Deer reaction when shot

[2506]

I have killed hundreds of white tail deer over the past 48 years. Did crop damage control with my buddy for 15 years where 100 deer each year had to be taken off a huge farm. I have killed them with most everything between a sharp stick and a 45-70. The only for sure drop them in their tracks shot is to the CNS. All other impact places is a toss up. No two deer will react the same. As far as having runners and even deer that act like they were not touched for me it was with a 7mm Rem, mag and it did not matter what bullet used. I used to tell people I could not carry enough flashlight batteries to hunt with a 7mm Rem mag. Most of my hunting was done in the late evening and deer would run off so far in the thick jungle around the fields I was shooting them in it took good batteries in your flashlight to find them. Deer would slosh on the inside and they still ran a good ways off. For some reason most any .257 cal. with most any cup and core 100 to 120 gr bullet or a .264 cal. with 120 to 140s dropped them in their tracks or they did not go far better than anything I ever used.

 

[hogpatrol]

I have killed hundreds of white tail deer over the past 48 years. Did crop damage control with my buddy for 15 years where 100 deer each year had to be taken off a huge farm. I have killed them with most everything between a sharp stick and a 45-70. The only for sure drop them in their tracks shot is to the CNS. All other impact places is a toss up. No two deer will react the same. As far as having runners and even deer that act like they were not touched for me it was with a 7mm Rem, mag and it did not matter what bullet used. I used to tell people I could not carry enough flashlight batteries to hunt with a 7mm Rem mag. Most of my hunting was done in the late evening and deer would run off so far in the thick jungle around the fields I was shooting them in it took good batteries in your flashlight to find them. Deer would slosh on the inside and they still ran a good ways off. For some reason most any .257 cal. with most any cup and core 100 to 120 gr bullet or a .264 cal. with 120 to 140s dropped them in their tracks or they did not go far better than anything I ever used.

Ah, the 7RM, the king of pencil holers and a favorite of Pennsylvania's 75 yard shot deer hunters.

 

[david kieffer]

Ah, the 7RM, the king of pencil holers and a favorite of Pennsylvania's 75 yard shot deer hunters. View attachment 1093100

just load the bullets backwards .they will do fine to 77.33 yards lol.I read that online so you know it's true . winter has been long . dave

 

[AckleymanII]

The DRT trick is to shoot them just as they exhale!

 

[BillG]

I have a friend who always shoots deer in the chest. One time my wife was with us and he did this. It was a doe broadside eating at 75yds. He kneels down bang and she drops my wife runs over to her and asks where did you shoot her in the chest he says. Well she loos and looks no bullet whole or blood. The she pick up a front leg and it is broke above the ankle. She says to me how did this kill her and then she notices the whole in the head. So now you see there is some luck involved in DRT. The thing I believe is that there are no set rules on how deer will react to a shot. I do agree though that we should always go see if did hit the deer before shooting another.

 

[ragsflh]

i have some deer drop in tracks,other run 0 to 75 yds before falling.used different cal too.anyways i always got mmy animal.best drop in tracks 220 swift,243ai.

 

[Kramerica]

My friend and I are having a discussion/disagreement on deer reaction when hit well in the boiler room with a high powered rifle, in this case a 7mm rem mag. The story goes he was hunting last year and from a good rest shot at a deer at 100 yds broadside. The deer walked off into the woods, a few minutes later another deer ran to the same spot and he shot it in the same spot he shot the first one and it dropped in it's tracks. He is convinced it is his scope changing zero. While I concede it is entirely possible for his scope to be defective, it is also possible he hit the first deer perfectly and it just didn't die right away. He doesn't believe this to be possible. I have shot many, many deer with everything from a 450 marlin, to a 7 mm rem ultra mag and I have shot the heart and both lungs out and seen them walk off like they weren't touched only to pile up 100 - 200 yds away! I once shot a doe at 30 yds broadside with a 12 ga 1-3/16 oz slug Hollow point, blowing the heart and lungs to mush. The deer ran 100yds down hill and 50 yds up the next hill before dyeing ! When I dressed the deer is didn't have a drop of blood in it! Please agree or argue if you wish.

Just One time I have seen something similar. I shot a buck at 272 yards broadside with a 300WM right in the boiler room. He turned and calmly walked away like nothing happened. Dropped in his tracks about 50 yards from where I hit him. I’ve never seen anything like that before but it can happen.

