Shot deer, running deer

[sealhunter]

So As usual I have been watching WILD TV again and as usual a common thread amongst many of the shows ot quite evident.

Now I want to know your experience, as what is happening on the shows has
rarely happened to me.

So I'm watching the shows and there's always lots of deer hunting.

I often here them say they are using a 300 win mag or a 7mm rem mag.

So they line up a shot, shoot and the deer takes off. Usuallu about 100 yrds and then falls, sometimes a bit farther and sometimes a bit less.

My question is;

How common is this for you guys ?

I have shot many animals and less than 10% have ever gone more than 10 yrds after being shot, with the majoruty dropping within 2 or 3 yards of where they were standing when hit.

 

[Grizzlypeg]

I shot two deer during muzzle and 4 during rifle. All shots passed through. The shots that I aimed strictly for what I thought was heart / lung, all bounded for a short distance before lying down. The ones that I shot solid into the shoulder or angled though the neck into the heart lung, dropped on the spot. I'm not confident for myself, trying a pure neck shot, so I am trying to get the heart lung area by aiming between the shoulders. Now I find myself caught between making them faceplant and catching hell for ruining one shoulder, or shooting a little more rearward, not damaging shoulder, but having them do a short leap / run and find them 20-40 yards off. The rifle was 308 with handloaded Hornady jacketed, and the muzzle was 250 gr Hornady SST's. All shots taken at less than 100 yards.

 

[blasted_saber]

Ive shot three deer.

First one - Nice buck - Spine shot. 3030 at 80 yards. Dropped deer in its track. Not my intentions, but deer died quickly.

2nd - Small buck. 270 WSM at 40 yards. Deer dropped in its tracked with gaping whole through just behing shoulder.

3rd - Big doe - 308, 130 yards, moving. Shredded heart. Heart was gone! Deer ran 80 yards or so before dying. Proably to do with the fact she was already moving when hit her.

 

[Gatehouse]

The first black bear I shot made it about 60 yards before piling up in a gulley...

Every other animal has dropped much faster than that, except one deer that I hit too far back. He ran about 100 yards.

One thing for sure- TSX bullets seem to drop them fast

 

[MagnumPeanut]

Most I have taken either drop in their tracks or have enough life to jump a few yards somewhere thicker and go down.

I have had a few that where a bit of a track, nothing too tough. Its all about bullet selection and shot placement. More shot placement than bullets I'd say.

 

[BWANA]

Heart/lung broadside standing Deer runs up to 50 yards before crashing with my 270 / 130 gr,308 /165 gr or 50 Cal Savage 250-300 gr SST or XTP.Shoulder shot goes straight down with either.

 

[Woodsman]

30-50 yards on average. Always broadside double lung shots with bow and .30-06.

 

[Grizzlypeg]

I figure the end result is satisfactory enough so long as there was no undue suffering due to poor shot placement, minimal meat wasted, no real "tracking" required (although in the bush, a deer lying down can be hard to spot until you walk right up to it. We had a lot of rain and no snow during muzzle, so wet ground didn't leave much blood trail.) What do you figure, how exact of a science does it need to be to be considered a success?

 

[ben hunchak]

Most go down very quickly from the big heavy .45 and .50 cal. flat pt. bullets, cast from anything from pure lead to lino/lead combinations, depending on velocity, with the exception of one very big Buff. You can hear the wallup of a hit from these big bullets and there's never any tracking.

 

[stuckon308]

Most have luckily been bang flops. Two surprisingly went through the neck. One doe was charging me and I had to "defend myself" so through the neck with the muzzleloader was the only way to go. The other was a buck that was walking behind a tree and into thick brush. Neck was a good shot.

Archery is a different story. I've had some go 50 yards or more.

 

[looch]

All over the map here - from dead right there to having to wait until morning to continue searching. The first deer I ever shot was facing me at about 60 yards. She wouldn't move so I put one through the white patch on her chest. The bullet passed straight through and exited through her spine. The fastest kill I have had yet.

