Nervous Deer vs. Calm Deer

[Roguedog]

My point in this thread is to determine based on your experience, have you found that when you shoot a deer that is jazzed up on adrenalin, do they run farther after being shot than those that are just calmy feeding. My experience is that calm deer usually go down fast and nervous deer do just the opposite.

Case in point: last fall I shot a doe with my .58 cal. She was being chased by a buck and came running by me and stopped. When I shot her, the .58 cal ball took out both lungs, clipped the heart and blew through the off side shoulder. She then ran 100 yards. Talk about a dead deer running! When looking at the damage that ball caused, I couldn't believe she ran 10 yards. Just goes to show that deer on adrenalin are very resilient creatures.

Anybody got any experiences that they would like to share?

Jeff

 

[okawbow]

In my experience, primarily hunting with a longbow, and sometimes hunting with a flintlock; Any deer shot with the muzzleloader that didn't go down at once, ran between 75 and 100 yards. Your question about calm deer versus nervous deer applies very much to arrow killed animals. Calm deer shot with a quiet bow and arrow, have often showed little or no reaction. I've have several deer continue feeding and simply fall or lay down in a few seconds, after a good hit with an arrow. However, deer that were alerted or spooked often ran up to 200 yards after a fatal arrow.

The impact of the ball from a muzzleloader seems to spook deer. I shot a doe that had no idea I was there in January. The ball from a .69 cal musket centered the heart, and broke the off leg. The deer ran over 75 yards as hard as it could go.

 

[Spikebuck]

Between Bow and Muzzleloader I've killed over 100 northern whitetails, so have seen a lot of reactions. I've never seen anything, in the case of a solid double-lung/solid chest shot, that indicates to me that calm or nervous correlates to how far they run after the hit. I've had center heart shot calm deer go 100 yards with both gun and bow. While I generally don't like to shoot at nervous deer due to their quick reaction time, I've killed several at 10 yards looking at me and nervous that only went 20 or 30 yards.

Now, if one has a less-than perfect shot that has not really "spooked" the animal, they may only go a little ways and lie down. Spook them, and they'll conjure up stamina that's unbelievable.

For big game I've only been a whitetail hunter, so can't speak to what elk, moose, bear, etc may do when calm vs nervous.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've noticed more that a buck will go farther, maybe twice as far, or better, than a doe. The farthest that I had to track was 100 yards, and that was my last buck, last year. He was hit in both lungs, but took off at a trot. In the past I've had to look around in the brush for a bit for bucks, though they never went more than 40 yards. The does may simply move off, or they may bolt, but seem to go down quicker, piling up. Even when a group of does ran from the farm across the way, fleeing from fox hunters.., the doe I shot went about 20 yards and collapsed.

LD

 

[Roguedog]

Some interesting observations. The doe I shot last year was kind of small. But with a .58 cal ball, I was thinking that game would go down quick. This little deer was simply amazing in how far she went considering the extensive internal damage. She left a blood trail that a blind man could follow. I guess there are no absolutes in this game regarding how far a deer may run after being hit hard. I remember thinking after I shot and watching her run that I must have made a poor hit. On the contrary, I couldn't have delivered a more devastating wound! Deer can be amazing in their strength and how far they can go.

Jeff

 

[410-er]

Somewhere I remember that a deer that has just inhaled and shot go further than one that has just exhaled.

 

[BrownBear]

Now, if one has a less-than perfect shot that has not really "spooked" the animal, they may only go a little ways and lie down. Spook them, and they'll conjure up stamina that's unbelievable.

That's where I see stamina come to the fore.

As for relaxed or tense at the time of the shot, too much variation for me to draw any conclusions. I've seen relaxed deer bolt and tense deer collapse. No rhyme or reason to it. A lot of the deer we take here are jumped and on the move before the shot, and they're no more or less likely to drop than a deer that gets poked with no idea you're anywhere near.

Moose are the weirdest I've seen after a lung or heart shot that fails to break large bones or hit the CNS. You really don't know what's going to happen- without regard for the caliber. Modern calibers, but I popped one through the lungs at about 30 yards with my 375 H&H while it was reaching up to feed on tall willows. It's hide twitched at the point bullet impact, then it reached up for another bite and was chewing that when it dropped. Another popped through the lungs with a 7 mag at 150 yards dropped like it was electrocuted. Another lung shot at 40 yards with my venerable 375 covered about 200 yards before laying down, and still needed a head shot once I caught up. Another lung shot at about 20 yards with a 44 handgun flinched and took a hopping step, both front legs folding when they hit the ground.

Haven't popped a moose with a muzzleloader (yet), but I'm not taking any bets whether I'm using a 58 or a 62. But I'll sure be aware of what kind of water hazards are within a couple hundred yards just in case.

 

[hanshi]

My point in this thread is to determine based on your experience, have you found that when you shoot a deer that is jazzed up on adrenalin, do they run farther after being shot than those that are just calmy feeding. My experience is that calm deer usually go down fast and nervous deer do just the opposite.

Case in point: last fall I shot a doe with my .58 cal. She was being chased by a buck and came running by me and stopped. When I shot her, the .58 cal ball took out both lungs, clipped the heart and blew through the off side shoulder. She then ran 100 yards. Talk about a dead deer running! When looking at the damage that ball caused, I couldn't believe she ran 10 yards. Just goes to show that deer on adrenalin are very resilient creatures.

