I was bow hunting last night and shot at a doe at 30 yards. She didn't flinch, run, jerk her head up, or anything. She took a bite or two more of corn and walked off, twitching her tail, and she walked out of sight in the brush. A little later some other does came through where I saw her last and they began acting a little unusual and I began to think that maybe I had hit the deer and she was down and the other deer were reacting to her. I got down out of my stand and, indeed, found the arrow covered with hair and blood. There was a huge blood trail. I found her within 40 yds in the brush. Have you shoot deer with a bow or a gun that didn't act hit, but were?

It's possible that I've hit some deer running all out and they didn't give some "sign" of being hit but as far as I can remember every deer I've ever hit gave some sign of being hit......either a jump or a hump or a immediate drop of the tail or a drop in the tracks.

Possibly if one drives an extremely sharp razorhead through a deer and never touch a bone but just cut a hole through the deer, it may not show signs of the hit.

I shot a mule deer that did not react on one occasion. I was using a 300 WSM with a 180 grain power point. At the shot, the large buck looked up, took about five steps and lay down. He stretched out his neck and that was all. The shot destroyed both lungs. That is the only game that has not reacted at the shot in my experience, but it was interesting that time, to say the least.

Very few hunters that have killed a significant number of deer (or deer-like game) have not experienced the phenomenon of game being struck by a bullet (or arrow) and not showing any visible sign of the hit. This is especially true when using a hard-recoiling rifle which may cause the shooter to lose sight of the game at the instant of the bullet strike.

Just last season I shot a whitetail at about a hundred-fifty yards with a .25-06 using a 115 gr. Ballistic Tip. At the shot (so far as I could tell), the buck just trotted about ten yards and stood looking around as if attempting to find where the big noise came from, and showing no signs of the hit. I shot a second time, which caught the backbone and dropped him instantly.) Upon examination, the first shot penetrated completely, taking out much of both lungs, and leaving a large splatter of lung tissue on an object just behind the deer. The first shot was exactly where I had wished to place it and was unquestionably mortal. Had I waited a few more seconds on the follow-up shot, the deer would have collapsed where it stood. So yes, total lack of reaction to a hit, even a mortal one, is not that uncommon.

But if you want to see a stoic animal exhibit absolutely no shot reaction, try hunting bull elk! As many times than not, the elk I've seen struck with heavy calibers in the vitals seem to shrug it off without the least indication of having been hit!

I shot a doe with my bow that did not even blink as best I could tell. She was about 20 yards out and if I hadn't been able to see the hole in her chest, I would have sworn I missed. She stood there for maybe 20 seconds then took three or four steps and fell over.
I cut my leg pretty bad with a chain saw once and though I felt the bump when the saw hit me, I didnt know I was cut until I felt the blood running down my leg.

Guess things like that happen so fast your body and your brain dont have time to synch up and react.

I've hit a couple of animals that gave no reaction to the impact. One was a large sow -- perhaps 260-265 pounds -- that I popped tight behind the shoulder with a 150 grain Nosler Solid Base spitzer from a .308 WCF.

MV of the load was 2780 fps, and the range was just over 100 yards. At the shot, the hog turned its head and looked my way for a couple seconds before slowly taking several steps -- and then promptly falling over dead. Both lungs were destroyed, as was some major plumbing near the heart, but someone forgot to tell the hog it was dead on its feet.

Another was a bobcat I took maybe 20 years ago. It was walking at a brisk pace along the edge of an open field. I was using a 22-250 with a 52 grain SPeer HP at a little over 3600 fps, and the 'cat was perhaps 150 yards out.

At the shot, the kitty didn't even break stride and proceeded to cover 40 yards or so at the very same pace before stopping momentarily, twitching tis tail and tipping over.

I shoot my guns quite a bit, and I did not take a second shot on either as I was extremely confident in both shots (they were pretty easy). But if you hunt long enough, you'll eventually run into a situation where the reaction to a bullet's impact is absolutely minimal and almost impossible to detect.

quote:

Have you ever shot a deer that didn't act like it was hit?

Yes, once, in 2003. My story is almost identical to yours but the shot was 38 yards.

I've had a similar event on both deer and elk.
I've shot a lot of deer over the years and quite a few elk too as well as antelope, bighorn sheep and mountain goat and all of these animals showed some sign of a hit except a doe mule deer I shot at about 90 yards with a 30/06 shooting 180 grain bullets. Perfect heart shot while on a trot and she never shook, wiggled, flinched or changed speed just kept going over the hill and found her dead with a big hole through the pump.
Another long story that I will shorten up was a raghorn bull at 175 yards broadside at a walk, first shot just high of the heart a perfect double lung with absolutely no reaction at all he kept walking so I ran the bolt and hit him same place with no effect. He continued up the trail to a switchback and showed me his other side where I placed another bullet in him still no reaction as he leisurely walked on slowly lowering his head until he stuck his antlers in the dirt and flipped over dead.
I've seen other people shoot elk with same results and have seen many people (me too) shoot elk with instant results with no rhyme or reason to the caliber. Most deer I've ever seen shot showed the hit almost instantly.

