The Bionic Buck......'07 Late Hunt

[COOSEFAN]

That buck had a spinal concussion from the shot, kind of like a football player gets from a direct neck hit . He will have some zingers for awhile but as long as the flesh heals it will not kill him or even slow him down for long. ag

 

That's what I'm thinking and what I'm hoping for.........I want to put my tag on him in Oct. '08 and see how the wound healed!

[Outdoor Writer]

Tony, the bullet struck above the spine on the left side of the buck and exited the very top of the back on the right side and hit a pile of rocks behind that green bush. There was very little blood......actually I found more small chunks of meat and fat than I did blood! When I saw the buck the next day I had the "exit" side facing me at 100 yards and could clearly see a golfball sized chunk missing out of the top of his back. If you didn't see it, you would have thought that buck had no problems at all watching him run uphill without a limp of any kind!

 

I thought that might be the case but had to ask anyway because I had a similar cloud of smoke occur with a blacktail buck I killed in CA during the 1980s.

 

I had glassed up the buck in the middle a large, steep meadow that was about 1/2-mile across. He was feeding with another smaller buck and two does about in the middle of the opening. Once I spotted him, I worked my way around the meadow to a forested finger that jutted from the high end of the meadow toward the bottom. My plan was to use the trees for cover to get to the very end of the finger so I was in range for a decent shot. The stalk went perfect. When I got to the last large tree, I found a low limb to use a as rest for the shot of about 250 yards.

 

The buck I wanted was feeding in the "vee" about 10' wide between and below two small hills. He was facing me, so when he raised his head, I put the crosshairs just under his chin and shot. Right then, he decided to take another nip of lunch.

 

I saw that puff of smoke, but the deer immediately disappeared. Until I got to him, I didn't have a clue about what happened or if he fell because the hills blocked the view from my position. The smoke was caused by the bullet going through the base of an antler and then into the top of the buck's head, which split the skull plate from front to back. Of course, he was DOA.

 

I have the skull plate wired together, and the rack sits atop a lampshade in my old trophy room. At the time, he OFFICIALLY made the SCI book at the lower end. I don't do record books, but the two brothers who owned the ranch wanted it and a couple others we killed listed. So I let them do so AND pay to do it. It's probably been pushed out of the listings by now. -TONY

[Bill]

Thanks for the details. Nice rifle.

[Lance]

OK EVERYONE LISTEN UP!!!

 

THIS IS HUNTING GOSPEL by Lance....

 

OK quit laughing I'm serious !

First of all, I'm sorry about your buck getting away, and that is a fine buck you got! Great picture! The cape is so clean and pritty!

 

 

Now Second....

 

I live by this and I tell everyone I hunt with to do this!

And that is....

 

IF AN ANIMAL DROPS IN IT'S TRACKS WHEN YOU SHOOT IT, THEN YOU BETTER BE SCARED!!!

 

YOU NEED TO SHOOT IT AGAIN RIGHT WHERE IT LAYS!!!!! AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!

 

 

Because one of two things has happend. You have eather "hit the spine" or "shocked the spine." ("Shocking the Spine" occurs when a bullet passes near the spine and the shock of the bullet stuns the spine causing temporary paralysis. The same thing happens when a bullet or arrow hits the bones on top of the spine that divide the two back straps.)

If you have "Shocked" the spine then the animal will get up and run away with a hole in him. Just like on the video clip.

If you have hit the spine then the animal will flounder around on the ground and need to be shot again anyway, or it will have a verry long suffering death.

 

Eather way they will need to be shot again anyway SO DON"T TAKE THE CHANCE! DO BOTH OF YOU A FAVOR, MAKE IT A HABBIT TO JUST SHOOT THEM AGAIN RIGHT AWAY, RIGHT WHERE THEY LAY!!!!

 

Some times you cant see them when they fall. Thats when you realy need to be scared!

