Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Opinions on a shot buck

C

Chasing Tail

Member
Wednesday night I shot I nice 10 pt. After the shot he dropped instantly and then started spinning and rolling. After about 40 seconds of that he gets up goes to take off and falls on his face. Gets up again and takes off running with his head about a foot off of the ground. He runs about 20 yards like that before I can no longer see him due to a line of pines in the way. 4 hours later I go after what I thought would be a dead deer. I go back to first impact and found the ground tore up and decent blood. You could also see where his belly was dragging when I lost sight of him. He got to a corner where he could have went right through a gate or jump a fence to the left, he choose to jump the fence (not a good sign). There was bright red blood on both sides of the ground where he was standing, probably 30-40 droplets on each side (he must have stood there a little while before jumping). We thought we would find him within a 100 yards. Bottom line is we lost blood in a plowed cornfield at about 200 yards. We searched for 3 hours that night and 5 hours the next day.

I feel like I must have hit him high and nicked the spine. I was confident on my shot. Broadside at 70 yards took my time. I'm not sure what happened.
I am just curious if anybody else has experienced this before (a deer rolling and spinning around like that and getting up and taking off and living). Plus I just wanted to get it off my chest. I know it is part of hunting and It's not my first lost deer but I HATE it when it does happen. Its been a long season and I've put in a lot of time and hard work. I passed on alot of bucks. 2 days before the season ends it is a hard pill to swallow.
 
If blood on both sides, I would agree with a high hit that shocked his spine. Had there been blood on only one side I would have guessed a leg/shoulder hit that didn't get through. Hopefully he's okay.
 
LYON said:
If blood on both sides, I would agree with a high hit that shocked his spine. Had there been blood on only one side I would have guessed a leg/shoulder hit that didn't get through. Hopefully he's okay.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is a lot of bone sticking above the spinal cord and the bodies of the vertebra that protect the cord. Hitting up there (in the dorsal spinous processes) could knock one off it's feet and "rattle" the spinal cord enough to cause him to do what you describe only to fully recover and run away. Kind of like hitting one in the antlers. Bummer, but he'll very likely be there for you next year if he doesn't play in the traffic on the interstate...
 
Been there once. Good tracking conditions in snow. When the doe got up I was dumbfounded. She was down long enough to reload, I was just putting another primer on when she got up. I went after it as soon as it got out of site and up wind in hilly country hoping I could sneak up for a finishing shot. Blood stopped after 100 yards went about 300 yards on individual prints before she got on a trail. Grid searched next day with no sign what so ever.
 
Was he favoring either of his front legs? I agree, could well be high and just under the spine. From experience I know another explanation could be low and forward or justthe forward of the shoulders. A muzzleloader bullet would drop and shock a deer into acting in that manner with either scenario. Either way, I think he lives to see another day. Sorry for your misfortune, its very frustrating!!
 
I will add another thought to this. Typically muzzleloaders will not pack enough energy to drop a deer in its tracks like you often see happen with a rifle shot deer. There are obviously variables to this (how close is the shot, how big is the deer, what load you are using, etc.) but for the majority of the time a muzzy will not drop a deer with a body shot. So when you do shoot a deer with your muzzy and it drops instantly, be skeptical and get ready for a follow up shot if possible. Many times a instantly dropped deer will mean a shocked spine or leg shot that may or may not kill the animal.

Over the last few years I've begun to carry a .44 mag while deer hunting. There have been a couple cases where I have shot a deer and immediately slung my muzzy over my shoulder and took off running to where the deer went down. I am ready to stop and draw my .44 for a follow up shot if I see the deer start scrambling to its feet.
 
Been there done that. about 5 or 6 years ago i shot a nice buck during shotgun season standing broadside at 40 yds. He dropped right there., kicked a little and didn't move again. We were doing a drive so i waited a little while before going over. When i started walking over to him, he snow plowed like you said into a big thicket patch before i could even bring the gun back up.The thicket was so bad you could not see into it. I walked around to the other side of the thicket and back out the other side he went, never to be seen again. Sickening feeling. Blood trail dried up. From what i could see it looked like i shoulder punched him. feel for ya.
 
Im going to say a loin hit. If you were holding on the shoulder and it went high there is alot of meat above the spine right at the shoulder.
I would say the hit in the loin shocked the spinal cord enough to drop him but not a fatal wound unless infection sets in. More than likely he will be fine
 
I feel for you! I would agree with a lot of others here, high hit. My late muzzleloader season has forced me into a new sport, binge drinking. Bottoms up my friend!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom