Last season I was hunting up in the mountain behind my house and had one crazy experience. I was in my tree and a 4 point cam walking strait at my tree followed by a 7 point. At 50 yds I easily raise my gun up to an easy shot. "Bang" Nothing moves!! The 4 point is 30yds away and the 7 point at 50 yds froze like a rock. I notice a limb about 10 yards away with a perfect trench cut in it. Since I forgot my wrist band cartridge carrier I start digging in my pockets desperately looking for a 2nd round and after what seemed like a full minute I found one. I reload, rise up a little to clear the limb, cross hares on the sweet spot, bang and the 7 point is dead before he hits the ground. I expect the 4 point to flag and run but he didn’t even flinch. 30 minutes later he finally walks off. Has anyone had anything like this happen to you before?

No, not like that. However, several years ago we had a informal shooting range set up on the side of a big canyon. Four of us were shooting (at swinging metal targets). Must have sounded like WWII. A six point mule deer buck walked up out of the canyon, looked us over, and proceeded to walk across the range and down into the next draw. Obviously, we stopped shooting while he crossed.

YUP, but a little different. I was charlie hunting a long field. I spotted one way down so I decide to get closer. As I was stalking down the edge slowly towards a small dirt mound for a rest a nice 4 point in velvet walks out of the woods half the distance to the charlie. He starts eating the alfalfa and never even pays any attention to me. I finish the last 20 yards to the dirt mound and set up. The XP I was using has a short barrel and barks a little. The path of the bullet could not have been 15 from the buck as it made it's way to the woodchuck. He never even picked his head up when I shot. I could see the charlie was anchored and not going anywhere, so I watched the buck for a few minutes, then got up and slowly started pacing the distance to the chuck. He finally gave me a look as I was about 6 paces form the dirt mound and just saunters off back into the woods.

Not quite that strange, but I was elk hunting with a muzzleloader in Colorado a few years back and cow calling every 100 yards or so. I came to an opening in the timber and see a 4X4 bull just coming out of the trees on the other side of the clearing, 80-90 yards away and headed toward me. He turned broadside and I proceeded to completely miss him. As I was frantically reloading with a cloud of smoke still hanging in the air, he started angling toward me, watching me the whole time. After dumping half my powder on the ground, fumbling with the bullet and ramrod and finally getting the gun primed, he was passing about 20 yards behind me. At that point he got downwind and caught my scent. He finally wised up, letting out a bark and blew out of the area. I think he was convinced that there was a hot cow in the area and his hormones were in overdrive. He had probably been chased off by a herd bull or two and was more interested in finding the cow than worry about some idiot standing in a cloud of smoke. I tracked him for a few hundred yards to confirm that I had missed. I was discouraged about the miss, but it was for the best since I wound up taking a 6X6 bull the next morning.

I've seen and had similiar things happen archery hunting which of course you don't have the bang but it's kind of amusing to watch a mulie or blacktail you just missed come back out to sniff the arrow giving you another chance to smoke em. I've had it happen to me once and I was with my father in law when it happened to him.

I have had the same thing happen as Rod. Miss a buck and he came right back to the arrow for a second shot. Actually is pretty funny when you are all pumped up from the first shot.

I shot a small buck one time with a 20ga slug about 15 yard out of a tree stand. 1st. shot buck didn't even flinch, or move. It was looking around trying to figure out what went bang. Took a second shot and it buckled up on the spot. Went to clean it and of course 2 holes.

I was hunting from a 12' tree stand one November morning about a dozen years ago. When a doe and a 5 point buck hopped a fence about 50 yards away and headed right for me. The buck was right behind the doe and at about 10 yards I took a shot with my 9 and 1/2" barrel scoped .44 mag SRH. I shot right over the buck, and the doe and buck walked out to maybe 25 yards and stood there looking around. My second shot put the buck down right there and the doe left the area. I suppose with the loud noise of the handgun the deer didn't know where the shot came from and weren't really alarmed.

