This is Weird!

[ricebasher302]

I have to tell you all a story that happened on Sunday. I was with a buddy out for a last minute doe hunt. We were on a piece of private land I live on and am familiar with. We had hunted for a while when we approached a piece of brush that always has deer in it. I told my buddy where to sit and I walked around the edge of the brush. Sure enough, a bunch of deer were pushed out and he shot one of the does. She disappeard over a knoll after he shot. We walked down to where she was, found some blood and started tracking. After about 50 yards, we jumped her. She trotted about 75 yards and immediately layed down, but I could clearly see her off-side shoulder was broke. Odd. Anyway, she was in bad spot for a follow up shot, so we maneuvered for a better angle, but she jumped again. We'd let her lay. She wouldn't die, she'd stop in the brush, etc. Finally after about 15 minutes, we put a shot in her heart and put her down.

Upon dressing her, we found that the first shot had entered mid-chest, immediately behind her near shoulder, crossed through and exited out of her off shoulder. Her lungs HAD NOT been touched by the first shot.

The gun was a .243. He was shooting Federal 100 grainers. Distance was no more than 100 yards.

How could a small doe survive a shot like this? How could a bullet placed here miss the vitals completely? Has anyone ever experienced this?

 

[kermit315]

bullets do funny things once they enter tissue, especially when there are angles involved. I would call it a fluke and not let it bug you too much.

 

[mbt2001]

I second that, bullets do strange things.

 

[Dog Hunter]

Yep, it sounds like a rare instance. Bullets can veer off course if bone (or anything) is hit. I'll bet that same shot done again would have a better outcome. If you hunt long enough this type of thing will happen.

Glad you got her.

 

[nathan]

I second that. Many years ago i was hunting with buddies of mine in very cold Texas Hill COuntry , one friend shot a mature male bobcat with a .270 . Bullet went through the front leg and off the back leg .The torso was graze a bit but very much alive. It broke the legs in the process and manage to disappear in the bush.

We found it the next morning under some thicket and it manage to scamper away with the remaining good legs. We finally cornered it . THe cat growled in anger seeing all three of us in camou. LOL.

One of my buddies had brought along his SW 9 mm and we shot it close range like10 times. The cat remain alive and kept growling after every shot. It was weird after all those rounds. The cat;s body seem to absorb the shots like a sponge. Of course the cat was bleeding more after many rounds. It then get weaker and we made the final coup de grace by shooting it in the head. Dragged it out the thorny thicket and boy it was heavy apprx 30 plus pounds.

 

[Fremmer]

Your friend should have used a .223 instead.

 

[UpTheIrons]

Weird bullet behavior

Last season I took a shot at a young-ish doe at 30 yards with my .30-30 Model '94 loaded with 150 gr Remington Core-Lokt Pointed Soft Points.

At that range it was a sure DRT shot, right? Wrong!

Put the crosshair on her neck, right in the middle of the vertebral column and squeezed. BANG! She dropped all right, but about 5 seconds later she tried to get up. She spent about 10 seconds flopping right and left like she was trying to get back on her feet.

In the midst of this, I'm trying to get a bead on her, and she stops for a second, sticks her head up (on the neck that I had just broken with my shot, right?) and looks around.

She turns and looks in my direction, and my follow up shot goes through her left eye and out the back of her head. That shot was fatal.

When I looked her over, I found an entrance wound on the right side of her neck, right where I aimed, but no exit. Anywhere. Neck is not broken, but there is a hole in the skin about the size of a half-dollar.

What must have happened was that right when I shot, she looked to the left back over her shoulder, and the bullet grazed her skin and transferred just enough energy to 'shock' her nervous system.

Yep. Bullets can do weird things...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

A couple of thoughts. As noted with the 'angles' comments, external landmarks do not necessarily mean hitting intended internal targets.

Such "fluke" shots happen with considerable regularity to hunters, though not commonly with any given hunter. Funny thing, if it is you that got shot in the chest and the round misses all the vitals, it is called a miracle (by some). When you miss the vitals, it is a fluke.

Animals (including people) can survive some amazing types of trauma, at least for a while.

 

[mbt2001]

I always say this... I bet I have 500 posts saying this...

For hunting shots, I prefer neck shots for that reason. "Flukes" don't happen with a neck shot. If the bullet hits, deer goes down. Reload quick and cover the deer. If it gets up fire again. They get up "neck first" so it presents an easy follow up to the same area.

8 times out of 10 it is a kill shot. The 9th / 10th time, it anchors them and a follow up is needed.

If you "miss" you miss clean and the deer scampers away.

Just my $0.02

 

[ricebasher302]

I've had pretty good luck with neck shots on deer, mbt, but here in the West, I know a lot of guys who've tried neck shots on elk with terrible results. Elk have a lot of hide, hair, muscle and grit in their neck that can absorb a bullet. Missing windpipe, artery and spine is a lot more likely on larger game. Funny you mention it though, both my deer and my fiance's deer this season took hits to the neck and never kicked.

All of this is interesting insight, though.