Yeah now that you mention it...I'm sure you could loose a little whitetail in the thick briars back east.
But out here (MT) the country is bigger and we ussually have snow.
I have never lost an animal shot with the Sharps because it is so easy to shoot extremly well. I have no idea of how many whitetails I have shot in the head with mine. Shot a lot of heads off grouse with it too
I have shot a lot of critters with this Sharps and even the big wide nose flat point 450gr cast just penciled through the bull elk I shot with it about 12 years ago.
You could see the bullet go in (and hear it THUMP) into his ribs. He just trotted off about 100 more yards and stopped and looked back. My buddy with me (had 7mmRUM) said "You need some help
"... I said, "Just leave my elk alone." And I fired another big FP into his ribs. This bullet hit about 4 inches behind the first and he bolted out of sight.
The big bull was piled up just out of sight. He probly went 250 yards total.
You could eat right up to the hole....but my buddy shot my bulls partner with his big 7RUM and he had the throw out both shoulders and most of the backstraps...but his bull did drop instantly at the shot...
Ater this I just went back to the soft cast Creemoor that shoots well and have had no problem...even coyotes seem to just get blown off there feet as the big soft bullet crashes into them.