Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting what do you think happened?

This morning my buddy shot a 4 pint buck from about 125 yards with a 250 savage. said he was aiming for the vitals on an animal slightly quartering to him with right shoulder showing.

at the shot he said the deer went down and flopped around then got up and got back into the woods from the cut line where he first took the bullet.

my bud found bright red blood and managed to follow the trai a ways and then lost it.

I asked:

frothy? NOPE
dark red? NOPE

general color? bright red.

I say muscle but don't know more. no sign of dragging a leg and diminishing blood. I offered to go out tonight to look but he declined.

what do you all think about the wound and behavioral description?

Jeff

Hit a vertebrae high. That's my "who knows"guess.

I'm wondering why he would decline your offer.

It would be helpful to know what bullet your friend was using. I had something similar happen several years ago. I shot a small buck (120lb live weight) in the point of the shoulder with an early 90's vintage 100gr ballistic tip out of a .250 Sav.

The bullet came apart after breaking the shoulder bone and never entered the chest cavity. This deer was being pushed by hounds and they were able to bay him in a thicket a couple of hundred yards from where he was shot, or I would not have recovered him.

He would have most likely survived the wound, but probably never regained the used of the leg.

It sounds like this may be what happened with your friend's deer.

Bright red blood could be a sign of a heart shot (doubtful in this case) or he could have hit it in the leg or brisket. If the blood trail is getting sparse, chances are good it's a non lethal hit.

What kind of blood pattern did it leave behind?

smoke - i think he declined my offer because he figures it'll be unrecoverable. personally, i'd go out. he did the same thing last year with a big 12 pointer in about the same locale.

gadfly - all i know is he shoots factory stuff. personally, i've encouraged him to consider nosler partitions or another quality bullet.

Ak - he said it was "bleeding like a pig," and said there was lots of blood in the junipers where it went down and left a blood trail as it moved off. much different from last year's buck i shot with my 375 which sprayed blood on the exit side for 3 full paces all over the bushes and left a trail 2 feet wide of blood as it ran for 25 yards or so that looked like someone pouring water out of one of those gardeing watercans that has a sunflower head on it!

Could be a heart shot then and he might be dead somewhere close by. Might be worth it to go and check things out.

My first deer (shot in Maine) never bled one drop and we eventually found him dead about 200 yards from where I shot him. Took a real good tracking job by my cousin to find him.

Another guess; if at an angle the bullet may have hit the shoulder blade and actually deflected off, damaging the front shoulder and knocking it down. Once up it can go far on three legs fully working. If the angle was right I would think it could happen.

Be a shame not to go spend some time looking. Sounds like a potentially lethal hit with the info. given. Could have hit the front of the shoulder and sent some bullet parts into lung/ heart area. With no pass through and potential of only one lung tore up the deer could go far but would likely be dead. Costs nothing to follow any likely looking trail as far as you can and then do a sweep search of the area. Good luck & I hope it's recovered.

Thanks, all. I will continue to encourage him to go out tomorrow and keep looking.

Not possible....

That sort of thing does not happen! Read it here

Seriously that is too bad about bluefish's buddy. I bet the buck did not go far before bedding down, if he is hurt badly and was not pushed hard.

It is hard to believe, isn't it? I bought crap load of those 100gr BT's back when they still came in the 100ct box because they shot so well out of my .257 Roberts.

Shot 3 deer with the Roberts and quit using them because of the lack of penetration and the meat destruction. Took a chance with them in the .250 because I thought the would hold together going 300fps slower, but they still crapped out.

I've killed a lot of paper with my remaining supply, and still have a couple boxes left, but I'll never shoot another game animal with them.

Gadfly they have shot well for me, too.

To bluefish: Did your bud find any hair on the ground near where he hit the buck?

I'm reminded it's good practice to watch them flop with a round in the chamber, crosshair on target, and finger on the go switch.

not sure about hair but he said it went straight down at the intial shot and did flop about.

im going out in a few minutes to have a look.

Being a 4 point was it a young deer? I've seen young deer do things that just don't seem possible.

I shot a little spike buck once with a perfect broadside hit at about 90 yards. It was a bang flop. The grass was about two feet high and I watched through the scope for movement for a minute or so. Nothing.

Filled out my tag walked down the hill and I could see blood on the grass and sprayed three feet up a nearby tree from about 50 yards away. Got to the spot and no deer! There was so much blood I couldn't believe it could have even gotten up, yet as I filled out my tag that little dude got up and went 40 yards up the fence line. No blood trail just a path of disturbed grass to follow.

Somethings just can't be explained easily.

Hope you find it!

Your buddy sounds like a dumbass to me... Repeat performances prove it. You gotta know what your equipment is capable of. Hang up grampas 250 savage and buy something capable of pushing a good cup and core 140 to 150 gr bullet @ 2800+ fps. I'm sure you guys have quite a few bucks topping 200lbs and i think he owes it to the deer, himself, and you as a friend who's going out looking for HIS DEER AGAIN to have a firearm capable of making humane kills EVERYTIME. my .02

his buddy sounds like a bad shot to me, the 250 Savage is a classic deer cartridge and loaded with a decent bullet its more than enough for a deer.

Yep, it sounds like a deer killing machine. What do you use jimmy?

Had a similar event. Bullet raked the shoulder and exited. Was seen the next day a mile away feeding on corn. Survived that season, taken the next season, had a slight limp.