The difference is point blank vs distant shot, the % of a miss is almost impossible with beef being slaughter..plus it is the head not neck.

I butcher as well, my point was simply a neck has a lot of meat as well and while the ribs have some the amount you'll lose will not be significant enough to support such an arguement. I am not talking about hitting the front shoulder, just ribs, you'll loose some rib meat and flank where as a neck you'll could loose a lot more in neck meat on a mature buck. I guess the idea of saving meat by shooting an animal in the neck doesn't make sense to me over a ribs hit.

PS a neck shot is one of the worst shots if you plan on doing a shoulder mount.