I wanted to make a poll, but this forum doesn't seem to offer that option.

This is a poll going on in another forum, and i'm curious to see what you guys say about this.

Ever shot any big game that you couldn't find?

Thanks.

Yes

No, not yet. But I've always believed that if you spend enough time out hunting, there will come a time that it will happen to everyone.

Lost a feral hog but I don't know they count as big game or just a nuisance. All others I've been fortunate enough to recover but I'm a conservative shooter.

Same here

Yes.

If you have not, you haven't hunted much. I have lost three.1 deer, two elk that I know would have died.

Unfortunately yes. Leaves a sick feeling, thats hard to get rid of.

Yes

Yes, a whitetail shot on an island that keeled over on the river's edge and sunk in the current.

A black bear that tumbled into a rock wall crevice.

Yes, more than once I'm afraid.

Yes

BarHunter;
Another yes.

Merry Christmas to you sir.

Dwayne

Twice. Both times flowing rivers have been involved.

Lost a deer once. Still haunts me. Still don't know why he didn't drop dead. Sick feeling indeed.

No, not that I know of, at least not an animal I put the first bullet into. When I was young I was sent to go find and bring back lots of deer. I do remember a couple of them that I never caught up with though.

I am usually not worried enough about shooting a deer that I even consider marginal shots. Easy shots ought to be made.

Not yet, but I know it can happen to even the best hunter.

My time is likely coming. Thought it was happening on a mule deer hunt once, but we found him the next morning. Ugh. That was a tough night, but it was likely a lot tougher on the buck.

Not yet...knock on wood

I knew the answer yes would be high, because stuff happens, but it's also good to see so many saying no.

I lost a moose,a wolf, and guideing 1 brown bear.

Knocking on wood here as well.

But compared to a lot of guys I also haven't shot that many big game animals so of course that makes a difference.


Lost 3 pheasants this past Fall and that makes me sick enough(need a dog).

Yes. Particularly bad because it was a 30 inch class muley. E

Yes, a bear.

Fast twist...

Yes, two deer and a red fox. Very frustrating lessons that nature teaches us. My friends brothers tried to help another hunter that they didnt know find a wounded black bear in PA.
The weather was cold and raining hard, they told me the hunter was almost in tears and the never found the bear.

That's a tough one. You know the rain is washing away the blood trail, but who wants to look for a bear without giving it time to die.

Yes, chit happens. The more you hunt, the greater the chance you lose an animal or two.

No, but I would have without PHs and trackers to straighten things out. On deer, I don't take long-range shots and that has definitely helped prevent me from losing anything.

Well if its a good hit, and its going to die, you don't need much trail really... general direction. Rare for animals to go more than 100 yards before they die.

OTOH if its not a great shot.... then it becomes a bad deal with rain.

I left a gut shot doe laying under a tree with a storm coming, NO way to get close enough to kill her. She was there dead after the storm passed a few hours later...

Yes.

No but it did take me about 16 hours before I found one moose and 10 days on another. They were found but lost to eating. Haven't lost another one since I went to CNS placement on moose within 100 yards. Both were found/ lost in places where they were unseen from 10 feet away. B

Yes, 1 hog. I had always been told it will happen if you hunt long enough. We do the best we can from the shot to the recovery!

Sure have. The thick stuff around here can make game tough to find. I try to be extra careful with shots as shooting light is fading.

4 or 5 that I can think of offhand, of some 150 head.

Yes... Muzzleloading has led me to this on a few occasions.

Once on a Cow elk in New Mexico. Another time with a Flintlock/round ball on a whitetail in PA.

If you're a archer, its most likely a eventuality. I've helped in recovery efforts on several archery hit animals.

Its a sickening feeling every time.
Like riding a motorcycle guys, you do it enough, its going to happen someday.

Yes.

Lost 1 deer

Yes, it can happen to anybody and probably will sooner or later no matter how careful you are.

Yes.

2 while archery hunting and 2 with a rifle.