Shot a deer with a 25-06. it jumped at the shot took about 2 steps puts its head down to get another bite of wheat grass and fell over stone dead.

I thought my ol fateful failed me!

Ed

I once fired two shots at a deer that was broadside at about 200 yds, standing still and looking in my direction, but I was concealed.
It showed NO reaction to either shot.

As I was chambering the third round, it made about two hops from the field into the woods.

I went down to look, and where the deer had been standing there was blood sprayed for about 10 ft behind it. I followed the tracks into the woods and the deer was lying on the edge of the field.
Apparently, both shots had hit just behind the shoulder, and took out both lungs, but the deer never even flinched
I was shooting a 7mm/08 with 140 grain bullets

Shot a little mulely buck 3 times at under 100 yrd and he never moved. I was loading # 4 when he fell over. you could have covered the shots with a golf ball behind the shoulder.
270 win 130 bronze tips.

One of the few deer that I took with a bow was hit a little low and the arrow passed through it's liver. The arrow passed through the deer and stuck in the ground a few feet away. The doe actually walked over and smelled the arrow. She stood there about 10 more seconds and then fell over.

I've done it a time or two.

I was in Iowa in '05 and watched a 162" buck standing still get shot with a 12ga sabot slug. I said "you missed, hit him again." At the second shot the buck folded. There were two holes 3" apart through the ribs. That was about the most dramatic I've seen on a deer sized animal. I've never shot one with a bow that didn't react, but I did shoot a doe that sort of bucked at impact, walked 10yds, and fell over.

Have a Good One,

Reloader

I've shot a few deer that ran off as though nothing happened only to fall over dead shortly. Frequently the tail stays down when they run even if they don't give any other indication of being hit.

I shot a big (205 lbs) buck while still hunting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland a few years ago with a 50 cal 240 gr sabot loaded over 100 grs of Pyrodex. The buck was about 40 yards away when hit.

The half dozen does in the herd bounded away at the shot but he continued to walk as if nothing had happened. There was no jump, lurch, or any other indication he was hit.

After walking about 30 yards, her circled around (like a dog bedding down) and laid down in open brush.

I reloaded and walked slowly to the brushy area area and found him lying there stone dead. When opened up, both lungs were blown apart and the chest cavity was filled with blood because the bullet did not exit on the off side.

Only one. A West Texas whitetail hit at ~200 yards with a 270 Win and a 130 gr Partition. The deer ran in the brush for a good 100 yards and dropped. The bullets were part of a package deal on the rifle, gun, scope, brass, bullets and dies. I still have 100's of them and will continue to use them.

Yeah . . . 10 years ago, I hit a standing 4X4 buck standing broadside about 100 yards away with a .35 Rem bullet shot from my TC Contender. He didn't give any sign whatsoever that he'd been hit for 30 seconds to maybe 1 minute.

Before the shot, the buck had sensed that I was in my stand, and had frozen looking in my direction. I put the cross hairs on his chest, and squeezed off the shot. I momentarily lost sight of him in my scope, but when I found him again, I could see a mark on his chest that hadn't been there before and which was obviously the entrance hole of my bullet.

I'd hit him fair and square, and I know enough anatomy (I taught anatomy for 25 years at a medical school) to know that, barring the unforeseen, the shot was fatal — even if he didn't know it.

We watched one another with neither of us moving for perhaps 30 seconds or at most a minute (though it seemed like an hour). Then he turned clumsily and staggered slowly and erratically up a slope while I reloaded. He dropped dead before I could get a properly-aimed follow-up shot off.

The bullet had hit just where I thought it had. It had passed cleanly between a couple of ribs and taken the bottom off his heart.

Wife shot a Red Stag that showed no sign of being hit. He just stood there and looked at us at the shot. I told her to reload and shoot again, that she had missed.

She looked at me like I was an idiot.

Turned back to the Stag, that had not moved a muscle, and he swayed a bit and fell over dead.

It was a .308 in the heart.

A friend arrowed a doe. It jumped up in the air, took a couple of steps and went back to eating. Like nothing had happened.

A few moments later, she fell over dead.

Yep, I've seen it happen a number of times.


The Ol’ Man said, “Son, don’t brag to me about the long shot you made! Brag to me about how close you got!â€

I have seen it also. The buck I shot last year never even moved at the shot, then as I was getting ready to shoot again, he took one step and was down for good. Not even a twitch. Shot destroyed the top of the heart and mess in the lungs.

Jason

I am fortunate to have shot a lot of deer with my bow, we have generous limits here in Georgia, and I have access to some farms with depredation permits. Having said that, my sample quantity may be higher than some bowhunters, but I have shot a LOT of deer with a bow that didn't react one bit to the shot. I have literally have deeer that I shot through the dead sweet spot never flinch and continue to chomp on acorns until the second they passed out on their feet, and hit the ground.

I think if your bow is quiet enough, this isn't all that rare. It sure is interesting, you get so used to them just taking off at the shot with a bow. Have also seen it once or twice with a gun......

Not me, but I saw once a deer that had been shot with a broadhead that had buckets of blood literally pouring out of its chest in a continuous stream just standing there eating grass. About 20 seconds later it simply collapsed, dead as a bag of hammers.