Anybody got any experiences that they would like to share?

Jeff

This is true, as a general statement. Any creature with an adrenalin rush, including humans, will go harder and farther when injured than one injured while relaxed.

410-er, True again. For example, a boxer hit while exhaling can withstand the punch much better than one hit while inhaling. I've proven this to students many times over the past 50 years.

 

[Spikebuck]

I've noticed more that a buck will go farther, maybe twice as far, or better, than a doe.

Everyone's experience is different for sure. No two shots are ever exactly the same. I think hunting is a "game" of fractions of an inch as to just what is hit and what is not (ie: nicking a major artery vs a 1/4" the other way, miss that artery). As someone else said...did they breathe in, or breathe out (not sure if this matters, but I wouldn't discount it since it makes sense that if a breath in was just taken, the animal's brain just loaded up with oxygen.)

I have two B&C size bucks...one with bow, one with a .54 PRB. Both double lung, both down in 20 yards. Two years ago at about 35 yards I hit an average-sized doe calmly feeding with 90 grains of 777 pushing a 425 grain Hornady GP in a perfect double lunger. Broke rib on both sides. She ran about 80 yards. Placement of all three shots was pretty darned close.

My personal experience is that I've not seen absolute correlations in sex of deer or even size, for that matter vs time to go down.

 

[Vaino]

Have shot many deer in the 60 or so yrs that I've been hunting and haven't noticed any correlation between "nervous" or calm deer asre distance traveled after the shot.

Have shot many deer that were both unaware of my presence and many that were shot on drives and running....if the shot was well placed, none went very far, if at all.

One thing that was noticed...a wounded deer that had to be trailed and dispatched had a differerent taste to the meat and possibly it was the adrenalin....this happened a few times w/ deer shot by me and others. Was this the "infamous wild game taste"?.....Fred

 

[BrownBear]

One thing that was noticed...a wounded deer that had to be trailed and dispatched had a differerent taste to the meat and possibly it was the adrenalin....this happened a few times w/ deer shot by me and others. Was this the "infamous wild game taste"?.....Fred

Growing up as a ranch kid, if we ate beef at all it was from injured animals that we couldn't sell or weren't going to survive. But you had a real narrow window to slaughter the animal. If it broke a leg and suffered a few hours before you could put it down, it was darned near inedible. Get to it quick and do the deed, and it was fine.

I have always seen a correlation.

 

[Vaino]

My Dad who also lived on a farm experienced that very same thing. Later on he bought a side of beef from a slaughter house and the taste was the same as in the meat he had tasted from a cow w/ a broken leg when on the farm. He returned the meat w/o a problem....they new quite well what happened and tried to pawn it off on my Dad. Probably works w/ people that never ate meat from a injured cow.....Fred

 

[BrownBear]

Yup, even the burger is tough and gamey.

Anyone who admires ranchers for the "prime" beef they get to eat is sorely mistaken. Same for venison that's been abused. :barf:

 

[Roguedog]

I agree about the vension. I process and butcher my venison myself and take great pains to ensure that it is done quickly and properly. As a result, my venison is delicious. I can't count how many times I've served vension to friends and they replied that they didn't know venison could taste so good. They thought it was always supposed to be "gamey".

Jeff

 

[Roguedog]

As an aside, I once killed a deer on an extended campout and wound up eating the tenderloins. When I took the deer to the processor, I informed them that my deer was without tenderloins. Wouldn't you know I got tenderloins back with my deer when I went to pick it up a few days later. Always made me wonder if I was actually getting my meat back and not somebody elses?

Jeff

 

[Vaino]

Took some sausage meat which I had meticulously trimmed to the sausage maker...after verifying the weight, he gave me a ticket w/ the weight. While waiting for service, I had smelled ammonia and went into another room...approx. 20 deer carcasses were lying on the floor waiting to be processed and evidently some of these deer were incorrectly field dressed.... the ammonia smell was from urine.

After I rec'd the ticket, I asked why my name wasn't on the ticket....he said, "you don't expect to get the sausage made from your meat, do you"?

Well...I retrieved my meat and walked out w/ a lesson well learned....Fred

 

[Spikebuck]

20 deer carcasses were lying on the floor waiting to be processed and evidently some of these deer were incorrectly field dressed.... the ammonia smell was from urine.

My dad pulled up to the meat processor to drop one off and noticed the truck next to him had a deer in the back laying in several inches of pig manure! He just left. Who the heck kills a deer then throws it in the back of a pickup full of manure? :shocked2: Don't know if the processor would take it, but not worth the chance.

I think we've gone ff

 

[jamesthomas]

My brother has always cleaned an processed his own deer. I did mine last year and its not that hard.

 

[Vaino]

We've always cut up our deer, but have the sausage made by sausage shops. No longer have sausage made....don't trust any of the sausage makers......Fred

 

[vthunter52]

Jeff, I have two observations. All of my 30+ deer have been harvested while tracking them specifically, and I'm not sure that I've ever taken a "calm" deer, although the deer I have harvested were taken as they walked,fed, or were in their beds. they were far from excited.

My other observation is that the larger trophy deer have been the most tender. Even in the rut, they have a pace that they maintain,and do take time to rest. They very rarely run and jump while pursuing does, and only will if they are startled. The 3 200 lb. + bucks I've taken were much more tender to the palet than were the younger ones who were on a constant run, and playing and jousting with each other. This is just my observations, and will differ from others. Gary