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Post by scrub-buster on Oct 26, 2023 13:15:29 GMT -5
What are some of your most memorable deer hits or shot reactions? Here are some of mine from my 30 years of hunting.
When I was young and hunting with my dad I saw him shoot at a buck 3 times with a single shot 12g. At the 3rd shot the deer flipped up and landed right on its back with all 4 legs sticking straight up in the air for a moment. He had hit it in the skull right in the brain. Not where he was aiming.
In my early 20's I shot a young buck in the back leg right in the knee. It ran 100 yards with no blood. When it jumped a small creek bed there was blood everywhere. The broadhead sticking out had sliced the artery on the inside of the opposite leg. We recovered that deer. My brother in law said I was the only person who could shoot a deer in the knee and find it.
The buck I shot with a stone arrowhead had no reaction at all. It looked around and casually walked off. It got the wobbly legs about 25 yards later and crashed down after a short run.
I shot a decent buck with a crossbow and it hit right above the heart cutting both lines going to it. It completely disconnected the heart from the arteries. That buck barely made it 10 yards with all 4 legs flopping everywhere. It was a crazy sight.
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Post by tradarcher17 on Oct 26, 2023 13:57:57 GMT -5
My biggest buck I shot with a bow he was 153 7/8, didn't react at all. I shot him at about 7 yards, he casually walked off, stood about 40 yards away, bedded down and died. I was a wreck the entire time waiting to climb down.
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Post by bullseye69 on Oct 26, 2023 14:17:26 GMT -5
When I was aboot 13 my dad and I went out for shotgun season opening day. We were aboot 45 min late getting to the field from the house. As we entered the field my dad seen 2 does at about 85 yards. He fired once ,Rem 870, and hit a doe right between the eyes. She went down and was running in circles like Curly from the three stooges.
We had to run down there and finish her off.
My first bow kill was the most memorable.
Shot my first bow deer when he was on the run chasing a doe.
Hit him square in the chest, he bucked, and ran 10 yards and piled up. When my mom and I gutted him out ,his heart was on the broken arrow like a sucker.
First deer was with a rem 870. I was probably aboot 12 yrs old.
My dads cousin was over and we were out checking traps by the river. This small buck came charging and snorting at us from the other side of the river.
I shot him on other side of river and he took off and so did I. Right across the river up to my waist in freezing cold water. Chased him for 100 yards before he went down.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 26, 2023 14:18:07 GMT -5
My biggest buck I shot with a bow he was 153 7/8, didn't react at all. I shot him at about 7 yards, he casually walked off, stood about 40 yards away, bedded down and died. I was a wreck the entire time waiting to climb down. My 1st good 10 point in 1987 did the same thing. About 10 yards eye level and watched him bleed bigtime, and just walked away about the same distance. Buck went down in slow motion. |
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Post by scrub-buster on Oct 26, 2023 14:24:38 GMT -5
I forgot my first deer. I was 11 years old and in a big permanent stand with my dad. As I raised the single shot 16g. I accidentally hit the trigger. I hadn't even looked through the scope yet. Since I wasn't ready for the recoil I fell back out of the stand. I saw my dad's hand come flying at me and grab the chest of my coveralls. He threw me onto the floor of the stand. Somehow I nicked the bottom of the does stomach. When she jumped a small creek bed her stomach ripped open and her intestines spilled out. It was a horrible scene but I had my first deer.
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Post by esshup on Oct 26, 2023 16:50:07 GMT -5
In college, deer hunting in Wi with Rem 742 in 30-06. Walking with my cousin in the big woods up north in Wisconsin. We saw a buck and a doe, buck was on my side, doe was on his. 1,2,3 shoot! I had no idea where to aim for a running shot and both deer took off running. I missed the first shot and (now I know) on the 4th shot it flipped foreward. I swung to the doe and the gun just clicked. When we got to the buck we had to do some looking. I had hit the one antler at the base, breaking the skull and shooting the antler off.
I shot a Pronghorn buck out in Wyoming with the .257 Weatherby around 300 yds. At the shot, it reared up, danced around on it's hind legs, then fell over, dead. My buddy took a phone video of it through the binoculars and my cousin is in the background saying something about a prancing horse.
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Post by willy7948 on Oct 26, 2023 16:52:14 GMT -5
Last year I shot my biggest (138 gross). 150ish yards I believe with the 7mm is a chip shot for that thing , and I’ve never lost a deer that took a bullet from it nor have I ever missed a deer completely (with that gun at least lol).
It was around 10 minutes til dark and around 30 mph wind …. He stepped out on the bank where I was watching after seeing his tracks there the day before , and I squeezed. He took off and I emptied the gun because I was so damn scared of him making it to the next property line. He collapsed on my 4th shot.
When we went to check the shot location a while later , it looked like he was running with a paint can!
I had heart shot him on my very first bullet 🤭🤣
Out of the other three I only connected with one that barely grazed is front leg 🤣🤣 thankful that first one was true !