 

The "spine shock " happens all the time and I'm sure most of you know this already. And I'm sure everyone has or has heard stories about it if they think about it.

 

I hope my rambling helps someone in the future!

 

PS. I saw two puffs of "smoke" from the bullet. The second was the bullet hitting whatever it was on the ground likely the rock. And the first was the poof of hair off of the buck from the impact/pass through of the bullet. A grazing arrow will make a big poof of hair as well.

 

Lance

[DesertBull]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. I hit a buck high at 340 yards with a 7 mag and he rolled down the steep hill about 40 yards and piled up under a juniper. As we were getting our packs prepared to go down the canyon to get him, I looked up saw him standing by the tree. He then took off at a FULL run. Little blood was found even though there was 6 inches of snow.

[azryan]

despite everything, that buck he harvested is a great deer.

you gotta love the character bucks

[COOSEFAN]

What Lance has to say is definitely words to live by! I have always promoted and beleived in shooting until the animal is finished. It's good for you and alot better for the animal!

 

Unfortunately in my scenario, the buck rolled from where you last seen him on his back, to his belly and once again out of sight behind a tree before the gun could get back on 'em. I stared hard, with the shooter watching through his scope, and never detected movement. I looked to see if we could get a different vantage and there was none and we were losing light. The only thing I regret not doing is leaving the shooter on point while I went up........but I also was going up to a potentially paralyzed buck that may need another shot! It was a tough situation.

 

You may have noticed I waited a while before posting my story........I debated about it because I felt bad about losing an animal and it's not a pretty thing to read about, but I felt that it would be good for us to all learn from it. I put the video on there to illustrate that even though it "appeared" the animal was "anchored", that doesn't mean you got the tag on him yet!

 

What Lance has to say is what this lesson is all about and hopefully it has spared a few of us from a potential loss of an animal in the future

 

Thanks for the comments about the buck he tagged, it is a smaller buck and he passed up a few much bigger ones, but he was very happy and proud of it and that is all that matters! Thanks again, JIM>

[fatfootdoc]

Jim,

 

There is no shame in posting a true hunting story, if we never had the crap happen to us we would not enjoy the good stuff so much!!! I hope you do tag that sucker next year!!!! ag

[Lance]

I think it was an excelent post COOSEFAN! It brings up topics that usualy get overlooked.

 

My Wife and I were watching the Outdoor Channel and she pointed out that most of the animals that were being taken on the shows we were watching at that time were dropping at the shot! And we talked about how they don't show the follow up shot on TV, and how that can give the wrong impressions to hunters that "after one shot, all is well!" That there is never anything else you should have to do.

 

Another rule I live by (as well as many others on this site) is "As long as it is standing you keep shooting!!!!" I always tell people that you should do as much as you can to make the first shot count and then if it is still standing (or dropped at the shot) then shoot what ever you can see!!! In other words make it as quick as posible!

 

I say, if you have been carying around all those arrows or bulets for the whole hunt you might as well get your money worth and use em up!

 

Lance

[Outdoor Writer]

This thread reminded me of an incident that happened to me in 36B during the 1980s. I was walking through a thick stand of manzanita atop a small hill on my way back to camp for lunch. To this day, I believe it's the only deer that I felt I had wounded but never recovered. But the lack of any sign still baffles me now. I've since come to the conclusion that the buck got up and left the country while I meandered my way over to him. For much of that time, the area he went down at was out of my view.

 

Here's the lead to "Did you or Didn't you?" -- an article I wrote many years ago. It recounts that episode. -TONY

 

***

 

With two great leaps, the gray shape exploded from its bed, then quickly disappeared into the brush a mere 10 feet in front of me. In the brief instant, the basket-like appearance and mass of the deer's antlers convinced me that it was the trophy I had been seeking.

 

I watched anxiously for the buck to reappear, at the same time noticing the two steep, rocky cliffs, bordering both sides of the buck's obvious downhill escape route. The natural barriers would force him to cross a south-facing, sparsely vegetated slope on the canyon's opposite side.

