Down Deer with no wound

[KY wild]

I have wondered about this for years, so maybe someone has knowledge on the subject. My nephew was hunting my farm several years ago by himself, he called me and said he had shot a buck and it was down pretty much where he shot it. I had about a 20 minute drive to go up to help him and when I walked up to the deer I could not see a bullet hole or any blood then as I was standing there the buck took a breath. I immediately told him to shoot it in the heart, I did not see it breath again. Well when we cleaned the deer only his late shot, I could not find a wound anywhere else, I searched and searched, nothing. So I finally decided that maybe the bullet may have hit a limb mushroomed out and hit the deer but had lost too much energy to penetrate. I drove up and looked and looked but no tree seemed to have a bullet scar plus only could of been a couple suspects. He shot the deer broad side at about 50 yards with a 270. Has any of you ever knocked down a deer without a wound or heard anything like this?

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I once shot a buck and it dropped and I was unable to find any wound. The bullet entered the eye, rattled around its skull and lodged in its upper neck.

 

[Bill]

I had a friend shoot an old doe in the foot with a bow. She fell down and died right there. All I can figure is it was a heart attack or something. Zero blood.

 

[Electrodigical]

Wonder if it's not some rare thing like those goats that lock up and fall over. lol

Or people fainting.... syncope, pseudosyncope, IIRC there's a couple things that can cause the same sort of thing in people, maybe he was "scared stiff".

 

[Bill Loser]

My uncle once shot the horn off a buck, knocked it out cold. I think he slit it's throat instead of shooting it again
I've shot 2 that hit in the ear, scrambled the brain out the other ear with one, the eye of the other. The first, if we didn't look for it we would have never known. Wish I could.say it was on purpose

 

[Telemark]

Bullets tend to not mushroom when they hit a tree.

Check the neck and head. My dad once shot a buck and couldn't find the wound. Turns out the bullet hit a tree and struck the deer in the face.