Anybody else get unnerved by animals that don't even flinch when shot?

Yup.

I shot a cow elk from 100 yards with 180 grain Nosler partitions out of a 300 Winchester magnum right behind the front shoulder and she stood stock still and only dropped her head a bit after the 2nd shot. No real difference on the 3rd shot.

Then I got flustered and had to dig in my pocket for another cartridge and shot hastily and only then when I missed the chest and hit the leg did she fall down.

The first three shots hit right where I was aiming and you could cover those holes with a small apple.
 
I almost expect it with deer/bear/elk/moose etc... that have their adrenaline up. Or mature animals in their prime.

A tough old animal that has fought may battles with wolves/bears, seen hard winters and ran for it's life countless times ain't going to tip over and give up from a small hole in its chest.
 
Agreed. I worked on a deer farm at one time and sometimes I had to destroy red stags that had been fighting. They would broadside each other with those big racks and then they"d be walking round with enormous bruising and punctured lungs. How they were still alive I don"t know, but it made me realise that they won"t just drop to the shot unles you hit something that is structuraly holding them up.
 
Possible theory, shooting a moose or deer behind the shoulder usually pass thrue the animal and still carry alot of energy down range. I've had the same happenings with alot of deer and have made a decision to shoot thrue the shoulder, almost every time the animals stumbles or falls or hobbles showing me its been hit hard, they don't go far with a broken shoulder.
 
The mulie buck i took this fall didn't react to a 140 gr failsafe out of my 280 until he tipped over. I took the shot from the lip of a coulee at about 250 yds and heard the bullet connect with a "thwop". I jacked another round into the chamber and watched through my scope, ready to put a second downrange if he started to move out. After what seemed like a half hour (likely 30 seconds) the deer took 3 steps and colapsed (into the only patch of thick #### in the coulee, perhaps a parting shot at me).

The only thing that unnerved me about that situation was the fact that his herd didn't vacate the area until i came down the hill and was within 20 yards of the downed deer. Even afterwards, i was startled by a fork horn as he got within 30 yards of me while i was gutting my deer before breaking a branch.
 
If you spend too much time on the computer you might be led to believe that all good shots are "bang flops" or "DRT" (dead right there). Complete BS in my opinion.

Any experienced hunter knows that the only absolutely sure way to drop an animal in its tracks is with a central nervous system shot or massive bone damage to the shoulders. I do not choose to use those shots because I feel they are not as good for meat quality as a double lung shot. Moose are definitely not "dumb" but they do not react much to a poke in the ribs. They usually trot or walk off. It takes a few seconds for the oxygen supply to the brain to drop low enough to cause the animal collapse and die.

Deer may react the same as moose, but you wouldn't know it from all the yahoos who shoot at distant deer from the side of the road and then drive away without checking tracks after the deer runs into the thick stuff. Way too much game is wasted each year because of false expectations.

So no - I don't get unnerved by animals that don't react to a shot. I try to practise shooting enough to have confidence in my aim, shoot only at animals in sure range, and to follow up every shot with the expectation of a hit, and tracking if necessary.

But it is perfectly OK to get excited and nervous, that's a big part of what it's all about!
 
I kind of thought I wasn't the only one who's adrenaline gets going when there's no bang-flop! In my brain, I know it's normal not to have the animal just pile in right away, but there's always that little tickle in my gut that maybe something went wrong and I'll end up with a wounded animal. Just all part of hunting though...
 
I shot a small bull moose last fall with a 375 Chatfield-Taylor loaded with 260gr Nosler ABs.

The first shot [100yds] went into the boiler room, no sign of a hit. Bullet was recovered against the skin, far side. Second hit, same boiler room, same result, no sign of a hit, bullet recovered on far side. Third hit put him down, bullet not recovered. :eek:



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I took two shots at a doe last fall. Once hit, one did not. Not sure which one hit, not sure why the other didnt. She made no noticelable movements to either shot.

Unnerved? No. I expected to get over to where she was when I shot and find nothing (couldnt believe she didnt react except to run after the shots) Instead I found hair. I followed the intermittent tracks and a little bit of hair about 80 yards to find her with a shot that took the heart out. It was just gone (Federal Fusion 150 gr .308).
 
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