six point buck? did I shoot him? can they swim?

Question

We were doing a drive on a small area of woods on our farmland. When a 6 pointer takes off about 20 yards ahead of me by a stream. I take a shot with my shotgun and he disappears. I run up to the stream and he is in the water amost on his side trying to keep his head above the water. He is only about a foot away and is just chilling there trying to swim. So obviously I finished him off. When I pulled him from the stream I couldnt find a bullet wound other than the finishing shot. Is it possible he tripped into the stream and couldnt get out? can they swim well? I never thought I could walk up to him swimming without him talking off. Do you think i injured him causing him to fall into the stream or did he get startled and fall in? I didnt look him over great but it looked like he only had the one wound,

Answer 1

Based on your story, I am about convinced that you must have wounded the Buck with your first shot. Whitetail Deer have NO problems when it comes to swimming, and if he had just "fallen" in he would not have allowed you to get that close for your second shot that finished him off. I've seen Whitetails out west and in Canada that swam across rivers with a strong current in an effort to get away..He would have made every effort to get away unless he was hit seriously. Is it possible the wound was from your first shot and that you missed on the second shot when you were rattled ? You didn't mention where on the Buck's body that the wound you saw was located...I'm also assuming you were using rifled slugs and not #00 Buckshot.....

Answer 2

Daisy, you don't mention it, but I am guessing maybe you didn't gut the deer or skin it which would also give you a more definite answer, but from what you relay I would guess either you missed with the first shot and the deer either got stuck in the creek bottom or maybe even broke a leg as you say it was laying there.

They are tremendous swimmers so that isn't a concern in your case. My son and I followed one all the way across a lake in our fishing boat at a distance just to make sure the big buck would make it. It was almost 3 miles across where he swam across.

It may well not have happened to you, but a friend of mine shot a 12 gauge slug at a mule deer out in Idaho and the deer fell down dead after about 50 yards. When we got over there we could find no entry wound. We were mystified until he began to gut the animal. Turned out he was running away and my friend took a shot he should not have because the deer was running directly away from him. He had actually shot the deer right in the bum and tore up the whole inside of the deer. Just another strange deer hunting occurrence, hope you figure out what happened, but as others have said here too, sometimes deer spook really easily and panic and there is just no explanation for what the end up doing.

Good Going anyway, meat on the table!

Answer 3

Wild game isn't shot because it DID SOMETHING. Some people shoot them out of sport. I personally do not agree with that. Other people shoot them for their meat and hides. That's the way it used to be and I see no harm in that. One thing you must consider: imagine what would happen to the deer herd if noone were to hunt them anymore at all. First there would be so many of them that food would become scarce. The deer would be so overpopulated that disease transmission would be facilitated resulting in less healthy deer. And then there would be way more game related accidents on the roads. Do you have any idea where hamburger comes from??? Cows........they have to be killed and ground up in order for you to be able to go to the grocery store and buy their meat. And they don't get to play in the woods and fields while they're alive. Look into it sometime and check out how beef cattle is kept in order to make them big and "strong". I'm not talking about Uncle Remus' country farm, I'm talking about the mass producers of meat. Better example yet, chicken farming. Come to think of it, I'd actually prefer wild game over mass produced poultry any day. At least the deer had a life and a chance. Think about it.

Answer 4

Congrats on your buck.

I have seen deer do some really dumb things when scared and fleeing, including one that ran right into a swampy mud bog and got stuck. Got him when I was about 14. I have friends that have had then jump off cliffs and even just keeled over, passed out, fainted.

You didn't say what kind of load you were using in your shotgun, but if it were a slug or sabot you would have seen an obvious wound I think. Using buckshot?

20 yards, running in woods....I'm guessing you missed him and he panicked when he fell in the water and was maybe stuck in the soft bottom. They swim well in deep water.

Answer 5

we were on a construction job in Maine cleaning up a 2 acre discharge pond, it was night time and one of the workers snuck up on some deer on the side of the pond and took a picture.......well there was a flash from the camera which spooked the deer and about that time the dredge hit a rock spooking the deer on the other end .......so the 4 deer went down a 30 degree grade into the pond swam across booms and cables in the water, got to the other side and ran up another 30 degree grade and off they went.......so it's unlikely the deer fell, and they can swim very well......

there are people talking about well deer can swim........even they think from Plum Island(a gov't biological research lab) to Old Lyme in Connecticut possibly bringing lyme disease with them....thats a couple of miles in long island sound.....

Answer 6

Deer do stupid things when scared, if he fell onto his side in a creek then it would be difficult for him to get back up.

They can swim well, and as other have said you may have missed the second shot.

I own several open pit quartz crystal mines in the Ouachita mountains. On 3 occasions we have found dead deer that ran off of the high wall. On on occasion we found 3 dead deer and two coyotes, they just ran right off the 100 foot drop lol

Answer 7

Congrats on your successful deer hunt. I agree with JD, you hit him the first time or it wouldn't have been on its side in the water. Shot is sometimes hard to detect in a deer as the hide shifts and covers the wound up. And deer are EXCELLENT swimmers.

Best.

H

Answer 8

lol. Here in Georgia it is VERY illegal to shoot an animal when in the water. They put you under the jail for that here.

Answer 9

They're excellent swimmers.

Answer 10

yep