Their toughness just amazes me.

[Eric Wettschreck]

All of us who have been deer hunting for a while have seen it and I had another, “I can’t believe what I just saw” moment today. Our party was walking some CRP and a buck jumped up aboot 30 feet from me. I shot it and it went down like a bag of bricks. It got back up and I shot it again and down it went…..again. A couple seconds later it gets BACK up and runs over a hill (approx 30 yards) and we lost sight of it. I thought to myself “No way.” 2-12 ga slugs at 30 feet is a lot of lead comin at ya real fast. I went to where it was when I saw it last and there was blood everywhere. I figured this would be an easy track. We found it about 150 yards from where I saw it last. When I cut it open there was blood everywhere inside. After further checking out of its insides I saw the vitals were pretty much ripped apart. There were 2 entry holes and one exit hole. One entry hole a little above and behind the front shoulder and the other entry hole a little behind the front shoulder. Not bad kill shots but I’m serious when I say it was literally 30 feet away, maybe closer. What amazes me is that even though its vitals were pretty much destroyed by 2 large and fast moving wads of lead, this thing still had the umption to run as far as it did. The durability of deer will never cease to amaze me. Shoot me with 2-12 ga slugs at 30 feet in the vitals and I’m guessing I’m down for the count.

[Steve Foss]

Ditto my experience. It's amazing how much tougher wild animals are than tame humans. Those slugs deliver a huge wallop. Sometimes you walk over to the animal and simply sit next to it for a bit in silence, acknowledging a singular will to live.

[buckx37x]

yea they really have the drive to keep going, really i believe about the only ones ive seen go right down are ones shot in spine. actually since my youngest boy started hunting weve had two deer that have been down and hes walked up on them and had them jump up and had to finish them with shots to the tailbone(spine) its been fun!

[bassNspear]

there strong, and out of control. Its crazy how they can live through all that stuff, until it just hits them and there dead!

[Esox_Magnum]

I have shot a few that had 3-5 slugs in them some more than a week. My 2nd best buck I hit at 40 yards, he went another 10 yards before swaying and dropping. I figured hes down for the count judging from the streak of blood running down his leg before he dropped. In our group you don't leave your stand till the drives done so I wait till I see dad coming and look over to where he dropped, 40 minutes after he went down no less. To my amazement he's standing up looking at me and as I raise the shotgun for a shot he's off like a rocket. We found him about 100 yards away, slug went through both lungs,and nicked the heart. I always shot Brennekee 1 1/8 oz Mag load slugs, few if any ever got away with 1 of those in them.

You think a deers tough, brother shot a bull elk in Colorado, 3 rounds in the boiler room at 180-200 yards with a 300 RUM shooting 200 grn Federals and he never even flinched, just turned and walked away. Found him about 300 yards away.

[mnguy152]

I know what you guys mean then you have the other side . The ones that only get hit a little bit and tip over and then you have the one you need to put a box of shells in them.

[Juneau4]

It makes you wonder how many are shot with the 22 center fires and the shooter never knows they hit them.

[96trigger]

I shot a doe yesterday, she was quartering away from me. I saw the bullet hit her in the ribs, perfect shot, out of the corner of my eye on the other side, a buck takes off, for the split second I looked at the buck, the doe was gone. Went to where I shot her, a few nice drops of blood then nothing. Kept looking for a half hour. I thought in my head that she ran down the bluff, finally, went back to where I shot her and started doing a ground search, drop here, drop there, after about 50 yards, the blood starts pouring from her. Found her 100 yards away, perfect shot, I really don't know how she made it as far as she did. On Saturday I pumped 4 shells into my buck before he finally died. They are tough. I think with todays high powered machinery, lighter loads, more speed, we need to almost take an archers view of things. Make the perfect shot, watch where they go, give them time to expire, then go find them.

[Red Miller]

Yep I agree, its best to just leave them alone for a time. I shot a doe this year. One shot with 3006 right through the boiler room. It ran off and then did big circle right back where it started then tipped over. Did the curly shuffle for another 30 seconds and that was it. It was a heart shot but one thing to remember is that once the heart stops, It takes several minutes to expire. If you havent done any structural damage its gonna run. Not for long though...

[Chef]

Curly Shuffle...I'm LMFAO...

[goblueM]

its incredible what they can do. so tough and the adrenaline... man!

Last year I hit one pretty solid at 70 yards with a slug. Acted like it got sucker punched, then hobbled off behind some young aspen growth. Let it sit an hour then went to track it. Good hair, blood trail. Bedded down twice with lots of good looking blood in the bed. Examining the 2nd one when it jumps up and runs down the ridge about 100 yards away

We back out and leave it for 5-6 hours, come back later. It bedded down 3 more times, all with more blood and the distance shortened btwn each bed. We found it, only to have it get up and charge us then take off running. Of course I had my chamber empty so I didn't shoot my uncle, and forget this while its charging us... "click... awwww, heck"

Tracked it 1/2 mile and the trail ended with the tracks leading straight into the lake. Never got that one back, still makes me sick

[BobT]

Adrenaline! It can do amazing things. A deer that doesn't realize you're there will drop like a brick and stay down. One that is already pumped and ready to flee can go for a long way with serious damage.

[stumper]

It makes you wonder how many are shot with the 22 center fires and the shooter never knows they hit them.

