Shot placement

[bogwalker]

Where do you aim when shooting deer ?

[TruthWalleyes]

1, I shoot for the neck

2, Heart

3, I don't shoot if the first two are not an option

[jnorm1984]

1.Face

2.Femoral artery

really the only options

[motley man]

I will never shoot at the head as I've seen to many run off with jaw hanging and lost. Broadside or quartering away. Don't take bad shots and injure and lose deer, wait for that good shot and do it right.

[Finlander]

I always tell new hunters to shoot just above the front leg on either side and you'll kill the deer no matter what!

[BobT]

Don't forget to consider the angles. Aiming for just behind the front shoulder on a deer that is quartering away is not a good kill shot. You'll likely miss most if not all vitals. When quartering away you aim further back so the angle of entry puts the bullet path through the center of the vitals. Same is true when shooting down hill or from a high deer stand. Aim higher than you think keeping the bullet path in mind and vise versa when shooting uphill.

[Bear55]

We call it the "engine room" (heart/lungs) unless you have a lot of experience it's the only place you should be aiming.

[Bear55]

Don't forget to consider the angles. Aiming for just behind the front shoulder on a deer that is quartering away is not a good kill shot. You'll likely miss most if not all vitals. When quartering away you aim further back so the angle of entry puts the bullet path through the center of the vitals. Same is true when shooting down hill or from a high deer stand. Aim higher than you think keeping the bullet path in mind and vise versa when shooting uphill.

Solid advice BobT, this is what I like to call aiming for the exit would. Both of my archery deer this year were hit high and far back on entry but the arrows both sliced down and forward right through the lungs into the opposite shoulder.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

My goal is always to shoot right for the heart for a quick, efficient kill. There are a number of ways to do it, so as mentioned above, consider your angles.

[HuskerBen]

In bowhunter education, they said to imagine there is a basketball between the deer's elbows, and try to put your arrow through the center of that basketball. I like the phrase "aim for the exit wound." That's good advice.

I generally try to put it through the heart if the deer is broadside, as it will likely take out the heart and both lungs. Aim small, miss small.

[Harmonica Bear]

I've taken and made my share of neck shots, but.... they were awful close (shooting a rifle, 40yards or less) and the heart/lung was not an alternative. If I have a clear broadside shot though, without hesitation it's the boiler room everytime. No reason to get cute, take the sure kill.

Good advice on the angles too. You have to keep that in mind. That quartering away shot can deflect off a rib very easily.

[paceman]

If it close like 100 yards or less and I have a good rest. I will shoot them in the neck. If it is farther I will aim for the boiler room.

[bigbucks]

I'm a boiler room shooter unless that's not an option. Then the range, angle, & weapon determines if there's a shot. With a firearm if it's clear & in range there's usually a good shot available, or will be.

[TruthWalleyes]

With a shotgun slug i've never had a deer walk away from a neck shot. If fact, i've never even seen a deer take another step after the shot. With that said, i do not ever disagree with a shot in the boiler room. It's personal preference for me, and i've never ruined a front or rear quarter going for the neck.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Which part of the neck are we talking here? I guess I had never considered a neck shot.

[JBar]

I've never taken a neck shot, always been to make a shot slightly behind front shoulder blade. If the shot placement is correct the deer will not go far. at least this has been my experience.

[bogwalker]

In 40+ years I have taken 2 neck shots. One was facing away from me 80 yards +/-. The other was about 12 yards with the body obstructed. Both dropped on the spot. My wife always goes for the neck. I have tried talking her out of these risky shots usually while dragging her deer out of the woods.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Which part of the neck are we talking here? I guess I had never considered a neck shot.

I didn't really consider this a neck shot, but I suppose it could be considered the base of the neck. I got him right dead center from about 60-70 yards facing right at me, and he dropped dead instantly. His heart and lungs were still intact (I was hoping for the heart), so I'm not sure what I hit, but it worked!

[zzammon]

I prefer a lung & heart broad side shot. It provides the largest quick kill target.

[analyzer]

I've only shot 5 deer so far, in my short Slug-hunting experience. I shot 3 in the neck. The first one tipped over, twitched a few seconds at most, and expired. He was more or less facing me, at a slight downward angle from me, with the right side of his neck slightly exposed. Head lower than his back. The shot went through his trachea, severed his jugular, went into the body cavity, and exited behind his shoulder. I'm not sure if it nicked any part of his spine or not (the way he tipped right over, I'd assume so), and whether it hit any other vitals or not. It was my first deer, and I was sort of slopping my way through the cleaning process. I just know when I reach up to cut the trachea the job was already done.

