Neck shots

All of my stalking is by invitation, I can shoot doe's whenever I like but Bucks when invited, the trade off is that all deer must be neck shot.

I would prefer to take engine room shots but the game dealer insist on neck shots so that's the estate rules, take em or leave em!!

The taking of neck shots significantly reduces the number of deer I shoot as I pass up many shots that if could be taken if chest shooting.

I like to be as certain as possible when neck shooting so range is reduced to about 75 yards max.

I have not had a runner yet but a pricket that dropped on the spot was very much alive but totally paralysed.

It certainly is a killing shot but I don't think we should limit ourselves to this shot only, keep it in the locker just in case but better off reducing the margin of possible error and hitting the engine room.
 
It could be the new server???? I know Rob has just changed over to a new company. Either that or someone has hit the old sherry bottle and hit the wrong button somewhere ????

I expect it will get sorted soon, in the meantime what is everyone doing Boxing Day?

I am off on a traditional walked up bird shoot. This will blow the dust out of my over and under, it dosnt see much action these days, as its all stalking for me!

THATS WEIRD I JUST POSTED THIS AND IT JUMPED IN FRONT OF MR B's POST. :rolleyes: SPOOKY.
 
The memsahib and I are off to a clay shoot in the afternoon at my mates place, which is really an excuse for a get together with friends. A few boxes of clays followed by festive drams. Very nice.

John
 
Boxing Day

Going up to the cabin in Scotland to plant pine trees, shoot roe deer and drink whiskey :D :D :D

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Back on New Years Eve

Mark
 
Mark that looks and sounds absolutly ideallic, I unfortunatly will be at work, you are all making me very jealous. ;)

Merry Christmas everybody, and lots of luck for 2008
 
Does anybody think that the type of round being used would make any difference to the decision to take a neck shot and what do we think the size of the kill zone in a neck is compared to the heart and lung and does that differ significantly depending on species.
 
Neck shots only when a) the boiler room option is obscured and b) I feel confident about it. If not, I simply don't shoot.

A thought - after the head, the neck is the most mobile part of the deer and more likely than the body to move just as you release the shot. At least with the heart/lungs area you've got a bit of a margin for error.
 
I still think after all that has been said the neck is as good a place as any to kill deer humanely. As has been said, your first shot should be got to within a 1" area which the neck is more than big enough to sustain.

Head shots are totally different as there is more chance of wounding the deer in the cheek bone and it running off to die slowly. I have taken head shots before, but only when the deer is facing away from me where i shoot in the back of the head. Here, if the bullet goes high, it is a total miss, but if it goes low, you will still get it in the centre of the back of the neck.

Now before people start to get on there high horses, which you are entitled to do, a lot of these types of shot are usually taken when you have got 100% confidence in your gun and you know that when you pull that trigger, it IS going to hit it where you have aimed. I for one have got this confidence and trust in my bit of kit to take these type of shots, IF, and when required.

I would just like to finish off by saying that there can sometimes be a little too much getting onto people who do not shoot the same as others and ostresise them for it. "YES" we all want the same outcome, a safe shot with a dead deer at the end of it. The fact that i/we feel confident enough to take these shots should not make me or anyone else wrong.

wadashot
 
well MarkH, grizzelydavey summed it up beautifuly so enjoy ':D' ':D'

hi needsy
when i take neck shots ,i go centre of neck and halfway up when deer is facing or back to me at no more than 100-120 yards and centre of neck just in front of the shoulder when deer side on at no more than 80ish yards but please check on how your rifle shoots at these ranges and i never neck on windy days as the wind affects the bullets flight even at 50 yards so be warned
CHEST is BEST
 
i always go for a boiler house/heart shot, most of my deer are reds and they have very deep necks!!
a misplaced neck shot on one of these animals could be a long term injury/fatality.
a desent shot in the heart or boiler house will bring a good result, even if they run a little you know that your shot is good and dont need to track!!
a bad neck shot could lead to a windpipe shot where they will live for days or low jaw shot which they can live for weeks....either is not nice, i religously stick to a killing area no matter how the shot is presented, if its not a good shot.....DONT TAKE!!!
I would rather go home with a blank than take a shot that might lead to an animal running away with a neck/throat wound that could make this animal suffer for weeks, if not months!!
so for me on a big deer, neck shots are OUT!!!
duggers
 
Hi to all
I just browsed onto this site about 2 hours ago, been having a good read.

I have been a deer stalker for almost 20 years, a lot of those years I was going for a heart lung shot.

We have all had experiences of the perfect chest shot and the deer goes running faster than before it was shot, into the thickest part of cover where a long crawl is order of the day.

I sold my deer to the game dealer rarely keeping any for myself. When the bottom fell out of the market I decided to sell no more and only shoot for my own needs or for members of my family or for close friends.

As time has passed my only red meat is venison, no cow meat. Being that I am butchering the deer for my own use I prefer to neck shoot the deer that I harvest, I still have the odd chest shot if a neck shot is not presented.