Those lost animals came in my first 15 years of hunting when filling the tag was deemed as very important, which led to taking shots that in hindsight weren't very good.

I learned a lot from those mistakes and never want it to happen again.

Yes, and I shot a woof in the butt with a 22 once.

Yes.

Yes, 3 doe deer. All with a muzzleloader, due to not being able to follow them onto private posted land and finish them off.

first shot should have finished them off IMO.

Anything I've ever shot, no...

I've experienced about 15 or so from Hunters shooting... Have found 75% of those in the following weeks with the help of birds and such... A few were found the next year in places I'd never imagine a wounded animal to go or be able to travel that great of a distance wounded...

Many years ago I gut shot a whitetail buck and never did find it. I shot it in the evening, looked until dark, then called my father and brother to come in the morning

I slept in my truck and we looked for several more hours that morning. Never found it and it made me sick. I gave up bowhunting for the remainder of the season.

donsm70

Yes. Shot a Cow three years ago that ran about 200 yards and fell on private land. Landowner would not give permission to collect animal. Understand that they went a got the Elk out though. At least it didn't go to waste.

Yes. One elk, one antelope. Both were chased all day and never found.

Yes. Whitetail doe, high shoulder shot knocked her down but she got up and walked off. Very little blood on a morning with heavy frost. Tracked her about 75 yards and she started walking normal. Still not sure if she survived. I have probably lost 5 coyotes over 34 years, shooting too far or small rounds without perfect shot placement being the primary cause.

Yes, 1 elk & 1 black bear.

Yes. There's two kinds of hunters who've never lost an animal; beginners and bullshitters. An animal can be perfectly hit, quickly killed and still lost.

A good shot will wound more than he misses, that's a mathematical certainty. Who hasn't missed? Beginners and bullshitters.

Yes my biggest buck to date, found 2 days later on a farm that adjoined the piece of property I was hunting. 2 does, no reaction to a rifle shot but slight blood was found on both.

Just one completely, but 2 have been lost long enough for the coyotes to get there before I did. One I found the next morning completely devoured, the other I found about 4 hours later also completely eaten. One other one I found the next morning but still intact and as it was winter it was fine.
I did hit one other doe very low and far back with the bow, but I saw her later that evening with 2 other deer so I think she was ok.

Read somewhere that archery "losses" are on the order of 30%. Don't know the criteria or accuracy of that.

I guess I've been lucky. Forty five years and almost 100 deer killed and I don't think I ever lost one. I said I did here on a post one time but found the deer the next morning. South Texas brush can swallow one up in a hurry. He was within 50yds of where I shot him but I just could not find him in the dark. powdr

Count me in the yes column.

First animal I ever shot with a bow, a javelina, as well as a cow elk shot at archery
Distance with my 30-06.

Back in the early to mid 1990's, Idaho did a bull elk mortality study and while the sample was fairly small, around 50-60 bulls were radio collared on public land with varying degrees of road access,the wounding loss was around 50% for archery hunters.

For rifle hunters, the loss was much lower, 10-15% IIRC, but due to higher numbers of rifle hunters the number of lost bulls was about equal archery.

This particular area had good elk numbers at the time and was prior to wolf reintroduction. Much of the study area was very brushy and steep, which I'm sure played a part in wounding loss.

lost one deer in my life. 257 Roberts with hand loads. grabbed the wrong box of ammo in the dark. the bullets were 100g ABC match. all I found after the shot was about one drop of blood every 100 ft. tracked that buck 6 miles out into the flats outside of Lancaster Calif. he had to swim the California aqua duct to get to the flats. never saw or found him. was headed to Tehachapi for all I knew.

Yes. No excuses.

There's about 15 million hunters in the US now. Not counting the rest of the world, and all the hunters that came before us. You honestly think that not one can go through their hunting career without losing an animal?

I'd put my money on a hunter who never lost one then bet on everybody through time losing one. So many have lost just one. That's so close to not losing any when you figure how many they've shot.

