Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Oddest thing after shot

I was standing on a logging trail in Ohio and someone ran a gnarly old 8 point right up to me. He was so close when I shot him, the wad was stuck in his hide. He reared up on his back legs and turned to run, falling dead in his tracks. I never realized how long a deer is when he goes up on his hind legs like that.

Have seen or been around most all the above. But NOT the deer in the bed of either truck mentioned. Neither the one up the tree, but have seen more than a few run into trees.

Don't really consider much of the stuff mentioned anything but normal sooner or later.

The one thing I"ve seen ONCE, and never again, and this with being around hundreds if not over 1000 deer shot...

Wife and I were harvesting does as fast as we could. A hunter we'd had in had left 2 boxes of 300 wtby 168 ballistic tips. Wasn't turning them down. No way in heck I'd shoot a deer anywhere but the head with those bombs.

So away we went, I think we had 6 or 7 down when we found a doe standing in a gully, couldn't really see her legs or below. Carolyn smacks her in the head like normal, maybe an 80ish yard shot. Deer is gone. I figured that with her in the gully, we'd not see her, all normal. Then she is up and doing a back flip in the air. The weird part is there was no head attached, just teh body and a neck. She was gone again, but showed up with 2 or 3 more complete body flips in the air and then gone.

When we got to the gully to drag her back, there was one strip of hair left, about 1.5 inches wide that kind of had part of an ear base attached, NOTHING else above the ear level at all.

I shot one once with 308 and 168 smks, wasn't weird but kind of funny. Totally took one ear off and it was sitting upright in the sendero all by itself about 10-15 feet beyond where the doe was laying. I've seen parts gone, but never seen an ear sitting upright.

Reminds me of chopping the head off a chicken.

Jerry

I shot a Doe at 25 yards with my .30-30 and she stood straight up in the air and fell over backwards.

Same thing happened to a nice buck i shot with a bow.

Hunting with a sharp fellow in Co when i arrowed a nice bull elk one evening. We had trouble following its trail and i figured we wouldnt find it. He showed me where it knocked a couple of 3-4 inch limbs off a big fallen pine.

He told me we would get it as the elk had lost a lot of blood and gone blind.

We did. Perfect heart shot.

I shot a big 8 point (4x4) in a thick woodlot with a 12 gauge when I was youngster. Shot in the chest at about 50 yards just behind the shoulder crease with an old foster slug. The deer went into a full tilt death run. I didn't know I hit it, so kept shooting and pumping the old 870. A few seconds later the deer ran straight into a large tangle of vines. The vines bowed out just like a giant sling shot or catapault. At about the end of the strech the buck expired, the remaining energy of vine tangle catapaulted the buck back the way he came about 25 feet in a heap. I only hit him with the first shot and missed all of the other three I shot at him. So much for shoting running deer. I was very relieved, as he was heading for a property line and figured the neighbors would tag him regardless.

I shot a small buck in the woods at a very close 25 yards with a 30-30 Winchester. At the shot the deer ran hard going down hill and ran right into a tree with his chest and spun him 180 degrees where he fell dead. It was an odd sight.

Another time I was hunting with my brother and he shot a doe in a field where there was a buck with her. After the doe dropped the buck tried to mount her on the ground. We both watched in disbelief at what was going on.

Yet another time I was hunting with my brother and there were several deer standing in the field in front of my uncle's house. I shot one of the does and she dropped. The other deer panicked and actually ran towards us. I think the echo of the shot in that corner was confusing. They got within 50 yards or so before my brother shot one too. Before his deer could hit the ground my uncle's border collie had tackled it with his front paws standing on it as proud as he could be. I would not have believed it if I had not been there.

Had a friend shoot one that ran headlong into a small tree that was just springy enough to launch it backward a ways.

Shot a few that ran headlong into big trees, and one of those looked like she went up the trunk about ten feet before hitting the ground dead.

Bow shot a few that were straight under my tree and hit em in the spine, and they'd flip upside down with legs straight up in the air.

