind the shoulder into the heart/lung area. The deer lay still until I had drug it about 15 feet and then it started kicking and thrashing again. This time with me holding the antlers. The second was a button buck who took two 230gr. "hardballs" in the ribs at ten yards from a 1911 and still proceeded to run with a shattered hind leg. The third was a 130lb. 5 point who took a single 9mm 115gr hollow point in the ribs at a distance of 5 yards. This deer also got up and ran with a broken leg. Both deer only went a short distance before lying back down and both were finished off with high neck shots, one apiece. Just my .02

Frog

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jhm

· #5 · Nov 28, 2002

neck shots

ive had to help look for more deer that were shot in the lung area heart area tib cage area over the last 40 years of hunting notice I said area because thats the general area alot of the shots are placed. shots in the neck pretty much are a hit or a miss yes sometimes they arnt dead as a nail like some would like it but the animal that is his a little off in the lung area is going to suffer as well and usually for a longer period of time.

JIM

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brdavis

· #6 · Dec 4, 2002

22 rimfire???

Jeff f.

I'm not trying to be a butt about this but I must ask. You said you used a 22 rimfile on a whitetail. What state allows the use of a 22 rim fire for whitetail hunting???

I know if you got cought using that in Bama you would be in big trouble!!!

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jeff f

· #7 · Dec 6, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

there are no states that i know of that allow hunting deer with a 22 rimfire. when i was a kid, we shot deer to eat, not to hunt. nuff said?

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dabigmoose

· #8 · Dec 6, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

:grin: hi jeff
Just for the record and anyone can look it up you can use a 22 rimfire take swimming caribou from a boat in units 23 and 26 in Alaska.
I know cci stingers will drop bambi as Koniag natives on kodiak shoot black tails to keep the Brown bear from hearing the dinner bell shot and its cheap.I myself have neck shot deer with 458 and it definetly works good and bear are not a problem.
talk at ya later Jeff
Dabigmoose

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jeff f

· #9 · Dec 7, 2002

Neck shooting revisited

maybe i should dust off the ole 22 and hunt in those units

sure would bring back memories....lots of them bad

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hntngirl

· #10 · Mar 14, 2003

Neck shooting revisited

First buck I ever killed ran into thick brush to hide, and I shot him in the neck with buckshot from my 12ga from 8 feet away. He dropped like a rock!

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Zachary

· #11 · Mar 17, 2003

Neck shooting revisited

bj,

You said that you shot the deer smack dab in the middle of the neck. Well, if my memory serves me correct, the spine is not exactly in the middle of the neck. Rather, I think that it is higher up. Now, perhaps the bullet mushroomed and hit a small part of the bone, but not a significant amount of it.

Can anyone with a chart of a deer's anatomy either confirm or deny?

Zachary

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huntsman

· #12 · Mar 20, 2003

Neck shooting revisited

Odocoileus virginianus Anatomy 101:

The vertebral column and its enclosed spinal cord varies in its apparent position in the neck according to the animal's position, posture, and the angle of an observer's vision. Generally, the spine will be somewhat centered vertically from a frontal or rearward angle, and about an inch and a half rearward and about 3/4 high near the base of the neck from either broadside angle. Of course the highly flexible and mobile neck of this animal may present multiple and complex angles of view to any observer depending on the situation.

Buckshot Ballistics 102:

A load of 00 buckshot delivered via a 12 gauge shotgun will easily correct any minor (less than 2") variation in spinal column position in the neck of a whitetailed deer. Case in point, the deer "dropped like a rock", indicating a spinal column direct hit with at least one of those shot pellets. 8)

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Zachary

· #13 · Mar 25, 2003

Neck shooting revisited

Thank you doctor. :-D

The scariest part of it is that I actually understood you.

Zachary

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