RE: Hit deer, knocked deer down, deer leaves
I had the same experience 3 yrs ago. I shot a nice 8 point at about 40 yds with my 44 mag handgun. It droped in its tracks and kicked a few times, then still. I started to get down from my tree stand and he jumped up and ran like he hadn't been hit. I was shooting 300 gr XTP at about 1400 fps, so nearly the same as a muzzleloader. There wasn't alot of blood and only on one side of the trail, aparently the bullet didn't exit.
I tracked him for probably close to a quarter of a mile before he went into a swamp with nearly waist deep water and ice. In over 35 yrs of deer hunting that is the first one I lost. It makes you feel sick to loose a nice rack like him. I'm sure he ended up being Coyote food.