No, I don't think everybody is a liar, or rookie who claim to not have lost one. The odds of nobody doing it is a poor bet.

One buck shot with a bow...........sucks!!!

Some things can be taken too literally.

Yes with Archery, muzzleloader, rifle and shotgun. I have never lost one I shot with a pistol.

Perry

That's true, but I didn't know you weren't serious.

Yes, out of the hundreds I've shot, I've lost several. It's a bad feeling for sure. Spent many many hours looking for them.

The thing that gets under my skin a bit is the hunters that hardly look at all. You'd be surprised how many hunters give up looking within minutes.

I've lost a few, unfortunately. I lost a nice blacktail to a brown bear on Admiralty Island. I made a good shot on him across a small ravine, and he dropped in his tracks. While I was figuring out the best way to get over to him, a young bear stood up in the alder less than 50 yards from my deer. I watched him weave through the alder right to the kill site.

I've lost a couple of whitetails, too. Both with my longbow. One was a liver hit that crossed a river. Found her remains the next day. Coyotes had made quick work of her. The other was a one lunger, shot from too steep an angle. Never did find her, even after pushing her for over a mile. I will say that if I hadn't had tracking dogs available, I'd probably have lost 3 or 4 more. Never lost one with my rifle, though.

Hogs are another story. I've lost several. Most were just bad hits, no blood trails, and thick swamp. The craziest one, though, was a young boar I shot with my longbow. I put an arrow through both lungs, complete pass through. He made a mad 40 yard dash for the Santee river and literally dove off the bank into the water. He never came up.

I also lost a turkey to the brush in the swamp. Found my arrow and a pile of feather a couple of days later. Now, I use a string tracker.

South TX brush can get thick. Have trailed more than a few for an hour or more to find them.

I"ve taken over 100 with bow alone, I don't like it, but I feel lucky that I've only lost a few deer period over the years to any weapon.

There are a few wounded ones too that survived, so I dont' count them in the lost category, only the well educated category.

Yep, and it super sucks and not something one ever gets over.

Two that really busted me up. I have replayed these scenarios over and over again and they still bust me up.

Back in about '00, arrowed a BIG 6-point Rocky Mtn bull elk my third or so year out archery hunting. As big as they get in the area. Text book. Season opener. Buddy set up to call downwind and down ridge. I was kneeling at the edge of a small opening about 40 yards up the ridge. He proceeded with his sweet cow calling, sweet mountain music. About 5 minutes and here comes the antlers - OMG! Just like the big time! He passes behind a little fir and I draw. Perfect! Coming to broadside at about 25 yards I let it fly. Wack! I thought I'd done it good, he busts down and away over the ridge. Buddy comes up and asks me if I'd seen it? I am like, "Seen it - Dude I nailed a BIG bull!" He immediately crushed my enthusiasm saying, "Sure didn't hear him pile up, where'd you hit him?" Right in the sweet spot I replied,"I SAW THE ARROW STICKING OUT." He's like, dude (we were younger then, that's how we talked duuuude!), "that's not good!" I'm now certain I hit him a few inches forward of the sweet spot, right in the scapula. Wasn't using a super powerful set-up either. Damm little blood but was able to track him about a mile and found the arrow, then nothing. Spent all afternoon and evening looking and no findy and the next day, nothing. Killed a raghorn two days later on the same ridge with a neck shot! My buddy has concluded maybe I ought stick to rifles... A few years previous, on the same ridge, I killed my first archery elk, a yummy heifer that was TROTTING along with a group heading for the same buddy's cow call. Hit the rear end taking out the femoral artery, certainly not pretty but she was anchored! Poor young gal. That's definitely a special ridge that will likely always have elk if any do. FS surrounding a huge primo private parcel, just sooo many many more a-holes up there anymore... After many conversations, we think that big ol' bull likely suffered through it to meet his end via another fate.

