thanks for the info idahoelk instructor you have valid points and i appreciate your input i will look for one of those i live in the colorado rockys. oh and i was looking at this with a sciencetific mind and a tragectory was mind i was and am looking for a better shot

lol hikchick that was kinda my point is if you hit bam dwon if you miss they live . no wa intended but you shouldn't have to come back for an animal two days later whats the point meat is ruined is it for a matter of fact i got wha i shot at that point what is the point of hunting you can't feed any body you might be able to ware it but what a wast. a hundred years ago that would not be the case nothin of the animal would be wasted/ can your hubby say that about 27 years of hunting probly not don't get me wrong i am looking forward to my first hunt just would like to do it right kinda like i saw 40 elk go almost through my back yard i was in such aw that i didn't even think about grabbing my rifle watched em for an hour trying to think how can i get in thee and get a shot . well i wil get em next year i will be elk less for two seasons this year. but i am still hopefull till jan 31st end of my season .but thanx for the info though

the neck shot is not the 'hit or miss' thing you think it is. there is alot more to a deers neck than a spine and arteries, there is alot of meat on the neck.
an arrow doesnt have the knockdown power of a rifle or slug gun that will knock a deer on its ass if you hit it anywhere in the neck. even with gunshots the deer can get back up and run off never to be seen again because you missed the very small area of the neck that is actually a vital area.

if you can go out to the range and shoot a bottle cap 10 out of 10 times from 30yds with an arrow then stick with your idea of neck shooting a deer, thats about the same size vital area a neck has. now see if you can hit a paper plate 10 out of 10 times with an arrow, appx the same size vital area as a deer's chest cavity, then stick with that. Even with a chest shot if something we're to go wrong and you hit high, you spine them--you shoot low, you miss-- you hit further back you still have a decent chance of recovery--if you happen to hit too far forward, you've got a chance at the spine and arteries that you're going for in the neck. The chest area is a MUCH, MUCH higher percentage shot than the neck.

waterfx -- welcome to the great sport of bowhunting. I wish you the best of luck in the future hunts. I've only been bowhunting since 2001 and must say that it quickly makes one appreciate the deer and its ability to outwit the hunter.

idahoelk and others have expressed some might fine points to you on the art of bowhunting of which I couldn't express any better. I've killed right 14 deer with a bow at that time. Each and every kill had a different outcome as far as the distance the animal ran. I've had 2 drop right in thier tracks but the rest were found from 50-205 yards away from the shot. In that time I've lost two deer and it's those that really make you sick. No one enters the woods wanting to lose a deer, I hope you never have that problem.

Will tell you that I don't think any bowhunter in their right mind will agree with your idea that's it better to shot them in the neck. The target area is just to small at any distance IMO.

Hikchick sums it up best

waterfx
You seem to have your mind made up despite overwhelming sentiments to NOT shoot deer in the neck. It's not a dead or miss shot. You are taking examples of a few long track jobs and turning that into an excuse to try to not shoot a deer in the chest which is the greatest chance for a kill. Thousands, maybe millions of bow hunters over decades of hunting have pared down the highest % shot which is thru the chest, and you want to come in here and attempt to reason something else? I suggest if you do not like the idea of having to track a deer on occasion that doesn't fall within sight, then you seriously think about NOT bowhunting.

Will a neck shot work with a bow? Sure, it probably will not kill teh animal dead, but it MIGHT drop it right there, if you can hit the 2 inch spine solid. If you glance off it sorry, no deer. You might also luck out and sever the wind pipe.

As for the kill or live part, wrong, you just put a hole in the animal, you might ahve done nerve damage, you might have done breathing damage and they all MIGHT result in a wounded deer that dies later from infection or disease.

Add to this the fact that the neck is usually moving a bit, unless the deer is staring straight at you in which case it's probably going to react to teh shot and the neck won't be there when the arrow gets there, so who knows where you are going to hit.

the chest gives the largest room for error, error in either misjudged yardage, shot form falling apart, arrow deflection ,deer movement etc. YOu have roughly an 8 inch circle on a deer, larger on elk/moose. If you put the arrow anywhere in there, you probably will have a dead deer.

As for your tracking question, well, unless it drops in its tracks it will run and can cover a good amount of ground in 15 seconds, depending on the terrain, you might see it the whole way, you might not.