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Post by budd on Oct 26, 2023 17:11:45 GMT -5
My brother shot the nuts clean off a buck with a vortex broadhead. Buck was standing completely broadside, only thing we could figure is at 40 yards he had time to spin away, arrow went in after shearing off the nuts and was lodged in his chest. Know wonder he stood at the edge of the woods all hunched up before waddling into the woods.
When we found him we couldn’t find the entrance hole until we grabbed a hind leg and flipped him on his back to gut him.
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Post by M4Madness on Oct 26, 2023 18:20:36 GMT -5
Years ago, my wife's cousin shot the testicles off a buck with a 12-gauge deer slug. About an hour later, it walked past my wife's stepfather and he dropped it. The shot by the cousin had done zero damage except for the missing scrotum. He showed her stepfather the miniscule blood trail leading in and claimed the 10-pointer as his own, even though he'd not even fatally hit it. Years later he must have had a change of heart, as he gave the mount to the rightful owner.
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Post by duff on Oct 27, 2023 4:30:50 GMT -5
Shot a buck years ago with smoke pole. He bolted and in the puff of smoke I couldn't see anything until I saw him do a jump and front roll onto his back. Dead.
Now I know that isn't uncommon. But then, Young hunter and very confused. Never thought they would do that.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 27, 2023 7:26:22 GMT -5
My 1st buck in 1985 was a 4 pointer and it was a 40 yard shot. It circled around back toward me and died leaning against the steps below me. When I got down I was so excited on my 1st deer and it was blocking me from getting down. I had to clear the steps and 0 tracking. It was raining so hard at that time and I had watered down blood everywhere. Best part I was single at the time, off for two weeks (gun season) and by 8:30am finished gun hunting. My best two weeks of hunting. To this day that opening weekend was the wettest I've hunted. Warm in the 60's and rained all day Saturday and Sunday. My brother and friend had just bought that land and we walked it the week before and put up three stands, one for each one of us. By end of gun weekend all three of us had our bucks, so we spent the next two weeks learning the 186 acres. I started hunting my parents place in 1983 and no luck and now 186 acres just 3 miles away.
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Post by astronankin on Oct 27, 2023 9:56:15 GMT -5
A few weeks ago I shot my 10 pt with a crossbow. I let buck fever get hold of my wits and the shot lodged in front of the shoulder with the broadhead wedged under the spine between the shoulder blade and the spine. Deer went down immediately and scooted himself about 10 yards closer to me where he couldn't get up because of the bolt. Long story short, two hours later he had another broadhead stick in him twice and both times hadn't even shown faltering breathing. We slit the throat, he died 10 minutes later. All this time he's only 10 yards from my stand. He was obviously in shock from both the shots and having us so close to him, but every time Dad's phone rang he really got scared but couldn't do anything except widen his eyes.
Last year I shot a 9 pt out of the same stand. That buck snuck up on my right and I saw antlers out of the corner of my eye. Knew it was a good one, so I shot. Crossbow. He bucked and took off. 15 yards later he laid down and lay there straining to breathe and I thought he was going to expire right there. Nope, he got up and trotted off still straining for breath. Lost sight of him over a slight slope. We went and tracked him. The property line was just 50 yards away, so I feared he had gone over the fence. Nope, dad found him piled up for good right on our side of the fence!
And also the buck I shot in 2021, my second buck and a small 8 pt. Same stand again. It was 11:00 opening gun and my brother had shot a 7 pt boat can out of that stand earlier that morning that we didn't find until 2 weeks later. About a half hour after I get in the stand (and I wasn't feeling good so any doe and any legal buck was game) I see a deer with antlers coming towards me from the right. I was using my .50 caliber muzzleloader that I've had since I started hunting in 2014 and that has almost always been a reliable shot (except for a few times that were my bad judgment). I got ready and saw he was going to pass almost underneath me. Slide the gun under the railing (that's how close he was) and get the cross hairs on him and shoot. He doesn't buck but bolts and runs about 30 yards. Starts circling behind me. Off to my left he suddenly stops with his head up and alert and begins to back up. Obviously he knew/felt something was wrong. Backs up a few steps and then back flips hard and kicks for a minute or so. No tracking needed.
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Post by jman46151 on Oct 27, 2023 11:41:56 GMT -5
10-12 years ago I shot a small buck with a MZ. He didn't didn't appear to react to the first shot, just continued walking fast. He turned to go down a different trail so I hit him again and he just dropped where he stood. I climbed down with my climber and walked the 60ish yards to him. When I got up on him, I shuffled my feet to kneel down and he jumped up and took off. I ended up finding him dead about 120-150 yards away. Best I can figure the first bullet hit a little low and went around his rib cage and the second one hit high and immobilized him for a couple of minutes. I found a low entrance wound but no hole through the ribs.
