Antelope - Neck Shots?

Another vote of "No" on neck shots, at least from the side. Here is anther example of a neck shot gone wrong. I killed a buck a with a chest shot north of Casper, WY a couple of days ago. He was acting completely normal before the kill. When I got up to him I saw that he had been recently shot in the throat and his esophagus had been blown apart. There were pieces of grass visible in the wound where swallowed food had come out. There was no bleeding and the buck would have died either from infection or starvation. Either way, he would have probably been coyote bait before he was even dead. Not a pretty thought. The wound is bigger than it appears in the picture, the other side of the neck is blown out about twice that much. Barely missed the windpipe.
antelopeexitwound.jpg
 
I shot my buck with my 7stw and 160gr accubond at 460 yrds in the neck. He dropped like he'd been hit by a truck and started running laying on his side. I chunked in another round and looked up and he was walking away. I had to reposition and ended up shouldering him a 250yrds. I could see the hole in his neck with the naked eye at 460yrds. When I picked up his head you could feel the broken bones in his neck and you could put your fist through the hole that round left and he still walked away.

On a similar note I shot a cow elk lying down at 260yrds through the neck the same year with the same combo. The first round she still had her head up and the second round put her down.

From now on at anything under 300yrds I am going for heart/lung and anything over 300 is a high shoulder shot. Both of which have been proven one shot kills for my combo.
 
I havnt shot a antelope and probly never will but iv shot alot of animals in the neck. depends on your bullet but the base of the neck is probly safer than higher up as there is more bone mass ect. base of the head works well but youv got to have no wind and have a good rest. I head shoot alot of game out to 300yards and have been told not to but its a confindence thing. if you get used to shooting them in the head its no harder than chest shots realy. just practice and its up to the shooter. If theres no wind and you feel confindent give it a go
 
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