ORIGINAL: AJ52
You Know Bob - I agree with the brunt of what your saying here.
However I don't think anybody here is so damn good to say Never Ever should you take a Neck or Shoulder Shot.
There are exceptions out there for a seasoned hunter with a weapon he is 100% familiar with to take a clean kill shot to shoulder or neck.
Now there are some maybe - many hunters out there that the only way they could make a clean kill is with a friggin Bazooka at 10 paces!
That's the folks we're talking about - I think!!
AJ, I have no problems with the shoulder shot. In fact my favorite shot is a 1/4 away through the top of the lungs out the scapula.I have also taken the high double shoulder shot - once this year. It produced a bang flop reaction and the deer was deader than a door nail whenI madethe 100 yard walk over to him. IfI had the opportunity on this deer to take behind the shoulder I would have but being in the forest all I had was a small open triangle between the treesthat gave me the high shoulder and quickly took it. I know either shot will result in lung damage so I take them if given without a second thought.
I have excuted neck shots successfully but as mentioned after being in on botched neck and head shots I now refuse to. The only time I will shoot an animal in the neck is a finishing shot of basically point blank range. Such occurance seem to be rare as my aim point is to alwaysinclude vitals in the path of the projectile..works jim dandy for me.
I agree with jag it isn't about ability, it's about respect and highest percentage for humane harvests. I can stack my bullets in under an inch with every rifle/load I use off the benchbut I know in the field I am only human and mistakes can happen. I fired at 6 big game animals this year and harvested all with a single shot. The grand total of YAS (yards after the shot) where under a 100 - 5 deer and 1 bull elk who made it the furthest on the account the majority was on his nose down a ridgeline. Ability has nothing to do with my personal stance in this regard!!
Sure wishI could say I have NEVER lost an animal but I have and it wasn't a neck or head shot either. I have lost 1 with a bowand 1 with a rifle. Thefirst was a rifle -16 and stupid, tried to shoot him up the star, missed &never to be found again. First and only time I attempted that stupid shot. The latest the bow (10 years ago)was shooter and hunter error, to far back and bumped him while tracking. Finally left him over night but awoke to pouring rain. The result was finding my buck a few days later via birds and I cancelled my tag only carried out the antlers.I'm human and therefor I like the insurance factor so I hopefully won't have to experience the loss of game again.