All that with her heart turned to mush.
Amazing animals for sure.
Normally, I can tell a heart-shot deer because they blast off like they have a rocket up their butt and go full tilt until dropping dead from blood loss. In fact, because of that full-speed run, they often go farther than double-lung hit deer. But last year, we had two odd experiences with heart shot deer during muzzleloader. One was a 3 1/2 year-old 10-point that was heart shot, yet all he did was bolt for about 15 yards off the top of the narrow ridge-top he was crossing at the time, and then he stopped and just walked along the ridge-side paralleling the terrain for about 30 seconds. Hunter couldn't get a second shot as the buck was just ambling along, but saw the buck suddenly drop and slide another 30 yards down the steep hillside. Buck was shot right through the heart with a 50 caliber MaxiBall. He lived, and just walked along like nothing had happened for at least 30 seconds, and probably a little longer.
Second occurred in almost the exact same location. Mature buck crossing the ridge-top and I hit him as he was just starting to drop over the other side. He bolts down the steep hill. I'm sure I made a good hit, so I stand up to reload from a quick-loader. I've only got half the powder down the barrel when I hear a noise, look up, and see the buck
walking back up the hill straight towards me. He gets 20 yards in front of me and just stops, staring back towards where he had been when I hit him. His head is turned 90-degrees from me but I know he will see me if I move. So we both stand there unmoving for about 15-20 seconds. Then without a shake or quiver, he just tips over like a falling tree and lands on his side, dead as a doornail. When gutting him, I found a 50 caliber hole right through the center of his heart I could put my thumb through. For the life of me, I have no idea how - physiologically - a deer could live for 35-40 seconds with a thumb-sized hole right through the center of his heart.
