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neck shot him if u had a clean shot like u said u did, my opinion

I would have taken the shot.

And I bet the next time that happens, you will too.

Go job of control. You saw him and put cross hairs on him, that memory makes it a successful hunt. You controlled yourself and waited for a good shot. I admire that. Without a shooting rail I would have done the same thing.

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How far away was he when he presented the neck shot? 100yards? Man that' s iffy. You could easily blow out his windpipe at that distance and leave him to die an agonizing death. I think you did the right thing. Would you have considered the shot if it was a doe you were after? I don' t think antlers should tempt us into making shots we wouldn' t otherwise make. Your first instinct was the right one. Don' t second guess yourself. (ha, easy for me to say)

Can' t say for sure what I' d have done, just would have depended on how the shot felt at the moment. By letting him walk, you know there' s no chance of winging him. If you have doubts, holding off is usually the right choice. Hope you get a better shot at him next time.

You made the right call. I don' t shoot for the neck any more, only chest/shoulder. In 30 years of hunting, twice, I have shot a deer in the neck and they dropped like a stone, only to rise and run away after about 20-30 seconds. Never found them. The thought of them starving to death has always haunted me. I also shot several in the neck that dropped and stayed down.

I also know someone who shot for the head and broke the jaw of the deer. It ran off to starve too.

Just remember that the spine is the only deadly shot for the neck, it you hit the neck, but miss the spine, the deer will usually get up and run off. I am sure you can find numerous hunters that shoot for the neck and have never had a problem, but I suspect for most, it is only a matter of time.

You put a shot into the boiler room and he is going to die in pretty short order. You may never find him, but he shouldn' t starve over weeks before he dies. Something to think about.

Don' t ever take a shot your not comfortable with. If you can' t hold the rifle steady, and sometimes that happens to all of us, get an anchor. The biggest deer I ever shot at, I missed because I was so worried he was going to see me that I rushed the shot instead of getting in a good position. I won' t do it again, especially a neck shot, you could have blowed his horns off.

My opinion, you were not confident with the shot you had, and didn' t take it. I' ve done that a few times myself and I always replayed it in my mind afterwards. Now you have that experience to look back on the next time the opportunity arises. Good luck to you.