I shot a deer this morning thought I had a good shot on it but I haven’t found it. When I shot it lowered its front end and hauled ass. No blood where I shot him followed a deer trail nearby and found blood about the size of pie plates out 40 yards from where I shot him. Then no blood until I went about another 30-40 yards again about the size of a pie plate. The last blood I found was around 50 yards away same thing about the size of a plate. No blood in between the areas I found it was all on the ground like underneath on the trail none on sage grass, pine trees or anything else. So where could I have hit it and why was the blood trail like it was? I looked for 3 hours after the last blood walking trails and making semi circles the best I could!

brisket possibly? color of blood?

Bright red!

Veinous blood, brisket or lower leg, if I to speculate. And I am

Pools...Pausing, watching his back trail.


Now you say bright red, ???

Meh, this all subjective.

Should have waited an hour to follow up.

Nice avatar ribka.
Lol

I did that with a bow once. Chased that damn thing all night. A week later I see him step out of the woods, just fine. A razor cut will do that.

How far away was this shot taken from? And what are you hunting with?

I waited about 20 minutes or so before I got down!

He was around 150 yards 30/06 with 165 grain!

Deer probably died fairly quick. I’d suspect the blood puddles you found were from where it fell…go back to where you found the last puddle and walk in the general direction you were headed except in a zigzag pattern…

What did the blood look like?
Bright red
Pink frothy
Dark red?

Plus there has to be hair where he was standing when you hit him

I did that with a bow once. Chased that damn thing all night. A week later I see him step out of the woods, just fine. A razor cut will do that.

I had a similar deal one time. Couple spurts then nothing. I did ended up finding he deer mostly by luck turned out I'd shot the aorta off right at the heart so it bled out in seconds but all into the body cavity except the initial couple spurts out the would channel.
Could be a lot of things. Know anyone with a dog?

front end shot. probably white hair around the first shot area. i shot one like that up on top of a friggen cold ass mountain one morning. bright red blood, trailed it all day in the snow nice and slow. never saw it again and gave up.

No, I wish I did I would have already had it on it.

Lordy who knows! What’s your gut feeling tell you?

That’s why I shoot ‘em in the head.

I thought I made a good shot. I watched the deer eat for 15 minutes before I pulled the trigger!

My guess is the deer is laying with in 200 yard of where it was hit. Not to be harsh, why did you quit looking before dark?

Walking across pine rows with some of the rows 3 foot deep on the sides along with briars up and down on my knees caused me to start cramping like I never have before.

Its probably in a brush pile in the direction of water, having died watching the back trail for you to come jump it again. Next time you find that kind of blood trail back off at least an hour to give it time to bleed out internally.

What was the shot angle? Standard soft deer bullet? Any bone or hair? What kind of hair?

Go back to the last place you saw blood & start walking in circles that expand a few yards each time. Put up tape so you stay on track if you need - my bet is that deer is dead if you got that kinda blood.

Good luck!

I was basically about 8’ off the ground in a box stand and using psp bullet! No hair or boat found! Like I said not a drop of blood where it was shot or between the piles of blood I did find!

LOL. thats about opposite of my experience. Low hit. Brisket. Pools where it stops to look around to figure it out.

Deer won't die. You'll see it again.

BTW you don't need exclamation marks.

You missed basically. No big deal. Deer has no clue what happened.

And yeah, A dog would answer that right quick. Dog won't go past a dead deer.

Don't need a fancy dog either someone's house pet on a leash would likely find it if its down

That sounds like a lot of blood to have clipped leg or low brisket. What color was the hair where it was standing when you shot and it first fell? Sounds like a deer I shot through the lungs that kept bleeding into the chest cavity and only tipping out smaller amounts before finally hemorrhaging and falling. (Then it looked like the prom scene in Carrie.) But that bullet had exited and pulled out shards of the offside shoulder bone, so had a pretty good idea it was gonna be dead.

There are basically three kinds of blood trails.

1) The kind where they are pumping and/or blowing blood. (Easy)

2) The kind where they are leaking blood, because their "blower" and "pumper" get put out of commission. (Short, but often difficult.)

3) The kind you probably won't recover.

Good luck.

Where were the crosshairs located on the deer when your rifle fired? If you don't remember you probably had you eyes closed.

I know how to shoot a gun and my eyes weren’t closed. I learned when I was a teenager to keep your eyes open during the shot!

