Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Neck shot (???)

Ray, as usual we are on the same page, just typing it differently and my apologies for that. I"m not always totally clear.

When it comes to shots, I generally take a head shot if it all looks right. For a finish shot I'll take whatever I can if I need to, but if the animal is down and still alive and close, I slip one in the head if I can see it or walk up and slip one in the head. There is no difference between the head and neck. Both result the same.
And you are totally corect, you know the anatomy, I know it, but many dont. And dont' know exactly how curvy that neck can be. Heck most folks will argue me to death that the spine can't be as low as it is in line with the front leg, and lets face it, it has to drop a fair amount to get to the center of the neck, and then it curves back towards the top of the neck to get into the C1 and brain stem.
Now for mounting I'd never shoot them in the shoulder and never finish in the neck or head. As such I consider about anything shot on a guided hunt as a trophy and not meat hunt. I may well be wrong. I simply would rather shoot a doe than an immature male. So I'll either shoot or not on a guided hunt and if I shoot, its going on the wall. Hence my issues with neck shots/and head shots.
I've sewed up more holes in the neck than I care to over the years, and mostly from ignorance of folks bleeding the animal or shooting it in the neck when they could have shot it in the lungs.
Again the difference between a neck and head shot on a meat animal, is simply the head is a larger rounder target, and the neck longer, skinnier. Take your pick. I personally feel that its easier to wound wiht the neck shot than with the head, others feel differently. And thats why its free America still thankfully. I have 2 options when meat hunting. Head or lungs. If can't get the first, I go to the second. Or I pass the shot totally.

My apologies for taking this to task, the topic was CoupDeGrace, and thats any extra shots in the body to me, and if I can make a neck shot that means I'm close enough and will take the head shot every time. The topic did not ask about mount destruction etc...I just took it off course.

Regards, Jeff

The procedure to sever the spine between c1-c2 is called down here pithing. It is widely practized in the north on caribou/reindeer in Canada, Lapland and Siberia.
The natives can be lightning fast about it.
The standing reindeer is aproached from the side, with slight hand pressure the head is bend forward, opening the space between c1-c2, a quick stab with a boning type of knife straight downward at the proper location immediatly severs the spinal cord, making the animal collaps like a sack of sand. I used it a lot on the gov't caribou slaughters to finish off dying animals. A fast humane death without meat loss. However do use it only on animals that have little strength left. A caribou is not a tame reindeer. They have been known to strike back. They can do serious damage on a man.

All of the aninals I've shot in the neck have dropped like a sack of potatoes, including those who's neck wasn't broken. It's quite a lethal shot for those who trust their rifle enough to take it. I shot a nice Whitetail this year head on, through his jaw and into his neck. Literally collasped where he was standing.

As to customs in Africa, I have no idea what they do.