Do deer drop when you shoot them?

yoodle dog

yoodle dog

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I was just curious as to how many people have bucks drop in their tracks when you shoot them. I am shooting 270 Win. 150 grain BTSP. I can only remember one deer falling over when he was hit (1 out of about 15). Some of the bucks had their hearts blown up and they still ran! Keep in mind they didn't go far, maybe 50 to 100 yards. The thing I really don't get is my dad uses the same bullets and he dropped a young bull elk at 373 yards.
 
out of the dozen or so deer I've shot, I think only three made it more than a few steps, and none over 30 yards. Heart shot game can often run a long ways before they fall over, as can lung shots. The only sure way to drop them is with a CNS hit
 
todbartell said:
out of the dozen or so deer I've shot, I think only three made it more than a few steps, and none over 30 yards. Heart shot game can often run a long ways before they fall over, as can lung shots. The only sure way to drop them is with a CNS hit
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What is a CNS hit?
 
i'm guessing that means central nervous system

bottom line....shot placement ! a .223 can drop it if like above says, you hit the CNS......I'M NOT SUGGESTIONING you hunt with .223 for deer, but just making a point.
a .270 is more than enough for deer to drop...just get better placement and they'll drop...but even if they make it 50 yards or so..no biggy..as long as it drops..i wouldn't worry about it
 
Most have dropped where they stood. Maybe 2 of 10 would get 20 yards. I can only recall a couple ever going any further, and one of those was a really bad hit, of which if left alone, the deer may very well have survived.
 
colt45gunner said:
i'm guessing that means central nervous system

bottom line....shot placement ! a .223 can drop it if like above says, you hit the CNS......I'M NOT SUGGESTIONING you hunt with .223 for deer, but just making a point.
a .270 is more than enough for deer to drop...just get better placement and they'll drop...but even if they make it 50 yards or so..no biggy..as long as it drops..i wouldn't worry about it
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All the deer that I am counting are either heart or lung shots. The reason I am asking is you see these hunting videos where the deer drop on the spot. What are they doing that I am not? I DON'T GET IT!
 
Yoodle dog: They are shooting through both shoulders, or through the spine, or maybe using a super fast bullet (over 3000 fps or so) with fragile construction. Dropping an animal instantly is of only minor benefit anyway. A solid chest hit always kills quickly, but seldom instantly. Very few game animals hit through the lungs by a bullet going 2000-2800fps drop at the shot in my experience. I don't use real fast, fragile bullets any more because they destroy too much meat and may penetrate poorly. You shoud ALWAYS check for a hit after any shot, many animals show no reaction to a hit.
 
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Longwalker said:
They are shooting through both shoulders, or through the spine, or maybe using a super fast bullet ( over 3000 fps or so) with fragile construction. I don't normally use real fast, fragile bullets because they destroy too much meat and may penetrate poorly. Very few game animals hit through the lungs by a bullet going 2000-2800fps drop at the shot in my experience.
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I shot one last year with my 7mm wsm using 140 nosler ballistic tips. Hit him at 40 yards and he bolted. I shot him a second time cause I didn't want to look for a blood trail with no snow. He dropped! Took out the front shoulder on the other side . Yes there was some wasted meat but my dads farm cat ate that part. It looked like it was shot with a shot gun on the opposite side when I was done.
 
I've long ago lost track of how many deer I've laid to rest.
I've only once had to trail one of mine any distance, and that one only went about a hundred and fifty yards.
Most were taken with the 30-30, but I've also used the 45-70, the 6.5X55, the 308 the 303 Epps, the 303 British, the 270 Win, the 338WM, the 44-40, the 12 gauge with buckshot, and (I hate to say it) the 30-06.
All were effective, used within their capabilities, and none were used with premium bullets of any kind, except for some experimentation with Barnes X in the 30-30.
 
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Of the above, the very fastest drop, was with 12 gauge buckshot. The deer acted like this. It was trying to sneak by me, at a rage of about twenty feet through thick brush. I could not see him well. I had to wait to make sure it was not a dog I was looking at. I finally made the ID, and got a window to the vitals.
after the shot, I saw the deers head flop down like a rag doll, and then the body fell over.
One pellet had hit the deer in the horns, breaking one off, and I presume, knocking him cold. another pellet went through the heart, stopping in the off side shoulder.
The rest, appear to have missed completely, brush deflection at twenty feet!
 
Most deer, after colliding with a bullet, do need time to expire. The only deer I have seen drop like a ton of bricks and not getting up again are those shoot in, or close to the neck spine.

Mosts deer make a "dead run" after the collision with a bullet. That dead run is usually less than 30 yards, if lung/heart areas are hit. Gut shoots are a different story, with the possibility of losing the deer, if one is not ready for a backup shoot in case the deer jumps up and starts running few kilometers before dropping again, in some difficult to find, dense bush.
 
Most deer, after colliding with a bullet, do need time to expire. The only deer I have seen drop like a ton of bricks and not getting up again are those shoot in, or close to the neck spine.

Mosts deer make a "dead run" after the collision with a bullet. That dead run is usually less than 30 yards, if lung/heart areas are hit. Gut shoots are a different story, with the possibility of losing the deer, if one is not ready for a backup shoot in case the deer jumps up and starts running few kilometers before dropping again, in some difficult to find, dense bush.
 
I have only had one deer that ran. Mind you it was the biggest deer I ever shot and it was a running shot. Others have gone down so fast that I had thought I missed them and spent frantic minutes trying to reaccuire the target only not to find it. furthest I ever had to go was about 100 yards. Most of the shots were between 50 to 100 yards

Mind you most of my hunting is done with a shotgun
 
yoodle dog said:
All the deer that I am counting are either heart or lung shots. The reason I am asking is you see these hunting videos where the deer drop on the spot. What are they doing that I am not? I DON'T GET IT!
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Any deer that I have hit in the heart has been near instantaneous death. If it was standing it dropped,, if it was running it just dropped and skidded to a stop.

Other shots to the neck or spine were also dropped in their tracks. You hit them in the body somewhere and they will run to the next province and you may catch up to them next season.
 
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