My second year deer hunting I followed a very large doe hit by a fellow member of our group at 150 yards with a .30-06 through both lungs. For the first 100 or so yards we found pieces of lung tissue in the brush, and were sure that the animal would be down near-by. I tracked the deer for well over 500 yards through thick brush, and shot two more that I jumped and mistook for the wounded animal along the way. After several hours of tracking, I located the doe, which was still breathing raggedly, and finished her with a brain-shot to end a rather long and miserable death. This experience, though it is the general exception to the rule, led me to conclude that although the .30 caliber is generally adequate, it is not fool-proof. My experience since has borne this out. Though well below ten percent of the time, hard-hit deer will run fairly long distances with what ought to be clean shots having been made. The only remedy to this that I have personally seen is either the use of a shotgun of at least sixteen bore with a slug, or a medium to large bore rifle of moderate to high rifle velocity. Last year we lost our first deer in over twenty years. It took a 165 gr. .30 caliber hornady SST bullet at 3800 fps (approx) to the center of the vital area, ran for several hundred yards onto an adjascent property where it was located in thick cover and shot three more times at close range with a .357 magnum (at least two shots striking the chest cavity) using hydra-shock bullets, and continued to run. Deer can be a much sturdier animal than you think if their adrenaline is going. Though it is the exception to the rule, it happens, and as such, I always recommend that the hunters I introduce to the "sport" don't exaggerate the range at which they will be shooting, and select impact force over trajectory if most shots will be taken at 200 yards or less. Recoil can be dealt with if you take the time to learn, lost game will be lost if it can cover enough ground before dying.
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