So I shot my first deer with my 25-06, didn’t happen like I expected...

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mccraggen

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So I’m from Australia and we have deer here, but they aren’t treated as deer in USA they are like a hybrid of game and pest since introduced. So we spotted one at 70 yards, very unusual I know and I quickly grabbed my 25-06 with 117 grain game kings and fired one just behind the shoulder. It hit and the deer looked a bit woosy but continued on for a good 20 seconds before finally toppling over. I expected more spectacular results from a bullet that size at that speed at that range. Double lung hit for sure. Has anyone else seen something similar?


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Not too unusual. It's a dead deer walking. They know something has hit them, but they have no way to rationalize what has happened. They continue as far as they are capable, then death catches up with them.

If you had a clean pass through, the devastation of that bullet at that speed may have all be internal with minimal exit. Did you cut it open?
 
When a deer is hit they get a rush of adrenaline. It's not uncommon for them to walk a good distance. If you walk up on them and their eyes are closed, they have passed out from the blood rushing to the wound. Issue another round to kill them because they are not dead. Deer die with their eyes open.
 
Sometimes they drop straight down, and sometimes not. Generally, I shoot them in the heart/lung area, and they often run a short distance. That’s only a problem if the deer happens to be standing next to a big briar patch and has time to seek cover there before passing on.
 
Deer can do some pretty incredible things in the few seconds before they expire. My deer last year ran, I dunno, 50 yards after being shot directly through the heart. I've heard stories (and read some on here) of deer going much farther than that with equally lethal wounds.
 
50 yards is nothing. Deer regularly run far more than that. It's amazing how much damage a deer can take and not drop dead. Read a story in one of the gun rags, long ago, where the writer came upon a deer and saw a magpie fly out of a big hole in the deer's side. There was another about a deer with one leg shot off. Deer survive for a living.
 
yeah not suprising, you could probably shoot 10 deer under the exact same circumstances and have 10 completely different results. Ive seen deer hit with a 45-70 and run off not to be found and ive seen them drop like they were poleaxed by a 243
 
It seems to be more pronounced with hogs than with deer, but if you don't do direct or indirect significant damage to the CNS, expect the animal to run, or at least not to drop over immediately.

The only magic switch to immediately drop an animal is the CNS and in particular, the upper CNS. You can damage it indirectly through hydrostatic shock that causes brain or brainstem damage, shutting down the deer immediately. You can indirectly damage the CNS via hydraulic shock where the shock wave essentially stuns/bruises the spinal cord and the animal drops in place, unable to run, and expires as a result of the other damage done to it (cardio or pulmonary damage). Or you can directly drop the animal by a shot that physically hits the brain, brainstem, or upper spine, dropping the animal in place, the animal either dying from the CNS damage or again, immobilized until it succumbs seconds later to cardio or pulmonary damages.

A heart shot or double lung shot is not necessarily a shot that is going to immediately drop the deer. It will continue to function until the brain is starved of oxygen and/or the body starved of adrenaline.
 
The big old buck I shot with a 25/06 in 2016 hardly flinched at the shot. I saw the hit and was confident he was dead so didn't shoot again. The buck walked off maybe 30-40 yards turned 180* and then just rolled over. No real difference vs a similar sized buck shot in nearly the same location and bullet placement by Son's 280 Rem.
Both were dead but had't got the memo yet.
 
One thing I've learned about killing animals, deer especially, is that outside a CNS hit you can never anticipate the results. I've made text-book double lung shots and had them drop like they got struck by lightning and I've blown the heart into pieces and had them run 100 yards plus.
I once saw one shot through the rump with an expandable broadhead that didn't expand, and the deer went 30 yards and dropped dead.... another that was shot through the rump with a .243 Barnes TTSX that penetrated nearly 4 feet diagonally and stopped just inside the opposite shoulder, destroying the right, rear hip, a great deal of the guts, the diaphragm, the liver, the back of the left lung and damaging the front left shoulder... and the deer was still alive when found a good 45 minutes later.

