Therein lies a lot of the uncertainty!
Where to aim for neck shots
- Thread starter Mungo
- Start date
kenbro
Well-Known Member
Christ man, have that scope sitting high enough
No good being uncertain when out deer stalking.
Ken.
Thing is people head shoot rabbits at good distances all the time as a 17 or .22 in the shoulder/hl and you will chuck half away. And the head is not very big
Just the wheels fall off when Deer is mentioned....
Just the wheels fall off when Deer is mentioned....
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
That’s superb, I just can’t imagine getting my head up that high prone and keeping cheek weld
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Question, what’s your definition of the neck as regards popping a deer there?
It’s not a trick question but every time the subject comes up we have a number of contributors detailing failures with neck shooting.
My definition of “ neck” in this instance is the red area in #49 or above it.
Nothing below.
Below the red area is what I would call the upper chest, hits there will definitely give rise to unsatisfactory results unless you break the spine or hit very close to it.
I suspect that a lot of the negative experiences of neck shooting are as a result of actually putting the bullet into the upper chest area rather than the neck.
My definition is as yours is - red line and typically top end of that not bottom.
Expansion has more to do with jacket type than tip type.
The last neck shot I took was about 80yds freehand on a Red Stag that had been lying dead on the floor for 15 minutes then decided it wasn't dead at all.
Slightly above halfway up mid neck, bang flop.
The 264 win mag has that effect.
The chest shot was high and penciled through not touching anything critical but enough to put it on the floor for 15 minutes while I was looking for the other 2 I had shot.
Both found dead on the floor.
Slightly above halfway up mid neck, bang flop.
The 264 win mag has that effect.
The chest shot was high and penciled through not touching anything critical but enough to put it on the floor for 15 minutes while I was looking for the other 2 I had shot.
Both found dead on the floor.
Puds
Well-Known Member
I’ll quite often take neck shots on muntjac that are at a reasonably close range, but it’s not infallible. This one was quartering away at 20ish yds but somehow didn’t kill it, just knocked it down (the headshot after did…). That was using a 123gr Sako SP in the .308, and I can only presume it skimmed off the spine.
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Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Really?
Please feel free to give your eloquence free rein and elucidate.
A wee snippet, just a paragraph or two, detailing your personal experience and qualifications to make a statement and reach a conclusion so profoundly contrary to my own humble experience would also be much appreciated.
It might help you to get started if you were to break my contribution down a bit and identify the individual elements of shite you have identified and so succinctly commented upon.
Please don’t keep it all to yourself, your knowledge deserves a wider audience.
wildfowler.250
Well-Known Member
Very true! I’d say as a rule of thumb, your Btips tend to have a thinner jacket though. Appreciate your larger cals like .270, the ballistic tips are geared towards hunting but not quite in the same camp as a bonded bullet
Too many variables as is evidenced and may be extrapolated by a glance at the Moose Hunter’s clock for heart/lung shot placement:
K
K
baguio
Well-Known Member
You don’t need sub MOA if you’re necking munties at less than 50m which many of them are. See Tim’s photo of a neck shot munty. That’s pretty standard. Deer stalking isn’t about being the best shot on the planet. It’s about making lethal shots at the range you’re shooting at. It really is that simple.
baguio
Well-Known Member
Wrong. At 20 yards it didn’t skim the spine at all. If it had have done, the spine would have splintered into lots of pieces and put it to sleep. You pulled the shot I’m afraid.
I was about to say we will only see pictures of shots that went according to plan (or luck if you prefer) but apparently not so if the above assertion is given of validity!
K
K
I don’t agree, Varmint soft points are every bit as soft as Varmint poly tips.
Conversely hunting soft points and tipped are similar, say NBTs and pro hunters, then you get bonded poly tipped bullets like the accubond that are harder again.
