Mystery Shot Wound
Connecticut
I caught this button buck on trailcam last week. This is the mystery shot where you think you hit the vitals, follow the blood trail until it dries up and wonder how the deer lived. Looks like he was hit on the left side and right side is exit wound. He looks fine to me. No idea who took the shot by the way.
Maybe a non opening mech head
I guess I need to ask - Why is anyone shooting a button buck? After you dress out the deer you get maybe 30-40 pounds of meat. Makes no sense to me.
As I look at it again, looks like the shot was high, left side entry, right side exit. Although its a small deer, I would give the benefit of he doubt that most would think is a doe they are shooting; its hard to tell when shooting an antlerless deer.
That's interesting - A "void" hit (he he he). Over the spine - probably hit some of the spinal processes going through. Amazing how sturdy these creatures are. Super resilient!
I can't believe that was a rifle shot. The hydro static shock would have knocked the wind out of it, or, created a paralysis of the spine.
The infrared seems to show two spots on the left side, as though there were two points of impact or exit. The wound looks infected and may still kill the deer.
Classic over the spine shot.
Grizz,
You might want to see the diagram on the "see something wrong here??" thread. It could change your opinion about this being a classic "over" the spine shot.
Bill, you should check the "puzzled by hit..." thread on the main page. Might learn something. Looks like this is the exit wound on the right side of this deer, entrance wound is much higher on the left side. Hard to see, but it sure looks like there is one just before the 40 second mark on the vid. Probably a pretty steep angle shot, and the deer ducked or whatever.
A couple of pics I pulled off of this site a while ago when I lost a very big buck with a similar hit. Over the spine.
Grizz,
Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I was surprised how low the spine drops as you move forward of the rib cage.
I shoot most of my deer from above, at close range and am always conscious of staying behind the hump created by the shoulder blades. I've also hit some shoulder blades on broadside deer that drop at the sound of the release.
Is there something odd on the right rear leg as he moves out of view?
I think I agree with the diagnosis of too high with impact on the left side. So close to duplicating the shot(s) I made in January it's not even funny... I'm just damn lucky I was offered a follow-up.
My thoughts - High shot over the spine, a few inches higher and it would have been a miss, a few inches lower and that deer would have been spined. I agree with Wild Bill that it was an archery shot as a rifle hit there probably would have dropped that deer in his tracks. Why would someone shoot a skipper anyway? Not much meat to gain and button bucks often are hard to tell from doe fawns. In the end, I would say that, that is one lucky little buck!
Interesting thread, my first thought was what Pat had mentioned some sort of skin thing. Looks like the front of the rear quarter has something going on as well and possibly the opposite side rear quarter as well. There is a lot of hair missing around that spot to be from a shot, but maybe there was a lot of licking of that spot upon injury or shot. One thing for sure is they are tough and he seems to be doing quite well.
Bob, if I got 30-40 lbs of boned out meat out of a first year fawn, I may start shooting them:) I average maybe 30% yield on boned out, trimmed meat from a deer and maybe less if there is a lot of shot damage. I would say 15 to 20 lbs you would get on a button buck. Sorry, a bit off topic, but this would be an interesting topic on its own.
tobywon - I have zero experience with shooting yearlings so it was a wild-ass-guess on my part. Interesting to hear how little the yield is though. At least the drag is easy :)
I don't know what the deal is the deer was wanted by someone if it was a shot deer . I know over my 30 years I have taken a few but as for me now I would not unless it looked like it was going to die . Yes 15 - 20 is about all I ever got and some of the tastiest tender meat of all the deer I ever shot but was a lot of work for so little. My first bow kill was a fawn and yeah I am still proud of that and enjoy that memory.
bobhunt71 when we're young we all want to shoot any deer that walks by, I just never got the chance at yearling. Hell, I was happy when I found out which way they were walking from the tracks in the mud. I was following them in the wrong direction for about 2 month :( Think about how happy I was when I shot my first,.....a 110 lb doe in 1978? You would have thought I killed a PY or BC buck.
This was from a arrow because I have photos of it in he came many times deer made a complete recovery .
I shot a button thinking it was a doe Can happen easily ...: he was standing in the shadows
LOL BBB. Self taught hunter here... and a slow learner... it took me more than 2 months to figure out what direction the tracks were facing...
Jax - you think that's bad? One year I shot a doe and hit it so hard that it sprouted a couple of 2" spikes (and one longer one, but we don't need to get that detailed...).
gf...I did that as well...shot swore it was a doe....got up to the deer and it was a 3 inch spike....never saw the spikes
Shoot them in January and you don't find out till you flip them over .LOL
Keep in mind that new hunters will shoot the first deer that comes into range. Bagging that first deer is what is on their mind, not the size of it. Also, some people have very limited hunting opportunities.. If you know you are down to your last 2 or 3 days of hunting, you might drop your standards a bit to put meat in the freezer. I'm not a big fan of 'judging' other hunters (beyond unethical actions) as we don't know their situations.
Garbanzo well said!!!' I see all ages of deer come in since I butcher for Hunter's. Happy for all my customers !!!
My first-ever deer was a button; mistook him for a doe. But in my defense, he did dress out at #90.... On a scale.
Have only taken 1 fawn since - a little doe I got with a .54 patched ball on the last day of private ML in 1999. Seemed a good way to close out the millennium, and that was the first (&only) time I've ever taken deer with a cartridge, an arrow (recurve) and BP in the same year.
But no harm taking fawns, either. That's the smallest dent you can put in a herd.