Not sure about the terrain where you live but...........any animal I have made a poor shot on "wounded" ....but hit hard, heads downhill and often near water, always....no shortage of steep hillside around here.
The last buck I shot was standing in a lake after a poor shot.

high shot. Clipped the top.

That's good. So where were the crosshairs?

Halfway up in the bend of his front shoulder!

Bet not

That's where it was before he yanked the trigger lol

....and clipped him high.

The “pie plate” was because he stopped. He was probably watching you.

Could be a brisket hit. Did you find hair at the shot site?

Buck,
We've all made those questionable shots. No fault on this end. I've shot where I knew it would go down only to never find it and then I've made shots that I thought were pulled and the deer went right down. Any chance you can go back out tomorrow and look? I would think that deer is not far away. Can you use dogs to track in your area?

If you hunt long enough, something like this is bound to happen.

I wouldn’t sweat it, have another look tomorrow.

Half these mother [bleep] running their yap keep their fat ass on the couch and play know it all on here.

I’m definitely going to look again. I hate letting one get away not knowing if it’s going to die or not!

Adda boy Buck. Sometimes the light of a new day pans out. One way or the other you'll know you've given it a good honest try. I'd also add I've seen a lot of these I shot a deer but couldn't find it thread on various boards. And they pretty much all turn in to a schit show. hahahahaha So take some of the comments and *this* is what happened bs with a grain. No one will know what happens unless you find it. Period.

Nope

Yep. Pausing a bit here and there

Search all nearby watet sources tomorrow.

He spent 3 hours looking

Surely he covered 200 yard’s worth. lol

I have a feeling the deer is some deep cover, I’d go to the thickest, gnarliest crap and check. Look for a whole deer instead of small drops at this point. That deer is matted and clotted. So he is either dead or you’ll bump him up. Don’t be sherlock holmsing it.

This
Pass by just downwind.

I put a 12 gauge slug thru the heart of a 120 pound buck once. Same crumple, but no back leg kick (unusual). Maybe 40 yard shot.

Found a tiny chip of bone near the hit... smattering of blood at the hit location... then NOTHING... zero. Looked for hours and hours.

Finally found him laid up under a tree fall not 70 yards from the hit, must have walk right by him half dozen times.

...Your deer is dead... might have spend his final energy hiding very well. Good luck in your search. Sucks to lose one... gets to you.

Yep, Nope

If I were to bet, I would say you hit something other than the deer before the deer. The bullet got deflected or came apart and you didn't actually hit the deer where you think you did. Go in after it mid morning, long after it would naturally bed for the day, just in case it lived through the night. If you jump it out of bed, it will likely live. Also, look closer at the blood trail. There has to be blood in between the puddles you are finding... it's just logical because the holes don't close up. It's there, you just aren't seeing it because it is really minor. Just my .02

Maybe high lung shot.

Initial bleed fills lungs with little blood on the ground as it takes off. Deer stops and wheezes blood out nose and mouth looking at back trail. Gets spooked and runs some more, repeats process. My guess is that if you got both lungs you will find it. maybe not if you only got one.

Deer I have seen hit like this will have a lot of blood coming out of the mouth and nose when found

Look for the birds tomorrow late morning. Or better yet bring in a dog as others have mentioned.
Happens to the best of us. Try your hardest to find it. Be at peace with the results whatever they are.

Finding the hair is the first step in figuring out where you hit. The sign is all there. You just have to find it. It may be just a few hairs and you had to get your face right off the ground to see.

Back when I first started killing deer we trailed every deer whether we could see it without trailing or not. It gets pretty interesting and educates you to find deer on bad shots or bullet failures, etc. We spent time discussing and comparing notes. Do people even talk about that anymore?

My wife made an iffy shot on a buck once and wanted to call for a dog. I told her, "I am the dog." I found it.

My son shot this guy a month ago. Been looking since then.

It sucks, but shît happens.

If it meant I’d find him, I’d take a little bite..

Sometimes you have to get down and follow every track and every speck of blood. When you can't do that anymore, you make circles looking for same. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

Next time, try a little lighter weight bullet. I quit having to track deer when I started loading my .30-06 with 130 grain Hornady soft points at 3100 FPS. Bang/flop every time from powder burn distance to 300 yards. 30+ Tennessee white tails so far with that load.

Sounds like a gut shot deer. They usually go for awhile and then bury themselves under the thickest, nastiest stuff in the woods.

I double lunged a deer this year and he sprinted away 100 yds or so. I then heard a crash, but he looked pretty normal when running. Found him rolled up under a tree hidden by boulders. I still don't understand how he made it so far.