 

[Eagleye]

I love it when an animal I shoot drops right where it was standing, but have shot enough game to know that it is not practical to expect that to happen every time, even with precisely placed shots. Most game I have shot over the past 50 years has not gone very far [<50 yards], but a couple made it a ways. I recollect a nice dry moose cow that went 150 yards after a shot just a hair farther back than it should have been. I had a muley buck that, when I tagged him straight through both lungs with a 100 Partition from a 6mm Remington, ran forward about 25 yards, made a small circle, and headed back to the treeline, about 100 yards distant. I think he might have made it, but I managed to put another shot into him that anchored him about 20 yards before he got there. Autopsy revealed perfect shot placement...guess he was just keyed up and ready to bolt. A Whitetail buck that I tagged with the 7x57/140 Partition ran a solid 140 yards and then piled up, deader than a doornail. Squarely shot through both lungs. Another keyed up deer? Possibly. Surprisingly, most Elk and Moose I have shot have travelled very little after the shot. Circumstances vary, a totally relaxed and unaware animal will drop sooner than one that is nervous or spooked, in my experience. When I hear stories about lung-shot animals going several hundred yards [even miles, according to some], I take it with a grain of salt. Any decent bullet, placed through the lungs of a game animal, means speedy death to them, even if they have a little run before they realize that they are dead! Regards, Eagleye.

 

[sealhunter]

The intention of the thread was not "humane or unhumane or effective vs more effective" etc etc.

I was genuinely curious.

As long as you get the animal, success!! if he was shot in the legs and lips, well... be your own judge of how much that success should be celebrated,..or whether or not it really was successful.

The reason I mentioned the 300 win mag and 7mm rem mag was that these rifles are rifles that I figure have many many options as far as bullets go, and have quite a bit of oooooomph.

I am always expecting to see an animal just pile up in a mess, but that rarely happens. Actually it seems that it happens more often with biiger animals than it does with deer. (from what I have seen)

In My experience with 45/70 and 30/30 moving at moderate FPS for most other rifle calibres, and using off the shelf ammo most of the time, I have good success with animals not making it usually beyond 2 or 3 yards.

 

[starpuss]

I figure the end result is satisfactory enough so long as there was no undue suffering due to poor shot placement, minimal meat wasted, no real "tracking" required (although in the bush, a deer lying down can be hard to spot until you walk right up to it. We had a lot of rain and no snow during muzzle, so wet ground didn't leave much blood trail.) What do you figure, how exact of a science does it need to be to be considered a success?

um... no snow... where did you hunt? we got maybe 1" of snow. in richer/marchand/woodridge ( close to the end of muzzle )

well i got 3 deer this year , all little bucks ,

2 of them ran maybe 20 or so yards (in bp) one at 150 yards , other maybe 40 yards. one was shot right in the tip on the heart, other one in the lung's

and 1 of them did not move 1 ft.. but stayed on the ground crying for 1 or so min till i gave him one more. (neck shot) (7mm mag) 100 yards away.

 

[Grizzlypeg]

Starpuss, I went out around Oct 23, South of Manitou. I seem to recall it was nothing but wet leaves on the ground.

 

[nexgen]

Out of 7 or 8 deer all but one have piled up on the spot. Most of my shots are under 40 yards, all were neck shots, 1 head shot. The one that ran was a big doe at 200 yards, shot through the boiler room, ran about 75 yards, full tilt, then piled up. On dressing her out, the bullet shredded part of the lungs and split the heart.

First black bear went about thirty yards. The second one I couldn't track, went and got my Lab pup and he tracked it in five minutes, it went about 100 yards into a heavy thicket.

All shot with a 30/06 with 180 gr Win Silvertips.

 

[starpuss]

cant remeber what day , i think this one was maybe 2-3 days befor the end (tip of the heart, maybe ran 40 yards (left one hell of a blood trail.

and this was the first day i think (lung shot) 150 yards away , ran maybe 20 yards

and this one was with the 7mm. (neck shot) 100 yards away . broke it back , did not move 1ft

 

[heavyBullet]

Deer are strange creatures. My buddy shot a buck right in the heart, and that dam thing ran nearly a 100yards and never skipped a beat. This buck was running right at him during a drive, and I saw him shoot, and never saw the buck flinch, and it ran right past my buddy. We were sure he had missed until we saw the blood trail. The buck finally came to a stop after running into a huge tree.

Of the ones I have shot, most all the neck shots have been boom flops.

 

[martinbns]

I find that about 80% of the deer I've shot over the years(about 30) are bangflops, a couple I've shot have just walked away and tipped over, and 3-4 have gone well over 100 yards. Of the 3-4 probably 2 were hit poorly and the other 2 there is no explanation for how far they ran while dead on their feet. I've never lost one...knock on wood(taps skull...grin)

 

[lone-wolf]

This was my first year deer hunting. Shot my first deer in the neck while it was trying to run, and he instantly dropped, bullet hit the spine. I say trying to run because my uncle shot it in the rear leg a few minutes earlier so it was by no means running as fast as it used to.
The deer my cousin got this trip was a bang flop, lung shot.
He had a 30-06 and I was using a 30-30