texas8point

I have heard of this happening before to folks I know, however no one I personally hunt with has had this happen......until now.

My theroy is a barely hit, nervous system in shock, a quick recovery no real harm done.

My buddy made a 250-300 yard shot on a good buck, he aimed high. The buck fell immediatly, after a second jumped up and trotted off with his tail up waving. No blood, and no buck, 4 guys looking 2 days in an area that is not that thick.

Yall say what ?

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1shotkill1993

weird, theres is one spot that you can hit where it does not hit vitals and barely any blood, but i doubt it could happen with a rifle

Wingbone

Your buddy didn't hit where he was aiming. A shot through the upper meaty part of the neck, will leavevery littleblood but will knock them silly for a short time, or he hit the antler. Same result.

wis_bow_huntr

yup, he hit nothing but meat and flesh. that deer will live to see another day.

UncleNorby

It happened to me. A long time ago, before I knew much about the trajectory of my gun, I aimed at the top of the back for a shot I thought was maybe 125 yds. I had only sighted in for 50, so thought the bullet would drop in.Turned out it was much closer, andI hit exactly where I aimed, right on top of the back.

Depending upon the exact location of the hit, the spine is several to 4 or 5" below the line of the back. So a deer hit therewill often drop due to the shock to the nervous system. Then in a few seconds they thrash, regain their feet and run off. Many deer are lost this way. Don't know if he could have shot again, but it is best to cover a deer that drops immediately for at least a minute to see if it is really down.

This is not the "void" hit. That is a myth in my opinion.

Father Forkhorn

I remember a year or so ago a hunter on one of those TV shows (Mike Hanback?) hit a deer with what looked to be a good broadside shot . Deer was obviously hit and went off running. It looked to be a simple trail and recovery, but they found no blood or other trace of the deer. They finally looked at the video footage in super slow motion and were astounded to see the bullet hit the buck's shoulder and bounce off. It was a freakish occurence because it evidently didn't break the bone and the bullet looked like it stayed relatively intact.

Jimmy S

Interesting question...Wish I had a good answer. I posted a similar experience just last week:

Opening Day of rifle season in NH, I was hunting from my treestand. I was set and ready at 5:45 waiting for the day to begin. As the sun was beginning to rise, I heard the distinct sound of deer walking in front of me. In a few minutes, I saw two does slowly walking to my left. Both were big adult does with no fawns ( I would have let them both walk if there was a mother with her fawn)...anyway, I waited for a clean shot and took it with my .308.

She was only 30 yds away and I watched her go down immediately after the shot. She was on her back with her legs kicking. I have seen this a few times and the results have always been the same. Death occurs momentarily. Not this time. The deer got back up and ran under my tree as fast as a deer can run. When she went out of sight, I could hear her running and though I heard her go down.

I check the entire area for 2 1/2 hrs and then had the help of 2 buddies for another 2 hours and there was not one single drop of blood. Just a few drops of blood where she was shot.

I have never seen a deer hit that hard, that knocks her down and gets back up without leaving and trail to follow. There was water behind me and I heard nothing to suggest she went through it. I know that area very well as do my buddies and we finally had to give up the search.

crenshaw

Seen it where people hit the rack and it briefly knocks the deer out, then it get up and walks off or runs off!

You sure your buddy didnt hit some horn? It happens a lot, especially when people are looking at them instead of focusing on the vitals.