I was out at first light with some help in the pouring rain. We covered every inch of terrain along the branch, fields, pastures, brushy draws and the open hard woods and could find no trace of him. Any blood would be long gone with the pouring rain. Last night I followed the blood in the field, which was never heavy, until I could find no more. After the rain stopped and the sun came out, I drove around the surrounding area to look for buzzards and there were no circling.
With a solid rest, the shot should be dead on, but I can admit I was rattled. Maybe I pulled to the front and missed vitals in that direction. The shockwaves do tremendous damage to vitals and a deer hit in the vitals never goes more than a hundred yards, usually less than 50. In this situation, the hard to see places are small scraps of brush along the fence lines and easy to search.
One thing I didn't mention, yesterday at 5:30, about an hour after the shot, I stopped by the landowners, right up on the road on the other side of this 30 acre hay field. As I stepped out of the truck, a 4 point was standing on the fenceline 20 yards away. I knew something was up because he didn't notice me.
Then he started chasing a hot doe in a circle, and up comes a very nice buck, well outside the ears, after the doe....the buck turned and I could see the profile....this buck was not hurt and I could not rule out that it was the one I shot an hour earlier. This is the direction he took off after I shot, I just can't believe that he would be hit and chasing a doe an hour later. Do to the brush on the fenceline I only had a limited view before they were out of sight.
