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Strange happening deer hunting a few weeks ago

Dr.Lee

So I was in a nice tree stand in South Carolina, I was set for the shot if it came, and it did. A doe walked into my field of fire, left to right. The stand was about 15 feet up, the shot about 50 yards, and the deer was slightly quartering away. I would say it was 5-10 degrees. At the shot the doe kicked up her front legs off the ground, then ran a few steps forward, then darted left into the brush. We found one drop of blood. We looked and found no deer.
I was aiming behind the shoulder, the shot broke well and I felt the trigger squeeze was good. I didn't seem to think at the time the quartering away angle was significant, but those shots can be difficult. Also, I think it works out to be about 7 degree down angle for the rifle to add to the equation. The rifle is a Rem 700 ADL youth model in .308; (aka a carbine), 20" barrel, Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5 set on 4x. Ammo is factory Nosler .308 165 gr. Accubonds.
I guess I am asking, what the heck happened ? From my reading I find that a deer kicking the front legs up like that is a sign of a frontal grazing wound. Is this the case ?
Maybe my hold and squeeze was not as good as I thought it was. I am certainly open to that. But I do remember a good squeeze. The quartering away aspect has me wondering.
Help me stop wondering. The thought of a wounded deer is enough to bear, but the not knowing for sure what happened is driving me a little crazy.
Thanks,
Dr.Lee
 
Sounds as if you grazed low, maybe across brisket. If you were shooting only fifty yards and were 15 ft. in the air you should have held fairly high say, 2/3 of the way up on body to make good contact. With the downward angle and distance. I think that is where it went wrong for you. What distance was the gun sighted in for?
 
This is a pretty subjective question and is likely to get some subjective answers....my guess (because I, nor anyone else can give more than that), would be that it was a very marginal grazing hit like you suspect. Finding "one" drop of blood doesn't convince me that there was a solid through and through wound.
How far was the drop of blood from the initial impact location? How far in the direction that the animal ran did you follow? 5-10 degrees isn't much of an angle....I also agree with 260 on the elevated angle, I hunt ten ft. Higher than that with a bow. Even considering vertical angle, if you made solid contact behind the shoulder, even much lower than intended there should have been more blood.
Bottom line, bullet didn't go where you intended it to hit.
 
Probably hit her high, deer don't always bleed out fast with high shots.. I helped a guy that pretty much had the same story but added big horns. We just followed tracks until we got small amounts and eventually got pools.. I hit a older scrub buck in the liver area and it took about 200y before he was pumping it out both sides..



Ray
 
I think you hit her on the toe and gave her an "owiee". I think you would see more blood if it was a fatal shot. Hitting one of the front legs would make her jump off her front.
 
The memory does do tricks with time, but it's possible I shot to the right of my aiming point and slipped the bullet into her armpit if you will, traveling anterior to the heart, grazing the front.
The rifle was sighted in for 175 yd. zero, putting it 1.5" high at 100 yds. and .7" high at 50 yds.
The blood was found close to where it was hit and we followed for 50 more yards into the brush.

This is one aspect that bugs me. I was at a hunting lodge, followed the lead of the owner/guide.
He chose not to follow any further, stating, without a blood trail, he was reluctant to pursue.
I wanted to pursue further and so a little surprised at that. I wanted to come back the next day to look as well. That didn't happen either.
So, bottom line, I still don't know what happen. But I didn't place the bullet. Job One.

Dr.
 
Welcome to the real world of deer hunting. As has been said there is really no way to subjectively give you an answer as to what happened. As for finding just one drop of blood, in my vast experience, 43 years of deer killing, that could mean a shot though lower leg, graze, or a perfect heart/lung shot. If you shoot enough deer with lots of calibers using lots of different bullets you will experience a lot of weird things. I have shot deer perfectly broadside with a 7mm Rem mag with 139 Hornadys, 140 ballistic tips and 145 Speer bullets and have them jump in the air and kick and take off like they have been stung by a bee and run 100 yards or so and NOT BLEED A DROP OF BLOOD. Most were recovered by a good search. Bullets did not exit and heart and lungs were turned into soup. Weird ain't it. I once shot a doe that was not 10 yards from me with a Sharps rifle in 45-70 with a 420 gr soft cast bullet propelled by 70 grs FFG black powder tight behind the front shoulder as she stood broadside and she jerked both legs up and took off. Never found a drop of blood and never found the deer. Then there is the time I shot the wrong deer. I was aiming at a buck right at 350 yards out in a peanut field with my 25-06 shooting 117 Sierra bullet at 3000 fps. By the time I squeezed the trigger and the gun went off and the bullet got there somehow a doe jumped in the way and the bullet hit her in the left back leg just above the knee and KILLED HER DEAD IN HER TRACKS. :o ??? Weird things happen so don't sweat it.
 
Interesting take, '06. I don't have a lot of hunting experience, but I can say I am a good shot. On paper.
Literally on paper. My background is in Olympic-style pistol and rifle competition. So, of course I have to defend my trigger pulling skills. If I was a betting man, I would say I did put the bullet where it needed to be. Or at least I squeezed the trigger right and didn't jerk the shot.
Thanks for vote of confidence, 2506.

Dr. Lee
 
50 yards is not far to look. I have heart shot many deer that ran OVER 50 yards, heart blown out. I remember two, one shot with my 375 H&H and another with the 338 Win Mag that literally flattened out the heart. One went close to and another went over 100 yards. Bullet travels through but does not transfer much energy.

I quit using and playing with the big guns for deer. I recovered both but sometimes, unless you hit bone, nerves or create massive shock, the animals run "dead on their feet" quite a ways.
 
On an angle shot like yours....the bullet has to enter the flank area angled toward exiting or extending into the opposite side shoulder area! Bad deal....because of bursting the intestines/stomach areas and it makes for an awful stink!! You probably shot some meat off the shoulder/brisket area!
 
My honest opinion, I believe it was a hunting thing and the said deer lay dead. I'm not trying to be that guy, but I have shot a few in my time hunting and have had Hearts blown out get much farther then 50y.. A high shot will take a bit before blood hits the ground, as far as leg shots, I feel more blood would have been laid down sooner.. Leg shots in my experience will bleed like a good shot then dry up, especially in cold snow.. Ballistic Tips have resulted in more dead right there kills for me..JMO



Ray
 
There is not much blood to work with here BUT I have a couple of questions:

1.) Was the blood BRIGHT RED and somewhat "frothy"? If it was, that is a lung hit. It is dead somewhere.

2.) Was the blood DARK red and "thick"? If it was, it is a return vein / artery. Depends on where you hit, might be a good shot, then again, it could be just a light flesh wound.

3.) Was the blood BRIGHT red but NOT frothy? If it was, that is a heart or heart artery (aorta possibly) shot. If it was, the deer is dead somewhere..

As I said, there is not much blood to work with here.
 
I don't think you intended to take a bad shot or if you did. The only thing to take away from this and learn would be to observe where the deer went and track.. I tend to believe they will run down hill when hit good.. Guide probably didn't want to push a known area for a doe..


Ray
 
Dr.Lee said:
Dots, could not tell the nature of the blood. It was literally one drop.
Dr.
Click to expand...

I figured that might be the reply.. I was just hoping that there was enough to give you a bit more information.. Oh well... These things happen..
 
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