Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters MID-APRIL column--Neck Shots

NECK SHOTS ON BIG GAME

Quite a few big game hunters are big fans of neck shots, some even claiming they're foolproof. I'm certainly not anti-neck-shot, having literally taken tons of big game with them over the decades, but hunters who claim they always work are either relatively inexperienced or willfully ignorant.

Let's start by pointing out how and why neck shots work. They're most effective when breaking the spine, which instantly drops and kills the animal, but also work well when passing close under the spine, through the jugular veins and carotid arteries. A high-velocity, expanding bullet that passes under the spine but through those blood vessels often stuns and drops the animal, which then bleeds out before it can recover.

However, hitting spine or blood vessels isn't necessarily a sure thing, partly because big game animals vary considerably in size, and necks are often very muscular, especially on males with heavy antlers or horns. Their necks also increases in size during the rut, due to jousting with brush or rubbing on trees, partly to spread scent but partly as a "workout" for fighting with each other males.

Plus, the location of the spine varies throughout the length of the neck, usually being closer to the center of the neck near the body, but toward the top of the neck just below the head. As a result, the necks of some bucks and bulls are so large that just hitting the neck doesn't necessarily mean the bullet will break the spine, or significantly damage blood vessels, especially when shooting a broadside animal.


There's a lot of tough muscle surrounded the relative thin spine in this mule deer's neck.

The neck muscles themselves are also pretty tough, as anybody who's butchered and cooked them soon discovers, due to far more connective tissue than most other meat in the body. When thickened and strengthened by the rut, neck muscle can even cause problems with bullet penetration. Three prime examples occurred on a Montana mule deer and bull elk, plus a Cape buffalo in Africa.

I encountered the deer decades ago in northwestern Montana, after climbing to the top of a timbered ridge in the steep, thick country near the Idaho Panhandle. The buck stood uphill about 75 yards away, on a trail between a couple of boulders, and at the time was the biggest mule deer I'd encountered with a tag in my pocket and rifle in my hand.

I shot offhand and missed completely, because for some reason the scope reticle wandered all over the place. The buck ran directly toward me, apparently confused about the direction of the shot, and my second shot centered his chest at around 20 yards, dropping him--but he started trying to get up on his front legs, so I shot him again in the neck, which dropped him permanently.

Or so I thought. While field-dressing him I found the first bullet had done considerable damage inside his chest, then broken the spine at the rear of the ribcage and exited. A companion and I managed to get the carcass on a horse and down the mountain, and after a week of hanging (and drying) in my garage the buck weighed 232 pounds. Using the standard formula for live weight, he'd have weighed about 300 on the hoof.

His neck was bigger around than my 24-year-old waist, and while butchering him I found the second bullet, expanded widely and resting against his unbroken neck vertebrae. He did not die from that "finishing" shot, but the first bullet tearing up his vitals. (Quite a few hunters brag about bullets that penetrate the length of an animal's body, but in reality that's not unusual, partly because the innards of a big game animal are it's softest parts. I've seen a wide variety of bullets end up in the rear of a facing or quartering-on big game animal, including a couple of Nosler Ballistic Tips, one on a 450-pound gemsbok.)

The bull elk was shot by my old friend and mentor Norm Strung, as it stood looking at him in a stand of lodgepole pine. The only vital area Norm could see was the upper third of the neck, so he put the bullet in the bull's throat. The elk turned and ran off, but it had snowed the night before so Norm could easily follow the tracks, occasionally finding a spot of blood. After half a mile he found the bull dead, but the bullet had only nicked an artery, and like the bullet from my mule deer was resting against the unbroken neck vertebrae. If there hadn't been new snow on the ground Norm might never have found the bull.

Now, both bullets were 150-grain cup-and-cores from .270 Winchesters, but pretty highly regarded cup-and-cores. The bullets that took the mule deer were Hornady Spire Points, and while the first obviously penetrated very well, the second didn't penetrate nearly as deeply through the tough neck meat. The elk bullet was one of the original heavy-jacket Remington Core-Lokt round-noses. If either had been a "premium" bullet, they probably would have broken the spine--but the bullet used on the Cape buffalo was a "monolithic" 300-grain solid from a .375 H&H, obviously a deep-penetrating premium bullet.

I was shown the solid by PH Keith Gradwell, who'd shot it into the bull's neck a couple days earlier. He had been guiding a client and, as often happens after the first shot on buffalo, there'd been more rounds expended, even though the client's initial bullet had been well-placed, because the buffalo did not immediately fall over. During the shooting, Keith got a broadside opportunity at the neck. The bull went down--but immediately got back up again, turning belligerently toward the hunters, and after some more shooting finally died.

The solid from the neck shot was found lodged between two vertebrae, bent considerably. Evidently when the bull turned toward the hunters, the strength of the neck muscles and the spinal column bent a 3/8-inch diameter brass rod.



