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Here's some etymology info I found for "neck of the woods" on the Internet:
Development of transferred uses of the word 'neck':
The neck of a bottle (1460). A neck of land - meaning a peninsula or isthmus
(1555). A neck in the mountains - a narrow pass through mountains (1707). A
neck of water - a narrow strait between two headlands (1719). A neck of
woodland or timber - a narrow stretch of woodland (1780).
Interestingly, the OED says that 'neck of the woods' is "orig. US", but the
first quote seems to be from an Irish source.
From a narrow stretch of woodland, the expression came to refer to a
settlement in wooded country (1871), a remote community (1931?)and finally,
to a neighbourhood (1955).
Obviously, while living creatures (and even bottles) tend only to have one
neck, stretches of water and woodland can reasonably be said to have
several, hence THIS neck of the woods rather than THAT one.
