deer under a down tree?

[rickyp]

This past gun season my buddy shot a nice buck and it ran off only to die under a fallen tree. he made it about 1/2 way under it. the very next day I shot a small spike and he ran and went under a fallen tree he was 3/4 under it. I almost didn't find him it the deer found a down tree with more branches I would have never have found him. both deer had to be pulled out before we could field dress them BTW both deer where shot on the same farm but on diffrent ends of it

This is the first time I have seen this, is this unusual?

[longwinters]

If we are hunting where selective logging has been going on, there will typically be a lot of tree tops on the ground.  When we have shot deer in these areas, with a bow, it is not uncommon for them to run thru these tops instead of around them.  So sometimes we find them laying inside of a top.  They might only run 50-60 yards but they still seem to "run blind" and don't worry.  

Does it looks like they purposely hid under the trees?  Were they laying in a way that makes it look like they were watching their back trail?

Long

[rickyp]

both trees are storm fallen and no logging around me. it looks like the deer tried to hide under or run under it  insted of jump over

[beemanbeme]

I have kicked up deer that were bedded in fallen tree tops and also seen them pushed far enough back into the brush piles left behind by logging that they had to be doing it on purpose.  I have recovered one deer that had crept into the space between the ground and the bole of a fallen tree.

[tscott]

I shot a nice buck in an oak grove last year. He went right down and lay there motionless. I moved towards him within 5 minutes. He jumped up
and struggled over this small cliff towards a downward sloping stream.
No blood. I searched for hours. Did the circle thing, and concentrated downhill towards water, you know textbook stuff. Exhausted and very sweaty, I gave up after 4 hours of this. I was disgusted at the prospect of losing my first deer in 40 years. I headed up the stream and a large gully
to my car. At the top of the gully, under a tree in a stump hole I saw the telltale white belly = dead buck. This deer low crawled up the stream, and purposely crawled under this downed tree to avoid me... No question in my mind about it. I was not surprised. Nothing a deer does surprises me!!!

[Graybeard]

I suspect those trees just happened to be in the path the deer were taking after being shot and had just enough resistance to end forward motion. If they'd had more steam left in them they'd have been on the other side of them.

Deer mortally wounded but not yet down and out do strange things. I've seen several run head long into trees and brush and get caught up in it. It's like they are running with their eyes closed.

[Redhawk1]

I suspect those trees just happened to be in the path the deer were taking after being shot and had just enough resistance to end forward motion. If they'd had more steam left in them they'd have been on the other side of them.

Deer mortally wounded but not yet down and out do strange things. I've seen several run head long into trees and brush and get caught up in it. It's like they are running with their eyes closed.

I shot a doe this year and it took off running. I shot it in the field and it tried to make it into the woods, but a tree got in it's way. It ran head on into the tree and piled up right there. Like Graybeard said, it was like it was running with it's eyes closed.  :-D

[rockbilly]

As GB said, they do strange things when shot.  A few years ago I shot a deer that fell in it's tracks, I sat in the stand for a while,  then while I was on the ladder getting down, I noticed the deer get up and take off running.  I sat on a stump for about 30 minutes before looking for the deer.  I found a good blood trail, but couldn't find the deer.  After looking for a while, I went back to the place it first fell and started looking again.  About thirty yards away I found the deer five-six feet up in a big cedar tree.  I guess he made that final leap and landed there.

[rickyp]

I would never think to look 6feet up in a tree for a dead deer.