Shot a big doe during a rare heavy snow here in middle Tennessee. About six inches of snow on the ground and I was hunting at the top of a LONG narrow steep draw. It was coming down so hard that I lost sight of her at the shot, only to see her a few seconds later sliding ALL the way down the draw on her side in the snow. My guess is it was about a 75 yard slide and she never touched a tree that could stop her.

That was a fun drag.

First deer my stepson killed He shot a button buck right through the stomach with a 30-30. It took a step and kept eating clover.

Another friend in PENN was on stand during a bear drive and a had a bear running his way. He waited until it paused and looked back toward the drivers and he shot it in the chest with a 30-06. The bear took off full speed towards a large tree and climbed a good 10 feet up it before giving the death moan and dropping to the ground dead. He told me was amazed how it climbed the tree so quickly for an animal of that size. He has taken 3 bear in PENN over the years and he said the death moan always spooks him.

Jericho

Your friend wasn't exaggerating. I saw a large bear climb ( FLY ) up a tree and I literally couldn't believe my eyes.

Jerry

https://youtu.be/XDTfWu_ZMko Yep bear can climb a tree much faster than most people realize.

Walking an old logging road, a nice 4 point(4x4) came out of the timber and jumped the road. There was another road below me and the buck took off running down that road away from me. I centered the cross hairs between his shoulder blades and touched one off. At the shot his ass passed his head, I've not seen such acrobatics since.

I was pheasant hunting into a stiff wind my friend's springer. The dog jumped right into a bedded buck that never smelled or heard us coming. I looked over to see the deer stomping and goring him with his antlers. The dog was pinned by the big deer standing over him in very thick grass. I shouted at the deer and shot over it's back…nothing. I then put a load of high base lead 4s into his shoulder from about 30 feet. He stopped working over the dog and started to circle me before I put another blast into his face and neck. He changed direction, walked a short distance, fell down and died. The dog was beat up, but ended up being fine.

A buddy shot a small 8-point buck with his bow. It was wounded and he tracked it most of the day. When he finally jumped it, the animal charged him. He was able to get behind a tree and pin it's antlers on the opposite side of the tree, then finish it off with his knife in one hand, and an antler in the other. He said he was relieved the deer was relatively weakened because even in that state, the creature was incredibly strong. As he was working it over with his knife to its neck, the sounds it made still haunt him.

I shot a big buck low in the brisket as he was quartering toward me within 40 feet with a 180 grain Core Lokt from my 30.06. The bullet didn't exit the deer and was lodged against the skin of the opposite leg. At the place and surrounding area of the shot there was not a single hair or drop of blood to be found. We didn't find him until the next day. It has been the only deer I have shot and didn't recover within a short time of shooting it.

Another time I was testing out a .308 I had just bought for my son. I shot a small buck from about the same distance with 150 grain Federal blue box behind the shoulder. The deer died almost on the spot, but on closer inspection, the bullet did not exit the deer. Prior to these experiences I had killed a lot of deer with the Core Lokts in particular. I have since have been doing some hunting with tsx and have seen very good results.

My dad and my uncle were standing on a ridge watching a patch below them that had been logged out a couple of years prior. A doe came running through the patch and my uncle fired one shot and the deer did a cart wheel into the brush. They both looked for a good 45 minutes and couldnt find the deer, but knew it was dead somewhere. My uncle finally went back up to the ridge and had my dad walk to the spot they last saw the deer and my dad immediately saw its legs sticking out from under an upturned stump. It had dove or rolled under the stump after it was shot. My dad said it looked had it had been stuffed under the stump.

Shotgun slug hunting in MN. Group of four deer break out of woods and run across field. I shoot the lead doe at about 30 yards and she does a summersault landing on her back. The two little ones behind her(probably her twins) run up and start nudging her and bleating. I let them run off.

Another time I am sitting on the edge of a ravine. Small doe comes running up the hill right at me. I shoot at about 15 feet and she blows back on her feet and tumbles back down the 15' ravine.

I am NOT a bow hunter but a few years back was watching a hunting show where I guy shot a grazing buck around 30 yards. It was a clean pass through behind the shoulders through the lungs. The buck jerked his head up looked around then went back to feeding. You could see the blood running down his side. After about 30 seconds he started swaying, took a few steps and collapsed. At the shot, never really reacted to flee, just went back to eating. Damndest thing I ever saw.

