Close up Deer and Shot Placement

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Originally Posted by Rick_ca

hunting a small acherage (sp) of land 15 max and the farm land behind it is hunted by a group so I'm looking to drop deer if I can in it tracks.

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My dad has a property that turns into a lake, you would not want something running beyond the shot when there is standing water, I know what you mean. I try the high shoulder anchor shot in this location, the issue was that the last time I had that opportunity my rings had loosened up and the gun was shooting high by 6in not 48 hours after it was sighted in (note to self, check torque on screws).

The neck and head are about the same size targets but the head moves constantly and fast, I know I am not confident enough to shoot a deer in the head, even though shooting groundhogs at 200 yards is no big deal, not sure what it is but I am confident in a kill with the shoulder or boiler room so that is where I go. Dad has used the base of the neck shot a few times now, all close range and all dropped the deer, another guy at camp tried to finish off a deer with a head shot and did nothing but remove its lower jaw, this is why I do not like the head shot.

Best of luck this year.

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Originally Posted by Fox

this is why I do not like the head shot.

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I agree, I have never recommended a head shot, nor have I ever taken one, there is no percentage to it. Especially when a well placed neck shot severs (functionally) the head from the deer anyway (see my earlier pic). Once the spine is gone the deer dies and drops.

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Originally Posted by MikePal

I agree, I have never recommended a head shot, nor have I ever taken one, there is no percentage to it. Especially when a well placed neck shot severs (functionally) the head from the deer anyway (see my earlier pic). Once the spine is gone the deer dies and drops.

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There was a guy back a while (who got banned) who used to essentially say if you cannot shoot it in the head then you are a useless hunter, not the opinion of most but exists by some.

Yes, you hit the vertebrae and sever the spinal cord the deer cannot move and it is a zero track job, I have seen a neck shot that has missed vitals though too.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Yes, you hit the vertebrae and sever the spinal cord the deer cannot move and it is a zero track job, I have seen a neck shot that has missed vitals though too.

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And I've seen a lot of shots where the guy is aiming at the boiler room and end up making a gut shot, rear hip, skin the belly hair and in one case actually hit the tail instead...it wasn't because of where they were aiming, it because of where they were hitting :)

Mote point, if your dead set against taking a neck shot, your not going to change your way of thinking, which is fine. Rick sounds like he's confident enough to be open to the option, so he will consider it if the opportunity presents itself.

the issue with the neck shot (aside from being able to hit within 1/2" where you aim 100% of the time) is that you need to know where the spine actually is. easy from behind, not so much from the side especially when you add to it movement.
personally, I don't have any problems with people who do it (with a 100% success rate). problem is that many try it out (without sufficient preparation) and nearly certainly mess it up. if all hunters would be great marksman, we would never see gut shots (or worse)...

When conditions are right, I like the neck shot. Conditions being close and confident. I'm 2 for 2 that way and love to see them drop in their tracks without a step.

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Originally Posted by Roper

...being close and confident. ...

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and where exactly does your bullet hit if you are close?
just saying: being close is not necessarily a good thing as there's more to it.

I'm confident in my shooting ability and after setting up scoped shotgun happy where it shoots at 30yrds and on the day if a deer presents itself to me I will decide then on where to shoot, and as I'm hunting from a ground blind and will have a shooting stick with me I will decide then on how it presents itself to me be it either shoulder or neck and a head shot wont even be considered.

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Originally Posted by Rick_ca

I'm confident in my shooting ability and after setting up scoped shotgun happy where it shoots at 30yrds and on the day if a deer presents itself to me I will decide then on where to shoot, and as I'm hunting from a ground blind and will have a shooting stick with me I will decide then on how it presents itself to me be it either shoulder or neck and a head shot wont even be considered.

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Nothing to worry about then, you are good to go.

When I was 16 I had a monster buck some out, I was shaking like a leaf. Just because I could put 5 shots within an inch at 100 yards did not mean I would have been able to take this deer in the head or neck. I waited for a boiler room opportunity and it never came, I watched the 12+ point buck walk up the hill without an ethical (in my mind) shot to take on the animal due to my personal beliefs and my abilities. I was dumb enough to tell the guys at the camp about the experience I had and how cool it was to see a deer like this at 50 yards for such a long time and just take it all in. All I got from the head of the camp was "Why did you not shoot it in the head? You can hit a pop can why not just shoot it in the head?". This is one of the many reason I left that camp, no need for that type of BS and no need for something like that with someone wanting to get into the sport of hunting. The interesting part is that about 4 years later a guy with a semi shot 9 shots at a yearling, he hit the guts and 3 of the 4 legs. The guy who had yelled at me for not shooting the deer in the head then went up and shot this yearling in the head at 5 yards and took off the bottom jaw, only to have the deer look up at him, he then had to shoot it twice in the neck to finish off the deer.

This was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen while hunting, this was absolutely horrible for the animal and made me want to quit right there, these two "seasoned" hunters shooting at a running deer too far away to make a kill shot, not taking enough time to make a good shot and not even being concerned at what they did to a living creature. This is why I like a boiler room shot, I feel that it gives me room for the animal to move, if the bullet hits a branch and deflects a bit it will not change the outcome and I will never see a deer or hear a deer like I did that day.

It is all about personal ethics, nobody from this forum will be out there beside you when you hunt, you will know at the time what is a good shot and if and where you should take that shot. You have nobody to look to by making the decision than yourself and I hope that you take the animal down quickly with as minimal pain as possible, no matter where it is shot.

I wish I have had the hunting opportunities that the rest of the more experienced hunters here have had and would be able to have a larger pool to pull from but I am going with what I know from my experiences. I have hunted deer for 16 years, I have issues with attention and staying still, hence why I only have 5 deer under my belt in that time. 2 have been shot with a crossbow, both boiler room, 1 at 15 yards, 1 at 43 yards. I shot the other 3 with the 12ga, 1 at 15 yards with challanger slugs, 1 at 60 yards with a hornady sabot slug and 1 at about 10 feet with buckshot, all shots to the lungs and none went more than 100 yards, the buckshot one never moved.

The problem for me Fox, is the recovery....I hunt in the deep bush, with few trails. When a deer is hit, no matter how well the 'boiler room' shot is placed, it runs. For years I was putting bullets thru the hearts of many a deer, but they still ran after being hit.

It was especially difficult after an evening hunt, when a deer run of even 30 yds into the thick bush/swamp requires a recovery. Then it's the sitting for an hour in the dark waiting for the deer to bleed out, then following blood trail thru the nasty crap deer run thru when hit and having to flag the trail so you can find my way back out etc etc. Then having to manually haul a 150lb deer back out to a trail...all of it effort that can be avoided.

Shifting my 'boiler' aim point over a foot or two across to the neck eliminated all the problems of recovery. The deer dropped in my shooting lane and recovery has become a non issue.

I can tell you story after story of deer being lost (for found) or lost to coyotes after sitting in the bush over night from guys taking the 'sure' boiler room shots..but they result in the inevitable runs; good shots, shots that didn't leave a blood trail or poorly hit (gut shots), doesn't matter...the deer run when they are hit. Not a real issue for some, but one that I found I can avoid when the opportunity presents itself.

Like I said earlier, your obviously not comfortable with taking that shot and you're not likely to change your mind, but for other guys it's a viable 'sure' shot with benefits :)