1975--heavy overcast--shot at a doe 150 yds-180g 30/06--shoulder shot--she dropped--no movement--when we got to her saw she was 3 feet on other side of a cross fence on our place--no wound on shoulder??--blood coming from throat--turned out the bullet had hit a fence wire and split with 1/2 hitting throat and 1/2 hitting spine above hip--fresh broken wire at shoulder height.

List some of yours---I have more.

Deer is in front yard at 150

Wife says, there’s a nice buck out there from inside the house

I grab rifle and free hand it, he was looking right at me

Fell over deader than hell. Motionless, dead

Unload gun, she goes and puts SHOES AND SOCKS ON, finds her phone for pics!

Walk out the front yard prob 20 something yard and this sumbuck came to life.

Never saw him again.

He laid dead for my guess, 4-5 min.

Lesson learned

Guided a hunter who shot a nice buck. I told him to put it on his shoulder and squeeze the trigger and at the report the deer dropped stone dead.

Get out of the blind and walk to the deer and no blood anywhere on the deer.

I flip him over and find out he got shot thru both hips

Shot a doe in the neck this year. She dropped like a ton of bricks. Left and went to camp, came back hour later after finding another hunters deer. Drove up to doe she jumped up and took off. Got to creek and stopped. I shot her behind shoulder came out her other shoulder. Literally blew her front leg bones out, whole shoulder gone. She ran another 50 yards to a deep pool in the creek and drown herself. I got pictures to show her leg.

I was hunting down in Webb county and had a very narrow shot window with a pretty dang nice buck standing in it. I took the shot and he dropped. I waited a few minutes and never saw movement. I walked down the because my ride was coming up the road. I saw him stop about 15 yards passed my deer and load a doe then met him at the buck. Apparently I got a pass through and ended up with a twofer. The unevenness of the road made it where I didn't see the doe standing behind the the buck.

I had about 6 doe feeding at 80 yards from me. After watching a while, I was pretty sure which one had no fawn, so I put the crosshairs on the shoulder and fired. The deer jumped a fence as if she hadn’t been hit, but there was a deer laying there. I walked over to try to figure out what just happened. The dead deer had been shot in the head and wasn’t the deer I shot at. All I can figure, then and now, is that the dead deer stepped or ran in front of the bullet just as I pulled the trigger. I would’ve thought that I’d have seen something in the scope, but I didn’t. All happened too fast, I guess.

Its about a shot on a kudu, not a deer. Hope that's OK.

A South African PH took his American client out for the client's #1 animal on his wishlist - a nice kudu bull. They struggled to get a shot on a bull for a few days. On the last afternoon their luck turned and they were able to lay in ambush as a herd of kudu fed toward them. The herd bull was a good one and the suspense built as the herd came ever closer. When they were in range the PH went to great pains to make sure that the client could clearly make out the bull amongst the cows around him. The client said he had a clear shot. The PH said "are you sure? it's our last chance" The client said yes and took the shot. The bull turned and ran while a large cow that had been standing next to him dropped on the spot. The client's jaw dropped while the PH popped a vessel in his brain as he forced himself not to curse and scream at the top of his voice. They get to the downed kudu cow and see she has a broken neck but no bullet hole. They follow the bull's spoor and find him 50m away - dead from a perfect lung shot. Eventually they figured out that as the bull turned he hit the cow with his horn by mistake - breaking her neck and killing her instantly!

I was hunting in Edwards county one year and freehanded a headshot on a doe that was looking at me with a 7mm-08. Deer falls over dead right on the spot. I get up to the deer and see that the bullet hit the left side of the cranium taking the hide off but didnt penetrate the skull. The deer's neck was broke which is what killed it.