 

[bobinpa]

My friend and I are having a discussion/disagreement on deer reaction when hit well in the boiler room with a high powered rifle, in this case a 7mm rem mag. The story goes he was hunting last year and from a good rest shot at a deer at 100 yds broadside. The deer walked off into the woods, a few minutes later another deer ran to the same spot and he shot it in the same spot he shot the first one and it dropped in it's tracks. He is convinced it is his scope changing zero. While I concede it is entirely possible for his scope to be defective, it is also possible he hit the first deer perfectly and it just didn't die right away. He doesn't believe this to be possible. I have shot many, many deer with everything from a 450 marlin, to a 7 mm rem ultra mag and I have shot the heart and both lungs out and seen them walk off like they weren't touched only to pile up 100 - 200 yds away! I once shot a doe at 30 yds broadside with a 12 ga 1-3/16 oz slug Hollow point, blowing the heart and lungs to mush. The deer ran 100yds down hill and 50 yds up the next hill before dyeing ! When I dressed the deer is didn't have a drop of blood in it! Please agree or argue if you wish.

First of all, did he get the first deer? If he got the first deer, where was it hit? If he didn't get the first deer, maybe he just missed it.... I have seen a lot of deer shot but I have never seen a deer shot in the heart and walk off!!! A heart shot deer may run away or they may go down right there, but I can't believe that a heart shot deer would walk away. I hit one in the liver once with an arrow and it acted like nothing happened and walked away, but I would think that a deer hit anywhere in the ribs with a 7mm mag isn't going to brush that off and walk away. Run away yes. Walk away no.

 

[fyrewall]

Of interest:

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1102/1102.1642.pdf

Some hydrostatic effects are not quick enough - drop right there is the goal - my thoughts are to break one or both shoulders or major spinal damage. A suitable bullet having both good expansion and penetration. Like taking a shot at a quartering deer and breaking the far shoulder - no blow up on the near side surface without penetration. Major spinal trauma works. I quit shooting deer some time ago. This old guy I know tells me shoulder shots are effective.

 

[Drop Port]

Just One time I have seen something similar. I shot a buck at 272 yards broadside with a 300WM right in the boiler room. He turned and calmly walked away like nothing happened. Dropped in his tracks about 50 yards from where I hit him. I’ve never seen anything like that before but it can happen.

What did you find when you field dressed it ?

 

[Kramerica]

What did you find when you field dressed it ?

Double lungs. Massive damage, exit was about the size of a baseball. If I hadn’t done it myself personally I don’t think I would have believed the way that deer reacted.

 

[blackwidowp61]

I asked the OP (in a PM) if the shooter followed up on the first deer and his answer was a simple "No" with no explanation. All I could think of was OMG!!! I was taught from day one that I ALWAYS had to investigate every shot I took at a deer, unless it was a bang-flop that I could see clearly. To continue to hunt without checking things out is just irresponsible. The only caveat is to sit back and take a rest for at least 20 minutes before looking, to let the deer either drop or bed down and bleed out, or you could be chasing it a long way.

 

[Spike A]

i shot a deer this past fall at 450 with the famous creed... it was slightly quartering away from me...shot.. it just trotted off like i just yelled to spook it... it was in the middle of a field.. closest woods was 75 yds.... looked looked.. no blood.. a friend of mine stopped .. helped look.. no blood.. he said well i think you missed im heading home.. i kept looking... went into woods.. that he headed towards.. started canvasing around... low and behold... found him... 200yds... hit right behind shoulder.. found boiler maker... and stopped in opposite shoulder... when it entered chest cavity, the bullet mushroomed out to just over a quarter.. held completely together.. i traced its steps back... found 2 drops of blood... the whole way back... it was a huh moment... and if i followed my buddy i would have never found him..

 

[Bojo]

As I get older and maybe not wiser I take far more low heart shots, the main reasons being , if they do take off the adrenaline does not pump thru the meat changing it forever.
Way more meat is wasted by blowing out one or two front shoulders.
And hopefully a heart shot creates just a bang flop with little to no tracking.
With that being said they often do run away after a blow thru the heart and leave little to no blood trail as the pump has stopped.
If you want a good blood trail go for the lungs or a shoulder, if you want a good tasting maybe hard to find deer shoot the heart, I have yet to find a shitty tasting heart shot deer.
Anyone including myself knows how off tasting on is after a not so perfect shot.

 

[ryewhiskeybent]

Last 3 years I’ve been using a .223 Rem Hornady 60gr SP. All neck shots, 100 yrds or less. This is the biggest one and he only made it 25 yrds. Everything else DRT. Humane kills, Better tasting meat, no waste, happier hunter.

Until I moved to this set up I’d taken em with 7mmRM, 308 win, 30-30win and 270, all traditional boiler room shots. Very mixed results and massive loss of meat.

I agree that shoulder shots will anchor them but again, I want every oz of meat I can get.