My oldest son shot a buck- a perfect double-lunger.

At the shot the deer took off running and he made a second shot to try and anchor the deer at 80 yards.
His second shot creased the underside of the buck, and the entire gut contents- stomach and intestines, fell completely out of the deer.

It looked like someone had taken a scalpel and had made a surgical incision right across the buck's belly.

Easiest gut-job ever.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

My buddy and I were really lucky to each draw Tule elk cow tags (as well as pronghorn tags) in 2005. Unheard of in CA. A Tule elk hunt is pretty much a slam-dunk proposition because very few tags are permitted each year and the elk are not spooky at all. On the elk hunt, we had decided, my buddy had 1st shot. We located a herd of about 30 animals, 18 of which were bulls, many were 6x6 or better and the herd bull was a massive 8x7. They were all spread about, bedded and undisturbed, but no shot was possible because of their proximity to each other. After waiting for the better part of 2 hours, one large cow got up and moved away from the rest and finally presented a shot. His rifle was a .375 H&H with 270g, factory Corelokts, distance about 100 yds. Watching through my binocular, I saw the perfect broadside heart-lung hit and saw blood spraying out the far side. The cow just stood there. The other elk now certainly disturbed began to rise and mill about preventing a follow up shot. Soon a few of the satellite bulls ran over to the now slumping cow and began mounting her, one after another, a jaw-dropping spectacle. At last we moved toward the herd and chased them away so a finishing shot was possible. I got my yearling cow (great choice for the tender meat harvested) while we approached the now finished bigger cow. I had brought along a video camera and recorded the whole affair. Incidentally, we also each got a pronghorn buck that year, though with no unusual happenings.

Biggest Washington deer I ever personally put hands on was a 26 1/2" 5x5 mulie from last season. We had hunted the morning without luck and decided to spend the afternoon steelhead fishing. It was a good call as there were plenty of fish stacked up at the mouth of the Clearwater River. We ended up fishing until almost dark and were headed out. The road back to camp includes a steep windy downhill section of dirt road for about 3 miles that is maybe 10' wide with a 15' cut bank on one side and about 120' steep drop off on the other side.

We were making a good clip down it in my new F350 pulling my 19' sled. Upon rounding a hairpin corner said buck jumped off the cut bank about 50' in front of me. There was no way I was going to be able to stop so I got over as far as I could and hoped for the best. The buck tried to run downhill and across in front of us and I had no choice but to take him down my passenger side between me and the drop off. He ducked just as my mirror went over his back and surpisingly didn't hit the mirror and we heard no impact to the truck or boat. We all commented about what a close call it was and it was a shame we couldn't manage to harvest a buck like that.

We got back to camp and I started dinner as we waited for the rest of the guys out hunting to return. When they got back they started flipping us all kinds of chit asking why we took the boat hunting without them. I told them we didn't hunt and to check the fish box of the boat to which he replied "I would if you would have dressed and hung your big ass buck so it wasn't in the way".

I walked over to my boat with my flashlight and sure as chit that damn buck was laid out dead on the floor of the boat with almost no blood on the deck. We hung him up to dress him and there was no visible exernal damage, neck and spine were intact no broken legs etc. We opened him up and it looked like a bomb went off in his chest. He had 3 ribs that were missing about 4-6" of bone, lungs were jello and his heart was damn near ripped in 2. The meat was damn near perfect and there was almost no bloodshot meat just a little at the sight of the rib fractures.

We looked over the truck and boat in the morning and could find no damage to either, just what appeared to be a little of the loose dust from the road rubbed off the bow area. All we can figure is he cleared the truck and thought he was home free so he hooked a right and got struck by the bow of the boat rolling him over the side onto the floor. It's my guess that the rib chunks from the impact are what took out his lung and heart killing him.

Filed a salvage tag with the game dept the next day after the morning hunt and went out to fill our tags. We all got good deer that trip but all we could discuss was getting long cocked by the Alumaweld.

Still the damndest thing I have ever seen while hunting.