I don' t know, but I can relate something equally strange. A friend of mine shot an 8pt two years ago, at about 10 yards. It was running, and he hit it right below the knee with a 30-06, the front leg. It died within 25 yards. I thought for sure we would find another bullet hole when skinning, but we didn' t. An incredible amount of blood. Wierd. The bullet went right down next to the leg bone. Yet I see deer all the time with the leg shot right off above the knee, that heal up just fine.