Have you ever wondered why a deer (unless spine shot), never makes a sound after being shot? It MUST hurt! I've thought about this numerous times, but can't come up with anything that makes any sense. Does anyone have any ideas/thoughts on this?
I don't think animals feel pain in an emotional way like humans. Pain is danger and they need to get out of danger quickly and quietly. If they are making a bunch of noise they could attract the thing that caused the pain to their position. If they felt pain in a debilitating way then they would die whenever they were hurt somewhat seriously. We see 3 legged deer that survive just fine. If a human lost a leg they would go into shock and die. We are not quite as tough as the animals we hunt but, like I said, I think we feel pain differently than they do.
The buck I shot last year let out a bawl as My arrow hit him, Knocked him down to the ground, and he got up to run off. I was very surprised to say the least.
well sometimes they blow, which could be considered a sound, depending on your viewpoint. as stated above they handle pain much differently than we do. we get injured and make noise whether because of pain or not, it is to get attention and hopefully receive aid or help. for them their concern is just trying to survive and get away. there are no doc's out in the woods to help. fight or flight is all they know, it's how they survive, making noise would not change the outcome of their wounds. they learn from an early age making noise doesn't help them at all, it only increases the danger to themselves and others around them. that's why a lost fawn will cry for its mother when lost, but learns quickly to depend on itself.
Never gave it a thoguht. Although a couple deer I've shot with normal chest shots have given out a small grunt upon impact. And surprisingly few of the spine shot deer I've encountered made any noise at all.
In 2007, me and my brother both shot button bucks with shotguns. He spined his, and it made alot of noise. Very disheartening. Later that day i shot mine, it was an upper lung shot, and he fell on the spot and also made alot of noise. He probably could have run off, but didn't try. That was disheartening as well. Every other deer has been silent.
I have heard people say getting shot with an arrow feels like a paper cut. I have no proof of that and hope I never do. Maybe they dont feel it as much as we think.
The young doe I stalked and shot let out a bawl when the arrow hit. That was the first time I ever heard that sound. It was slightly upsetting to me. I tried to forget about it as soon as I could.
I'm no expert on why deer don't make much noise when they get shot, but, deer don't seem to make much noise anyway, when compared to other animals. What about hogs or cats? I shot a coyote with my bow and he growled/snarled when he was hit. Possibly, the less noise the animal makes normally, the less noise they'll make when they get shot?
Both bucks I shot this year let out a grunt when the arrow hit them. If you watch my buck video close enough and turn up the volume you can hear it. The 2nd buck I shot got whacked right through the shoulder, both lungs, and heart with a 1 3/4" 3-blade broadhead. He let out a serious grunt that was at least 2-3x louder than the first one. I've shot other deer in the past that have let out a grunt when hit, but I would say it's maybe 20% of the time as opposed to every yote I've ever shot who let out a hell of a snarl/growl. My guess is it's just the nature of the animal. Being a predator I'm sure the yotes are a lot more pissed off and want to fight back when something hits them. The deer just want to get the heck out of there as quickly as possible.
The coyote I shot didn't make a peep. I've only had three deer vocalize, one grunted when hit in the heart/lungs and when it dropped 30 yards away it grunted a few more times while expiring. (Sounded more mad than frightened.) The other two were spine shots (one with a bow and one with a rifle). One did more of a grunting, the other let out a long bawl. Most of the deer I've shot just take a couple of bounds and then stop and look back with more of 'what the heck was that?' reaction than what could be interpreted as a pain response. I've even seen one reach down and grab another mouthful of soybeans right before it keeled over.
If they made a noise on impact, I wouldn't hear it. Unlike a lot of hunters, my senses seem to shut down after the shot. Watching any bear hunts, you often see the bear turn and bit at the impact site. I think was Justin said about a predatory instinct (which deer don't have) certainly has something to do with it.
I've killed over a hundred Whitetails, and don't ever remember one making a noise until this year. The 140 plus 8 point I shot in late Oct. I hit on a quatering away shot. the arrow went through the liver and out through the heart. He let out a very audible gutteral grunt when hit. Kind of like somebody that had been punched in the gut. First I ever heard but I won't forget it. Dan
