Never seen anything like this

[Roadkill2228]

Hi all, filled a whitetail tag this year, that's not interesting though. What's interesting is just how far the beast ran with such severe and vital wounds. I've never seen anything like it in a whitetail, nor even heard of it. Elk i would expect nothing less from, but not a little deer. I know even with a heart shot 200 yards of adrenaline induced "dead run" is nothing odd....but our deer ran a total of over 500, through bush, through snow, up and down hills. If I didn't know what I saw at the shot, I'd have thought id made a poor hit. There was a PIECE OF LUNG visibly just laying in the snow where I hit the deer, and a few feet behind it a 2 inch long PIECE OF RIB BONE!!! Blown right out on exit. A massive super bright red spray which would Indicate to me a lung hit if the chunk of lung hadn't been there to confirm this. The blood trail in the snow was heavy enough to easily follow while moving quickly, no struggling to find it any any point. Upon arriving at the deer, which I had heard crashing through timber, I had to give it another finishing shot, in the head, as it was attempting to get up and run more. The buck was a full bodied 2 year old (remembering that this is a Saskatchewan deer with full winter fur and fat reserves, comparisons to 2 year old deer in the Texas aren't really accurate). The shot was at between 150-200 yards, very typical for my area. .270 Winchester, 130 interlock, impact velocity would have been in the 26-2700 fps range. Upon examining the young buck more closely, in entrance side shoulder was broken and penetrated completely as well. So there you have it. Busted shoulder, literally exploded lungs, broke what ended up being 3 ribs on exit, one of these ribs actually exiting the body. Entry wound, exit wound, tons of broken bone and destroyed vital organs, massive blood loss. Ran over a quarter mile. Can't really say the bullet, shooter, or cartridge failed, I can't image having been able to do more violence to a deer with one shot than what happened here, but I felt sick nonetheless...I love hunting, I hate animal suffering, I always want the fastest kill, but spine shots and head shots are not the guarantee that people make them out to be, nor are they easy to make shooting freehand...anything i should have done different. Was this just a naturally super tough critter with more will to live than others I've made similar shots on which dropped right there? Have any of you ever seen a deer (not an elk) run SO FAR after being so thoroughly blown apart inside?

 

[Fla_dogman]

Never that far but I never underestimate Bambi, they're tough.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

 

[2damnold4this]

You didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes things just don't go how we hope they would.

 

[reynolds357]

I shot a decent buck a few years ago with a 7-08, 140 gr ballistic tip, double lung shot. He ran over 300 yards uphill the whole way.

 

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

270 130 gr can achieve 3200 fps. Mine do.
But I suspect you didn't give the animal enough time to lie down. i.e. Shot got up or down from your stand and immediately walked towards the animal where it was last seen. Causing it to bolt. {Rookie mistake.} Not laying down and up on its legs >its shooter < is in for a long stroll thru the bush so to garner its retrieval by his not waiting 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to give the animal a chance to lie down bleed and weaken its ability to walk or run. No matter you retrieved the animal so's all's good.

 

[Old Stony]

With that much damage and large exit wound, you would think it would have bled out long before that far !

 

[shortwave]

I tend to agree with Sure Shot.
If a wounded deer is not pushed, it will usually go no further than it takes for it to feel secure, lay down and expire. Push that deer and it's possible it will run into the next county.
Once hit a buck broadside at about 75yds with a 12ga. slug gun that I'd hunted with for many years. It was a textbook broadside shot in which the buck was standing still. My shotgun was rested on a fallen tree. Was like shooting targets in the backyard. When I shot, the deer didn't do a thing. Didn't jump, kick, didn't flinch....nothing. It stood there looking around. After about 10 seconds, I'm thinking I'd completely missed this buck. Took aim again and just before pulling the trigger a second time, he jumped up in the air from his standing position and took off downhill for about 100yds jumping several fallen trees along the way. The last fallen tree he went to jump, when he landed he piled up.
Upon inspection, the projectile had blown out both lungs and the top of his heart. I sit there in amazement looking up the hill and thinking that this animal traveled downhill 100yds jumping fallen trees and was dead from the time the shot rang out but it took that much time for that message to get to his brain.

I'm not saying a deer with its heart blown out can make it 500yds even if pushed. But rather saying that if it's possible to a deer run that far on shear adrenaline with its heart blown out and both lungs, can you imagine how far one can travel especially being pushed with just one lung and no other vitals hit?

I'll always wait about a half hour before ever moving from the place I shot even if I hear or see the deer crash.
It's hard to wait, but I spend that time getting my tag out and ready, getting my knife out of my bag, saying a word of thanks for my harvest, etc.

 

[jmr40]

I've seen one go over 100 yards with a similar hit from a 165 gr 3006 load. I've seem em drop in their tracks from a 223. I've never seen one go much over 100 yards though with a good hit, but don't doubt it can happen.

