Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Oddest thing after shot

What's the oddest thing you've had a deer do after being shot. Both mine shot with a 270 using 130 Coreloks around 1970. On one both front legs collapsed and the buck pushed himself about 75yds to a fence and died. The second also shot through both shoulders, reared up, fell over backwards, and landed with its antlers holding it's head off the ground. It never moved. I was around 20 then and didn't pay attention to shot placement other than through the shoulders. Captdavid

I was around 19 and my uncle and several of his buddies planned a mouflon sheep hunt in Bracketville, TX. One of his buddies took a shot at a nice one with a 760 Rem in 6mm and it went down. Upon checking him out they were looking for an exit wound and couldn't find one. We saw where it entered the shoulder where he aimed. Well they were about to take some pics of him with sheep and when I saw it's face I had commented what's wrong with the eye? Well it seems the bullet had some how turned and exited out the eye??? Never seen anything like that before.

Shooting 150gr Remington CoreLokt. 7mm Rem Mag.

Shot a doe for meat at about 50 yards. Her only reaction was to raise her head, look around and go back to grazing.

I loaded another round in the chamber and shot again.

She folded.

2 holes, about an inch apart, right behind the shoulder.

Guess the first failed to expand.

Arrowed a whitetail buck last year that ran about 45 yards at blazing full speed...right smack into the only tree in sight.

Deer drive in central Wisconsin. I dropped off several standers along a gravel road and parked my 1947 Ford stake bed truck next to a high sand bank and walked in off the road with the other standers.

Later, a buck came hell bent in my direction and I put a 87 grain .257 bullet from my 250 Savage 99 into his lungs. As he came by blood was spouting out of both sides, then there was a crash heard, but did not sound like brush.

When the drivers emerged I took up the blood trail and as I walked up to the edge of the high sand bank I found the dead deer laying on the bed of the truck.

i shot a doe a couple of years ago that was about 30 yards away and heading right for me. at the shot it ran right at me and almost ran into me. i was sitting tight against a big tree with my legs stretched out in front of me with no where to go and it ran right over my legs. my boy thought i was exaggerating until i showed him the tracks.

Wow, now that's the winner.

Had one I misread the angle and hit a little too far back take off and picked my point on the compass to head. I'm working the bolt and here it comes. Recognizes me, and makes a jump. Hit it square in the chest and it thumps the ground maybe 7-10feet in front of me.

Wish the truck would have been there to save me the drag out.

Sometimes a shot animal will lose blood pressure very fast which puts them in shock. They do some strange things then, usually just standing there like they weren't hit.
I once shot an elk 4 times right in the lungs. You could cover all 4 holes with your hand. He just stood there then slowly fell over. His lungs were a mass of jello and the far shoulder was broken. He went into shock, probably at the 1st shot, and just stood there until he died.

The old '47 has hauled a lot of deer.

And I'm sure a truck bed full of all your big ones couldn't even make it grunt.

Cool truck.

Shot a little scrub buck a few years ago through the lower neck with my 257Wby at 300yds. Was aiming for the shoulder and I guess I pulled a little. That was before I started reloading and shooting all the time. Anyway, he ran about 100yds across a field spewing blood like a spigot then stopped, reared up, spun around in a complete circle, then fell over dead. When I got to him, he was lying in the middle of a perfect circle of blood.

Usually, when I hit whitetails through both lungs, no matter what I hit them with, they run like a bat out of hell for about 35 yards, and I hear them drop. Never see them drop, the cover is too thick but I hear it.

One time I shot a buck at 10 yards with an arrow, I was 12 feet up in a stand. I put the arrow right through him behind the shoulder, got both lungs. The deer did an about face, like someone stuck him in the ass with a thorn and stood there at full attention, ears cocked. I could see the blood POURING out of the exit wound. He looked around like which way should I sneak out of here, took 3 steps rocking like a boat and fell over.

Another time I shot a buck with a 12 gauge slug at 40 yards, again right behind the shoulder and got both lungs. My son pushed the deer to me on a one man drive, and he was slowly walking past me when I shot him. He was totally oblivious and just kept walking at the exact same pace like nothing happened. I thought I missed but I said no way as I pumped the sluggun ready to shoot again. He walked about 10 steps from where I first shot at that same slow pace and fell over.

I had the same thing happen when I shot a doe. I aimed for the point of her right shoulder. At the shot she went down in the front end and pushed herself MAYBE 25 yds into mature timber.

Upon dressing, the bullet had hit the R shoulder joint turned 90* and took out the left shoulder.

I've seen deer do almost everything imaginable from immediate collapse, rearing up, even standing as if NOTHING happened then falling over.

One interesting event was a buck shot while he was eating acorns. I shot him in the LUNGS with 35 Whelen-200 HSP @ 25 yds. His whole body stiffened up and he took @ 4 steps -- STIFF legged and fell over on his side with all 4 legs straight out--like an ironing board.

I think it KNOCKED the wind out of him---maybe shock value?

Jerry

Oh! I've seen DEAD deer run off and never fall.

First deer I shot ran into a tree and Broke off an antler.

This year I shot a large Doe with a shotgun slug, and saw it hit, and she just sat there like she wasn't hit. I had to plug her again and then she reacted normally. Turns out the first bullet hit back a bit and followed the diaphragm and only nicked the liver. Nothing else was hit.

I was hunting a few years ago in western PA and while still hunting late in the evening, I shot a small 8pt at about 40 yards through both lungs (7RM, 150gr SP). The darn thing did a back flip and then got right up and charged right at me! I shot again at 25 yards (taking out a front leg) only to have him keep coming right for me... at 10 or so yards I lifted the rifle again and fired a third round without really aiming, more form instinct... and blew his left antler clean off!

He skidded to a stop with his remaining antler, literally, touching the toe of my boot!

Who says dangerous game isn't a factor in the lower 48!!??

I forgot one. At 'dark thirty' a friend shot a spike. I picked him up about 10 minutes later. We threw him in the back of the truck to take back to camp to gut. When we got to the gate, my friend got out to open it. He said "David, the deer's standing up". At that, the deer jumped out and ran off. There was no blood in the truck, in the direction it ran, nor where the deer was standing when shot. We never found it! Captdavid

I took a shot at one that turned and jumped over a log right as I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit low in the groin area, traveled forward just under the skin (splitting the skin open as it went), and exited at the bottom of the sternum.

When the deer landed on the other side of the log the entire contents of its abdomen fell out on the ground. The deer made a couple more hops, and dropped dead.

As I walked up I found a steaming pile of guts, and the deer about 15 feet past the gut pile. I killed and field dressed the deer in one shot.

I feel bad about this one to this day but at least I recovered it. About 20 years ago I was bowhunting elk. I encountered a spike on a steep hillside and shot it. I badly misjudged how steep the hill was and shot high, spining it. His back legs collapsed immediately and he folded. He then used his front legs to pull himself along for about 10 yds, then rolled further down the hill. He kept doing that and I followed him for more than 1/4 mile off the side of the mountain trying to catch up with him to finish him off. He finally rolled into a little dip where he couldn't move and I was able to get close enough to put a 2d arrow in his lungs. One good thing - he was moving TOWARD camp. I would have had to roll him down the mountain anyway.

Perhaps not weird, but my very first deer took 2 hops after the shot, right off a 'ledge' and he dropped 30 feet down a completely vertical chute.

That was a right good time.

Hear! Hear!

Maybe I should practice for that shot!

Jerry