this REALLY happened! how?

[squeeze2drop]

Ok guys so 2nd weekend of deer season my bro and I were huntin and a buddy of ours told us of a nice buck in area but we about a half a mile away in canyon so as we get in general area finally, we see nothing, my bro heads over top to head back to truck(he's on opposite side of canyon, walkin across wheat field) and I decide to stop at a nice lil point where I can see 3 ways, well I happen to get lucky and find this buck standing about quarter of way up about 450 yds away, I couldn't believe it, and I must say its very cool to find a nice buck and see him before he sees u, anyway I called my bro on radio and told him I found it, he was almost back to truck and had to walk back across field, took him a good 20 mins, so I just watched this buck literally not move an inch till my bro got directly above him. Then he got curious but never spoked, he was directly under a rock ledge, I gotta toot my horn n say I put my bro within 50 yds of him, my bro did an amazing job of keepin quiet in those rocks, anyway, he finally gets to a spot where he can get a shot, and keep in mind I'm watchin all this develop with my binocs 450 yds away, I'm ahead of them so if the buck runs ill get a shot, so anyway, my bro is starin at this buck with his binocs, and I walkie "dude if ur gonna shoot, then shoot cuz its not gonna get any easier!" Lol and at that moment I see my bro draw his rifle and the buck starts to trot off, and before I even hear my bros gun go off, I see the buck do 2 complete rolls in the rocks, I guess my brother was so close to the deer and I was so far, that the sound didn't have time to get to me? Lol anyway that was cool, ok so here's where u guys r gonna laugh and give it to us, my bro and I forgot our knives in truck, in my 15yrs, I've NEVER forgot my knife in truck, neither has he, but for whatever reason, that day we BOTH did, so anyway he radios to me that he's gonna walk to truck I say ok and ill go to the buck and stay with it, it took me a good 15 mins to get to it, so I get within 30 ft of it, and I see it breathin and his stomach is movin good, so I back off and radio "hey bring the pistol, he's breathin good" and I set my rifle down and back off a few feet(dumb) and my bro walkies back "what" and I repeat it again, and just as I finished, this buck pops up! I wish there was a camera to capture my face cuz I'm sure it looked like I'd seen a ghose, well by the time I got it together and grabbed my rifle, he was 120yds in trees and sagebrush, movin JUST fine, I took 3 shots but nothin, I got on the other side and my bro came with me and we tracked him for over a mile! NOTHIN!!!! All we found were 2 drops of blood, the size of a nickel about 100 yds from where I missed him, I've heard a couple theories about what happened, but I know YOU guys will prob give me the best answer, thanks for your time fellas

[Boss .300 winmag]

His mommy taught him how to play dead, or possum. It happened to my aunt, she even got the tag on it before it ran away. A guy shot later, she strolls up, he is in disbelief that it was tagged (lady if you can tag them on the run you can have it).

[wapiti hunter2]

 

[Hunterman]

What was wrong with shooting him with your rifle when you saw him breathing  Hell of a story though..

Hunterman(Tony)

[Michelle_Nelson]

You should have put another round in him using your rifle. 

[Bob33]

I've seen that happen quite often to animals hit near the spinal column.  They are stunned from the shock but nothing vital has been hit. 

[Hunter Dug]

If you had time to radio your brother to get the pistol you had time to put another round in him with your rifle. 

[squeeze2drop]

Hunterdug-ya I did, but at the time he was still on ground, I wasn't expecting him to pop up, just bad judgement on my part I guess. Well, a couple say that my bro shot him and hit his rack and he tumbled and the blood was from his nose? Cuz he was runnin fine, no probs

[ribka]

I've seen that happen quite often to animals hit near the spinal column.  They are stunned from the shock but nothing vital has been hit. 

X2 Have seen it a few times too.

[thomasmx]

This almost exact thing happened to me...I shot a buck uphill and when I hit it, it flipped all the way down almost to my feet. It has a  badly broken leg. I already had my .45 out. When I got to it, it was not breathing but the eyes were closed. I looked at my buddy behind me at let him know it was a nice 3x4 muley. Gun still drawn, I looked back at the buck and out of nowhere it opened its eyes and somehow with a bent in half leg it jumped straight up in the air! Like I said...i still had my pistol out and put one right in its head for the end of the hunt. Scared the living crap out of me but the difference was, I had a gun out and I did what needed to be done. I guess I should have shot it right away with the pistol but who knows.

coulda, shoulda, woulda.....just kill it! Good story guys!

[Nash]

He probably just hit a loose rock as he was trotting off, tripped down the hill, and banged his head.

[halflife65]

I shot a bull about 10 or 15 years ago at about 70 yards right in the boiler room.  It only ran 25 yards or so and fell over.  I thought it was dead but when I walked up to the elk it jumped straight up.  I ended up shooting it right at the base if the throat.  It was about 10 feet away and I remember distinctly that I was looking over the top of the scope and not through it.  Scared the crap out of me.

[bigpaw 77]

I have heard a lot of story's like this before, Its to bad you guys did not get him. I would have put another round in him to put him out of his misery. But I understand it was your brothers deer and you wanting him to put the deer out.

[DoubleJ]

The blacktail I'm after this year is 5 years old.  He is named "Zombie" around here.  The guys at the local bar have claimed to have shot him at least 4 times in the past few years.  They claim that they get to where he was shot and follow the blood trail only to have the blood trail end and find no deer on the other end.  He is a very recognizable deer with a large scar on his left side.  1morebuck saw him a couple of weeks ago.

[GlennGTR]

1) Shot placement is always job one. 2) How many hours did you spend trying to recover that deer? 3) It is illegal to use radios for the purpose of locating and harvesting deer. 4) Always aproach any downed game as if it still poses a risk to you or others.