The internal damage I've witnessed says different.

My favorite shot as well.

Had that happen twice. One was a shot my wife made, the deer was facing us and she shot him perfectly in the chest. He back flipped and hit the ground. It was early so I told her to wait it out. 20 minutes later he jumps up and bolts, never to be found. No blood at the spot where he went down.

Other time was a doe my dad shot in the head. She laid under the feeder for an hour before he climbed out of the stand and tagged her. We went to grab her after he made it back to camp. I reached down and grabbed a leg and she stood up and screamed. What happened next won’t be discussed here.

Had it happen...

Wife says hey, there’s a good buck in front yard.

Yep, he was

Grab rifle and he’s at 125ish when I open the door looking right at me

Free hand, shoot right at neck

He drops and lays...long enough to confirm he’s down and unload gun and put it up.

Wife puts her shoes on!!!

And he is down, no flop, no kick, motionless

We walk 5 yards so this is 3-4 minutes, maybe 5-6

At that point, he gets up and runs off.

Never to be seen again

Freaking miracle

I’ve analyzed this many times and I must have shot on one side of the neck and knocked him out

Lesson learned

If the deer drops in it's tracks rack another cartridge into the chamber and keep the crosshairs on the deer.
If the deer raises it's head a fraction of an inch put another one into it!
As I've gotten older, I don't want to track a deer into the brush if I don't have to.

So we should just take you couple instances for gospel and ignore the several guys reporting good results with corelocks for 30+ years... yeah no.

One thing I learned from my brother, If a deer falls straight down and doesn't kick doesn't flop doesn't anything just lay there... be ready for the unexpected. Neck, head, high shoulder shot deer don't go anywhere but nearly all of them still kick and thrash around on the ground. If I shoot something and it falls and doesn't move im ready to make a follow up asap.

Never had a n issue with lead tipped bullets - just sayen".

It's a lot more than a couple of instances. I've guided previously and manage a ranch now, I shoot 15 or so deer a year, but think what you want.
The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, jello insides.

I'm sure there's been more deer shot with core lokts than most other bullets, but I'm sure it's wounded more than most have too.

My cousin once shot a buck right at the end of shooting time and saw it go down. Went over and could find no deer and no blood. After looking around he found half an antler. Yep. Hit it in the antler and knocked it down. It got up before he could get there.

Here he is. Shot Sunday at another stand. I say he survives daughter's bullet.

It's possible that he would have succumbed to infection from the wound, but, yeah, most likely he would ave survived. I'm guessing that is the exit wound?

Coupla-three inches lower and she'd have had a great trophy! Glad somebody got a great buck.

Put a 165 gr SST bullet here and they fold up dead. You get nervous and circulatory system all at once. Works for me.

I shot one with a healed wound just slightly higher than your daughters so his survival chances were pretty good.

Yep, she just pulled the shot. I shot gun and neck shot a doe the next weekend so it was the shooter.

Inches do matter.

A few years ago I shot a nice big doe in the neck, which I like to do when within 75 yards and have a solid rest. She hit the ground and never twitched, I should have known that was a bad sign.
It was early in the evening and the feeder had just gone off so I waited till dusk to get down hoping to get a shot at a nice buck.
I had the tag all cut and filled out and logged on my license with a zip tie ready to go on the deer when I started to climb out of the blind.
The deer was there when I last looked but when I got to the ground it was gone.
No blood trail, only a spot of blood on the ground about the size of a beer can.
7mm-08 with 140 gr nosler partition that I have taken countless deer and hogs with out to 274 yards.
I don't shoot deer in the neck anymore and, that tag is zip tied to my hunting jacket zipper as a reminder.

^^^^^
Excellent. I like the ethics of 'burning a tag' for blood drawn as well. I don't require it of others...but have always done that as well.

Good job Sir.

I don't fill out log or tag until the deer is on the truck.

Pull that shot a little to the right and you have problem. That would be a no gut deer for me. I gave dressed a couple of those but they were dad's or son's.

So, the dried hole is the prior shot? Shocking to me the .30-.06 there would not have killed or at least incapacitated that deer. I've shot no less than 10 deer in neck in South Texas with .30-.06 and 150gr. Core Lokt, some middle neck, others middle neck from above elevation and others higher neck like that one and never had one get back up. May have required finishing kill shots but deer was totally incapacitated.

My youngest didn't get to hunt with me late in HS. Away on her 1st college Christmas break, we headed to camp and then out to a blind. A fat doe came walking up the corn and we needed one. She put the 22-250 out the window , whereupon I grabbed the barrel and asked, "You do remember where to shoot?" Her reply, "We still shoot them in the head, don't we Daddy.". It's only a few times where I that I have been that proud. Never missed a shot, lost a deer or even tracked one.

If I'm looking at this correctly, the red shot is the daughter's wound, the blue is the shot that killed him later. That's right at the top of the shoulder, nothing much to hit there and not a surprise that the deer ran off.

"I don't fill out log or tag until the deer is on the truck."

That may have saved me a tag, but we get a visit from the GW on occasion so we tag 'em where they fall.