Many times when I am out alone.
If I stalk into a nice bunch sitting out in the field then I always backtrack and leave alone but different story if I come across a loner.
We even had a youngster that used to eat the cider apples over night and then spend all day, probably with a bad head, sitting in a little paddock where I used to keep my bees. He was there for several weeks and even returned the following year for his apples and he never ran away from us when we went to check on him.
On one occasion, the farm owners sister said she would like to come round the fields with me to watch me shoot and before we got through the first gate I noticed a large buck which looked like it was trying to rip up a big round bale of hay with his antlers so decided to take him out. Range was about 120 metres so decided on a neck shot. Shot taken and the deer remained fighting with this bale so I decided to move in a bit closer. Range now down to about 50 metres and tried again but again the buck continued to fight with the bale. Looking through my bino's I could now see clearly why he was fighting with the bale, he was well and truly tangled with the mesh that covers the bale and could not get free. I walked over to him and leaned my rifle against the fence, (after making safe) and could see that he had probably been there for at least a day as all the ground around him was very worn. He was very quiet for an animal that had just been shot at twice and probably spent the night and day connected with the bale and probably exhausted so I was able to check his whole body for any signs of a bullet strike but found not a scratch on him. I took my knife and started to cut away the bindings from around his antlers whilst holding on to them and finally he was free. He got up from his knees and stood there for a moment just looking at me with his eye's wide open and then turned and ran about 100 meters before stopping and looking back. I don't know what was going through his mind but I know it made me feel really good inside and when I got back to the landrover the farmers sister said when I went for my knife she thought I was going to just stick the buck but was really glad to see the buck released.
As for why I missed him twice, I had picked up the wrong rounds which were not zeroed to the rifle and were shooting about 6 inches high. If I had taken a chest shot then the buck would have been hit, albeit 6 inches higher than I would have liked. Lesson learned, I always keep my current rounds in my bino case in my cabinet.
ELMER