Late Season NC Public Land 10 PT With Some Regret

[accone]

Harvested the largest buck of my 5 year hunting career this week. Hunted the morning of Jan 1 which is the last day of rifle season on the public land I hunt in NC.

At around 9:45 a 10 point mature buck shows up traversing the side of a hill that I set up on. I see him about 80 yards out and scope him. He is walking straight to me so I was waiting for him to get broadside before taking my shot. At 50 yards he looks right up at me (30 feet up in climbing stand), it was clear in his big widening eyes he was terrified, knew what exactly he was looking at, and about to bolt.

Even though he is still facing directly to me I decide to take my shot. He runs off acting like he wasn’t even hit. Find a very faint blood trail that I track for an hour. Bumped him as I was tracking, give it some more time and then finally find him laying down and give him the final blow. He had ran about 600 yards from where I first shot him. Turned out I got him in the lower neck with my 6.5 creedmor 143 grain.

How ethical does the hunting community consider neck shots? I’ve killed 7 deer at this point in my rifle hunting career (rest were boiler room shots) and all the others have dropped dead or made it less than 30 yards. I will admit I got a little excited with the rack. I feel very lucky I even recovered the deer. Should I have let him bolt?

 

[Treeshark]

You’re 7-for-7 and had to track one a ways… keep doing what you’re doing, neck shots with a rifle are green-light for me.

 

[Addicting]

Why post it on a forum for people to judge your choice? What does any of our opinions have to do with squat?

 

[np307]

Congrats on a nice buck from another NC public land hunter.

Neck shots in general are a somewhat depated subject but not nearly as much as a headshot. The typical neck shot scenario though is more toward the base of the neck and the objective is to shut down the central nervous system by taking out the spine.

The biggest question I have is what were you aiming for? "Turns out I hit the neck" sounds like you weren't trying to hit the neck. If you weren't 100% sure of the anatomy of the deer and what you were aiming for, you shouldn't have taken the shot. If you were trying to take a frontal and missed, or something else happened, thats a different conversation.

I took 2 frontal shots this year but I was 100% confident on the anatomy of the animal and my shot took out what it was meant to.

The most important thing here was that you were able to put the deer down and recover it. Don't stress too much about what happened, but definitely pick it apart and learn from it.

 

[accone]

Why post it on a forum for people to judge your choice? What does any of our opinions have to do with squat?

lol I like this guys perspective. Guess I was gonna feel better if everyone came on here and said neck shots are totally fine. You’re right though, shot ethics are up to the hunter.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I would have expected the buck to drop in its tracks. What did the bullet hit internally and do? Did it exit? Did it blow up on the cervical spine? I have shot a couple of animals with that same cartridge bullet combination but at longer ranges. My friend had a somewhat similar experience with a neck shot using a 6.5 CM and a 143 gr ELDX.

 

[accone]

"Turns out I hit the neck"

Meant to put lower neck there, just fixed the post. Was aiming for higher up on the neck. I think the bullet didn’t mushroom quite as much because he was so close and velocity was high. Those dang creedmors look like needle bullets to me lol, usually hunt with my .30-06. Not trashing the creedmor though.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Meant to put lower neck there, just fixed the post. Was aiming for higher up on the neck. I think the bullet didn’t mushroom quite as much because he was so close and velocity was high. Those dang creedmors look like needle bullets to me lol, usually hunt with my .30-06. Not trashing the creedmor though.

I would expect more expansion when the velocity is high. I assume I am looking at the entrance hole. What was the bullet’s path from there?

 

[JohnBud]

Congrats on a nice buck. Kudos for your persistence in recovering that deer. Most of us have taken "less than perfect" shots and we learn from the experience.

 

[accone]

I would expect more expansion when the velocity is high. I assume I am looking at the entrance hole. What was the bullet’s path from there?

Dude I know right! I had to do a double take on the back of my Hornady box. I don’t understand the science of that. You are actually looking at the exit hole which is surprising I know. The entry was about 3” higher on the other side. I feel pretty confident my .30-06 would have put him down right there.

 

[BAKPAKR]

That is what I get from assuming. Must have pretty much just resulted in a tracheotomy. I am glad you caught up to him.

And, nice buck. Congrats.

 

[np307]

Meant to put lower neck there, just fixed the post. Was aiming for higher up on the neck. I think the bullet didn’t mushroom quite as much because he was so close and velocity was high. Those dang creedmors look like needle bullets to me lol, usually hunt with my .30-06. Not trashing the creedmor though.

The picture on the box of the eldx is misleading. It looks like its not mushrooming at higher velocity but thats because it's fragmenting. Usually at least partial jacket separation which produces a wider wound channel than a mushroom. You hit below the spine and I highly doubt the 06 would've given you any different results.

 

[F250]

Sometimes the neck shot is all you have. For me it depends if the animal is relaxed and stationary, I have a solid rest, there’s a clear shooting lane, and I’m as certain as possible that I can make the shot. I prefer the base of the neck. I’ve made neck shot kills on elk, caribou, mule deer and lots of whitetails. .300 Win Mag, .270 Win, and .243 Win. As I sit here, I can’t remember an animal that didn’t drop on impact. You are to be commended for your efforts to recover that deer. Well done !!

 

[accone]

That is what I get from assuming. Must have pretty much just resulted in a tracheotomy. I am glad you caught up to him.

And, nice buck. Congrats.

Yeah that’s what I am thinking too, should have aimed higher. Glad it was daylight, blood trail was sparse. Thanks!

 

[Nick87]

Ive shot a LOT of deer in the neck never had one go anywhere. Im not saying it won't ever happen. I wont take it at any distance or angle. But when done right its hard to beat imo.

 

[accone]

The picture on the box of the eldx is misleading. It looks like its not mushrooming at higher velocity but thats because it's fragmenting. Usually at least partial jacket separation which produces a wider wound channel than a mushroom. You hit below the spine and I highly doubt the 06 would've given you any different results.

Ahh you are correct it’s misleading because I def understood it incorrectly lol. Will stick to boiler shots going forward, I dont trust my personal aim enough to go for a spine which I expect is about a 3” target!

 

[accone]

I would have expected the buck to drop in its tracks. What did the bullet hit internally and do? Did it exit? Did it blow up on the cervical spine? I have shot a couple of animals with that same cartridge bullet combination but at longer ranges. My friend had a somewhat similar experience with a neck shot using a 6.5 CM and a 143 gr ELDX.

Yeah that’s the exact ammo I used. It did exit but the exit wound was surprisingly small. Pic is the exit wound, entry was about 3” higher on other side. As someone else said, it appears it just got his trachea. When I found him about 90 mins later he was down and def on his way out but that far is unusual for me with having only done rifle hunting.

 

[mdhunter]

I am not a neck shooter of deer. That said, I absolutely give you props for tracking a deer that far. Congrats on a nice deer and tracking job.

 

[accone]

Congrats on a nice buck. Kudos for your persistence in recovering that deer. Most of us have taken "less than perfect" shots and we learn from the experience.

Thanks and yes def a learning experience I won’t soon forget. The guy ran down up and down two steep hills and two creek bottoms. Was a brutal 3 hour haul out by myself, he suffered and so did I!

 

[accone]

I am not a neck shooter of deer. That said, I absolutely give you props for tracking a deer that far. Congrats on a nice deer and tracking job.

Thanks! At first I couldn’t even find any blood, I was stoked when I found the blood trail. I was able to track the ruffled leaves better than I could the blood, glad it was daylight!