Ethics aside, just looking at the overall target size as relates to a kill zone, neck shots are chancy. The responsibilty to the hunter is to make a shot that will minimize suffering and guarantee that the animal will be recovered quickly to avoid meat spoilage and predation and scavenging. The neck contains the spine, which is maybe an inch and a half in diameter, and an artery that is much smaller than that. The windpipe I wouldn't consider a fatal zone, as we have all heard of tracheotomies. In a perfect world with no wind (or shooter error) a good marksman at ease and not rushed can pull it off. Throw in the fact that deer are skittish, swinging their heads around at the slightest breeze or sound, inquisitve and almost always moving, and you have a recipe for error.

A heart/lung gives a shooter (nervous or not, but often rife with buck fever, even on does) an 8" target where the possibilities of hitting a major organ and delivering a one shot fatalhit are much greater than thecontroversal neck shot.

Another alternative is the shoulder joint shot, where the shooter aims at the shoulder, about 4" below the backline,inline with the front leg. This has always for me, dropped the deer exactly where it stood, typically taking both shoulder joints, the spine and the lungs in one shot.

As far as meat loss, I would think if you actually measured the amount and quality of meat in any of these areas the losses are minimal. I would hazard a guess there are less ounces of meat lost in a heart/lung shot, if one doesn't count the heart when it is struck. I have spent my last hour scraping the few ounces of meat that are found on the shoulder blades. Boil 'em up and let the dogs have at them.

For the Original thread starter, I think the impetus of many of these hunting shows is educational, part of that responsibilty is ethics. I have shot deer in the neck before, but I don't advocate it in my hunter safety training courses I teach. Keep in mind that many neophytes watching these shows are learning and they are nervous with little experience. My car can go 175 miles an hour but I wouldn't want my 16 year old daughter driving it the way I feel comfortable driving it.

If one is comfortable with a neck shot, feel free. That said, I wouldn't go espousing the neck shot to every beginner I talked to about hunting though.