Bullet Head Buck
six point buck? did I shoot him? can they swim?
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,
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.....
