In just the past few years, I have had to pass up a shot on my own property at a huge 9 point (at 17 yards) because he was quartering sharply towards me. The season before last, I held at full draw for over 2 minutes while an absolute BRUTE of a buck stood 20 yards away, unobstructed by brush, directly facing me. I could have taken a neck shot on either of these two and been absolutely sure of my ability to hit there, but with bowhunting, the chance for something to go wrong is just too great.

The neck does have a couple areas that will put a deer down quickly, but there is much more area that will simply inflict a big wound on a deer that may or may not kill it . . . but probably not where you'll find it. I have killed one or two deer with neck shots, but I didn't aim for the neck and hit it by accident. I have also lost a magnificent buck years ago because of an errant arrow that hit the neck instead of the chest lung shot I was aiming for. That same year, my brother-in-law had the same thing happen to him--he never found his buck either.

Don't ever aim for the neck.