#3 How Far, How Long, Mule Deer
Mule Deer
I shot a buck this morning that I passed on a couple of days ago. He pushed his luck to far today. The scenario:
There were two does and two fawns being harassed by a fork. This buck came in and was just walking over to push the fork out.
Twenty eight yard shot, after I stopped him (twice actually) with a grunt, slightly quartering away.
Three blade, 1 1/2" NAP Spitfire mechanical. Complete pass through.
I thought the shot was a bit back, but still good.
All the other deer scattered and he bolted, turned 90 degrees and headed down into the gully and appeared again going up the other side.
I drowned my camera in a river crossing in October so all I have is phone pics. I'll post pics one at a time and hopefully some come out right side up.
The arrow. Those are white fletches
The arrow. Those are white fletches
First few drops twenty feet from impact site
First few drops twenty feet from impact site
Got a little better
Got a little better
As good as it got. And not a lot more.
As good as it got. And not a lot more.
Entrance.
Entrance.
Exit.
Exit.
Not sure how far he went, but that’s a lot of pepperoni, right there!
We need to see the antlers to make a educated guess ;)
But I am going to say down the gully and up the other side and just a little bit further.
Great buck Rod! Congrats!
CONGRATS Rod! Cool looking buck... Rack kinda looks like a blacktail?
Spray on the snow (entrance side) looks like a sign of lung hit on the way in; blood looks pretty dark on the snow, so maybe a little bit of liver.
And the buck was evidently not moving very fast when he tipped over, so he maybe got far enough away to stop running, rather than passing out mid-stride.
Big, 3-blade mechanical probably did a lot of damage on the way through. Guessing rapid lung collapse. I’m just not sure how many lobes of which lung got clipped, and every individual is plumbed a little different, so depends on some dumb luck.
Gonna guess either 20 seconds & 80 yards, or 2 minutes and whatever amount of ground he covered before he tumbled to the fact that nothing was chasing him. Maybe 120 and stood there a minute?
Probably turn out at 2 hours.
Congrats Rod!
I'm gonna say he got to the top of the gully, looked around trying to figure out what happened, then toppled over. Total time elapsed after the shot was 30 seconds.
Matt
Looks like liver and rear of left lung. I’m going to guess 250 yds
Beautiful heavy racked deer. Congrats!!
Congrats. I love that rub brush on his antlers.
Liver upon entrance, and rear left lung on exit. Based on your description of terrain, and that he bolted with the other deer, I'm guessing just over a 100 yards and was dead within 3-4 minutes. Great deer and love the bark in the burrs!
I hit mine similar but closer to the shoulder. Mine went 140 yards-ish. So I'll say he went 165 yards.
Looks almost identical to where I shot my blacktail this year. You got great blood, whereas I almost had none. I should've done a full autopsy, but based on the arrow smell, how long he went, and how long he stayed alive, I believe I caught stomach and liver and may have just clipped the lungs. My deer went 300 yards and was alive for about an hour and a half before I was able to get another arrow in him.
That spot can be all over the radar. You can get very little lung there and all diaphragm/stomach, sliding under the liver. It all depends on if you actually get the back of both lungs for a double pneumothorax and if you slide under the liver and don't get one of it's bigger vessels.
I've hit deer there that went down in under 100 yards, but one doe I hit there was still alive hours later.
The entrance wound looks well forward of the diaphragm to me. It looks like a solid chest cavity hit, with an even better exit location. Dang those northern mulies have some thick hide/hair compared to the mulies around here.
Matt
150 yard death run. Found him just past where you last saw him.
“ That spot can be all over the radar. You can get very little lung there and all diaphragm/stomach, sliding under the liver.”
Get that far back and it kind of depends on whether he’s on the inhale or the exhale, eh?
I’ve seen guys state that slashing the diaphragm allows the contents of the abdominal cavity to intrude on the thoracic… guess that makes sense…
Would that be a hepatothorax?? ;)
Seems like that would cause a pretty severe shortness of breath….
A pic of the deer I mentioned skinned out. The back hole circled in red is the exit hole from my initial shot. He was standing broadside so the entrance hole is essentially exactly opposite. The second hole in green was the follow up arrow. As mentioned, this deer was still very much alive an hour later and hardly bled externally. The arrow was coated in bright red blood but had a sour smell to it. I drew where I think the lungs might have been when I took the shot to show how I could’ve missed them. I also recognize it’s a skinned out deer hanging upside down so often times things get distorted, but it’s probably the best pic I have.
Congrads, Rod nice buck, looks cold up there.
BEG, I think you underestimate the size of a mule deer's chest cavity. Perhaps blacktails are built differently.
Here's where I think Rod's buck was hit. Green is entrance, blue is exit.
Matt
The entrance broke the fourth rib from
the back.
The entrance broke the fourth rib from
the back.
Well, we have some pretty darn good guesser’s, with a couple being spot on.
The buck bounded about fifteen yards steep down hill, about ten yards across the flat, then about fifteen yards up the steep hill. He stopped, wobbled a bit then started down hill trying hard to keep his feet. This took about thirty seconds from shot to disappearing back into the gulley, out of sight. I was probably another minute getting to the edge to see him. He was down. I could see no sign of life.
The exit was between the seventh and eighth rib.
The exit was between the seventh and eighth rib.
Very little blood on the ground because it was all inside. I’m guessing he was exhaled at the shot which allowed the cavity to fill with blood. One lung had a deep four inch slash and the other an X through it. No other organs were hit.
Winner winner chicken dinner! ;-).
Thanks for continuing the HF/HL challenge.
Matt
Thanks Ambush. This is a fun game. Even though I was way off.
So do we have to do the math? Or how far was it? LOL.
^ ^ ^ About forty yards under his own steam and about fifteen yards of "involuntary' down hill scrambling. So fifty five yards total from impact site to end of run. About ninety seconds.
The Double Post Ghost is at it again. Is there no way to fix that issue?
^^The “Double Post” ghost of TBM! ;-)
Congrats on a great buck and short blood trail. I would have guessed liver on entry and lung on exit with a fairly long track. Nice job.
Good buck, good shot, short trail and lots to eat! Way to go Rod!!! Spitfire scores another, with the typical pass-thru!
It might just be the picture, but those lungs look really big compared a big whitetail I just field dressed last week. Congratulations, that a great animal.
Dang nice Buck and write up
Thanks for sharing,
Robb
Huge congrats Rod!!!
Great story!
Mark
