Deer reactions when hit.

[bobnob]

Hello all. Been quite a while since I’ve been on here.

I’ve not hunted deer that much. Mainly I’ve shot pigs, goats, roos and many smaller game.

This week I shot four deer, all does for meat. They were all red deer and decent sized though not huge animals.

(I did shoot one other that this thread may not apply to which I’ll explain later.)

All four were shot either through the shoulders or just behind the shoulder.

The reason for the post is this: In all four cases, though shot placement was as good as I could hope, they ran. Admittedly not far, at most 50 metres and were easy to track due to big blood trails.

Do the majority of deer run when hit through the boiler room?

For context, of the thousands of pigs I’ve shot I find that a hit through the shoulders or just behind puts them down on the spot.

So the contrast is interesting as I’m still a bit of a novice with deer and in truth hadn’t shot one for quite a few years until this week!

I should mention the cartridge was the 308Win shooting 168 Amax at a MV of about 2700fps. All exited the far side with exit wounds between half to an inch or so. Huge blood loss.

Hope everyone is well.

Regards,
Bob

 

[DrMike]

Unless hit in the brain the spinal cord, deer almost always run. Heart shot deer tend to jump before running surprisingly long distances. It requires time for the lungs to fill with blood when the shot takes out the lungs, and the deer shot in the lungs will run until oxygen deprevation finally brings the animal down. The only sure shot to drop a deer immediately is to disrupt the nervous system. A damaged spine will not allow the hind legs to function, and the animal goes down. A disrupted brain means all systems collapse and the animals goes down. Otherwise, the animal will run in almost every instance.

 

[bobnob]

G’day Mike. Thanks for the fast reply! Everything you’ve said makes sense, and the fifth I shot which I mentioned in the thread was in fact hit in the neck and dropped.

The fact is but, I have noticed pigs respond differently, in general. Not in the absolute but in general by my observation.

For the record I was happy with bullet performance and with my shooting. I know the old Amax isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it’s been a solid performer for me on many pigs, though this was the first time on deer for me.

A good haul of venison too!

Great to hear from you.

-Bob.

 

[Vince]

Deer and pigs have different muscles fibers too.

I don’t know if it’s the correct term but we called it slow twitch vs fast twitch muscle fibers. Pigs, like snakes, are slow twitch. At least that’s how it was explained to me. I’ve seen pigs kick for a couple of minutes after being hit in the brain but when you shut out the lights on a deer they are done. Just like a beef cow. Pigs twitch sort like how a snake continues to wiggle after you chop it’s head off.

Vince

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I always thought some speed helped, causing massive hydrastic shock. I try to keep my hunting loads around that 3K+ fps area. Just seems to kill better and faster than the slower rounds.

I typically aim for high shoulders on big game so they drop on the spot. I don't like tracking things, especially elk where we hunt.

 

[Blkram]

As Vince has alluded, the body make up of a pig is quite different than that of a deer.
Deer do not have the thicker hide, heavier muscle, and as found on the boars I hear, that heavier chest plate of bone, that will make a drastic difference in body mass and makeup, and therefore result in a difference in how the animal reacts to the bullet strike, and of how the bullet reacts as it impacts, and then penetrates, resulting in different performance in expansion of that bullet.

Then there is the fact that no two animals (and species) may react in the same way to bullet strikes, as each is its own character with varying degrees of tenacity and resolve that can make a difference as to why some succumb immediately to a well placed hit, while others hit similarly will run off and take longer to die.

 

[Darkhorse]

Many, many, deer hunters do not possess the knowledge given in the preceding posts. Even today, well into the whitetail revolution, a lot of hunters think if a deer doesn't drop on the spot when shot at then they missed. Often they fail to check for hair, blood, scuffed up leaves, or any evidence of a hit. When I was hunting on large leases the hunter always told his tale of woe back at camp. I can't count the number of times I accompanied the hunter back to his stand, found evidence of a hit and tracked the deceased animal down.
It can be depressing to think of all the deer left to rot in the woods by hunters who have not yet learned this fact about our little high strung deer.

 

[PJGunner]

You never know just what a deer will do when shot. Me? I hope for a drop on the spot but more times that not there's been a roughly 30 foot to 100 yard run. First deer I've ever shot with anything was with an old 30-30 at maybe 20 feet. There is a story that goes with that shot taken back in 1949 but I'll let it go at that. The closest I've ever shot a deer was about 6 feel. he rifle's muzzle was a lot closer than that. That deer ran over the top of the ridge and went down about 35 yards away he rifle was a .308 in. and the 150 gr. Sierra hit a bit back of the shoulder. The muzzle blast made about a 6" hole in the side and the exit would was literally everything inside that deer completely blown out. Easiest gut job I ever did, A snip and the windpipe and clearing the rectum.. Then turn the deer over and shake, Everything fell out.
Another time I was guiding neighbor kids on their first deer hunt and I'd worked a deal with a rancher to let then hunt on his ranch. Rile was a Mauser that was rebarreled to the .243 Win. ullet was the 100 gr. Hornady. Hunts took place in 1977 and 78 IIRC. On deer dropped on the spot with a lung hit. Two ran a about 30 to 50 yards and number four ran over 250 yards before running in a fence, backing off and trying to go through it again. When we opened it up, the lungs and heart had been completely destroyed. Later in that year I was guiding a coworker and he shot his deer with a .243 and it was down DRT on the spot as was the deer I shot. One thing I've noticed that at least some of the time if the deer was unalarmed or didn't know I was there, a drop on the spot or very quickly was the result. However, if the deer seemed nervous or just a bit on the spooky side, they might do a pretty good death dash. I've noticed the same thing with elk. I've taken most of my elk with a .35 Whelen and they've either dropped on the spot or staggered a very few feet before drlopping. I has the same result on an elk way the hell and go that had no clue I was even around. Rifle was a .300 Win. Mag, and the elk was out at 530 Yards. Another elk was nervous to begin with and started walking awat when I shot. It went about 30 yards before going down.
I guess the point of all this is once to let that bullet fly and it scores a hit on the deer, elk or whatever, you'll have no idea if it'll drop DRT or run like hell for a bit. Kind of like the luck of the draw.
Paul B.