Farthest I have ever seen a deer run after a chest hit was about 1 mile. 7-08 and the hit was on the shoulder blade, shot from a steep hill trying to make the bullet come out the bottom of the chest on the other side. Range was about 40 yards. Bullet was a Burger 140 grain. I was along for that hunt, not the shooter. The girl was 14 years old and her dad and I took her out for her 1st deer. It was not a good memory for her, but thankfully she still hunts today and she's now 29 and married with kids that also hunt.
Farthest run from a deer I ever shot was a weird one. Again about 40-45 yards away and the gun was a 9.3X57 Mauser with a 250 grain Nosler Accubond. Hit was as centered in the chest as I could want, and the bullet could not have been better placed if I could have touched the buck with the muzzle. The exit was the size of a goose egg and exactly where I would have wanted it to exit. Chunks of lung were found in the brush and on the ground. Yet that whitetail ran about 450 yards. One of those "impossible runs" but that's what happened. All other game hit with that gun and load dropped at the shot or within a few feet. I have no explanation at all.
Longest run I have ever seen from any animal was an elk and was the very first client I ever guided on my own guide's license, back many years ago in the Selway of Idaho. 7MM Rem mag, 25 yard shot from a steep slope and that bullet hit the ridge on the shoulder blade of a 6X6 bull. Almost exactly like the deer I wrote about first. I even told the hunter "you're good, he's dead" so he didn't he shoot again and THAT WAS A MISTAKE!!!! I SAW the round hit the bull and was sure he would drop in 2-3 seconds. Placement looked great. Penetration's was VERY poor we found out later. It was a Sierra 140 grain Game King. and the load was very fast, probably about 3100 FPS.
The bull jumped over a deadfall and took off down the hill. Those that have hunted in the Selway will understand what I mean when I say "downhill". The shot was at about 8:45 in the morning. We caught up with the bull, still alive and still moving at about 5:00 that afternoon. 2 more shots to the rear of the lungs and the liver put it down. On the map the length of the blood trail looked like a bit more than 2 miles long, but going the crooked path it took, I think the real run was about 2 lightyears. That's how it felt anyway.
If they don't drop SHOOT AGAIN if possible. I was young then and had about 6 years of experience. Now I am in geezerhood and I say SHOOT AGAIN if you can! Now I have over 1/2 a century of elk hunts behind me, so I think I can say from experience, if the don't drop, keep shooting.
I may be a slow learner, but I am a learner.
