Whitetails are remarkable "machines"

[Drew]

My 6pt ran 150yds with a big ST 125mag hole in its heart. I thought I must have miffed the shot that buck ran so hard and "normal". Then it just stopped and turned back to see what startled it and fell over.

[Waif]

Consider an anchoring shot on dangerous game and why it is preferred to a heart or lung only shot. Till brain is exhausted it's oxygen supply much can occur before it ceases to function. A hundred yards without a heart just gets dizzy.
Sometimes the fight to keep going is all that's left at the end.

[one shot scott]

congratulations!

whitetail are certainly remarkable machines. They are dead, yet they don't know it. Their instinct to flee is so strong that they run run & run until it fades to black sometimes

Ive often wondered what happens at the time of the shot, there are no nerve endings in the lungs. No pain receptors, but i believe there is in the surrounding tissue and an arrow passing thru muscle is going to cause "pain" although quick, be it the tissue surrounding the ribs, broken ribs, or heart. what I would give to know what a deer feels after shock sets in immediately after a double lung hit compared to a heart shot. I don't mean that in a sadistic kind of way, but by the way some of them react you would swear they felt nothing and react only because of the noise of the bow, other times they bolt off like their tail is on fire.. maybe for the same reason? I would like to think that death occurs before the full extent of whatever pain could be felt.

[Horizontal Hunter]

They are tough critters for sure. They can go a long way on adrenaline.

This buck went a little over a 100 yards:


This guy went about 85 yards:


Bob

[bob1961]

congratulations!
Ive often wondered what happens at the time of the shot, there are no nerve endings in the lungs. No pain receptors, but i believe there is in the surrounding tissue and an arrow passing thru muscle is going to cause "pain" although quick, be it the tissue surrounding the ribs, broken ribs, or heart. what I would give to know what a deer feels after shock sets in immediately after a double lung hit compared to a heart shot.

I cut my thumb and index finger on a 4 bladed BH when I rolled it in them ....felt nothing when it happened but knew I did something bad ....by the time I went 15 feet from where I was in the basement up the stairs to the spam I had blood every where....within 3 minutes of the cut I had my fingers in bout 6 paper towels and they were soaked red and the blood was dripping off my elbow as I tried to hold it over my head....

by then I had to lay down or pass out from the knotty feeling shock setting in my stomach just before it goes dark....got the bleeding to slow down and was at ER within 20 minutes, as I walked in I was asked what was my trouble....they seen the blood and I got an express ride to the front of the line ....other then bone getting it the way of an arrow and being busted up, I don't think there is much pain felt with a sharp BH going through muscle....

[Talltines]

2 years ago i shot a nice doe with my Muzzle loader at about 35 yards straight through the heart. She ran about 70 yards. The heart literally blew up. There was no heart at all just mush. . That death run was unreal.

[j.krug]

Congrats on yer shotgun doe. Mmmm tasty!

[racking up points]

A few years ago, a buddy clipped the hind leg of a deer with an arrow. Must have caught blood vessels near the femoral artery because there was blood spray all over. We tracked that deer in the snow all day for 3km. We tracked him to a small 1/4 woodlot and flushed him out to 5 waiting blockers.

The original shooter only had a frontal chest shot and took it. The arrow went completely through the deer, exiting out the hind quarter. We all assumed this deer would die, but we waited about an hour before taking up the trail. When the shooter got to his deer, it was lying on it's side, head down and motionless. The archer celebrated and let out a "whoo-hoo" when the deer stood up and trotted off. He had an arrow loaded and let one last Hail Mary fly. A third arrow hit the spine and the deer finally dropped.

I don't think there was a drop of blood in the cavity of that deer; three arrows, a 3km death run with a solid blood trail the whole way. I gained a new appreciation for two things: shot selection and the amazing will to survive that my prey possesses.