Shot Placement

[JPH]

I have made the shoulder blade and neck shots and I can attest to the fact that they put deer on the ground in a hurry. But all things being equal, I'm like you. I prefer the good 'ol boiler room shoot. It is hard to screw up and a deer shot thouugh the major vessles, heart or lungs will die quickly. Since I do not hunt in the mountains, I can live with a little blood trailing.

[gard73]

Thru the heart and lungs. I love tracking deer after the shot though. Part of the hunt in my opinion.

[msbadger]

with ppl so close here and having a big 8pt stolen ...when I went to get permission to get him......only 40yrds away and in sight ...but I wont tresspass...I now take the shoulder ...or as I repeat to my self before the shot....top shoulder lower neck...it always folds them up

[adirondackhunter]

I have use the neck and shoulder shots.I still prefer the boiler room.  

[hunter480]

I`ve read about the "hump" shot as it`s been called, the shot low on the neck. Even saw a diagram in an article in a lesser hunting mag, that showed exactly where to hit `em. I`ve also heard that if not placed pretty well, the shot can allow the animal to travel a great distance, often, never to be recovered.
 
I go only with the heart/lung shot, whether it be gun or bow. Few of the deer I`ve killed have gone beyond 60 yards after being hit. Many have fallen in place, or traveled less than 20.

[Panman1949]

Shortest lung shot by shotgun-dropped her.  Longest travel after lung shot bow-traveled 80 yards.  Never tried neck shot.  Pan
 

[vambo991]

If the situation allows it... I'm taking a base-of-the-neck / shoulder shot everytime... They drop in a HEAP! The last buck I planted had to have been dead before he hit the ground.

[DeerCamp]

i agree, i have taken neck shots and they put the deer down in a hurry, however there have been a few times where it hasnt. I will take a heart or lungs shot anyday of the week over a neck shot if possiable.

[passin through]

With a rifle I like point of shoulder for pretty much instant shut down... It does mess up that meat butIi generally grind my shoulders anyway... With a bow I like the boilerroom broadside or quartering away....With a shotgun shooting Buckshot I like the boiler room again broadside.  I don't care for and generally deride headshots and neck shots ....too many variables can go wrong.  I've taken both shots several times when I was younger and ego got in the way of good sense.  I was lucky and did drop my targets but since then I have been on several tracking missions with the neck shot -- usually with guys that were very good at punching holes in paper but have cleaned very few of their own deer and had/have no clue how that bone runs especially in a rutting buck.  I also had to put down a doe in my back pasture after season a couple years ago that some marksman had blown the jaw off of...starvation ain't pretty.  I've never heard of that hump shot though...  Anways theres my 2 cents...what I do works for me.

[otwitw]

i think its ok to shoot the high shoulder shot, but not a big fan of the neck shot.
still i prefer to shoot right behind the shoulder.