Unless you hit the CNS most animals have a few seconds before their O2 supply to the brain reaches the point where they can't function. What they do during those few seconds varies. Some lie down and die, others make mad dash and a deer can cover a lot more ground in just a few seconds than a human.

The worlds record for a human in the 400 meter is under 45 seconds. I'm certain a deer could do it a lot faster.

 

[shootniron]

I have seen them go nearly that far even when they weren't pushed.

However, pushed or not, they are running on nothing aside from adrenaline...I think that is the point the OP was making.

 

[wild willy]

Pushing has nothing to do with how far a fatal heart lung shot deer goes they usually take off full speed till they die.If you hunt public land you wait too long all you’ll find is a gut pile

 

[Roadkill2228]

Sureshot...I'm well aware of the .270s capabilities velocity wise. The load in question was running a hair under 3100 fps out of my 22 inch barrel. If you read my original post carefully, you'll see that it was the IMPACT velocity which was 26-2700, not the muzzle velocity. This was no rookie mistake as far as pushing an animal prematurely. I'm well aware of what you speak of, leave it alone for a few minutes first. The title of this thread is "never seen anything like this before". I'm not especially "seasoned" but I'm no rookie either, the title has meaning because I have in fact seen things. But you're observations have got me thinking...I realize that the times when the deer just drop (and it's not a cns hit), they often didn't know what hit them, as in, the didn't know I was there until the gun went off, so in a more or less relaxed state. This buck I've told about here actually saw me first, was looking right at me at the shot, and appeared to be on high alert. He knew something was up. Do you think that has something to do with it? Normally he would have ran already I think but there were 2 does hanging out with him so we might say his judgement was a bit impaired.

 

[sixgunnin]

Don't know why but of the 5 or so bucks I have killed 0 of them have so much as twitched after firing. 4 of them have been spine hit, when I am aiming at the chest

 

[wild willy]

sixgunnin If your being serious in your post and not hitting deer where you aim you better start shooting and practicing to see what your problem is or look forward to long trailing and lost animals.Aiming one place and and hitting somewhere else is nothing to be proud of even if it does result in a dead animal

 

[FrankenMauser]

Some animals just refuse to die.
One of the worst kills I have ever made involved multiple fatal wounds, over 500 yards covered, and finding the animal aspirating its own brain matter while still trying to get up, after a head shot that evacuated almost everything but the brain stem from its skull.
Bad, bad day.

 

[Roadkill2228]

Wow frankenmauser, that is straight up disturbing. Never heard of a brain hit not being instantly fatal (of course a head shot and a brain shot aren't automatically the same - I've heard lots of horror stories of head shots gone wrong, which is why I only ever chest shoot). I believe you though...after this incident I'm more inclined to believe. I guess with people we see that some seem to have a hell of a lot stronger resolve to live than others as well. Maybe it's the same with animals.

 

[reynolds357]

270 130 gr can achieve 3200 fps. Mine do.
But I suspect you didn't give the animal enough time to lie down. i.e. Shot got up or down from your stand and immediately walked towards the animal where it was last seen. Causing it to bolt. {Rookie mistake.} Not laying down and up on its legs >its shooter < is in for a long stroll thru the bush so to garner its retrieval by his not waiting 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to give the animal a chance to lie down bleed and weaken its ability to walk or run. No matter you retrieved the animal so's all's good

I sat in my stand and watched my deer run 300 plus yards before it piled up dead. Rookie mistake?

 

[Scorch]

I have seen lots of deer run when they should have been dead. Heart gone, lungs gone, blood spread out over 40 acres of prairie, you name it. One thing remains constant: shooters expect the animal to lay down and die when a bullet passes through them. Animals simply don't know that. Some do, some don't.

 

[jersurf101]

I have noticed larger bucks have more life in them some expire quickly but some refuse to go. I gave an 8 point 4 .270 130 sierra gk's at 225 yards 3 years ago. That buck was alive looking at me in the woods 15 minutes later. 2 lung shots, one high shoulder and a high spine shot above the belly. You just never know........

 

[603Country]

Having shot many deer over the decades, and tracked them when necessary, I have come to believe that a wounded deer that doesn’t associate the noise and pain with you tends to not go far before losing strength and dying. But if they see you, they may run till they expire, and that might be a considerable distance. That said, there are no hard and fast rules about it.

I’m a lung shooter. They, in my experience, always die when lung shot, though they may run a bit. The DRT guys that head shoot, neck shoot, and such as that, are rolling the dice. If the shot is well placed, it works as hoped, but put the bullet a bit off, which is easy to do, and you’ll have a wounded deer and not much of a blood trail.

 

[reynolds357]

I have noticed larger bucks have more life in them some expire quickly but some refuse to go. I gave an 8 point 4 .270 130 sierra gk's at 225 yards 3 years ago. That buck was alive looking at me in the woods 15 minutes later. 2 lung shots, one high shoulder and a high spine shot above the belly. You just never know.....

One thing I do know is put a 140 tsx launched from a 7 rum on the shoulder bone and a whitetail is DRT or will be pushing with rear legs only.