We had been following the tracks of a single bull for several hours with a steady breeze in our faces. When we finally closed, the buffalo was simply meandering along, minding its own business. The mopane was fairly thick, so we crept in a bit closer, maybe 50 yards, and as soon as it looked clear I dropped to one knee. When the animal turned to its left I centered the front sight on the shoulder and squeezed the front trigger. This was early in my African hunting career, and it was the first buffalo I'd taken with a big double, an old Wilkes .470. The big animal dropped to the shot, collapsing on its legs in an upright position with no further movement. Wow, I had a real buffalo rifle now!

The author used a high shoulder/spine shot to drop this late-season Colorado bull, shown with guide John Papierski. He used a Savage 110 in .30-06 with a 180-grain Barnes Triple-Shock bullet. There is considerable risk to this shot, so you must be very sure and absolutely steady.

That was more than 25 years ago, and I didn't have nearly as much experience as I thought I did. I should have smelled a rat right away, but as we examined the buffalo--which was very dead--it quickly became apparent that things weren't quite as they seemed. The shoulder that I'd aimed at so precisely was unmarked. The buffalo had been hit squarely in the neck, at least two feet to the left.

Even then, while still in my 20s, I had enough smarts to simply nod and accept the accolades for a great shot. But I couldn't do that because the entrance wound showed the exact profile of a 500-grain .470 solid. The bullet had hit a small, unseen branch a dozen yards back--we found the fresh scar--and had keyholed into the buffalo's neck. I'd been very lucky because there are a lot of other places on a buffalo where that errant bullet might have hit.

I get some mail and, at shows, talk to a few hunters who prefer neck and head shots. Done right, the results are spectacular and instantaneous and meat loss is nil. Some of these guys hunt in situations where they can be sure and confident of such shots--for instance, from rigid stands in relatively close cover. Others, undoubtedly, are steadier than I am and shoot better.

Me, I'm neither a neck shooter nor a head shooter. One excuse is that most of the animals I take have antlers or horns, often capes, that I'd like to save. The risk of irreparable damage is obvious. But even on pure, non-trophy meat animals I tend to avoid such shots.

Partly, I suppose, since I try to avoid them, I don't have nearly as much confidence as the guys who try to specialize in such shots. But they also offer the smallest target and thus entail a great deal of risk. If you center the brain or cut the spinal column anywhere in the neck, the results are instantaneous, spectacular and final. But the margin for error is very narrow. If you fluff a neck shot just a wee bit, shock to the spine will almost certainly drop the animal like a rock--but he'll be up again in a few moments.

Murphy's Law applies: This will usually happen while you're working your way to him, out of sight for a few moments. Once an animal gets back up from a near-miss spine shot, chances of recovery are very slim.

I suppose the good news is that an animal will probably recover from a neck shot that goes too high; all you've really done is crease him. A low neck shot or a head shot that misses the brain will leave a horrible wound that will almost certainly cause a lingering death, but since the animal's locomotion remains intact, recovery will be very difficult.