Originally Posted by
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My guess is you have never seen a neck shot fail. I have. If you don't get the spine and just clip the windpipe or esophagus than you have a wounded animal that can and will go a long way. As you say, you're new to hunting. Most experienced hunters go for the heart/lung/chest area because it is a bigger target and if you put a bullet anywhere in it you will drop the animal. Neck and head shots are iffy at best.
I base the above on experience with 91 deer, 25 elk, 2 black bear, 14 pronghorns, 5 bison, a bighorn sheep, a stone sheep, a mountain goat and who knows how many wild hogs.
most experienced hunters spend a lot less time shooting paper than they should due to having killed so many animals.
I reload for extreme accuracy, I practice for extreme accuracy, and I shoot an animal with extreme accuracy or I don't take the shot.
there is a huge difference between just a hunter, and someone who goes the extra mile to make sure equipment is capable of performing as expected, the shooter can make the predetermined shot, (which is where shooting paper comes in to play), and that an ethical kill is produced.
I am no sniper by no means but I do spend prob 3x as much time shooting and preparing for those DRT KILLS than most of you do eating and sleeping.
does that make my shot any better than yours NO I told you where I prefer to shoot my deer and when I have taken the shots the deer have been laying where they were standing before shot.
no different than someone hunting with a 243, 7-08, 308, 270, 30-06, etc... it is a preference and if it is working for you then it obviously isn't broken and you cant fix it.
I don't think there is anybody on this site or any other site that would shoot a animal somewhere that wasn't success proven in some way shape or form and continue to make the shot if the animal continued to be wounded and not recovered.