It would scare us all if we knew how many get killed each yr with .22 rimfire.

[Archerysniper]

My biggest so far I shot during blackpowder season had to buy a new cape because of a .22 slug in the neck that had gotten infected

[icehousebob]

I took one in Wyoming a while back that amazed me. It was trotting along broadside about 80 yards away. When I brought the rifle up, it swung to face me and I shot it square in the chest. It turned and ran full bore around the ridge we were on. There was no blood but I knew it was a hit. I followed around the ridge and found it close to 200 yards away, upright. It had died leaning against a tree. In gutting, I found the lungs exploded and the aorta cut off. Fat had plugged the bullet hole and it had totally bled out into the body cavity. It was dead at the shot, it just didn't know it.

[Gissert]

As long as they still have oil pressure and flow to the brain, they can keep going, sometimes for amazing distances.

I shot a buck three years ago that had an ugly belly wound that was infected. After I got the hide off, there were lead flakes in the meat when I started to cut it up. Looked like someone had tried an early harvest with a .22.

[jkcmj]

When I shot my buck this year, I watched it tip right over backward after the shot. I figured OK dead. I watched for about 10 minutes or so, then saw it kicking ferociously. This went on and off for awhile, then finally I figured I better go down to see what the deal was. Well, turns out my shot was a little up and to the left, wo it entered the neck and exit was through the bottom of the eye socket. By this time the deer appeared dead. Eyes glazed over, mouth open, tongue out, no visible respirations. I decided since the head was down I would cut the throat and try to bleed it good. When I started cutting the throat, it suddenly lashed out with the rear hoofs and kicked me flying with a shin kick. Steep hill so I ended up about 15 feet below the deer. By the time I recovered and came back up he was actually finished. could have been worse than a few bruises and scabs, since my head was just above my shins when I was bent over cutting him with a sharp knife in my hand.

[Monkster]

Another quick story, somewhat on the 'toughness' category.

My father used to hunt deer with his .264 Win Mag. He tells the story that he walked up on a very nice buck one year still hunting. He raised his gun and fired at the buck. He said it dropped like a "sack of potatoes" (that must be from growing up on the farm) He walked up to the deer and that buck jumped to his feet as soon as my dad touched him! The buck took a couple bounds away the then turned to look back at what was going on. That hesitation was enough to give my dad time to put a shot into his vitals. The buck took a few steps and fell. After inspecting the deer, which my dad said was about a 12 pointer (no pics of course), they found that the first shot hit the antlers, knocked a tine off and must have knocked that buck out cold!

I am sure he wasn't quite with it when he woke up and that's why he stopped to give my dad another shot. I've always loved that story.

[Quackaddict9]

Yes, some deer are tough and run for their life! Last night I shot a decent 9 point buck that most hunters would have shot in a heartbeat. 75 yards, double lung shot and had to go at least 200 yards...he was bleeding a lot as well. I shoot a 30-06 180 grain.

[ole matty]

I heard a awesome story from my old high school woodshop teacher, mr. bronk

He was hunting by his house in faribault, as he got done with evening hunting and walked back to his house and had to cross county road on top of hill. As he was close to road as a car approached and he heard a crash and he knew right away that car had hit the deer, he went to check out the car/deer. He say deer lay down on middle of road with broken leg and appeared dead, so he dragged the deer to side of road. Mayb few mins later all of sudden deer got up and ran off with broken leg and never seen again....

[TylerS]

My father deer hunted for years and never shot one (he actually just got his first one this year...I was pumped for him!) Years back, he was hunting the ol' farmstead in Fergus Falls. To hear him tell the story is pretty cool, but I'll do my best.

So it's snowing slightly, there's a few inches on the ground already, and the sun is just peaking over the horizon. Suddenly, from his right, out pops a big fat doe. My father is using Gradnpa's trusty .30-30 with iron sights. So dad is getting nervous...doe fever. She takes a step out into the field slowly crosses roughly 75 yards in front of him. He gradually puts the gun up, cocks the handle, and whistles her to a dead stop. BANG! Down she goes.

"Wow" he thinks. "I finally got one!"

After about five minutes he's just about to walk out when all of a sudden she stands up. Dad is so shocked he doesn't even raise the gun. She drags herself into the woods with her front legs like a dog rubbing its butt on the carpet.

"Huh" dad thinks.

So he walks out to where she was lying.

No blood.

He follows the trail into the woods.

No blood.

About 30 yards into the woods, the doe stops dragging itself and you see a full set of prints heading away.

To this day he has no idea what happened. His theory is he shot it high on the spine, causing trauma to the spinal cord, but not permanently damaging it. Thus, it had loss of feeling for awhile until the nerves sprung back and it finally walked off.

Crazy animals...

[New2TheFly]

My first deer was a little 4 pointer. He was chasing a doe through the woods and I didn't know what to do so just shouted at him, stopping him dead in his tracks about 30 yards away. One shot from my Grandpa's .300 Savage and the buck took off again. I watched him b-line through the woods for about 75 yards before doing a head first somersault. When I got down from my stand I noticed the blood trail was wider than I was tall. When we field dressed the deer we discovered I had directly hit the heart, blowing it to pieces. It still boggles me how that deer went anywhere. Like icehousebob said, the deer was dead at the shot, he just didn’t know it.