I was hunting on a stand 4 or 5 years ago when a doe muley appeared at a little over 100 yards. I held my Encore 375-06 JDJ against a tree and commenced to miss THREE shots at her. I got angry with myself and decided to let her walk off. About an hour later she came back to the same spot. I nailed her first shot the second time around. The nearest I can tell is that I should not have held my Encore up against the tree. I should have used the tree to support my hand. When I finally hit her I was using a bipod.

Recoil

I was hunting this year and shot a 7 pointer with 270 with a young spike and a young cowhorn in field. The 7 pointer ran 40 yards and fell over. The other two bucks go over and start whooping up on the 7 pointer after he died. I called my wife to drive down to show deer to my son and she had to beep horn to run them off. Hopefully this year I will get a deer with 7x30 waters contender. Giving up rifles for pistols.

The first deer I ever shot was with the bow when I was 14. Missed the first two shots (both stuck into trees just beyond the deer) and hit him with the third. After each shot he just kept circling farther to my left, staying about 15-20 yds out. I was standing at the base of a big pine tree (I don't hunt from any elevated stand of any kind) and he was staring right at me from the time I shot the first arrow until the third one took out his heart.

When I was 16, I shot my first deer with the rifle, which ended up being a beautiful 8 pointer. I was still hunting the side of this mountain (in the Catskills...very rugged) and saw the deer uphill from me about 65 yards out coming right at me. I had also been watching 3 or 4 does feed down below me about 100 yards away. As soon as the buck turned broad side, I twelve ringed him (for those archers in the forum). After I saw him go down (25 yards from where I hit him) none of the does had even moved and were still feeding just as calm as can be. I think when a deer (in most cases does where I hunt b/c no does are harvested during regular season) hears gunshots all season long, and then hears one close but can't pin point where it came from, they almost ignore it. Rugged terrain mixed with thick hardwoods makes for locating the shot even harder on deer.

I was hunting on top of a ridge in Virginia when two does came up an old road and stopped just about 40 yds from my position. They were making a get away from Dodge (dogs) and were stopping to look back from where they came. That was interesting in itself.

Well I had my S&W 629 and lined up on the closest doe and took the shot. She went straight down. Now she was only about eight feet from the second doe. Well the other one just looked down at her buddy and would not move. I whistled, grunted and blew, but she would not move. Well I figured I still had three tags left on my license and I could shoot two in one day and let her have it. She finally moved (ran off) and I had to shoot her again and she went down. I had never seen this before, but had heard stories of how deer act weird at times.

I've had things like that happen a number of times. The key is to drop the first one hard so it doesn't move much and don't let any of them actually see you.

It's like the movie about Sargent York with Gregory Peck. He kept shooting the Germans at the end of the line and the ones in front didn't know what was going on so they kept coming till he finished off the lot of them.

Gary that was Gary Cooper who played Sgt. York, but I am sure that Peck would have done a great job. Where are all the good actors today. You know the ones that keep their mouths shut on hot issue like religion and politics???

i shot at a small buck once with my 30-30 @50yds. and hit a sappling and blew the tree apart,the deer ran down and out the ridge and came back and stoped about 10 yds. to look back to the sappling i had hit.he bought the farm on the return trip!
i was bow hunting and was standing against a big oak tree with my trusty pse and my "leafy suit". i heard a deer grunt so i grunted back and there came a doe straight at me. i drew to shoot but it was so early i couldnt see thru the peep sight... i missed! she ran out about 20 yds. and turned around and watched me put me next arrow on the bow,hook the release and draw the bow.i guess i went to instinctive shooting because all i remember is hearing a deep "thunk" and she ran 20 yds. and killed over

I was hunting this season on the edge of a field at the base of a ridge, four does came around the edge of field to about 40 yards of me, took aim with my 44 mag and shot the first doe in line, she ran up the side of the ridge about 20 yards and fell dead, I holstered the gun and started up to get her, about half way I stopped to rest, looked up and one of the other does was standing there looking at me, I stood there for a minute then started up again, the doe started to walk toward the one I had shot, I got within about 10 feet of the doe and stopped again, the other doe was 10 yards from me just standing there looking at me, there just happened to be a sapling right in front of me with a nice limb for a rest, we can take 3 does per day so I let her have it, she ran to the bottom of the ridge and piled up, Some times deer do crazy things