I tell this one first....
I was guiding a hunter on his first hunt and chance on a really big typical buck. Warm weather but the deer were on the pre-rut feed pattern. The hunter showed up and he had expected a one or two day hunt max...I did not know how many days it would take. So he did not bring much for clothing and warm weather gear at that. After day 4 of hunting a rainy cold front moved in and the moved better but still no buck. The hunter did not have enough clothes with so he decided to head home for a few days then return with more clothes. He returned and we continued to hunt...on the afternoon of the 7th day of hunting the buck finally made an appearance. He was coming in with a small group of bucks from a direction that was not expected. I got he hunter turned and situated to make the shot. 3 bucks were walking towards us on the sendero with the target buck bringing up the rear....the group was about 300 yards from us. He stopped to whip some brush and had a 4'-5' limb in his antlers as he came back to the road and headed our way. I videoed all the hunts at that time so I was on the deer and talking to the hunter about which buck was the target buck. I told him he was the largest buck(other 2 bucks in lead were 1 and 2 yr olds) and the last buck in the group of 3. I said he is the one with a 4'-5' branch hanging out of his rack...the hunters said "I am on him". The buck was facing us and I told him to relax and squeeze the trigger when the buck turned broadside..."boom" is all I heard and saw the target buck run off. I was watching and fully expecting the big typical to fall. He smiled as I looked at him and said "I dropped him".....I said "no you just shot the wrong buck"...I watched a 1 yr old really big 8 pt drop in the viewfinder of the video camera. I looked at him and he was grinning ear to ear when he saw the look of disbelief on my face and heard me say again "you shot the wrong buck". His mood turned from joy to sour in a split second. He asked me if I was joking and I said "no I am serious". He said he shot the buck he was aiming at. He immediately got out of the blind and headed towards the dead deer down the sendero. When I got there he apologized and said he just got excited and shot the wrong deer. He was embarrassed and just wanted to get the deer cleaned and leave. He said before he left he had never killed a really big deer and the buck fever/excitement of just seeing huge buck was more than he could handle...said he heard me say the buck had the limb in his antlers but it never registered as he lined up on the wrong buck. The buck fever was just to much at that moment. The buck he shot was a tall 8pt with one kicker....the buck he should have shot was a 6x6 with two extra kickers(14 pts) that ended up scoring194 gross.

I just remembered about the "No Bullet Hole Buck" my father got one year. On a company hunt with my Pops he saw a nice buck but it went down in a ravine, He decided to go down and see if he could get a shot. After much walking the deer gave him a shot. After the deer was unloaded at camp everybody was gathered around talking about and looking at the big 8 point. No one could find an entry wound or exit wound, The going joke now was that he had walked the deer to death. After skinning it out we found a hole the from the 270 and it was just a small entry with no exit, the bullet hit high behind the shoulder and traveled up into the neck, How? Nobody knows.

Had that happen with a bow kill. Arrow went in and didn't come out. I was super nervous field dressing that buck thinking I was going to run into the broadhead at any minute. Didn't find the arrow until we skinned it and it was up in the neck. No idea how a broadside shot made a 90 degree turn inside the deer.

Not one of mine personally, but my brother. Was shooting a 270 win at an 8 point buck. I forget weather he took a neck or shoulder shot, but he shot and the deer fell dead on the spot and they heard saw and heard the bullet hit a rock behind the deer and ricochet. When they were loading the buck in the truck they noticed both his back legs were broke near the hock with a wound going through. They came to the conclusion the bullet hit the deer passed through ricocheted off the rock came back and hit the bucks back legs breaking them.

We were walking back to camp after the morn hunt and my friend saw a buck next to the fence getting ready to jump. Deer had not seen us yet. He fired and the deer jumped at the exact same micro second. He cleared the fence and landed head down with his antlers stuck 4" in ground before falling over with antlers still stuck. Perfect heart shot--dead in mid air.

DIL had never shot a deer rifle, Son takes her with him to stand, morning hunt. Son texts me and says "Dad pretty nice buck in the feeder" Me "well shoot him" Son "Not over 150" I don't want him" Me " Let Kaci shoot him" Like I said she's never shot a deer rifle before. Any way she shoots (90 yards) bullet hits hog panel wire dead center and splits it, then travels 15' and kills the deer. 142 2/8"

Back in the '90s I was hunting some with a Ruger Bisley .45 Colt loaded with a stout charge of 296 behind a 300 grain Hornady XTP.