All about choosing the right bullet for the right application, whether they are tipped or soft point.
wildfowler.250
Well-Known Member
True! I’ve switched off both Nosler BTS and prohunters in the .270 for accubonds. Far neater carcass
Accubonds are a great bullet, I’m all copper now though!True! I’ve switched off both Nosler BTS and prohunters in the .270 for accubonds. Far neater carcass
Having read through the preceding posts I have to agree with @75 on this. I am not a fan of neck shots but do use them (high neck) on occasion where that is all that is offered. My reasoning is this. With a neck shot the aim is to disrupt spinal cord function by breaking bone. There are 7 Cervical vertebrae denoted by C1-7, 13 Thoracic vertebrae that have attached ribs denoted by T1-13 and 7 Lumbar vertebrae denoted L1-7.
If you are disrupting the spinal cord then a shot affecting C1-C3 will be fatal as the muscles of respiration will be paralysed and motor function will be lost to all limbs. This equates to the high neck shot. If the spinal cord segments between C4 and T2 are destroyed then there will be immediate tetraplegia (all four limbs will be incapable of movement) but the brain will be fully functional until coup de grace or blood supply to the brain is lost by more peripheral tissue damage. Bear in mind that severing one carotid artery will not cause death as the vascular supply to the brain has a circular layout (circle of Willis) that maintains blood supply in this situation. A severe spinal injury behind T3 will only cause paraplegia (hind limb paralysis). So the so called low neck shot is likely to result in delayed loss of consciousness. Others have already eluded to the eyes following you when you approach the paralysed deer. This surely cannot be considered acceptable from a welfare perspective if another shot was available!
The next important factor is the lack of clear aiming point with neck shots, particularly low neck shots. This can easily result in wounding and failure to recover the deer. The spinal column does not always lie in the middle of the neck and if a shot fails to hit the bone of the spine in the neck it should be regarded as a failed shot. You may get away with it and anchor the deer but be completely honest with yourself that you have failed your task of hitting the spine and reflect on what could have gone wrong.
My preference is to take a hilar shot as first choice and a head or high neck shot as a second choice. It is rare that I cannot get one of these two shots to work. Occasionally in woodland I may find the head and heart/lung area obscured and will then consider a neck shot as a last resort. If there is any movement after the shot (other than legs kicking)?then another round will be sent immediately, even if that means poor shot placement and a spoiled carcass. Anything with a residual blink on approach gets a second shot or is bled.
If you are disrupting the spinal cord then a shot affecting C1-C3 will be fatal as the muscles of respiration will be paralysed and motor function will be lost to all limbs. This equates to the high neck shot. If the spinal cord segments between C4 and T2 are destroyed then there will be immediate tetraplegia (all four limbs will be incapable of movement) but the brain will be fully functional until coup de grace or blood supply to the brain is lost by more peripheral tissue damage. Bear in mind that severing one carotid artery will not cause death as the vascular supply to the brain has a circular layout (circle of Willis) that maintains blood supply in this situation. A severe spinal injury behind T3 will only cause paraplegia (hind limb paralysis). So the so called low neck shot is likely to result in delayed loss of consciousness. Others have already eluded to the eyes following you when you approach the paralysed deer. This surely cannot be considered acceptable from a welfare perspective if another shot was available!
The next important factor is the lack of clear aiming point with neck shots, particularly low neck shots. This can easily result in wounding and failure to recover the deer. The spinal column does not always lie in the middle of the neck and if a shot fails to hit the bone of the spine in the neck it should be regarded as a failed shot. You may get away with it and anchor the deer but be completely honest with yourself that you have failed your task of hitting the spine and reflect on what could have gone wrong.
My preference is to take a hilar shot as first choice and a head or high neck shot as a second choice. It is rare that I cannot get one of these two shots to work. Occasionally in woodland I may find the head and heart/lung area obscured and will then consider a neck shot as a last resort. If there is any movement after the shot (other than legs kicking)?then another round will be sent immediately, even if that means poor shot placement and a spoiled carcass. Anything with a residual blink on approach gets a second shot or is bled.
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