ORIGINAL: ipscshooter
Just curious... If you lost the deer, how do you KNOW you hit them "behind the shoulder angling forward slightly", and how do you KNOW there was no expansion? Even with no expansion, deer hit as you've described will have .277 caliber holes through both lungs, and likely would expire within 100 yards.
Yep, you cannot put a bullet through a deers cavity and him not expire. Just the hole through the diaphram will kill. Once the diaphram is punctured a deer cant breath.
Most deer that are lost are just not found, the deer is dead and laying somewhere, you just have to find him.