Some neck-shot animals were never found. One was another mule deer buck in Wyoming, shot by a custom gunsmith I know well. He spotted the buck perhaps 150 yards above him on a sagebrush ridge, and all that was visible above sage was the head and upper half of the neck. My friend's an excellent shot and had a very steady rest. At the report of the rifle the buck collapsed straight down behind the sage. My friend got another round in the chamber, but the buck did not reappear, so he hiked up there--finding some blood but no deer. The blood trail disappeared quickly, and the desert ground was too dry and hard to show hoofprints.

Now, many people claim all the animals they shot in the neck went straight down and never moved--or ran off unharmed. However, another of my other friends once found a big mule deer buck that had been dead a day or so, with a neck wound that hadn't centered the vertebrae. Did the bullet nick one of the big blood vessels, so the buck bled slowly to death like Norm's elk? Nobody knows, but the bullet's entrance and exit wounds were below the spine.

Pigs, on the other hand, are pretty easy to kill with neck shots, because their necks are not only very short, but the spine runs just above center and the big blood vessels just below center. Put a bullet in the middle of that short neck and pigs normally drop right there, or within a few steps--as do African warthogs. There simply isn't the variation in interior neck anatomy found in longer-necked horned and antlered game, and the neck muscles also don't tend to be as tough.

However, I have used neck shots successfully on longer-neck game IF they're standing directly facing toward me or away, because at that angle the spine is obviously in the center of the neck. A good example here was a bull nilgai in the brushy sand dunes of the King Ranch in Texas.

My guide and I ended up about 50 yards from the bull, which stood facing us in the brush, trying to figure out what we were. I was using another .270, this time a WSM with 140-grain Fail Safes, a now-discontinued, deep-penetrating "petal" bullet that performed very much like Barnes TSX's, Hornady GMX's and Nosler E-Tips. I was standing with the rifle on shooting sticks, and the reticle rested very steadily a few inches below the bull's head, where the huge neck started to swell. At the shot he fell straight down and never moved, the tough bullet not only completely breaking the spine but exiting the thick skin on the back of the neck.

So yes, neck shots work very well under the right circumstances, but on animals with big, tough necks you have to use enough bullet, and make sure the bullet lands in the right place. This is also obviously true of chest shots on larger big game animals, but the "right place" for a chest shot is much bigger, whether from straight-on or broadside, ranging from the spine near the top of the chest through the lungs to the heart at the bottom of the chest. Which is why most hunters shoot for the center of the chest, rather than the much smaller vital area inside the neck.

Good read as usual John! I personally will not take a neck shot! Too many variables for a sure kill....a high velocity projectile, perforating the lungs, while usually “not” DRT, is almost 100% kill! memtb

I have never tried a neck shot as I have never had a need to.

Thanks, John, for covering this topic so well. Your final paragraph is spot on.

Well said, sir.

I have had good luck with using neck shots with a rifle.I shot a ton of does in the UP when deer were at 125 per square mile and farmers had unlimited crop damage permits.A 223Rem with 55 grain Hornady Soft points did wicked damage to the neck.I also remember bow hunting one year and my partner shot a fork horn buck through the neck with his bow.Two weeks later the buck was shot during the rifle season with the neck wound pretty much healed.I shot a nice buck one year with my 358 Win. through the neck using 250 grain Speers.The buck went down,but I put a fast follow up shot in him.The neck shot just drilled through the neck doing no damage.The follow up shot is what killed him.Huntz

A great write-up John and I couldn't agree more.

A friend shoulder shot a very large bodied 60" bull moose and then experienced rifle problems so he asked me to put him [the bull] down.
At 80 yards, I shot the bull in the neck with a 300 WSM and 180 TSX bullet.......he shook his head and took a few steps.....again I shot him
in the neck and he continued to stay on his feet until I put the third shot into his lungs. I couldn't put my arms around the neck of that bull.
Both neck bullets were recovered but the lung bullet exited the far side. Both neck bullets expanded as in Barnes ads but did little damage
in the neck muscle and obviously missed the spine.

I've assisted several friends with hunting the local wild bison herd and the bison is another critter that I wouldn't recommend shooting in the neck
as they are just built different and are a very resilient animal. The spine in the neck area is very low.

Huge fan of neck shots on feral hogs but I generally use heavy for caliber bullets. The decision to shoot at an animals neck for me is a matter of presentation or if I need it to drop right there.

Much more well written but I ask a similar question with "DRT is over rated" under deer hunting. Thank you, couldn't agree more & again, well written.

Reminds me of a 3-4 year old black bear I killed in about 2003 or so...had to put a finisher in its neck from about 20 yards. That neck stopped a 225 grain spire point from my .340 WBY.
Surprised a bit...I was.

Thanks M D

I completely agree. Neck shots are NOT fool proof because 'stuff' can happen.
NOT when using N Ss but I've hit limbs that I didn't see.... Deer have unexpectedly moved.... etc.

I'm a fan of neck shot and use them frequently. KNOCK ON WOOD, so far, I have not had a rodeo BUT it can happen.