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Post by stevein on Oct 27, 2023 12:17:31 GMT -5
Years ago, my wife's cousin shot the testicles off a buck with a 12-gauge deer slug. About an hour later, it walked past my wife's stepfather and he dropped it. The shot by the cousin had done zero damage except for the missing scrotum. He showed her stepfather the miniscule blood trail leading in and claimed the 10-pointer as his own, even though he'd not even fatally hit it. Years later he must have had a change of heart, as he gave the mount to the rightful owner. Years ago my brother shot a buck on a Crane hunt. It had a high flesh wound on the back. There were 2 more shots that only cut hair in almost the same place but the angle changes each shot. Really a group that could be covered with your hand on what we figured was a running deer. He must have corrected and on the last shot he made a buck into a steer. Bob's shot was a double lung that ended the bucks misery. I told Bob that was a clear case of suicide by hunter. |
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Post by omegahunter on Oct 27, 2023 12:45:26 GMT -5
I've had two that were pretty interesting to me.
First was my first archery kill (2011??). Had dug out my fishing bow which was a Bear Whitetail Hunter with the wheels on the riser. Went to WalMart and got 3 aluminum arrows and screwed on a set of 100 grain Bear broadheads. With practice shooting with fingers I could guarantee a hit at a whopping 10 yards. Lucked out and had a doe walk in to 9 yards before I turned it loose. She instantly swapped ends, but then just started walking away like nothing was wrong. All the while I could see the arrow sticking out of her and could hear it tinking against the saplings as she walked. Just before she was out of sight, she went down only to hop right back up right quick and walk ahead over a little knoll out of sight. Found her dead just over the knoll. I couldn't get over that she didn't run off.
Second one involved two deer on the receiving end of a .45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk. I had worked up a pretty stiff load with 300 grain XTPs that grouped really well out of that Ruger and had decided that I needed to make it my main weapon on this particular hunt, so it was all I was carrying. I had 4 does and a small buck work their way into about 40 yards and start milling around. I leveled up on the biggest doe and let one rip and they ALL just stood there. I touched off another one and could see leaves kick up under/behind her again and they still stayed right where they were. I figured that I must be shooting under her somehow, so I aimed the third shot at her spine and down she went. The other deer finally scattered when she went down with one of the other does stopping right under my stand. What the heck, I just let that one have a round too! It ran full tilt into a big Sycamore and flopped over dead. Doe #1 had 2 holes in her vitals about an inch apart boring nice holes right over her heart and the third shot had taken out her spine. The Sycamore doe was shot through the heart. Why in the world they all stood there (especially the one I was hitting) and let me crank off 3 rounds is beyond me.
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Post by stevein on Oct 27, 2023 12:52:24 GMT -5
On a hunt the year my Dad passed a doe and fawn came by back when you had to draw for anterless tags. I kind of chuckled and thought thanks Dad but I only have a buck tag. 5 minutes later I heard grunts coming my way from the direction the doe had traveled. He stopped in a wide open spot and I put the round ball in the pocket. He just stood there. He stood long enough I was almost done reloading when I noticed blood coming out the entrance hole. I made a little noise when the short starter clicked on the barrel. I was pushing the ball down when he staggered and went down.
Another buck stopped when I cocked the hammer. At the shot he went about 20 yards and dropped in some high weeds. I waited maybe 10 minutes then got down to start the gutting process. As I approached the spot where I saw him drop he was back on his feet running away and me with my thumb up my butt. There was a lot of blood where he was laying so this time I waited about 30 minutes then took the trail. I found him about 300 yards up the crik bottom dead. I had shot low enough that I caught part of the close lung, nicked the heart and barely got the off side lung.
Early that day I had heard a string of about 5 shots. The guy that hunts the next farm had knocked down a buck and when he approached the buck it jumped up and ran off and he had an empty gun. Later that morning he saw my buddy and they started tracking. They jumped the buck again and a couple of minutes later heard me shoot. Tom told him no need to track as his buck was probably dead. When I was told that we looked the buck over and there was a gash in the top of his neck. I thought there might have been enough adrenaline in him that he had enough to make a final run.
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Post by Sasquatch on Oct 29, 2023 22:00:35 GMT -5
Great thread! Back in 2000 or so I had a rough season. As I recall it was in January with a few days Left. I had set up on the snowy ground with an older compound sighted in just for my bulky coveralls. I sat against a tree with no blind. At sundown a doe appeared and I got my shot at 15 yards. For some reason I thought I had missed. The deer ran maybe 30 yards and looked back, stomping it’s foot, appearing perfectly healthy. I was ready to cry. It stood for perhaps 15 or 20 seconds, then gave a wet snort and tipped over. I was over the moon. It remains my favorite kill I think. I shot a doe on a clifty park hunt in 2004. It ran and I bleated to hopefully get it to stop, which it did. It stood for around five seconds and simply dropped in it’s tracks and never twitched.
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