So I will start by saying I recieved a phone call from my hunting buddy in Nov 2016 who stated he shot a mature buck that had a wacky high rack. The buck was shot with a 100 grain rage hypodermic slightly quartering away at 25 yards from his Mathews Helium 70# bow. My buddy says he put a good shot on the buck and was excited to join in the recovery. We waited the typical hour and half to start the recovey to ensure the buck expired. Upon arrival there was lots and lots of dark blood from the point of impact for about 300 yards. We observed several pools of blood consistent with him laying down and getting back up. Needless to say we debated the shot and he played it over and over in his mind stating there is no way this deer could make it this far. We lost blood at about 400 yards and the trail became weak. 6 hours later no buck to be found and thoughts of how a deer can live loosing this much blood. Deer was never found and my buddy spent the rest of the season doing the usual questioning himself and the shot. Believing we just never recovered the buck we pressed on. This week at my stand I was scrolling through game pics of some bucks at my stand. My buddy looked at the iPad and says stop right there! That's him. That's the buck from last year. I said there's no way and must have a twin. Hesitant to believe him and no evidence to substantiate the claim I moved on with pictures. When I got to my second stand pics I found this same buck on camera facing broadside and much to my suprise the scar from the rage evident on his left side. I then asked my buddy again what side he shot his buck on knowing the answer. He asked me why and then told me his right side. I showed him the photo of this buck confirming his belief that the buck was the same and did in fact live. I've been bowhunting for 22 years and shot many many bucks but can not explain this bucks ability to survive this shot. And just for the record was a complete pass through.
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