 

Dropping to a sitting position, I clicked off the Model 70's safety, racked a round into the chamber and watched for the buck to show.

 

The momentary wait seemed like hours, but the deer finally reappeared, trotting uphill through the clearing in typical whitetail fashion with his fan-shaped tail raised and his nose poked skyward, sensing the air for danger from the sudden intruder.

 

Thinking it all seemed too easy, I centered the crosshairs on the back of the buck's neck where it joined his body and shot. Amid the echo of the .264's report, I thought I heard the bullet strike. The buck's reaction seemed to confirm it; tail-over-tea-kettle, he catapulted through a bush and disappeared a second time. I jacked another shell into the chamber and waited for him to show again, but he never did.

 

Exhilarated with the thrill of success, I went to claim my trophy, almost running down one hill and up the other. I knew the buck was a good one and couldn't wait to see its antlers up close. When I reached the spot, the deer was nowhere in sight.

 

In ever-widening circles around the bush, I searched carefully for bits of hair or spots of blood, anything that might tell me that I had hit the buck. Nothing but a few tracks appeared in the loose shale. I placed my orange hat atop the bush and walked back to where I had shot, hoping the bush was the wrong one and the deer would be farther to the left or right. Instead, when I peered back at the hat, my disappointment increased. It was, indeed, the right bush.

 

I spent the next two hours searching every bit of landscape within a quarter mile of the bush to no avail. I returned again that evening and the following morning with hopes of accidentally crossing the buck's path or finding some sign --- dried blood, hair, anything that would help find the animal; I never did.

 

Though it happened over five years ago, I often still wonder, "Did I, or didn't I?" Did I hear the bullet actually hit the deer or did it simply strike the ground near him? Did the buck catapult over the bush because my bullet hit him or because of his zealous effort to reach a new zip code?

[firstcoueswas80]

Tony, the bullet struck above the spine on the left side of the buck and exited the very top of the back on the right side and hit a pile of rocks behind that green bush. There was very little blood......actually I found more small chunks of meat and fat than I did blood! When I saw the buck the next day I had the "exit" side facing me at 100 yards and could clearly see a golfball sized chunk missing out of the top of his back. If you didn't see it, you would have thought that buck had no problems at all watching him run uphill without a limp of any kind!

 

I thought that might be the case but had to ask anyway because I had a similar cloud of smoke occur with a blacktail buck I killed in CA during the 1980s.

 

I had glassed up the buck in the middle a large, steep meadow that was about 1/2-mile across. He was feeding with another smaller buck and two does about in the middle of the opening. Once I spotted him, I worked my way around the meadow to a forested finger that jutted from the high end of the meadow toward the bottom. My plan was to use the trees for cover to get to the very end of the finger so I was in range for a decent shot. The stalk went perfect. When I got to the last large tree, I found a low limb to use a as rest for the shot of about 250 yards.

 

The buck I wanted was feeding in the "vee" about 10' wide between and below two small hills. He was facing me, so when he raised his head, I put the crosshairs just under his chin and shot. Right then, he decided to take another nip of lunch.

 

I saw that puff of smoke, but the deer immediately disappeared. Until I got to him, I didn't have a clue about what happened or if he fell because the hills blocked the view from my position. The smoke was caused by the bullet going through the base of an antler and then into the top of the buck's head, which split the skull plate from front to back. Of course, he was DOA.

 

I have the skull plate wired together, and the rack sits atop a lampshade in my old trophy room. At the time, he OFFICIALLY made the SCI book at the lower end. I don't do record books, but the two brothers who owned the ranch wanted it and a couple others we killed listed. So I let them do so AND pay to do it. It's probably been pushed out of the listings by now. -TONY

 

Tony, glad to see I'm not the only one known for a head shot or two!

[tucrats]

Sorry to hear about the "one that got away", however congrats to your friend on taking one home!

 

jimmya