In 2012, I drew a neat blacktail rifle tag, actually hybrids up there, and had scouted things out enough to know I better take whatever I can, it's brushy, dry, they're still nocturnal. Evening of the opener I chanced upon a little buck just stepping out from behind a little fir at a whopping 30 yards. Don't think he ever met a man before, just following his mom or sister... I drew up, aimed for the big spot, fired and he hunched up and gimped a couple steps out of sight. I was elated, easy peasy. Purely a meat hunt, no hurries and no worries. Gave it a couple minutes and walked over there to tag my dink, and sunsabeich there's no deer! I mean he's small and it is BRUSHY as hell, so I look around pretty good, but he's not there! WTF WTF WTF! Sonsabeich there's no blood! No chance of tracking in the dry forest litter and powdery soil, NOTHING! I spent the next several hours searching well into the night, and half the next day and never found the slightest bit of crimson. I mean crawling around on my belly looking at every larch needle, twig, and speck or dirt. NOTHING! Just really gave me a bad taste for screwing around! I had bought a super super accurate Rem 700 SS Mtn Guide 243 on here, worked up an super accurate, get this, 70gr NBT load that consistently shot cloverleafs at 100. Just pissed me off. I sold that super accurate rifle. I honestly cussed the Campfire in general for giving me such silly ideas! Gawd darnedest idea I ever had, using a varmint bullet on deer (the price is sure right)! In hindsight I think I learned a few things and realized even more. That bullet probubly works further away. I should'a head or neck shot him at that range. Uber accuracy doesn't matter if you don't practice. I likely hit him in front of where I'd thought, on the shoulder, and there's a very good possibility he was not clear of the little fir tree yet and the bullet contacted something before striking him... Still, NO BLOOD, that pisses me off to this day! I wish we could use dogs to find wounded game and had access to one. I think he had the fate of being cougar, bear or coyote food... Late in the season I shot a hella nice mature 3-pointer (that's 8 back East, sounds bigger that way, eh?), but loosing that tender little buck still busts me up.

That might apply in your area
Around here you could be 10 feet from an animal in the woods and still not see it

Yes. One. Happened on a Missouri Breaks rifle elk hunt. Still makes me sick after 9 years. mtmuley

Yes

no. 1 shot, 1 kill for the past 41 seasons. not bragging, just facts

Yes.

Yes.

I think anyone that has bowhunted much has lost one or more. I have and it is not pleasant.

Several in Pa flintlock season. We used to be required to use round balls and they are not real effective. With a double lung or heart shot they often run 100 or more yards with little or no trail. You find them shortly later if you can find the sign. I finally quit hunting if we did not have snow. Now we can use better bullets.

A bigger cal ball helps. They'll blow right through.

Unfortunately yes - one whitetail doe with a rifle and one spike elk with a bow. Both late afternoon and unable to find before light ran out. Unsuccessful following up the next day - I very seldom pull the trigger late in the day due to this, and never with a bow...

Yes two whitetails and one sika deer, all with a bow..... Just don't bow hunt anymore. All were shot in heavy cover and wet conditions. The one whitetail was found by a beagle two weeks later while rabbit hunting, less then a 100 yds, from where I shot it......

No doubt. We mostly used 50's. If I would have known more it would have been a 54. The 50 usually would blow through, but with blackpowder velocity and a round ball that could only flatten some there was not much damage in lungs. Even with more modern projectiles that tear a big hole it does not seem like the meat is bloodshot. After a wash down of the carcass that ugly hole does not mean much lost meat. Shot a sabot pistol bullet through the front of a doe that was standing twisted. The bullet exited and hit the ham with a big hole. After cleaning it up little was wasted. A pleasant surprise.

A .54 is better, but a .58 is the ticket. Moving slower, but with much more momentum. It just keeps trucking through the deer (or elk) with little meat damage. 270gr of round ball destruction.

Unfortunately, yes I lost one. Ironically also one of the easiest shots I have had too. Doe whitetail at about 25 yards dead broadside with a 44 Mag. Gave the mule kick and ran into thick brush. Trailed her for almost a mile in snow and finally ran out of ground. Never have figured out what happened.

