When I first moved to MO, there was a fairly good sized buck that would come to our pond and drink. I'd see him quite often. I think I took a pic of him and posted in one of the threads here.
A couple weeks ago deer season was hot and heavy in my area. One morning while walking the dogs I hear this wheezing, coughing, moaning sound of something in agony gasping for air coming from the woods behind my house. This went on for hours, but what was odd was, every time I'd hear a shot go off in the distance, it would get dead silent for a minute, then it would start in again. It amazed me that this animal knew enough to keep quiet when it heard the gun shots.
I was keeping my dogs outside in a chain link fence kennel until Maggie (the yellow lab) literally chewed her way out. I freaked. There was blood everywhere because she ripped her gums and tongue up pretty bad. This never happened before up in Iowa, but we didn't have any hunters near by either. Turns out, she's freaked out by the gun shots. She goes nuts and tries to hide in my truck and now she has to be at my feet 24/7 or she tries to chew her way out of wherever we put her. She clawed a hole in the sheetrock in the basement one day when we left her down there. Now I have to take her everywhere I go.
It's really amazing to me that animals pick up on the threat of being shot at.
The buck hasn't been around since I heard that sound in the woods, so I assume someone shot him and he came to his safe place to die.