Rifle
I believe it's possible as I've seen a similar thing. I had a friend that shot a whitetail deer from hill top to hill top, and I'd say it was 500 yards or more. The distance was so great that the skull was not penetrated, but the deer collapsed and died immediately. The deer was hit between the eyes, literally between the eyes, yet the skull was not fractured. Yet the deer died. This was an elderly gentleman that had never killed a deer. His first and his last. I have another strange but true story. I have a friend that climbed out of his tree stand after dark. He did not know that a small button buck had walked under the tree as he was coming down. He pretty much climbed right down on the deer. It apparently watched him climb down. When it finally smelled him at just a few inches away, it was so startled it bolted frantically. And ran head long into a tree in a few yards, broke it's neck, and died "right there". I was in the area, hunting in another tree stand. Not a mark on the deer, yet dead as a door nail. Strange things do happen. Not all tall tales are untrue.