Lost two different archery deer, one I'm fairly certain would live and another I knew lived as I saw him a week or two later.

Had a couple I didn't know if I'd find, but did the following day and thankfully cold temps.

Yes.

Yes, Awful feeling!

fubar about a .50cal not being enough to take down a lousy deer!

Hell, the elk I shot back in 2008 was 140 YARDS... read the yardage... 140 yards... .54cal 230 grain round ball with a lousy 80 grain Pyrodex RS charge. That ball I doubt even had 350 ft lbs energy at that distance and the cows lungs where shattered.

Yes I have. I lost a nice deer.

Like others have said, it's not a good feeling in your gut.

Lost the first deer I ever shot, whitetail doe that I shot during archery season as a teenager. Was basically teaching myself how to hunt in those days. Haven't lost one since, and found one that a hunting partner had given up on so I guess I redeemed myself.

One hog last year. Shot one big sow, DRT, the rest ran about 100 yards to get back under the fence where they came in, sow at the back of the line angling away from me, took a bullet behind the ribs angling forward. She dropped, then made it back up and made it under and off into the mesquite. Blood and hair where she initially took the bullet and blood trail going under the fence. Neighbor doesnt allow anyone on, period. One less piggie in that hay field.

I have shot alot of WT here as we have a liberal season and limits and bonus tags/nuisance tags as well. I think if I recall correctly I have lost two. One straight under the tree with a 30-06 and a sst. Blood in puddles but it crossed onto private and didn't find a track to follow nor want to confront the anti-hunting owners. If there would have been any sign near the line I would have asked anyway but no indication after the initial hit. The other I tracked for 8 hours through prickers and only went about 300 yards. By midday I kicked it up along a housing development and it got up from it's bed and ran like nothing happened. No blood near her bed either. I am thinking that one was a non-lethal shot. They both made me sick. I usually shoot well under a hundred yards and always always use a rest if I can even on close shots. The only thing I can do is continue to hone and practice with the goal of keeping it from happening again.

Yes

Only one that I've shot at with a scoped rifle. More than I'm willing to talk about with metallic sights.

Yes

Yep.

Same here, f'kin bowhunting.

Yes.


Or don't bother to look at all because the animal ran away.

I have lost three I can think of with archery. The first was days after I boldly declared "I have Never wounded a deer."

I only had one get away with a rifle. A close shot, she dropped where she stood. As I walked to her, I saw a deer run away, but didn't shoot, since mine was dead. No, that was her.

A bad part about losing one, you don't know for sure what part of the deer was hit, and its harder to learn from your mistake.

Every hunter will miss his killing shot sooner or later. All one can hope for is that one can follow up and finish the animal before it suffers any more than necessary.

I have shot two animals, a pronghorn doe and a nilgai cow, that were not good clean kills and required multiple shots to kill. Fortunately, both were in open country where finding them to finish them wasn't difficult, but it made me sick that it took them so long to die.

I had a curious incident with my first buck of the 2014 season here in Texas... I shot him with what I fully expected was a clean kill shot at less than 100 yards with my 270, and the buck just leapt away over a fence and into a mesquite thicket. I searched the spot where he stood when I hit him, and there was nothing... no blood, no lung tissue, no hair. Nothing. I assumed a clean miss, but when I got back to the ranch house on my way out the rancher told me he had distinctly heard the bullet "whack" of a good hit on tissue. So I phoned for permission to cross the fence onto the next ranch and found the buck 50 feet into the thicket, dead from a thru-and-thru shot. There was no blood ANYWHERE on the ground. On field dressing, I found the heart had been absolutely destroyed, so apparently there was no way for it to pump blood out the hole... I dunno, I never saw a bloodless deer kill before. But it happened this time. If the rancher hadn't told me he'd heard the thump of the bullet hitting, I'd have lost that deer to the coyotes.