I'd spotted an old, declining buck with a heavy six point rack that I decided to take if I could. I knew the area he was hanging out in and bedded up in some rocks about 35 steps off a heavily traveled game trail. Late one afternoon, the old fellow came casually strolling up the path, not in a hurry to be anywhere. When he was about as close as he looked to get, I gave a low whistle which stopped him, head up and quartering to me. I lined the sights up just ahead of the point of his shoulder and squeezed off. As the big revolver came down out of recoil, I saw him hit the ground.

As the buck was kicking feebly when I walked up to him, I cut his throat to allow him to bleed out. Entry wound was just ahead of the point of the near shoulder; exit was just behind the off shoulder...right through the engine room. Except it wasn't. When I dressed the buck and split the sternum, the chest cavity was completely intact. Upon skinning and quartering, I discovered that the slug had entered, veered left after notching a chunk out of the front of the rib cage and then run between the outside of the off rib cage and the scapula before exiting. Draw a straight line between entrance and exit and I made a perfect quartering shot...except the slug didn't follow that path. Thankfully it evidently passed close enough to the spine to short out his CNS long enough for my knife to do what the slug hadn't!

Mark

Back when I was a 14 year old kid, I was sitting on a board in a cedar tree watching a clearing with my trusty open sighted surplus .303 British.
I heard some leaves rustling behind me and turned as far around as I could and saw a spike bucks head peering out from behind a cedar limb.
It was only about 50' away, so I lifted the rifle and put the bead on it's head and squeezed the trigger.
The deer dropped and I figured I blew away it's head having seen what a 180 grain soft point would do to a deer.
I approached the deer and saw it lying on the ground with no visible head wound or blood visible.
I left the buck laying and returned after getting my dad to help me get the deer back to the cabin.
I kept examining the deer and could not find a bullet wound.
Finally I noticed a single drop of blood come out from the base of the skull, and as I lifted the hair I saw a small hole where the bullet exited, so then I started looking to see where it went in.
I searched and searched and finally noticed a hole in the tear duct right next to the eye.
The bullet evidently hit soft tissue going in and out without any expansion or the head would have been destroyed. 180 grain soft point that any time after that deer would leave a hole big enough to stick you hand in after it exited.
My dad said we are not taking the buck to the locker or the guy there might think it was shot with a .22 long rifle. LOL!

Early 60's--1st deer hunt for me, my dad & brothers. Day hunt SW of Sonora. Our 1st rifles were a sporterized Brit .303, a 8mm '98 Mauser, a sporterized '95 Argentine Mauser and a full military '03 Springfield. My dad shot a nice buck up on a ridge-he dropped and no movement--we had to go around the mesa point to get on top. By the time we got to the spot-no deer and no blood. We found a fresh 6 long brow tine that had been shot off at the base--never saw the buck again--he must have been stunned & recovered.

I was out on a doe hunt with some buddies at one of their ranches in Mason last year. Driving along in the buggy and we spot a few does. We stopped and I grabbed the shooting sticks and start a stalk. I watch the direction where the does are headed and get set up in a good position to shoot. They popped out about 70 yards away and the only clean shot I had was between a few branches on a tree about 30 yards ahead of me. I leveled off and had a perfect shot right between the limbs, squeezed on the Timney and the doe hit the ground. The buddy that was still sitting in the buggy didn’t see the Dow fall but said I blasted the tree in front of me. Sure enough, I didn’t account for the scope offset over the barrel and didn’t allow enough room in the notch of the tree. Luckily the doe went down fast and wasn’t wounded to run off. I hit two limbs on the way to the doe.

Hunted with a retired LEO that bragged all the time about his shooting prowess and always shot his meat deer in the head. One morning he shoots a scrub buck in the head under the feeder and the buck drops in its tracks. He said a few seconds later the buck gets up and runs off. He comes back to the camp house to get help looking for the deer. We go back and start at the feeder. I look down and see part of a fresh broken antler on the ground. It’s obvious what happened. There was no blood, but he swore he hit the buck, and it must have broken his antler on the feeder leg when he ran off. Nope.

