I shoot a 45 cal. muzzleloader and I killed 2 deer with it this year that dropped in their tracks. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I think the boy's deer is dead. I shot a doe at very close range a few years ago with an Hawken 50 cal. with round ball out of a ground blind. She took off and when I got out to look, all I could find was hair.It was also a quartering to shot. Not a drop of blood. She ran down a mowed trail probably 100 yards and then went off the trail and I lost it. It was getting dark so I went to get the lantern and the dog. When I got to the spot where I shot the dog took off and followed the trail and I think winded the dead deer cause he ran right to it. It was a devastating shot. I don't have any idea how she ran so far.