Mine wasn’t quiet that nice. I couldn’t imagine how that must feel!

JFC...this used to be a place where a man could get sound advice. Now it's like some kind of game show..

Can u please not use the Lort name on vane ??

🙏🏼💒⛪️✋🏾

It’s all good I can tell who to take input from and who is full of crap!

There is already a thread on who is a bullshitter.

Yeah, that little type of blood trail explanation was a big help.

Moron 🤣

It's one thing to be a malcontent. It's another to intentionally hurt other people to make yourself feel better.

Buck720,

A friend did that. At one point he stopped for a break. The deer died and slid down a slop ending up under a nearby tree. The deer was only visible while seated.

Yeah, because that never happens around here.

Most of our land is pine thicket with a little hardwood on the creeks!

That's most deer leases! If you're not going to learn to track, maybe you should look at the thread on high shoulder shots!

I shot a nice buck this morning. My personal best. He was on a trot chasing some does through hardwoods and brush. Picked an opening and sent it. It took about as long as it takes to say, 2 Mississippi. 300WM at roughly 65 yards. Hair and some funky crap at impact that looked like vomit. Also a smooth piece of well defined muscle about 1.5" in diameter. It bled here and there for a bit, then petered out. I was sure I had a good hit, but because of brush and recoil I couldn't be positive. So I started making concentric circles. I was about to call it when I looked on the other side of the the White Pine that separated us and there he was.

Heart shot and lower lung. That bullet made a mess of both. Only the top half of the heart remained. That buck went 55 yards with half a heart. That smooth piece of muscle? It was the bottom part (apex) of the heart. Never seen that before...blown completely out of the body. Anyway, 15 point non-typical. Pretty happy and better lucky than good.

Don't be so mean to game shows, Pat.

Would like to see it. Is it posted in a thread already?

I don’t have much to add on the tracking aspect but good luck- hope you find him tomorrow.

Too late now, but I hope you had a chance to go back in daylight and mark where you hit him and where you found blood (or that you did it during the original search). It's amazing how sign disappears and how things look totally different once you've had a night to re-remember it 100 times.

This thread wins for most exclamation points! For sure! Like 100%!!

What a pussy, you killed the deer and are to much of a Salley to claim it

Umm…pics!!?

How in the fug do you get it from the gallery to here...asking for a friend with special needs

Stud!!!
Congrats Charlie.

Thanks for the help AK. You're a good man.

That’s some gnarly headgear...

Nice buck !

🦫

Meh.
Had me flummoxed for years too. Somebody pointed out the ease of postimage and I have much paying forward of photo karma yet to accomplish.

Great buck. What state?

Michigan - Oceana county

Maybe a slight angling away brisket shot. We've recovered a lot of deer that were hit just a little low or to far forward a quarter to half mile away. Deer are very tough animals and have a will to survive. Best of luck to you

Probly hit him in the aśs

Congrats Foxtrot !

I would have been sick if I couldn't find a buck like that. A true Northern Giant.

Sounds gut shot. Use a dog if you can.

This happens to all hunters , eventually. Tracking in thick stuff you do not know like the back of your hand can get real frustrating by yourself, at night! Your decision to back off ,was probably your best choice. The two animals I had to track that I shot with a bow all headed toward their last known place of security and water. Found em , though it was a long night. If I had not flagged my blood trail , I would have ended up empty handed.

If there are any ponds or streams, do check them. It's happened to my bud and my brother that deer they hit ran off into a pond.

No good tracking dogs in your area?

Good advice. If the birds didn't find him, he’ll probably be ok. Anyone that says they’ve never lost one, hasn’t shot many.

Saw the skull cap off and leave it

Deer will be pumped full of stress hormone, adrenaline and marinated gut juice, bubbles in the mesentery

barf trying to eat that

Look near the bottom of the thickest, steepest ravine. Well, at least that's where all my deer go.

pie plates are small compared to dinner plates. Pie plates are not much blood. To only find a few and not a steady trail doesn't always mean its just a wound but most of the time if the deer stops to look back instead of keeping on or bedding up, then its not hurt much at all. Especially without a trail. If it has to stop for likely minutes to leave enough blood to see then its not bleeding much and inside of 150 yards or so the trail will likely be totally gone and the wound clotted.

Sometimes they are well hit and don't bleed much. Even with 165 gn 30-06. Around here the crows and buzzards find dead deer pretty fast and start circling. I have had deer with 2 holes through the ribs go1/4 mile. Some bleeding good. Some not much.

