I don’t particularly care whether one drops. With a bow, I really like to be able to watch it go down even though that’s often not possible, but with a gun I’ve never had a super long blood trail. In fact, if I know I had a good shot, even if I have a pretty good idea where the deer is laying, I enjoy following the trail. IMO makes walking up on the deer even more exciting. Only ever had a few drop instantly. One was an accidental spine shot with my bow. One was a shoulder shot with a 270, not much of a surprise. The 3rd was an accident. I had already put one in the lungs, but the deer was hauling a$$ down into a creek bottom. Would’ve been hell to find and drag out, and there was a possibility of it crossing the property line. I went for a follow up and dropped it. Figured I hit shoulder or neck, but once I walked up to it I realized I hit it in the head.
The year after I dropped the deer with my 270, I sold that gun to my brother. He was using 130 gr ballistic silver tips and shot his first deer. It ran 30-40 yards but I don’t know how. Somehow that bullet ripped open the chest cavity to where you could see the heart and both lungs. No idea how that deer wasn’t “DRT”. Would post a picture if I could.