I lucked out on 1. Neighbors shot it just after it cleared the fence. There are a couple where I could swear that I hit them, but couldn't find blood or hair.

Probably lost the first big game animal I hit when I was a teen. It was a slug-only area and I had done my homework well even though my shotgun was a single barrel Savage/Stevens�.but I shot it well and quickly, and knew it preferred Winchester slugs rather than Remington, Browning, and Federal. And I had no trouble grouping those Winchesters into 3-4" groups with the plain bead front sight on that smooth barrel. But our group of 3 or four guys had one doe tag among us and the first opportunity we had was a doe; I had the shot and she was crossing at 20 yards or so on the run. I shot twice thinking I had shot well. I was standing there listening for sounds of her thrashing or shuffling off when two of the others came up talking excitedly. "Did you hit her?" "Is that thing a single shot; that was too fast to be."

"I think I might have. Oh, she's right there." She was standing head-down beneath a cedar but dashed off as I raised my barrel again. So we started tracking. We followed drops, then specks, and tracks amongst others. After a good while, the fellow with the doe tag (who had fired two quick shots shortly before we hunted) looked up and spotted the doe 35-45 yards away, bedded down. He insisted he wanted to take the shot. He missed. I knew it was a chip shot and had complete confidence in my ability to make the basically broadside shot. There were some drops of blodd where she had bedded and I felt badly after when we lost her. There were no further signs of blood. I have since come to realize she was probably only grazed, perhaps near the sternum. That would explain the fact that she was stunned briefly. But I doubt she suffered an untimely demise as a result of our efforts that day. Still, I wish I has brought her down cleanly. The running red fox that I later drilled with a slug as he ran along a fence line was not the consolation prize I had hoped for, though it did bolster my credibility among my friends.

Yes

No, but it was only a 1 lb jug....

Seriously, haven't lost one yet but I'm getting back into bow hunting next year so I'm praying through proper equipment, lots of practice and shot discipline I can keep my streak going...

Yes. 2 doe and 1 hog that I know of.

Many years ago I was pretty reckless in the shots I made. Looking back, I wonder if I wounded some of the deer I chalked up as misses.

Others would do well to do some similar wondering. Even if all their misses were in fact really misses, it would be simply due to dumb luck.

Yes, one whitetail buck unfortunately, shot looked good and his reaction was just like others I have harvested. Gave him about 20 minutes fully expecting to find him just inside the woodline where he ran. Went in and nothing. I was shocked. Looked and found a small puddle of blood where it looked like he had laid down. Waited for a few others I was hunting with to come help. We followed small drops and then nothing. We ended up jumping a deer but couldn't tell for sure if it was him but I would get it was. Never found him. Looked more over the next few days but never found anything. In my mind I would like to think he survived but it still bothers me when I think of it. Definitely shook my confidence for awhile.

Yes'one elk that didn't drop right away. muzzle loader set trigger set too light.Followed a muley buck that I hit in rear leg. He was moving and I made a stupid mistake. Followed him for7 hours in snow and finally got him

Yep. A Cape buffalo I shot and wounded in Matesi in Zimbabwe. It crossed the dirt road border with Botswana and we were unable to get permission to follow it. Pretty hollow feeling not to mention a $2000 trophy fee lost as well.

If someone is such a bad shot to completely miss an animal. They more than likely have lost animals they've hit too.

For someone to say they never lost an animal, they would have had to find every animal they shot at.

What I had in mind when replying to the question was animals I've fired at and not recovered. There was only one ever that I know I missed completely, because I could see the impact in the snow. I jumped a doe and she ran straight away up a hill. I tried to spine her, but over swung with a Turkish mauser and missed her completely. All the others I know or assume I hit.

After 50+ kills i have never lost one.

Yes

Yes.

The odds of people lying or "forgetting" about never losing or missing an animal over a "career" with a decent number of shots taken are significantly better than them actually doing it. Hunters and fisherman are notorious liars and exaggerators dontcha know.

If you haven't lost a Big Game Animal , you haven't hunted much