Similar story. My father was hunting from a tripod on a wheat field. Shot a nice buck he thought was a little far and compensated, holding his aim just over its back. Buck drops in its tracks. My father gets down from the tripod and sees the buck running directly away from him. He goes to where the buck fell and finds no blood. No blood trail. His best guess is he just clipped the top of his back and the shock of the bullet above the spine stunned him.

Years ago, an ex-inlaw of mine shot a very nice buck that ran into the woods and over a creekbed and thought he heard him crash and was certain he had killed it. He got down and as he was walking up on it, it was standing looking at him from the spot he thought it went down. He shouldered and shot it again and it went down behind the creekbed. He walked over the creekbed to find 2 bucks laying beside each other. He figured the second one had come up checking out the first one he shot.

That reminds me of a funny story my friend told

He used to part time guide on a high fence ranch

Guy shoots like a 180-190 and it runs to some woods.

Guy gets down to retrieve the deer and sees his 180-190 standing so shoots it again

He shot 2, 180-190’s LoL

I think it was a pricey little deal...

Had a green mesquite limb deflect a match .308 bullet, but whack the doe upside the head.

She dropped, but wobbled away like a punch-drunk boxer about the time I hiked over.

One hair on the limb and a bullet grove was all we ever found.

Last couple of trips to the ranch, we've had this really, really dumb doe that wanders up within a few yards and just stares. My theory is, this is either someone's pet, or she lost a few brain cells to a mesquite limb one time. Either way, she and the buck we call Goliath are the only deer on our "do not shoot" list.

My son's first doe was about a 75 yard shot with a .243. He had practiced a lot and learned about shot placement. I wasn't watching through the binoculars because I was too busy talking him through the shot and making sure he was calm. He squeezes off and the deer runs. Not like a deer runs when it's hit, just how it runs off when spooked. Looked like a clean miss. I didn't see the normal buck after a hit or anything so thought he whiffed. The deer ran about 40-50 yards and then turned and quartered back towards us still still running. It jumped over the road like it would a fence and she folded in mid air. Looked like when you shoot a bird out of the air with a shotgun. She hit the ground limp as could be and never even twitched. We went to get her and his shot placement was perfect. I've never seen another one fall like that.

Another one that wasn't a deer but instead a duck. Buddy and I were hunting and had an early group of teal come by, of which we dropped a couple. Only teal we saw all day. Dog retrieved them and we put them on the strap in the blind. Neither of those birds ever flipped or made a sound all morning. We finished up the hunt over the next hour or two, added ducks to the strap, picked up the decoys, drove back to the ramp, loaded the boat and made the 90 minute drive back to the house. We put the ducks in a cooler for the ride back home. Once home, I was in the boat and was pitching the ducks to my buddy who was on the ground so we could clean them. I picked up one of those teal and pitched it to him. This duck was shot to hell, blood everywhere. Completely limp in my hand and hadn't moved a muscle since it hit the water. When that duck got half way between the two of us, it spread it's wings and was gone. Flew off like nothing had ever happened to it. We watched it fly and and then stared at each other for a half a minute making sure we had both just seen that happen.

Was hunting in an elevated tripod stand overlooking a feeder 75 yards away. Pig is under the feeder & would never turn broadside so I thought I would just shoot him right between the eyes. At the shot there was a loud crack (sounded like someone broke a 2x4) & the hog stumbled backwards & shook his head. He stumbled around & then disappeared down a trail. 4 guys looked for 45 minutes & couldn't find any blood or sign of hog. At 75 yards my 243 WSSM would have been 2" high so I think the bullet ricocheted off his forehead giving him a BAD headache.

I was huniting with my newphew. We were meat hunting. There was a scrub buck my dad wanted shot. It was raining and nasty. The buck comes out with 5 other deer. Couple of bucks in the mix. He commence to empty his 270 at the scrub buck. Cleanly missing at 100 yards. I tell him his gun must be off. That we will come back tomorrow and shot the deer. They just hung around. Told him to load his gun up and try again. The scrub was now at 125 years. I tell him which deer it is he said he know which one it is. I tell him to shoot. After he shoot, I tell him to stop that gun is cleanly off. He says "What it got it!" He shot a different buck at 160 yards and made a great shot.