Wounded deer question
 

Last gun season, my good buddy took a shot at a monster buck, and it fell to the ground and started thrashing and kicking, but then it got up and ran off with no blood trail....they looked for hours but found nothing. Does anybody have any idea what maight have happened, because it still baffles us.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Two seasons ago my son had a big 8 point come through and he shot it with a .300 Mag. At the sound of the gun it dropped. He went over and touched it on the eye just because you should and it blinked! He shot it through the neck and upon skinning it we found his first shot had just grazed the skull between the antlers hitting the base of one. I've seen other times when a graze on the head puts them down kicking but when they recover there's no sign at all. Just a thought!

RE: Wounded deer question
 

My best guess was that he hit it in the antlers. He was using a 20 gauge slug gun.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

The shock of the bullet impact probably knocked him down. Temporary nerve damage[&:]. There is going to be very little or no blood trail if avital organ or artery was not hit. If no vitals were hit, then the buck should survive no problem. The only other problem would be if an infection would set in. Even then, the deer can still survive. Deer are very hardy animals and can survive after being severely wounded.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

We think we saw him a couple weeks later alive and well. He had a very wide spread and i did get some video of a large buck at night (in my youtube link at the bottom of the page), but, since we live in a great deer area, its hard to tell alot of the bucks apart.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

If you hit one too high in the shoulder, it will will strike the animal inthe vertebrae, which puts the animal in a temporary shock. Then it will recover and be gone with little sign of any kind of hit. If you look at a deer skeleon you will notice wher ethe shoulders are the back bone dips down, however the vertebrae are longer there ans stick up even with the rest of the backbone. If hit it will just shock the spinal cord temporarily dropping the animal.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

probably a shoulder shot that didnt shoot through both shoulders

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Same thing kind of happened to me. I shot at a doe and it fell, rolled over a few times, and got up and ran off. My dad and I checked where the deer dropped and just found a handful of hair. We followed its tracks for about 100 yards and found nothing else. We figured that i just grazed part of him.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

either a shoulder shot or an antler shot

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Was he aiming for the head?If so that is very unethical,and has to be the most unethical shot a hunter can take.Do the animal your hunting a favor and don't aim for a head shot.Sure it will drop them dead but if your off just an inch or two,your gonna shoot the jawbone off and it will starve to death.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

hm very funny you say that, cause there are spots that if you miss the lungs, you will give them a slow death too.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Listen here troll, i never said anything about a headshot. People can get buck fever and make bad shots because of it, if you dont, then why are you even hunting?

RE: Wounded deer question
 

If you haven't seen him since the incident, there's a good chance those " wild wolves " in Indiana got him.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Actually, have to agree with the antler shoot, from the thrashing description. Enough temporary shock to the nervous system to cause such a reaction.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Odd to say the least. I've NEVER seen a deer hit(hit, not graze)with a slug that didn't bleed.

I'm not implying anything, I just think that in this situation that it was definately not a good hit.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

CSIMAN08,I was just asking and was only going by what you had said.I get buck fever everytime i see anydeer whether it be a booner or a doe,but i can honestly say that i have never gotten so shaken up that i would miss a deers vitals enough to hit its antlers.It just sounded like he was takeing a headshot.My apologies to you if i have offended you! BTW,im no troll,I have been here alot longer than you!!

RE: Wounded deer question
 

We take 15 or so guest a year on our farms and kill 45-50 each year...You would be amazed at the stories we hear as to why folks hit/miss/lose deer...
Some guys get so excited that they have no idea where the deer was, which way he ran, the angle of the shot, etc...It's both funny and kinda pitiful...A few years back one fellow hit a buck "huge buck" at least a 20 inch spread...Ended up being a 7 pointer with about a 12 inch spread, I would have let him walk....

Anyway, your buddy hit him with a 20 gauge slug...What was the range???
Was he hunting over a field or in the woods??? Was the deer facing, quartering away, broadside??? Was the deer moving or standing still and if moving was it right to left or left to right??? Has he checked the sight in on the gun since this happened???

Until you find the deer there is no way to know...

RE: Wounded deer question
 

I just blurted out troll because i knew somebody would throw in a head shot comment and start saying how unethical and horrible it was.....my apologies :D

The buck was broadside in a field at 60-70 yards, and he had a slug barrel.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Has he shot the gun since to see where it is hitting???

My guess it that the deer was actually slightly quartering away and he hit him "in the shoulder" with the bullet actually hitting a little too far forward and not going into the chest cavity, but knocking him down only to have him recover...I've seen this a time or two with some of our hunters, with another hunter killing the deer a week or two later and finding that he was wounded...

These slight angles can be tricky, with most hunters not realizing that they need to aim for where the bullet will exit, not enter...It can also be compounded with shots inside 100 yards if the hunter doesn't take a rest...

RE: Wounded deer question
 

You'll never know what actually happened unless you or one of your group shoot the deer and find evidence of it being shot previously.

But, my guess is the same as some others, the slug probably hit high in the shoulder/loin area. The typical reaction is the deer drops, then thrashes, then gets up and runs off. There would be some blood and hair left behind, but not a bloodtrail like your friend was expecting and he may have overlooked it.

I have done this myself. I did find blood to follow for about 150-200 yds., then nothing. I read a book by John Trout (I think) on trailing wounded deer, and this is the exact reaction he describes for deer hit in the loin area.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

I seriously doubt he was aiming for the head of a nice buck. Buck fever sounds more like it.

RE: Wounded deer question
 

I used to have a friend that thought it was funny to shoot a deer in the ear and that's exactly what he said they did.
I did say he used to be a friend!

RE: Wounded deer question
 

I've seen a high velocity round deflect of a deer's shoulder on a quartering away shot but I can honetly say I do not have the experience with a 20 g. slug gun to know if this may happen with a slug. I suppose though with the right angle and a near miss, it may be possible. A solid shot with any round would have left some type of blood trail. Did you find any hair where the deer went down?

RE: Wounded deer question
 

Killadoe is right on...a shot at any point just below the spine will put a deer on the ground immediately kicking in the air, often blood and hair are found at the point of impact, however they can and will get up to cover great distances with little or not blood trail.