Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Ever lose an animal you felt was well hit?

One time I was hunting deer in a housing development most times the neighbors didn't seem to mind the report of my 222 but did mind that of a larger gun. While sitting there I had a doe smell me and start to circle down wind while snorting. I took the only shoot at the deer that I had which happened to be a shoulder shot. At the shot the deer took off favoring a leg. Half an hour later I got down from my stand and started tracking the deer. There was minimum blood and I eventually jumped the deer out of its bed which only had a bit of blood in it. I'm thinking that the bullet which was a 63 grain sierra failed to penetrate the deer's shoulder and only caused a flesh wound.

They didn't. I referenced a Wisconsin drive metaphorically.

OK, gotcha.

200 years ago, if a man or men killed a deer and didn't recover it till the next day, would they consider it edible?
I'm pretty sure they would eat it. There's a reason "spices" were so valuable.

You ever eat spoiled meat? It tastes like dog [bleep].

Me too.

But you would.

10 years ago I shot a small buck at less than 40 feet. The 44 Mag revolver was sighted and I’d practiced an awful lot. The load was a stout charge of H110 under 240 XTPs.

At the shot he ran down the hill I was hunting straight away from me, got snagged in a barbed wire fence, flipped on his back and “death grunted”.

I took my time getting my stuff together, and as I flung my backpack over my shoulder to walk down and get to work he jumped up and ran off full tilt, tail-down. I spent that day trying to track him and turned up nothing.

Got several different versions of that tee shirt... some more fun than others.

Maybe, but not sure. What does dog [bleep] taste like?

Why spoiled meat of course.

Yes 3 bulls with a bow that I know were hit well....

I've shot at least 10 times the number of bucks than doe, but doe have always given me the greatest runs.

Mike74: No, thank God, not yet anyways (and I have been Hunting for 58+ years now).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

As has been mentioned, bullets can deflect after striking flesh. Many years ago, I shot a doe at around 40 yards with a 130 Core Lokt out of a .270. She was pretty much broadside and the only shot I had was the neck. The deer dropped at the shot and upon inspection after hitting the spine in the neck, the bullet had exited the off shoulder. I'm going to guess that the bullet deflected down around 40 degrees. I was lucky in that the bullet hit in an area that killed the deer instantly, but I can definitely see how one could lose a deer due to a similar situation.

That certainly has been my experience with antelope does compared to bucks..............

I have lost two deer that I thought were well hit.

The first was a 6 pt shot with a 30/30 with 170 gr Federal factory load. I shot it behind the shoulder which left a good blood trail for maybe 100 yards. The trail ended on the shore of a small river which was partially ice covered. A search down stream turned up no sign of the deer over the next couple days. This was particularly painful as even seeing a deer over the season was rare in those days.

The other one was hit with a 54 caliber conical. A doe gave me a nice broadside shot at maybe 25 yards. There was bright lung blood on the snow but it must have been slightly further back than I planned as the deer headed toward the property line, hopped the fence, and made it to the top of a hill before I watched it tip over. That was about 150 yards, maybe a bit more.

The land the deer dropped on was private but the law at the time allowed one to retrieve game if the property was not posted. I decided to walk back a half mile, get the truck, and then drive to the owner's house and drag the deer maybe a couple hundred yards to his driveway. I didn't think this would be a problem as I had talked to the landowner several times in the past during the regular firearms season. Boy, was I wrong. The owner was home but he chewed on me about shooting on his property and told me to leave in no uncertain terms. Before I could get the truck. turned around he had his tractor fired up and headed to where I mentioned the deer was.. Our relations have been pretty frosty since.

I once shot an Antelope Doe in the guts with a .270 because I rested my shooting sticks on a rock and the rock moved as I was pulling the trigger. The Doe ran about a thousand yards and joined a band of about 60 other Pronghorn. I watched it for an hour peacefully feeding along with the others! I went into town to get something to eat and came back. Same 60 some odd Antelope eating with absolutely no way to go after them because they were on private. All the sudden after four hours this truck comes across the prairie and starts shooting out the bed of the truck at a nice buck. The herd of 60 split like billiard balls and ten came my way.I was hoping my gutshot Doe was among them but they all ran just fine. They were passing me at about 80-90 yards and I could see the blood stain on the side. I rolled the injured Doe as it ran past me. It had guts hanging out the offside of it because of my earlier shot and after four hours it ran just as well as the rest. I've never seen an animal that tough!

Only birds.

Two does one year. The first one right in the boiler room. The ranch hand watching with binoculars said she gushed blood at the shot. Puddle of blood at the impact site. But the blood trail slowed down the point that it was impossible to follow. Finally the ranch hand found the place that she started to pump blood again. She had run about 250yds.

The next was a month or so later on a TPW hunt. Busted a doe at about 80yds. Same thing as the first, except I never found her.

.270 with 130gr BT.

only one. grabbed the wrong box of ammo in the dark and got ABC target bullets for my Bob. i was hunting just outside of Bob Petersen's ranch in southern California. hit a nice buck and followed little 1/8th inch drops of blood for a couple hundred yards long enough to know his tracks. blood ran out and i followed his tracks across the California Aquaduct and out into the Antelope Valley.
after 4-5 miles of no blood and him still going like he was heading for Tehachapi i gave up. killed 3 Mohave green's on that trip though.
tracked one my sister shot the front leg off, in the snow, and lost him after 2 days and 6 people looking. found where he rested the stump in the snow until it froze up and no more blood. joined a group and never did find him. Sis still mourns that one.