When you “miss” a deer.

If you did your best to search for blood, hair and tissue and didn't find a thing, while it fine to feel bad about a deer going to waste, there's no need to beat yourself up. Might not be the deer you shot at. Even if it is, without blood or other sign to follow, how would you have retrieved it anyway? I agree, one should always strive to only take high percentage shots and to be proficient enough with their firearm to make those shots. But with all the variables that come with hunting, nuttin' is ever 100%. Can't count the number of deer I have found dead after hunting season over the half a century I have been deer hunting. Some of them were mine. Deer can be mortally wounded and not bleed too. Coupla years ago my youngest son shot two bucks a week apart. One had it's heart blown out and still managed to run 30 yards and dive under heavy pine branches that reached to the ground. Not finding a drop of blood, I kinda had the feeling the boy had missed, but he swore he had hit it, and hit it good. It was his persistence that found it. Opened it up and the cavity was full of blood. Both the entrance wound and exit wound had closed because of fat. Heavy marsh grass hid the little bit that leaked out. A week later I sat next to him as he shot a nice 8 pointer at about 140 yards. The minute he shot I saw the buck rear and then collapse on hos first bound. I told him "Great shot! You broke both shoulders!" went over to where the deer was shot and found no blood, no hair, not even a running track in the dusting of fresh snow. I looked for half an hour in every direction and again, thought the boy had missed and I had been seeing things. went back to the stand to make sure we were looking in the right spot. Directed the boy by hand to the spot I last saw the deer. By the time I got back to him he had a big o grin on his face and challenged me to "find" his deer. I couldn't and after ten minutes he told me to look in the brush clump I had been walking around for an hour. There stuck in the middle with only a single antler tip showing was the buck. It had taken one leap and died, not five feet from where it was shot. Again, circumstance and heavy cover almost made for us to give up on a dead deer than was not five feet from us a dozen times as we searched. So even the best of shots can make for a tough retrieve.

Hopefully the dead deer will not create any hard feelings that could endanger your opportunity to hunt there again. Tracking skills are a learned process and it helps to have a mentor. I seen guys shoot deer and because they were looking thru a scope before they shot, after the shot they don't have a clue where the deer was standing when they shot. Always know where the deer is when you shoot and always keep a eye on them till they disappear. Make a mental note of what tree/bush/corn stalk they ran by just before they disappeared. Running over there without that knowledge may mean you miss a heavy blood trail by 20 yards.

It is obvious that you have passed the "sportsman" test.
There are no certaintees in our sport.
Apparently, you didn't miss.
Even a mortally wounded animal can be easily lost.
Over the years, I have learned to be a little more willing to accept the easy shot that has been offered, and more reluctant to try the long shot.
That said, I may be in your shoes after my next hunt.
Check your zero, grab your tag, and go hunt. Everyone has been, (me) or will be there

From the thread you started yesterday, I would expect similar results.

Given this information and the fact that I plan on going to a 25 yard range I’m thinking if I sight in at 4 inches high at 25 I’ll be within 6 inches of where I’m aiming out to 400 yards....

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Problem is I don’t have access to a 400 yard range and the place I’m hunting doesn’t like target practice during the hunting season.

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The calculated values you had at the beginning of the thread were incorrect and seemingly unverifiable, even if they had been correct, until after hunting season. That is a recipe on how to miss or worse wound and loose a game animal.

Even if you were 1/4” off your zero that would be 4 inches at 400 yards, before you even address errors in the calculations due to variations in given and actual BC, advertised velocity vs actual, what the firearm is capable of and environmental conditions. The best way to mitigate those factors is to know more about them by actually shooting at the longer ranges or limiting your hunting shots to the furthest known distance you have shot. 25 yards in this case.

Here’s to taking shots I can me more confident about, to perseverance in looking, and to doing more pre-season training. Here’s also to re-evaluating my mindset and moving forward.

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Amen to that.

I have a thing about confirming zero before hunting and often change optics from day for game to night for hogs. Suppressors can mitigate the noise a lot and a solid bench and way to hold the rifle goes a long way to making it a one or two shot process, if you make a change and want confirmation.



I don’t think animals are near as sensitive to things as people like to think. We had enough folks come down for a weekend of shooting and riding, UTV’s 4 wheelers and dirt bikes, all day and into the night to go along with the gun fire.

So no one went out Sat morning, figuring they were ran off for the weekend. Not the best of decisions.



Then even more activity Sat during the day and into the night, including a few hundred rounds of different 44 magnum from my machine rest into the bullet trap behind the cabin. Then Sunday after a morning ride pull up to 5 doe in the hog trap...the fire was even still burning in the pit.





When in doubt, add corn to the equation, especially after the acorns are all gone and your chances get a lot better.

Calling your shot is a lost art for many. It takes practice to develop, best begun with a rimfire or air rifle. After confirming zero, fire OFFHAND on a target divided into 4 quarters. Practice calling which quadrant your shot struck based on perceived aim point at time of release. Once you become proficient with quadrants, narrow the target into clock values, and practice calling scoring rings and clock point. A skilled shooter should be within 1 clock and one ring on most every shot. This skill is vital for determining hit/miss and impact location in real-world scenarios.

I missed a deer this year. Pushed my limitations too far, tried a shot that was too challenging under field conditions, deer moved on the squeeze. Before I even trailed the deer 100+ yards in fresh snow to confirm a miss, I knew there was daylight between the crosshair and the base of the skull when the trigger broke. On other occasions, I either knew the shot was good, and could wait for the deer to expire instead of pushing it. Other times, I knew the hit was "decent," and a hit, but found no blood immediately. Knowing I hit the deer soundly, I continued searching dilligently where others would have given up. This is what calling your shot will do for you.

