How do they still run?!?

[EastTNHunter]

Never ceases to amaze me the will to live that wild animals can show. Shot an average sized doe that was totally relaxed this afternoon just before the rain moved in and it got dark. 60yd shot, 270 Win, 140 BTSP over a max load of H4831 at around 3100fps MV. Hit the onside shoulder and exited right behind the offside shoulder. She still ran, although it was less than 50yd. Amazing to me, as you could literally see right through her.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I've seen similar. They don't know they're dead, only realize they need to get away from a threat (danger) so they run until they feel they are safe. They won't go down until the blood ceases to flow to the brain which deprives it of oxygen. UNLESS it's a CNS hit, then they go right down. Your pictures clearly show the devastation of a high powered rifle wound, and it is amazing how they are able to continue to live and run for any distance.

 

[Bluffgruff]

Myoglobin and epinephrine combine to give the animal a few seconds to flee, and they can go a long way in those seconds.

I think it's more complicated than that, but what do I know.

 

[BlueLine]

Never doubt the will to survive, they're tough animals.

 

[tzone]

They do weird things even when you hit them CNS sometimes too.

Shot 2 deer this year. Neither took a step. The doe was facing me, slightly quartering maybe. Shot between both front shoulders, exit behind left shoulder.

At the shot she stiffened up and tipped over dead. Got up to her and blood was coming out mouth and nose. Gutted her and the heart was in chunks. I've had heart shot deer run 20-50 yards before.

They're tough critters for sure.

 

[steveshuntn1]

Shot a buck with a Rage broadhead back in 2007. First one I’d hit with a Rage and it was a high hit in a main artery. He ran forty yards across a big patch of kudzu and I could see blood squirting out both sides. It looked like it was dumped out in buckets. He stood there and blew and stomped at me for 30 seconds or so all the while blood was pumping out. Then he went face down and was dead. Craziest thing I’d ever seen.

 

[Redman]

Animals are tough they have to be. I also think it depends on their current state. If they are relaxed and feeding or spooked or rutting hard. Also depending on the shock or lack there of from the bullet or arrow. I have arrowed deer perfectly where my arrow doesn't cut any bones and they almost act as if nothing happened and just walk and fall over. Same shot broke/cut ribs or hit a shoulder blade and they run like the woods were on fire but die quickly. Bullets well I have dropped them without a CNS hit and have literally blown the heart up and they cover quite a bit of ground before piling up.

 

[Mallardsx2]

When you think you’re tough you’ll never be as tough as a wild animal. They have strength from a deep place within.

 

[Addicting]

The bull I shot this year with my muzzleloader had a fist size hole in his ribs behind his shoulder with his lung hanging out. He went 300 yards and didn’t lay down till shot again thru the back of the lungs.

 

[jt13]

I've had deer run that shouldn't have and deer drop that shouldn't have. Overall size of the deer and proximity of impact to spine are the only two factors that I've seen make any real difference in whether they tip over immediately or run 40-100 yards.

 

[RobertD]

but what do I know.

More than the rest of us, haha.

So comparable to a shot from an epipen? Just pushes all their oxygen into their muscles one last time or?

 

[antlerradar]

I read that deer on the AZ/UT boarder can go three miles with shrapnel in the heart.

 

[Ought Six]

It’s like this, but a deer:

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TactiPaws shared a post on Instagram: "Things nightmares are made of ☠️ Follow @tactipaws 👈 🎥 @lonestaroutdoorshow repost #snake #wildlife #rattlesnake #poison #poisonous #snakebite #venom #hunt #hunting #donttreadonme #rattler #bite #biteme #tx #texas #burleson". Follow their account to see...

www.instagram.com

 

[Caseknife]

Back in the 70's my dad was going into camp with his pack on his back and rifle in hand hiking up an old road with thick lodgepole on either side. He heard a freight train coming and a 5 pt bull ran across the road right in front of him, he got a shot off before it got across the road. The bull turned around in the thicket and ran back the way he had come, dad got another shot and then just as it disappeared he got a third shot. Would have been neat to be able to to have seen that. The bull kept running. Dad got on his track and eventually found him, "397 steps" is how far dad said he went, how he measured distance, so close to 400 yards. The bull was piled up against a tree. Dad saw blood on the ribcage as the bull disappeared. The first two shots were right through the lungs from each side and the last shot took his sack off. The bull had been jumped by another hunter and had adrenaline pumping. Turns out that earlier in the season, Dad had got a quick shot at a good bull in the timber above him, only got a couple drops of blood. This bull he figured was the same one that he got the shot at. On the back of both hind legs was a missing patch of hide "about the size of a silver dollar".

Animals are tough and have an innate desire to survive.

 

[gouch]

I once saw a doe get shot. Blew out both shoulders. She ran for 30 yards on her hind legs before going down.

 

[JMG]

Tis But A Mere Scratch ... Flesh Wound.