Nowadays, if I have a standing, reasonably broadside shot, I go high-shoulder. I haven't had one move after the boom yet.
 
Doing one's best, in their best ways

So I shot my first deer with my 25-06, didn’t happen like I expected...
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I'm assuming you expected it to drop on the spot and right now. Well, surprising as it might seem, it usually does not happen that way. ….. :rolleyes:

Not to long ago, this was discussed, in this forum at some length and the replies were rather consistent. There are very few drop-dead shots. Personally the fastest drop-dead shot I ever experienced, was a nice buck. The shot severed the lower part of his heart. The buck still took four steps before it fell over. There are a number of hunters who will boast about only taking head shots. That is their way and not mine. …… :rolleyes:

Take solace in the fact that you took an ethical shot that most hunters would take.. ….. :)

Be Safe !!!
 
I shot a doe last season with my 7mm-08AI and a 140gr Berger VLD Hunting at 413 yards.
Broadside shot through heart and both lungs.
Heart was literally in 2 pieces and mush.
Somehow she turned 180" and made it 20 yards.
 
Yeah he had a lot a frothy blood coming out of his mouth, pretty sure double lung, the bullet didn’t exit. He barely reacted for the first 10 seconds then I could tell something wasn’t right for him and he just sorta rolled over and didn’t get back up. Crazy to think how it can take that much damage and still be just walking around as usual.


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Most any animal with that shot placement has about 1 minute to live and about 15-30 seconds to stay on their feet. What they choose to do during that time varies. Some fall down and die. Some run, and can run quite the distance in that time. Others stand around and then fall over

A lung shot doesn't really do a lot of damage. No more really than an arrow in the same spot. They are drowning from blood inside their lungs and that can take a while.
 
We hunt a straight old County Road, then a haul road and snowmobile trail. Heavily-wooded on both sides, we can see 500 yards, but only shoot deer to 400. At those circumstances, it's important to anchor deer in the road, because if they run even 50 yards, we may not find them.

That said, I use a quick-opening, but penetrating bullet in my .270 Win and aim for the shoulder/lung area to drop them in the road. Once, holding the rifle down hard on the permanent blind's frame, I actually watched the bullet strike the deer where I aimed...at about 250 yards. Amazing!
 
The energizer bunny

Take the batteries out of the energizer bunny....he won't move an inch.

Taking out the CNS is similar. We run on electricity, same as a deer. Tiny electric pulses from our brain operate our muscles. Disconnect that, 100% guarantee everything stops, instantly.

Destroy the heart, the lungs, the liver, the whole shebang....the brain can keep sending those tiny pulses to the muscles for some seconds.

Bang flop means you disconnected the batteries! IE: you disconnected the brain from the muscles.
 
Deer can do some pretty incredible things in the few seconds before they expire. My deer last year ran, I dunno, 50 yards after being shot directly through the heart. I've heard stories (and read some on here) of deer going much farther than that with equally lethal wounds.
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We were hunting with a friend, shot a doe with his 7mm mag. Took the heart completely out, fist sized exit wound. It ran for over 150 yards, crossing a gravel road near the farm. The blood trail was large enough crossing the road neighbors stopped and asked where all the blood came from for days after. They are amazing sometimes on what they can do, other times they drop with out another twitch. I've shot many deer over the years and I don't think anyone can predict how they'll respond.
 
I prefer a broadside high shoulder shot on deer with a rifle...because it has a bunch of CNS nerve bundles at or near that location.

"The shoulder shot is the way to go if you have a bullet that will break bone reliably, and if you're shooting something big that may object to the proceedings."

"It is critical for every hunter to master the shoulder shot, as it is the most effective and humane means of killing a deer with a firearm."

Source: http://wiredtohunt.com/2009/11/13/the-best-shot-on-a-deer-with-a-rifle-the-shoulder-shot/
 
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