Neck shots, ethical?

[matt1336]

No problem w/ a gun if you don't mind wreckn your neck roast/sausage meat. Personally, I don't believe that you have to be an expert to kill a deer by shootn it in the neck w/ a slug or deer rifle. I've done it and they don't go far after the shot and I'm no expert. I've seen deer killed w/ a bow by neck shot. I wouldn't do though, I don't think there is the shock and/or power w/ and arrow/BH that is there w/a firearm.

[JV NC]

Over the years my views have changed. Now.....I look at it this way.....

IF a bowhunter can look himself in the mirror and can say that he had 100% confidence he can put his arrow into a deer's vitals.....I'll never question him.

There's a scenario where a hunter could shoot into the neck of a whitetail and do that. So..................

[Scot]

No for both with me.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Zap]

Shot my first bow buck thru the neck, in one side and out the other.
Not exactly where I was aiming.

Shot him just before sunset.
One and a half mile track and got him.
Found him at 2AM.
It was a great feeling to be standing over him after tracking thru the night.

[sticknstringarchery]

I voted no. With either. My brother (the one who is no longer allowed to hunt my property) believes that is the best shot to take. Says it saves the meat. Me, I like the neck meat. There is less ruined on a good vitals shot. I have never understood that shot. There are no vitals. Only the spine and some arteries. To me its way too risky.

[snoman4]

I voted only with a gun. A bow kills by hemorraging a deer to death basically and a neck shot will not hemorrage a deer very well unless the carotid artery it hit. The carotid artery is a very small target and I would not want to count on hitting it shot after shot under pressure. I can see too many scenarios where the carotid and spine are missed and you have a deer that gets its esophogus cut and it slowly starves to death. I will personally never shoot one in the neck with a bow and arrow.

A gun kills by destruction of tissue through hydrostatic shock. I have never seen a neck shot deer run more than 2 feet. The energy of the bullet shuts the central nervous system down 90 percent of the time on a neck shot deer and they drop where they are shot. Neck shots with a rifle are less risky becasue of the above reasons so I feel they are ethical.

[jigga]

i voted with a gun. bow is to risky , snoman hit it right on the head.

[beddedbuck]

Never on purpose with either weapon. I killed my biggest buck ever in my youngerdays. 55 yard showith the bow, elevation was right on, about 18inches too far forward. Ended up hitting the spine and dropped him. Had to finish him off though. A second one with i hit on the neck i was shooting a different deer in front of him, andways.cut some major arteries and died 40 yards away.
Would never do it on purpose, but not a bad place to hit when you "miss" where you wanted to.

[ Post made via Android ]

[UntouchableNess]

I really don't see my answer in the poll.

In 36 years of hunting deer (gun and bow), I have never shot one in the neck. I always go for the boiler room, force of habit.

[VA5326]

Only with a gun for me. I will only take a neck shot if that is the only thing presented. More times than not I'm going for the high percentage shot, i.e. double lung, etc. Perfect example is my buck from this year. He stopped halfway behind a tree and the only vital area exposed was his neck. It was a forty yard shot and he looked like he was getting ready to bolt. He dropped in his tracks.

VA

[dan]

bump

[May-39]

I've shot several with a rifle in the throat patch facing me or right behind the ear..It's cause and effect. I hunt thick narly bedding areas usually with tall grass/cattails and tags..My "longest' neck shot has been bout 20 yards,,most are 10 or less. Two within feet. Often all I really see clearly is their head, if they lift their head up to scent check facing you, there is very little soft tissue before the spine..Same reason snipers send through the nose, the sinus hole is the easiest route to the brain.

Bow nope, Was in a stand as a youth when my dad neck shot a doe we never recovered, I tracked one a landowner shot with a rage in the neck along ways last year ..Can't believe it lived but saw it two days later.

[Brad]

No with a bow, yes with a gun. First of all to me the neck isn't a very big target for a primary shot with a bow, I am not confident I could hit it routinely. Second there isn't much to hit that would be a good clean kill. Now on a follow up shot with a bow or something my thoughts are the gloves come off, two holes are always better then one in my mind, so if I had already hit a deer in a spot that should kill it, I will fling arrows at anything I can hit.

With a gun I see no reason not to take the neck shot, the shear force of the bullet hitting is more than enough to break the neck even if you don't hit it in the spine or artery. I have seen a lot of deer shot in the neck with a gun and the recoveries are always measured in inches or feet. It would not be my first choice because even with a gun its a smaller target, but if its all that is shown I will take it.

[bowslinger]

only shot one deer in the neck it was adoe at 12 steps with a 12 ga slug droped her like a brick with a bow id pass

[UntouchableNess]

Ethical? Far be it from me to tell someone else how to hunt and what shots to take.

Me, I'd avoid neck shots with a bow.

I did take a neck shot with the muzzleloader one year. I was laying on the ground in a corn field, just off a trail, waiting for sunset. I figured there was a buck bedded in a brushy waterway and he would use the trail leaving his bed. Sure enough, just at sunset he came down the trail, sensed something was wrong and stopped, head up and alert (wind was in my favor). I put a bullet in his throat patch at 30 yards. He cartwheeled over backwards, DRT.