caorach
Well-Known Member
Some years back I shot a sika hind in snow, it was close to replanting but with the snow I was confident of finding it. It was a "chest shot" that broke both shoulders. I followed the blood and tracks in the snow with no problem until, after just a short distance, they disappeared and there was no deer. I crawled about for maybe another 10 minutes before finding the deer - it had crawled under the lower branches of a tree and got itself into a position where it was invisible from anything more than about 6 inches. Without the snow I'd never have found it. Both shoulders were completely destroyed, so much so that I couldn't drag it out by the front legs for fear they'd fall off.
Last week I chest shot another sika on a track between some mature sitka and replanting. I heard the strike and it all looked good. The deer ran to my right and disappeared into the trees and at this point I was starting to take a look at the other deer that was with it and was still standing about. After maybe 5 - 10 seconds the shot deer ran back across the track and disappeared into the replanting to my left! It was as well I spotted it doing this as with starting to size up the other deer for a shot I could easily have missed it and spent the rest of the day searching on the wrong side of the track. It died about 15 yards from the track in thick new planting. There wasn't a single drop of blood and initially I couldn't find an entry or exit (308 Nosler Partition at 100ish yards) but after some searching through the fur I found an entry in pretty much the perfect spot. We never found an exit, even at the butchers.
Needless to say there's been a few I've never found but these examples demonstrate that weird things happen to everyone, even when you think you've got it all sewn up.
None of these things ever happen in books or to internet experts and I find that very odd.
Last week I chest shot another sika on a track between some mature sitka and replanting. I heard the strike and it all looked good. The deer ran to my right and disappeared into the trees and at this point I was starting to take a look at the other deer that was with it and was still standing about. After maybe 5 - 10 seconds the shot deer ran back across the track and disappeared into the replanting to my left! It was as well I spotted it doing this as with starting to size up the other deer for a shot I could easily have missed it and spent the rest of the day searching on the wrong side of the track. It died about 15 yards from the track in thick new planting. There wasn't a single drop of blood and initially I couldn't find an entry or exit (308 Nosler Partition at 100ish yards) but after some searching through the fur I found an entry in pretty much the perfect spot. We never found an exit, even at the butchers.
Needless to say there's been a few I've never found but these examples demonstrate that weird things happen to everyone, even when you think you've got it all sewn up.
None of these things ever happen in books or to internet experts and I find that very odd.
