Could both be true?

fairchaser

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So Friday I shot a buck. A nice buck. He looked like a 3.5 or 4.5 year old 7 point around 120. My best guess. No trail came pics of this one.

It wasn't a long shot, 40 yards but he surprised me, often the case in the woods. I looked up and there he was in front of me. I got my rifle up on my trigger stick and mouth grunted. He didn't stop. I had it behind the shoulder and squeezed off. He immediately donkey kicked and took off. I made myself watch him to see if I could see blood. I remember seeing a red spot about where I aimed. He was slightly quartering away. I immediately thought dead deer.

Nevertheless, I loaded another round and watched him run a semicircle about 60 yds and stopped behind some cover. He stood there for a few seconds. This is where I expected him to fall over but he didn't. I caught one glimpse of him start to walk away. No opportunity for a follow up shot. Still not worried I waited at least 20 minutes.

I called my buddy and he came to help me search. To make a long story short, we found one small spot of blood near the initial hit and that was it.

I went back the next morning to look for any buzzards, crows coyotes and found nothing. I'm clueless as to what happened.

Could I have hit him where I thought and still not kill him? I'm shooting a 150 grain hornady interlock out of a .270 at 2700 fps. Killed many deer with this load.

What do you think happened?
 

Jcalder

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Not sure you'd found buzzards the next day but by now you should have. Sucks either way. I've learned of they're still up and I have a shot, take another. Not saying you could have. I hit a coyote this year with my smokeless. Knocked a ton of hair off of him and never found blood nor yote.
 

mike243

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Well you shoot enuff deer and at some point it's going to happen, don't care who you are or what you shoot the odds are against you being 100% , my average is a dam site better now that I don't twang at deer, bang is much more consistent, no jumping the shot lol
 

fairchaser

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Not sure you'd found buzzards the next day but by now you should have. Sucks either way. I've learned of they're still up and I have a shot, take another. Not saying you could have. I hit a coyote this year with my smokeless. Knocked a ton of hair off of him and never found blood nor yote.
I might go check again this week say Wednesday. If it's not too late. I could have tried a shot through a lot of brush. I should have knowing now what I know. It couldn't have hurt anything.
 

Ski

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One of the bucks I killed this year had a healing hole in its high shoulder that had closed up but still had puss gummed up on it. The exit was a nickel size hole behind opposite shoulder that had yet to close up. Best I could tell it was a several weeks or months old wound. When I gutted him both lungs were half disintegrated, and my arrow hit liver. Somebody made a perfect double lung hit and he survived.

Upon butchering him I found another broadhead with about 4" of broken arrow encased in a tumor inside the opposite shoulder of his recent wound. It was at least a year or more old.

As if that wasn't enough, while taxidermist and I were camping him out for mount we found a broken antler tip stick in the top of his skull but no wound in the flesh. So that had been there at least a year.

Two hunters before me had made "lethal" shots on that buck, and another buck had pierced his skull. Yet there he was alive and well for me to hunt. Point being sometimes they simply refuse to die. Doesn't mean you messed up and likely nothing you could have done differently to change it. I hope you find him, but don't beat yourself up if you don't.
 

fairchaser

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Were you following when you squeezed off your shot or did you have a spot picked for him to step into? Easy to hit forward when following.
I just found the spot and broke the shot. Initially I thought maybe I hit back in the paunch, since he was moving when I shot. This is the only thing that explains the lack of blood and likely only one hole.
 

fairchaser

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One of the bucks I killed this year had a healing hole in its high shoulder that had closed up but still had puss gummed up on it. The exit was a nickel size hole behind opposite shoulder that had yet to close up. Best I could tell it was a several weeks or months old wound. When I gutted him both lungs were half disintegrated, and my arrow hit liver. Somebody made a perfect double lung hit and he survived.

Upon butchering him I found another broadhead with about 4" of broken arrow encased in a tumor inside the opposite shoulder of his recent wound. It was at least a year or more old.

As if that wasn't enough, while taxidermist and I were camping him out for mount we found a broken antler tip stick in the top of his skull but no wound in the flesh. So that had been there at least a year.

Two hunters before me had made "lethal" shots on that buck, and another buck had pierced his skull. Yet there he was alive and well for me to hunt. Point being sometimes they simply refuse to die. Doesn't mean you messed up and likely nothing you could have done differently to change it. I hope you find him, but don't beat yourself up if you don't.
Thanks Ski, They are amazing animals that have a remarkable will to survive. I don't want anything to suffer at my hand! I'm continually trying to improve my skills to keep this from happening. I've been fortunate for a long time, but if you hunt long enough, well stuff happens. That's a great example of their toughness! I've often said, you can't just shoot them, you have to kill em!
 

Ski

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I just found the spot and broke the shot. Initially I thought maybe I hit back in the paunch, since he was moving when I shot. This is the only thing that explains the lack of blood and likely only one hole.

If he took a rifle round to the gut he should be dead nearby if you didn't bump him before dying.
 

Ski

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Thanks Ski, They are amazing animals that have a remarkable will to survive. I don't want anything to suffer at my hand! I'm continually trying to improve my skills to keep this from happening. I've been fortunate for a long time, but if you hunt long enough, well stuff happens. That's a great example of their toughness! I've often said, you can't just shoot them, you have to kill em!

Yessir there's nothing we can do sometimes, even if we do everything right. None of us like the feeling of wounding an animal. It feels like a gut punch. But it's a grim reality of being a hunter. Taking lives is what we're trying to do, and staying alive is what they're trying to do. Sometimes we win. Sometimes they do.
 

RockMcL

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Thoughts:
I think in OP you said mule kicked. I would think high chest. If nothing "spraying" at entrance or exit, he could have went a long way before dumping much blood.

Low/brisket hits I would have expected noticeable hair at the original impact location.

Do you know where rifle is hitting under 50 yds, especially supported as you shot? I have made that mistake before not accounting for actual bullet path in close and extra muzzle rise with just a light touch stabilizing rest on a limb.

I feel ya on not taking the second shot. Especially in brush I am hesitant on wasting meat and hate a shot where I might be reading the body angle wrong.

Sorry for you, hope you see him running around again or at least get settled on what you feel happened.
 

timberjack86

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One of the bucks I killed this year had a healing hole in its high shoulder that had closed up but still had puss gummed up on it. The exit was a nickel size hole behind opposite shoulder that had yet to close up. Best I could tell it was a several weeks or months old wound. When I gutted him both lungs were half disintegrated, and my arrow hit liver. Somebody made a perfect double lung hit and he survived.

Upon butchering him I found another broadhead with about 4" of broken arrow encased in a tumor inside the opposite shoulder of his recent wound. It was at least a year or more old.

As if that wasn't enough, while taxidermist and I were camping him out for mount we found a broken antler tip stick in the top of his skull but no wound in the flesh. So that had been there at least a year.

Two hunters before me had made "lethal" shots on that buck, and another buck had pierced his skull. Yet there he was alive and well for me to hunt. Point being sometimes they simply refuse to die. Doesn't mean you messed up and likely nothing you could have done differently to change it. I hope you find him, but don't beat yourself up if you don't.
Would love to see pics of the lungs if you took any!
 

fairchaser

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My guess is point of impact was not where you thought it was (vitals, lethal hit). Many times we "see" what we want to see. I suspect non-lethal hit and he's still walking.
It's hard to think otherwise based on actual evidence. I've replayed it many times. The buck would not have just walked off with a hit where I thought I hit. There's some inconsistency in what I saw vs what happened. I'm hoping for some clarification but like many things in life, you just have to move on and try for better next time.
 

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