I'm sure he walked it off.
You'll get him next year.

Thanks for getting this posted

Great buck Charlie Foxtrot

Holy Crap CFT!!

Great buck congrats on that sucker.

Can you start a thread and give us the details?

Any luck finding your deer yet?

Did you actually read all his posts?

Well my brother-in-law and I went and looked for a couple of hours today. No more evidence and we covered a many a yards of ground. I’m thinking a brisket hit and got away thanks for all of y’all’s I put! Not to say I won’t keep my eyes open for buzzards.

Buck270, i hit a deer like that once, lost the blood trail after a little while. I went back to camp and got my buddy and his dog to track it. We kicked it up 3 different times but didn't have a shot. Finally on the 3rd time it charged the dog and my buddy was able to get a good shot and put it down for good. it was a nice 7 point. A good dog really helps.

No (Missed his post bright red)
And him saying he didn’t find blood or hair where the deer was standing says IMO he didn’t look hard enough.

There is no way you can hit a deer and not find blood or hair
where deer and bullet intersect . Those first clues are crucial to understanding where you hit a deer

YMMV

I shot a doe that was walking across a gravel drive one time. Not a long shot. Maybe 125 yards. I proned out to set up for the shot, and when I exhaled I fogged the scope lens. I wiped it off with my finger and got the shot off. I thought I had a good sight picture. But as I replayed the shot in my mind, I couldn't visualize where the crosshairs were when the gun went off.

I waited for an hour or so until my buds were done. When they showed up we walked down to where I pulled the trigger. About 10 feet from where the doe was when I shot, blood had sprayed all over vegetation at deer chest level where she entered the woods. Another 5 yards, same thing. Another 5 yards, same thing. The blood spray eventually stopped. We eventually found a place where she had laid down and there was a patch of drying blood. We pressed on. We eventually jumped her and she hauled ass.

I still have no idea where I hit her to get that kind of spray without a fatality.

Thanks to all of the guys with helpful information and some of the great stories you have shared. The rest of the assjacks need to go back in their basement!

So did you find the deer? Or shoot him in the asś?

Dear Paul,

Stop putting your scope in your mouth.....It’s not a penis.

Hint

😂🦫

Apparently old habits die hard.

Fireball said HARD.

LOL

Make sure you do the obvious and follow the path of least resistance from where you last found blood. Follow it for a good 300 yards and then go back and follow another likely route he might have taken. I have found a handful that way when there was no blood or easily to find tracks.

Anybody that gets off the couch knows some strange things happen when you pull the trigger.

It got away.

You might be surprised what a house pet can find.

My redbone mix passed a couple years back. She was an excellent tracker when called upon find more than a few deer for our local hunters.

I made a shot with a bow on a doe with my kids in the stand in an urban archery hunt. Some walkers/hikers bumped the doe just after the shot and it ran through a neighborhood. Two hours later our Corgi mix, 35 pound, couch potato of a house pet lead us right to the dead deer a couple hundred yards away from the shot.

Not necessarily always the case...

I say this because it happened to me once. No blood, hair, tissue, bodily fluids, etc., anywhere in area around where bullet impacted deer.

Followed direction deer ran off in for well over a hundred yards with still no blood, hair, etc. Searched again but went further this time. Just as I was about to give up and assume I missed it I found one small drop of blood on a dry leaf on the ground right at a fence where it apparently leaped over. I crossed over fence and started finding a little more blood but still not a lot. About 50 yards or so across the fence inside a yet unharvested soybean field found deer laying dead on ground, head and back facing down hill. Entrance and exit bullet holes were both the same size. Field dressing the body cavity was literally filled with it's blood. Bullet grazed heart, took out one lung, passed through liver, and exited right behind last rib of off side. No sign of damage from bullet expanding and wounds looked just like what you'd expect a practice tip arrow would make.

My best guess is either my bullet simply failed to expand or else it didn't impact anything solid / dense enough to initiate expansion. When deer finally bled out internally that's where it fell over dead.

Yes, it got away.



You're welcome,
Flave

Great camera work also.

Things mine has found: wifi box X2, air conditioner lines, siding, deck, stairs, heated mat, boots, pants, idk what else. He can stop finding stuff any day now. One day he grabbed a package of fish hooks and ripped it apart. I paid $150 for emergency x-rays to see if he had any in him. Then my daughter felt so bad she scoured the back yard and found all 50 hooks. I felt like a turd. I still blame the dog as the root cause.