Hunting & Fishing What happened

[Bigwheels]

I've been hunting for most of my life and I've seen a few bullets do weird things but this one I can't explain.
My muley bedded down in the canyon @ 218yds & -8* declination. 338Win 250 Accubond @ 2800fps.
Deer was laying just quartering away from me facing to my left.
Hit him exactly where I was aiming. Never moved. He was on a steep slope which was almost perpendicular to the shot. Bullet did not pass through. It stopped just inside the opposite shoulder & didn't even wreck any meat there. What's even weirder than that is there was a small 1" hole in his paunch close to his dick. Only a couple of small drops of blood leaked out when I moved him & saw the hole. Something changed direction about 120* from the bullets direction with enough energy to go through the whole cavity & exit from the paunch.
What do you think happened here?

 

[WeiserBucks]

Were the guts damaged from a bullet fragment passing through? If not , it's possible he was gored by another buck during battle and the hole may have had nothing to due with the shot .

 

[Bigwheels]

Yes the bullet went through the lungs but the diaphragm was blown up & there was damage to the stomach etc. The rut hadn't started yet. Mid October.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Only thing I can think of would be an internal ricochet, but I can’t explain it.

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

Strange things can happen with high velocity projectiles!

 

[PD DUMPER]

Bone fragment from the shoulder??

 

[eklarsen]

You say he didnt move, could he have been dead already from another hunter that shot him in the hide quarter?

 

[PD DUMPER]

Good thought. Need another entrance hole.

 

[Bigwheels]

Definitely no other hunter. I watched him walk into the opening and lay down. I watched him long enough to decide to just take him where he was rather than wait for him to get up just in case he bolted. And I say he never moved. Caveat that, his head dropped to the ground slowly after the shot. Other than that he didn't move a muscle that I could see.
Did not hit a rib on the way in either. And there was an obvious blood shocked circle about 3" dia. at the front of the off side ribcage. Found that when I was taking the quarter off.
I've only had 1 other 250 AB not fully penetrate an animal ever. That one impacted the spine directly at 100 yds. I have seen these blow through 3 ft of elk at 100 yds with an exit wound I put 3 fingers in easily.
This is the strangest thing I've seen a bullet do to date...

 

[WeiserBucks]

Strange indeed, but mission accomplished. Good looking buck .

 

[Bigwheels]

Yes he was very dead when I reached him. It was a PITA to dress him out due to the steep hillside. I had to tie his head off to a tree to keep him from sliding down the hill, and the pack out was very steep, for the 1st 100 yds, but only about 3/4 mile on an old skid road to where my buddie was able to park the truck. Wish I had known about the smudge on my camera lens before getting back to camp. That's why the pic was washed out. But if you blow it up you can see the dark shadow where the hole was in his paunch and the entry wound where the fur was broken behind his shoulder high up due to the angle.
Can't explain what happened, and it still freaks me out a little but dead is dead, and he sure is tasty...