Neck shots on deer?

[Pappy]

As far as I am concerned,there is only one good shot to take,heart lung area,now don't get me wrong I have hit them in a lot of other areas and recovered them,a lot of them very quickly but
it wasn't what I was looking at when I shot and alway disappointed in my shooting when that happens.  If you hit one 3 or 4 inches below the back bone and about the same up from the
brisket,behind the front shoulder and in front of the last rib you can be sure the deer ant going
going far. I have seen then go 150 yards to the outside but most time 50/60 yards and sometime much less than that. I don't try and tell people how to hunt but as for me it's the rib cage.    Pappy

[kinkfeather]

i thought about a neck shot when i was younger.but it scares the crap out of me to think about a deer suffering an not finding the deer.i would not want to come up on a deer screaming in pain because i made a mistake on the shot.it does happen an it is not pleasent.kink

[JW_Halverson]

Heads and necks move far too much and far, far too often compared to the pumphouse.

[Stingray45]

I wouldn't take a neck shot but that's me personally. Main reason being is that I've missed enough times aiming for the heart haha, and thats with a compound and sites. Also I was talking to a guy from my club the other day, and we were talking about how tough deer are and he was saying that the year before last or further back he was shooting a compound and didnt see a twig in the way farther down range. Arrow hit the twig, kicked left and went right through the deers neck. Said the deer dropped, stood back up and walked around with half of the arrow hanging out each side. Then he slowly walked off. The guy gave him sometime went and searched that night and the next day, followed blood for a few hundred yards and then it disappeared. Kept looking as he went through the woods all that winter and never found any sign of a dead deer. I just think it's safer and quicker to "let the air out of them" with a double lung or a well placed heart shot. But that's just my opinion, dont want to tell anyone else how to hunt.

[Cacatch]

I appreciate all the responses and reasons guys, both the pro's and the con's.  Actually, I had never thought of shooting a deer in the neck, I have always heard about the kill zone being the place to shoot and that's where I had always planned to stick him.  I just got curious if that was what everyone did, since I read about Ishi shooting neck shots. I'm just trying to figure out why the natives would take a neck shot if it meant the possibility of losing meat, and if it was successful with old-time primitive equipment, then why couldn't we do it. I'm sure the natives could put em down when it was on the line more often than not, but I can't believe that they would have been much better shots than some of you guys who wouldn't go for the neck. That's really the only reason I brought it up.

Thanks again, 

CP

[RabidApache]

The reason why Ishi would make neck shots on deer was cuz he could. Simple as that. When your brought up as a kid in Ishis "days" he probably carried a bow and arrow everywhere he went from childhood to adult. Pretty much all Natives grew up in this manner. Ishi knew his capabilites. He knew if he had a non-vital hit he could simply track the animal until he followed up with another arrow or until he retrieved his quarry. Wether he tracked his game for 5hrs or 5 miles it was nothing for him cuz he had skills to do this .
But in this day in age....I ain't gonna starve cuz I passed on a neck shot. I passed on the neck shot because I don't have a "need" to make shots like this anymore. 

[Cacatch]

Yeah, good point too.

[crooketarrow]

   I've shot 2 and 8 point in the white spot I called.And  9 point below the white spot in a corn field I stalked.Only shot I had both times.Both died with in 50 yards.I here all the people saying O'GOD.But I was taught if and oppertunly comes up take addvanage of it(SHOOT).Or go home with out your deer.If you don't shoot you can't kill.Sorry but I kill my deer not harvest them.