My opinion is I would rather take a shoulder shot but with that said all the deer I have killed (all 4 of them) were shot in the neck??? 1 on perpose and the other three not so but they all dropped in there tracks to never get up again. Found out that my shooting technique was bad causing me to jerk up and over a little causing the bullet to hit the neck. Now that I am older and learned though my mistakes I wouldn't take that shot. However I just shot a doe on Tusesday just behind the shoulder and we never found her, looked for two days but she just disappered? But if I was betting on the best choice I would take the shoulder shot over the neck due to better odds of killing and not wounding the deer.