There are 2 (TWO) things vitally important to using neck shots.
A. Confidence in your RIFLE & Load.
** I can't overstress KNOWING your rifle & load **

B. Knowing the anatomy of 'your' game. Having only hunted WT I am very familiar with whitetail's CNS.

I would not be so confident about Mule Deer (animals ) or Elk, when it comes to neck shots.

Thanks for your article from years of experience.


Jerry

I shot a 160 lb. whitetail in Vermont many years ago with a 45-70 loaded with 300 grain Sierra flat points loaded with enough IMR4198 to clock 2000 fps on a chronograph. . The shot was taken offhand and hit the top of the neck dead center from the left side. The deer of course went straight down and thrashed and kicked for a few minutes...but it was obviously most sincerely dead when it hit the ground. When we skinned the deer a week later, we found the bullet completely flattened like a coat button against the spine.I was astonished that the bullet didn't completely penetrate the neck an exit. Deer necks can be very tough. Neck shots when properly placed are deadly, but it's not my first choice.

Shot a decent sized Oregon Blacktail in the neck once... with a 22.250, shooting a 70 grain Speer SMP..

Deer came out on a clearing, down the trail from me... turned its head and saw me, so it took a right turn, and took off at a dead run....I don't do Texas heart shots, but I do aim over their tail and below their ears as they run away from me... use to get a lot of shots like that hunting northern MN, in swamps up on the Iron Range, and I've had good luck with it...if ya miss, I've missed clean, and if I connected, down it went instantly...

Guess this post is more about that Speer 70 grainer, than just a neck shot...

on this occasion, at about 200 yds, the bullet hit the spine, and the buck literally did a somersault as it nose dived into the trail....the exit wound in the front neck right below its nose, halfway down to the chest....
came out leaving an exit wound the size of an open book.. never saw a wound like that before...

killed the animal instantly.... the wound wouldn't have been conducive to mounting the head..., but it didn't matter in this case, as he only had one antler on one side...the left one being totally broken off.. and the right side wasn't in that good of shape either....


excellent and informative article as always J.B... thanks for posting it...

Can't say you're wrong when you write: . emphasis added.

But I'd add relatively is a key word here. I remember listening to older men, no doubt younger than I am now, in the days following changes in hunting after World War II who could truthfully claim neck shots always worked for them.

These men had killed great numbers of whitetail with what today would be considered low powered for bore size cartridges starting with .30-30, .303 Savage and .35 Remington. Mostly at ranges where the bullet carried as much of its initial energy as could be expected. All they had ever shot, aside from casual slaughter, was white tail, squirrels and maybe turkey. They dressed their own game and knew the white tail anatomy and the target they wanted. I'd emphasize white tail. Looking at taxidermy forms is a reminder that mule deer are to white tails as football players are to the general population.

I've had enough experience to remember that the spine varies from species to species, some with long spikes and might have to review one of the picture books or stop and think about the animal in front of me.

Not so the man who has hunted in Alabama when the limit was one a day and worrying about preference points was far in the future.

Clark,

Yes, familiarity with a specific animal is a major factor. But I might also suggest that the neck of a typical Alabama whitetail (and I have hunted them there) is not exactly the same as a big Canadian buck (and I have hunted them in Alberta and Manitoba as well).

This much accords with my experience. I've killed animals with neck shots, quite a number of animals, from rabbits to buffalo, and I can't recall an issue with any of them, but you have to place the bullet properly, and on bigger animals you have to have a bullet which will do the job. That is true too of shots to the chest, but you do have more room for error there, though I might say that a properly placed neck or spine shot does put them down faster in my experience. I've found shots through the cervical spine far more rapidly effective on buffalo than a chest shot for example, dropping them from the gallop in fine style, and I've bowled over numerous pigs and the odd few deer as well as smaller game with a shot through the neck as they were heading for somewhere else.

The shot through the spine between the shoulders is also a good one, and perhaps offers a bit more room for error too, as you'll often get a bit of bone splintering from the shoulderblade (depending on what you are shooting) to add to the effect, and you also have a major nerve junction coming off the spine there, as well as the major arteries and veins if you are below the spine. You just don't want to be too high, because you may just crease them - I've seen the sorry effect of that on a nice buck. You do lose rather more edible meat, but that is not really an issue here where you could always just shoot more of them.

There are times when the neck shot is the only one going too, or where it is that or a brain shot, such as when your critter is bedded down in cover and only head and neck are showing. Going away a neck shot might be preferable to one in the butt too.

When the opportunity is there for it I'll take the spinal shot, whether between the shoulders or through the neck, because of how emphatically and instantly it drops animals. Like everything, you have to be able to judge when the opportunity is there, and be prepared to go for something else or pass up the shot if it isn't there to be had.

My son-in-law shoot a big whitetail buck with a 270 Winchester and the buck collapsed immediately. As we walked up Brant started to grab the antlers when I saw the buck's ear twitch and he started trying to get up. It took a brain shot from my 357 to finish him. When butchering him we found that the 130 grain bullet passed just over the spine.