There are two "twigs" hanging in our hunting cabin; both shot by the same fella.
The first is a dogwood about 1.5"-2" diameter, with a nice .30 caliber hole in one side, and a hell of an exit hole and splintered opening on the other.
A .30-30 bullet from 65 yards dead centered that sapling, punched through, and then did yeoman's work on the 8-point buck on the other side. The buck as about the same color as the sapling, and the sapling wasn't seen until after the deer was recovered, and yes, there were a few splinters in the hide of that deer; it was that close to the tree.
The second is a dead, half-rotten pine branch with a half-moon cut blasted through one side, and damned near blowing it in half. A load of #4 magnum 12 gauge shot hit that branch at 20 yards, and not a pellet made it to the gobbler just a few feet beyond.
The very first deer hunt I ever went on, I saw a .300 Savage 180 gr. SilverTip detonate the top of an alder, and get deflect JUST enough to hit a 2' DBH hickory instead of the very nice buck it was intended for; the deflection was only a matter of inches at 50 yards (hit the alder at 15 yards), but it was enough.
I personally missed a very nice gobbler this spring when a twig smaller than a pencil got the .221 Fireball bullet intended for that long beard, and the same turkey had an identical bullet deflected two weeks later (by another hunter) by a single strand of barbed wire. Damned lucky bird............
Brush does funky stuff to bullets, and your best bet is always to shoot AROUND the brush, not through it.
