Since being on HH I have read over and over the questions about what calibers are good or bad. Or shot placement is key. As always a good number of people chime in, and mention the animals that got away. I thought it would be cool to hear if you guys have ever ran across the game that actually did make it after being shot. I have seen quite a few but this stuck the most.

A friend of mine had shot this huge buck during muzzleloading. When it came time to quarter it up there was a unusual knot behind the front shoulder blade and in the rib cage. Kinda like a tumor. After cutting the front leg off there lay a 4 blade broadhead broken off. This looked to be a good shot placement. Just didn't make it past the rib cage. It had heeled inside and was unnoticeable from the outside. Didn't even show a limp while walking before he was shot for good. Tuff animal!

i have friend that owns a meat shop that does deer and other
things and several times i have seen animals that had lead or
arrows stuck in them and could not see it till you start
cutting. they are tuff.
larry

I was with my father in law one year when we didn't draw rifle tags for mulies so we bow hunted. He shot a nice forky but the arrow was too far forward and hit the shoulder. We found the arrow with about 3" plus the broad head missing and after tracking that night and the next day we gave up. The following year we drew our tags and he shot a 3 point within 400yds of where he had hit the buck the year before. When we got the animal home and started to cut and wrap we found a large cyst in his shoulder. When we opened it up we found his broadhead, the shaft had been disolved by the deers body and the cyst had formed around the broadhead protecting it from any further damage.

WOW!

I did taxidermy work for 15 years and I've seen things I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Many stories similar to the ones already mentioned.

I killed a nice 6 point in 2006 when I took it to get mounted when he was skinning out the head we found a piece of 00 buck healed over in the back of the bucks head. I killed it with a muzzleloader the shot was left over from the 2005 season. YES they are tuff.

Two different times I had seen deer after they had been shot by shotgunners. One deer had one front leg blown off, the other deer had both blown off. Both deer were still getting around. After those deer had been "correctly shot" the meat was a pale pinkish color.

The first buck was obviously in a good fight, but seemed no worse for wear, according to the hunter after killing him.