As for waiting, this is a "better safe than sorry" situation. Once the animal is dead, waiting longer is harmless, he isn't going anywhere. Until he's dead you might just push him. If you don't destroy both lungs or the heart, they can live for several minutes, a single lung/liver hit can live a good amount. For example I shot an elk the fall, results of the shot were center punched one lung, took out the back of the second lung and cut a hole in the liver. As luck would have it the elk never left my sight. He ran about 40 yards and turned around to look for the cows he was trying to get to. He then tipped over. He was down on the ground in about 15 seconds. He stayed alive for about 15 minutes. He had alot of trouble breathing and his head crashed over several times, but he kept picking it back up. He never got back onto his feet, but who knows what he would have done had I come out of my hiding spot and had him see me. Better safe than sorry.

Welcome to bow hunting, its VERY different from gun hunting, the weapons kill in different manners.

--Bob

i asked the same question a while back waterfx, i was thinking the same way. I have rocket hammerheads that open a 2 inch cutting diameter and i was thinking that no way could i not hit some vital if i shot for the neck. i never tried but i know that i will not try. shoot for the lungs and they will die most of the time. yes it might mean a long track but that is bow hunting. if you don't like that, then stick with the guns.

i guess i did miss your point then, the quickest, least painful, and most lethal, would probably be a head shot. i've killed hogs with a 22 right in the top of the head, they expire very quickly and what i would think would be the least painful (they would probably not know what is going on) they quiver a little bit and pee and deficate and it's over in less the 5-7 seconds. now back to the deer, when shooting a deer thru the lungs 99 out of 100 times i believe you should get a pass thru, i have seen and heard deer that after they where shot running 10-15 seconds later, but i have also shot them and they just stand there or walk/run a few yards within sight. shot a doe once around a white oak she ran 10 yards and came back and started eating again, i'm thinking what the heck but i can see my bloody arrow stuck in the ground, she puts her nose down and i see blood dripping from here nose, i knew i had made a good shoot, in 10-20 seconds she gets a little wobble(sp) then she decides its time to go, she takes off running and is hitting trees and saplings she finally falls over for the last time about 40-45 yards away and kicks a few times and thats it. my point is dead is dead but if a deer presents a good broadside shot, why would you want to shoot in an area (the neck) that is very un-forgiving and can also move and make that area smaller quicker, when you can shoot at an area (lungs) that is very forgiving and 2-6" inches of movement there and your still in the kill zone. as far as tracking i'd rather track a lung/liver shot deer than one with its windpipe blown out. i've done both i've got a friend that likes to take neck shots with a rifle and he has lost more deer in a couple of years than i have my whole life, and the guy is a decent shot, but it, imo is a poor choice of shots

Waterfx, Like you I am new to bowhunting and asked questions about shot placement. Someone led me to this link and I think it will help you understand why everyone is so against your proposed neck shot.

http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

Remember that rifle shot placement is a very different issue. A firearm bullet kills with shock and tissue destruction, while an arrow kills with cutting and blood loss. Your objective is to cause as much blood loss in as short a time as possible to minimize the distance the animal can travel between shot and death. The lungs have a huge amount of veins/arteries/capillaries in a realtively small space, so a wound there causes lots of bleeding. A low, pass-through, lung wound opens up the most possible bleeders and allows blood to drain out of the body cavity quickly. This results in a quick death and an easier tracking job. Your proposed neck shot will only quickly kill the animal if you hit the main arteries or veins in the neck. Since those make up a small proportion of the mass of the neck(as you can see in the anatomy chart) and you cannot see them, you are aiming at a small, concealed target in a part of the deer that is almost always moving . If you don't hit the big bleeders you still have a very good chance of wounding the deer. A wound in the neck that isn't quickly fatal will be a really bad thing. At best the animal may survive after a lot of pain and suffering. It could also slowly bleed to death over a day or two. Worst of all you could damage the throat or jaws so that the animal cannot eat and will starve to death over days if not weeks. A lung hit should put the animal down fast and reliably, plus it puts you in the position of shooting at a large, realtively stable target. Taking a throat shot with a bow is risking a slow and painful death for the animal for very little reward for the hunter. Please don't try it.