Hunted my best stand this evening, shot many good bucks there over the years. There's a 40 yard patch of timber contecting two big blocks of timber, where 3 properties come together. I own all of the funnel and all of one of the blocks of timer, and half of the other. I have a shooting lane at a 45 degree angle just past the funnel, that goes up to the property line about 90 yards away, and there's a pasture on the other side of the fence.
Bucks walk about 10 yards on my side of the fence down the line, and into my shooting lane. Today what will easily be my biggest buck ever stepped out right at about 4:30. I stopped him with my voice, steadied my thompson center omega as aimed behind the shoulder. It takes about 30 seconds for the smoke to clear. When it did, the buck was on the other side of the fence, and walking up hill in the opposite direction. He stopped for several seconds, then kind of galloped off across the field. I didn't know what to think. I shoot 250 grain shockwaves and though deadly, they don't expand and the blood trails can be bad, even with a well hit deer.
I went to look for sign of a hit. Yes, small bright/dark red blot spots immediately, about 15-20 yards down and then crossed the fence. Blood on the other side as well. A small puddle where he stopped. The blood was steady but not a lot for 40-50 yards across the field then I lost it. He was crossing the field at a downhill angle. I saw no sign of him along the fence at the bottom, which is bordering a small draw/branch. So he either jumped that fence, or ran to the far end of the field and jumped a fence into a small patch of woods. As I approached that patch, a deer ran up the hill out of those woods, couldn't see if it was the buck.
The blood looks like it's from the vitals. The deer hair at the place of the shot was brown, so not a brisket hit. But hard to imagine a well hit buck jumping a fence and running 3-400 yards, or even 200 yards and jumping another fence. I called the guy who owns the land on the other side of the pasture, who hunts the pasture, and we will go out in the morning to look.