The 2nd neck shot is sitting on the wall in my basement. He gave me a nice broadside, boiler room opportunity, when he was on the wrong side of someone else's fenceline. It left me no choice but to wait for him to jump over to my side. (seemed like an eternity). When he finally hopped over, he must have winded me, because he turned and faced right at me. I didn't figure I had much time, so with his head up, I tried to pick a spot low enough on his neck, not to damage the cape, and let her rip. I was pretty certain the slug would go most of the length of his body, and might catch some spine somewhere along the way, and as he was lower than me, the top of his lungs were a possibility too. When he was shot, he reared back on his hind legs like a Calvary horse leading the charge. He then jumped back over the fence and went perhaps 30 yards. I definitely caught part of his neck, a little off center, and never found an exit hole. I'm not sure the slug made it all the way through. Which surprises me still. All I know, is he didn't go far.

The next year I shot a doe in the neck. Her body wasn't visible because of tall weeds, and I was hunting out of a ground blind. She didn't die immediately, but tipped right over on the spot. I felt bad for her. She could kick her back legs, but couldn't move her front. I thought that was a little weird, as you never hear of humans being paralyzed from the WASTE UP! Well, other than Brad Childress, but that's from the neck up. I walked over to her, and put one in the back of her head.

The other two were boiler room shots. One doe went about 50 yards after being shot. She was downhill quartering towards me, so I had to shoot a little higher, and actually slightly in front of her near leg. The exit was almost halfway back on the opposite side, but the line between the two holes, was dead center mass (in the basketball). The other, a nice trophy buck, was never found. I believe I may have shot slightly low, and slightly back. He was my 2nd deer, and I got too exited, and pushed him way too soon. It was raining, and I thought the blood trail may get washed away. He had laid down about 125 yards away, in some deep grass between 2 cornfields (there was two bloody spots where he was lying, one for the entry and one for the exit, I would assume). When I jumped him, he went into the corn, sending me on some wild goose chase tracking expedition, that eventually got put off until morning. He was bleeding out the side on the corn stalk leaves, but not dripping on the ground. When he left the corn, I no longer had anything to track. I spent 3 hours on my hands and knees, making half circles back n forth, but never picked up any sort of trail. I came back the next two weekends looking for crows, talking to farmers, walking every chunk of woods within a mile or two of there, and never found him. It was only a 40 or 50 yard shot, but with open sights, and a smooth bore. I've since bought rifled barrels for my shotguns and have scopes on them all. Hopefully I'll never shoot low and back again, and if so, will definitely wait a few hours to go tracking.

I have a friend who shoots through the tops of both shoulders when they're broadside. He's very successful. He doesn't do it with a bow, there he waits for the classic quartering away, and boiler room. But with a slug he figures if he hits both shoulders they are dropping, if he goes a little high, he gets spine, and they are dropping. If he's a little forward he's getting neck and they are dropping, and if he's a little back, he gets lungs. Over all, he figures he has about a paper plate to aim at. I think it bruises too much meat though.

I'm 3 for 3 in the neck, and 1 for 2 in the boiler room, but I'd still shoot BR, if I have a choice. The scope and rifled barrel should help me be more accurate.

[TruthWalleyes]

Neck shots i'm generally aiming at the middle to upper middle of the neck expecting to hit the spine. Yes, deer will tip over immediately, and i ususally run up and finish the job with a knife by slitting the throat. I guess i like to keep the boiler room as clean as possible...It's nice gutting a deer when all entrails, organs, etc are intact and you end up with a super clean gut shot and no wrecked meat.

I'm just not a fan of watching a deer run away hoping for it to fall over when out of sight.

[anchor man]

Truth,

Just curious, why do you slit the throat instead of pumping another bullet into them? Are they usually alive when you do this? yeesh!

[BobT]

Yeah, if neck shot, what advantage is there to slit the throat? It's already pretty much a done deal isn't it?

[paceman]

All the deer I have shot in the neck have crumpled to the ground and barely twitch. I am using a 30-06. I have never needed a follow up shot.

[fr0sty]

I never realized neck shots were so popular.