 

[AckleymanII]

Ignorance abounds.

Limit in our state is 12 per year. The wife and I eat 6 per year, hamburger and cube steak.

Clue: if you do not want running deer, shoot them through the shoulders.

Nuff said.

 

[Sniper338]

Ive killed plenty of things. I c asn easily say sometimes they dont flench from being shot, look up, go whhosy and fall over dead. Other run from the noise mostly. Other drop dead on impact, some drop and tske a few min kicking before they see the black.

You never know. Also shot one with a 30 30 it just 12 foot straight up, fell on its back then ran off a little.

 

[rebel]

So many experiences over the years, a few standouts - remember, when I started hunting deer in Western NC many moons ago, it was a thrill to see a deer while hunting, so some of these deer were on the smaller, younger, dumber side and some were not.
My hunting mentor admits that this was a bad decision and he was lucky that it turned out the way it did. Hunting in the rugged Pisgah National Rhododendron thicket, he became disgusted with waiting on deer, took his JC Higgins 22 up a steep ridge where the white oak had hit to get the makings for squirrel gravy.

Sitting on an old Chestnut stump, smoking those noxious green cigars of his, he caught movement on the skidder trail about 50 yards uphill. It was a small spike buck. The deer looked away and he raised the rifle. The deer caught the movement and snapped his head around looking straight at him.

After a few seconds, he made his decision and sent a CB Long, screaming at 750 fps, between the deer's eyes. WHACK! - the deer shook it's head violently and stared at him again. Turned his head so our hunter sent one at the deer's ear hole. WHACK - repeat last scenario only he sees a little branch shaking about 10 feet in front of the target. At this point the deer turns to run up the mountain and is now at 55-60 yards.

Now or never he fires once more at the back of the skull, using some hold over - WHACK - deer falls dead. He runs up the mountain and cuts the deer's throat. No arterial pump, nothing. Upon cleaning, I found a bullet, with the back end deformed in it's ear. Other than the sliced throat no other visible damage.
I didn't condone this but felt it appropriate content in this thread.
1-7mm Mag experience - woods hunting, dumb choice for a heavy barreled Savage and Southern terrain. 50 yards, shot a big doe with a 140 combined tech. silvertip.
Shoulders gone, wasted meat, flipped over and died. It sits in the room, not shot in years.
2-45/70 -300 HP handload, 50 yards straight through both shoulders - one high and one lower (exit), ran 50 yards in the nastiest privet hedge thicket imaginable.
3-243 - more DRTs than we have space for - 85 gr Nos. Partition.
4-260 AI -DRT at 175 yards
5-30-06 - 165 Rem. bronze tips, all heart shots, 20 to 100 yards
6-300 BLK -125 SST supersonic, 98 yards, ran 20-30 yards High shoulder shot
7-6 BR High shoulder but severe down angle - 100 yards but easy track. 103 ELDX
8-308 - 165 sst, variety of shots - no further than 50 yards.
9-Many muzzleloader kills - DRT to 100 yards.
10-12 ga in the thick stuff, Farthest shot around 45 yards, 3 inch 00 buck with a custom .664 choke. DRT big time. All shot in the neck or head.
You just never know.

 

[Lannister]

There's not disagreement here, sheep, deers, bulls don't drop dead most times IMO.. sometimes they move 60yrd+ before they hit the ground, leaving a blood trail. Totally normal.

 

[mic2377]

I have killed hundreds of white tail deer over the past 48 years. Did crop damage control with my buddy for 15 years where 100 deer each year had to be taken off a huge farm. I have killed them with most everything between a sharp stick and a 45-70. The only for sure drop them in their tracks shot is to the CNS. All other impact places is a toss up. No two deer will react the same. As far as having runners and even deer that act like they were not touched for me it was with a 7mm Rem, mag and it did not matter what bullet used. I used to tell people I could not carry enough flashlight batteries to hunt with a 7mm Rem mag. Most of my hunting was done in the late evening and deer would run off so far in the thick jungle around the fields I was shooting them in it took good batteries in your flashlight to find them. Deer would slosh on the inside and they still ran a good ways off. For some reason most any .257 cal. with most any cup and core 100 to 120 gr bullet or a .264 cal. with 120 to 140s dropped them in their tracks or they did not go far better than anything I ever used.

My experience with the .25-06 has been very similar. I have a Ruger M77 VT in this caliber, and even with chest shots it has taken 10+ deer in exactly the same amount of shots. There is something about a 115 BT or Partition at 3100 fps that seems optimal for deer size game. It also helps that the rifle is heavy with very little recoil, and good shot placement is easy.