This video is a bit gruesome, yet it has a message. Many hunters shoot deer in the neck to keep meat damage to a minimum, yet the neck area is a small target and takes a solid rest and good shooting skills. At first blush, shooting a deer in the neck may seem risky since that part of its anatomy is so small, however, “neck” shots aren’t really in the neck, but at a large boney juncture where the neck meets the body. When hunting video first came about and on early television shows, viewers often saw deer shot through the shoulder which often had them limping and seem wounded on camera. Actually, a heart lung shot with a high-powered rifle bullet is a very humane death and the animal probably expired less than 10 seconds after the shot. As TV hunters became more skillful, they learned that by aiming at the base of the neck, a deer collapsed in its tracks and provided the kind of “instant” kill that seemed more humane. An old hunter at my hunt club once recommended the neck shot as his first choice and suggested that I try it. Taking his advice, I used a very accurate 7mm Remington and downed a buck exactly as he described. The down side of the “neck” shot is the need for a second shot. Personally, if I walk up on a deer and it’s still alive, I will dispatch it with a second round, doing my best to kill it humanely and not waste venison in the process. Watch as these five management bucks are taken where they stand. In most cases, if you watch carefully, you can see the location of the bullet impact. Note that these are rest shots taken from a blind at relatively close range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKA6TJENA-k
