I'm sorry, but I do not feel that I can budge on this point. I can make that decision because you cannot break the laws of physics and physiology; you can only break yourself against them. If you were really really really really really lucky, and had a really really really reallly really good shot every time,
*maybe* 20% or even up to one-third possibly would drop "dead
right there" as you said. There is a 0.000000000000000000001% chance that 87.5% of them did. You can take out the entire heart of an animal and it still has plenty of oxygen left in it's body to run a pretty good ways.
Do you watch hunting shows? Why is it that our own H&H hunter, who has hunted on multiple continents, pretty much every conceivable game known to man says about 10%,
and the professional hunters on teevee hunting shows get about 10%,
and *I* and my friends all get about 10%, but it's just you and other internet hunters who get 87.5%? I sure would like to hear you and ~z try to explain that.
Yes, to call me skeptical would be an understatement. I don't have to know you to know that animals RUN when they are hit in the heart/lungs, the vast majority of the time (even if only a few yards), and I don't care if they're hit with a .50 BMG or whatever magnumbuttstomper you have. Do roe deer have some magically-different physiological property which causes all blood in their body to violently expel from their body, taking the red blood cells and oxygen with them when, instantaneously when their skin is pierced? If the animal has oxygen to feed the muscle tissue, it will run most of the time until the oxygen runs out or it feels safe enough to stop/lie down (whichever comes first), except in the somewhat rare circumstance when the stars line up.
and to my recollection, I have had to track ONE deer more than a few yards.
That I believe. BUT, "A few yards"
IS NOT
"DEAD RIGHT THERE".
"Dead.
Right. There" means not taking a single solitary step. DRT means sack of potatoes. No wonder the exxageration gets perpetuated, with everyone taking serious liberties with the English language.