Roadkill2228
New member
Hi all, filled a whitetail tag this year, that's not interesting though. What's interesting is just how far the beast ran with such severe and vital wounds. I've never seen anything like it in a whitetail, nor even heard of it. Elk i would expect nothing less from, but not a little deer. I know even with a heart shot 200 yards of adrenaline induced "dead run" is nothing odd....but our deer ran a total of over 500, through bush, through snow, up and down hills. If I didn't know what I saw at the shot, I'd have thought id made a poor hit. There was a PIECE OF LUNG visibly just laying in the snow where I hit the deer, and a few feet behind it a 2 inch long PIECE OF RIB BONE!!! Blown right out on exit. A massive super bright red spray which would Indicate to me a lung hit if the chunk of lung hadn't been there to confirm this. The blood trail in the snow was heavy enough to easily follow while moving quickly, no struggling to find it any any point. Upon arriving at the deer, which I had heard crashing through timber, I had to give it another finishing shot, in the head, as it was attempting to get up and run more. The buck was a full bodied 2 year old (remembering that this is a Saskatchewan deer with full winter fur and fat reserves, comparisons to 2 year old deer in the Texas aren't really accurate). The shot was at between 150-200 yards, very typical for my area. .270 Winchester, 130 interlock, impact velocity would have been in the 26-2700 fps range. Upon examining the young buck more closely, in entrance side shoulder was broken and penetrated completely as well. So there you have it. Busted shoulder, literally exploded lungs, broke what ended up being 3 ribs on exit, one of these ribs actually exiting the body. Entry wound, exit wound, tons of broken bone and destroyed vital organs, massive blood loss. Ran over a quarter mile. Can't really say the bullet, shooter, or cartridge failed, I can't image having been able to do more violence to a deer with one shot than what happened here, but I felt sick nonetheless...I love hunting, I hate animal suffering, I always want the fastest kill, but spine shots and head shots are not the guarantee that people make them out to be, nor are they easy to make shooting freehand...anything i should have done different. Was this just a naturally super tough critter with more will to live than others I've made similar shots on which dropped right there? Have any of you ever seen a deer (not an elk) run SO FAR after being so thoroughly blown apart inside?