I am starting this to help keep another thread from being over run but it is an interesting subject with both types of shot being both deadly and also having the chance of being non-fatal.

I prefer the body shot (vitals) due to the larger target area to makeup for any mistakes i make and to also help with any movement by the animal in question. With a well built bullet penatration is not a problem as long as common sense is used in choosing when to shoot. I have taken neck shots and belive they have a greater risk of losing the game either by a complete miss or a bad shot altho when properly placed they tend to require no tracking at all. I belive the answer to which shot should be taken returns to a combination of factors such as distance, shooter ability in the prevailing conditions, activity of the animal, surrounding stimuli such as dogs, traffic, other nearby animals, weather....ect.

I don't want this to get into some kind of debate but everyone has little differences on why they choose the shots they take and i belive we can all learn something from each other.

Gary