I agree fully with grizzelydavey, I only neck shoot if the deer is facing me or looking away from me, I take a high neck shot for the reason that lower neck shots have in the past produced a lot of bruising into the shoulder area.

If you take a side on neck shot chances are you are condemning a beast to a slow painful death if the shot falls by only a few inches, you could be shooting through the throat area.

I reload my own ammo, I would not take neck shots with ammo I was not sure of.

I live in the Scottish Borders, in the heart of good Sika country, I have a forestry bloc that marches part of the farm that I shoot, I get the Sika coming from the forestry to feed on the open hill, chest shooting these deer would lead to them running back into cover and I do not like the idea of going into the forest leaving my rifle or even taking it with me, hence neck shots are the way I go, I expect guests to do the same.
I have recently secured a farm for shooting Sika which is about 4000 acres, it has roughly 60% of the boundary bordered with forest blocs, Neck shooting will have to be done here as well.

Hope I have not upset anyone with my first post.

Cheers
 
i took my first neck shot this wekend, a roe doe at 100m off bipod. i used a 55gn balistic silvertip (deer legal interms of calibre & energy) out of my .243 prohunter mountain. the scope was a leupold vx111 6.5 - 20 x 50, which i wound up to 20x to take the shot. the gun with that ammo is zeroed at 165m, which shoots 1/4" low at 100m. i'm going to push it out a little further and re zero at 200m when i get chance.I had set in my mind that i was going to shoot a doe this month, only if i could get a neck shot. the bullet did its job very well and smashed everything in the neck, and did not exit. i will not be using these bullets for heart shots.

this was a great confidence booster for me.

Do "deer" bullets have the same effect on the neck, or do they pass through if not dead on?
 
I use 100gr Federal Powershok in my .243, these pass through the neck with ease, certinally on the Sika and Fallow I have shot with them.

Exit wound from 40m or so....

SikaHind11Feb0803.jpg
 
hi tartinjock
you hit the naill on the head here ,
as you say it passes through the neck with ease,
i always used federal hi-shok before i moved to home loading and my uncle now uses power-shok as it seems to taken over from the hi-shok ,yes i know it is more accurrate but feel it does not deliver the same destructive impact as the hi-shok did ,as i can see the exit wound is a lot smaller than i would expect but it is a little low but has done the job no matter, hav you ever used hi-shok and if so hav you noticed the difference
stone
 
I used to stalk on an estate where all beasts were head shot as they were all being sold inot the local market as joints / chops etc thus meat wastage was kept to a minimum.

We used high velocity 22 and 6mm wildcats - can't remember the exact bullets but had plastic tips with velocity at c 3,500 ft per sec I believe, with heavy barreled custom rifles.

Only shot with animal looking directly at you - shot between the eyes, or away in back of head.

The bullets did make a mess - in that there was severe fragmentation / transfer of energy with massive exit wound, so that even if you were slightly off it worked every time. But the results were not pleasant to look at.

We also worked together, with one rifle backing up - first rifle to shoot the head, 2nd ready for a body shot if the beast did n't drop instantly. Also you do want to remain in a stable position for a period of time after the shot and be prepared to shoot again if there is any hint of movement. Even if the beast drops instantly, the shot could still be slightly off, simply stunning the animal, causing it to drop instantly, but with the wound being non fatal.

Now - I do occasionally take a head shot, and will do so again, but my usual preference is one into the boiler room - not as quick, but more room for error. And I would prefer to take a head shot, rather than a body shot on a poorly presented beast. But to be honest, if the shot is not perfect and I ma no pressure to make a cull, will just let the beast live for another day.
 
I used to stalk on an estate where all beasts were head shot as they were all being sold inot the local market as joints / chops etc thus meat wastage was kept to a minimum.

We used high velocity 22 and 6mm wildcats - can't remember the exact bullets but had plastic tips with velocity at c 3,500 ft per sec I believe, with heavy barreled custom rifles.

Only shot with animal looking directly at you - shot between the eyes, or away in back of head.

The bullets did make a mess - in that there was severe fragmentation / transfer of energy with massive exit wound, so that even if you were slightly off it worked every time. But the results were not pleasant to look at.

We also worked together, with one rifle backing up - first rifle to shoot the head, 2nd ready for a body shot if the beast did n't drop instantly. Also you do want to remain in a stable position for a period of time after the shot and be prepared to shoot again if there is any hint of movement. Even if the beast drops instantly, the shot could still be slightly off, simply stunning the animal, causing it to drop instantly, but with the wound being non fatal.

Now - I do occasionally take a head shot, and will do so again, but my usual preference is one into the boiler room - not as quick, but more room for error. And I would prefer to take a head shot, rather than a body shot on a poorly presented beast. But to be honest, if the shot is not perfect and I ma no pressure to make a cull, will just let the beast live for another day.
 
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