Glad you have taken your experience to heart, and will take appropriate counter measures going forward. Field position practice, a proper zero, and calling your shot are my recommendations. I think you have the sticking within your capabilities bases covered. There are those who have missed a deer or two, and there are liars (often to themselves). The good ones learn from the experience.

My nephew shot a trophy buck last week . I am pretty sure he hit it because it walked away and had its tail tucked under , but we could not find any blood . It was about a 75 yard shot with a muzzleloader that I had just sighted in at 75 yards . I told him to verify the zero .

My brother shot a deer that we followed the blood trails for close to two miles. Not a lot of blood but drops here and there. We would lose it and than we would circle around making sure we had not missed anything. After a couple of hours we stopped looking. The following day we found it a couple more miles from where we had stopped following a couple of bucks. Lucky for us temps were below freezing so no meat was spoiled . Both lungs were shot but missed the heart.

I am surprised he went that far with a double lung shot . Did you push him after the shot or wait a little while before looking ?

daniel craig said:

I missed a shot at a doe the other day. This morning I get a call that a deer was found dead in the neighbors property. Now, I’m not the only one who hunts around here but there wasn’t much shooting all season. The neighbors don’t get to their back acreage much so it could be from days ago.

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So WHY did you "get a call"? Did it just come up in conversation?
Did you go and see the carcass? Otherwise you are making a lot of supposition. It could've been the deer you tried to harvest; it could be a week or two old. Could've been another hunter, could've been an out of season poacher, could've been injured by a car, could've been disease... "...they don't get to their back acreage much..." and they are "non-hunters" so what to they really know when they see a carcass ??

Had a landowner once accuse me of killing a deer and then just leaving it lay on his property, because he found out I was on the adjacent property, and he doesn't allow anybody access. He even produced a bullet, said that since I was the only guy using a muzzleloader, it must be mine, and he took it out of the deer when he found it. Showed it to me and the DNR officer that he had called, and it was a bullet from a sabot round. Jacketed, slightly deformed, no rifling marks, and he didn't call the DNR right away and show them the carcass. Well maybe it was from a deer, maybe not, but it wasn't mine, since I shoot round ball (I didn't tell him that, only told the DNR officer - case closed). So when they are uninformed, no telling what they actually saw

daniel craig said:

I’ve spent the evening in my head, going through all the searching I did for blood, for hair, flesh...anything. I must have covered a hectare and a half looking for evidence.
It’s sad when an animal goes to waste. Especially when it’s found by ardent Non-hunter non-meat consumers

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Disappointing, but only "sad" if you knew it was the deer you tried to harvest, and you don't. It's also sad when an animal needlessly suffers, but again you have no indication of that. That deer in this case is no longer part of the herd, and has nourished forest critters, so it really wasn't "wasted".

daniel craig said:

It can be especially frustrating not knowing yourself well enough to be able to KNOW you either hit it or missed it. And that’s one of the harder parts to handle. Should I have had the confidence to know I hit or missed the dear? Should I have had more humility when making the decision I missed? Was it arrogance? Should I.....should I.... These things happen, sure. It doesn’t get easier (to handle) and it shouldn’t. I’d be worried about me/you if it did get easier.
Here’s to taking shots I can me more confident about, to perseverance in looking, and to doing more pre-season training. Here’s also to re-evaluating my mindset and moving forward.

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Alright, good for you, but what does that mean? Let me ask you this...., was your reaction "I can't believe I missed that deer" or "no way I missed that deer", or was it ..."Huh, well gee I guess I must've missed, but I better make sure." ??

So do you need more range time and thus will know at what distances you simply have a really low probability of a miss? Marksmanship does take some diligence.
Does it mean a need for better tracking skills? Perhaps both? Only you know you.

One of the very key things that I found was to mark where I was when I took the shot. Stuff looks different when you've moved, whether you were in a tree stand or on a ground blind. I found I don't waste time when I can look back and see where I was, as it makes me a much better judge of where the deer was standing when the shot was taken. THAT then gives me a much better chance of spotting something that shows I hit the deer as I can then find where the deer would've first possibly left sign of being hit.

"I must have covered a hectare and a half looking for evidence"..., well perhaps it would've been better to go back to the spot where the deer may have been hit, and search only in a 100 yard radius ?? The farther away from where the deer had been standing, the more square area you add where the deer didn't go. Deer don't go very far when well hit, as a general rule. Deer are also great at hiding. For me, whenever I've had trouble "finding" the deer, it's always been good to go back to where I thought the deer was standing, double or triple check that I'm right about that..., and start again. I also wait at least 10 minutes from shot to moving to find the deer, and usually 20 minutes. Gives the animal time to settle, and pass, and I don't then "push" the animal to move when I start to move.

LD

It happens. I shot a buck yesterday with my 25-06 and had I not been paying attention to the way he acted when he was hit, I would have fully believed I missed. No blood. No hair. No meat. No sign of a hit animal at all. I knew that I hit him, so I walked into the woods where I saw him run. Found him piled up about thirty yards into the tree line with hardly any visible blood. Internal injuries were HORRIFIC! You just never know what is going to happen when you shoot a deer. Crazy stuff happens.
Edit to add: what you see in the picture above is exactly how much external bleeding there was. 100 grain Remington Core Lokt at 236 yards. I almost convinced myself that I missed that deer.

One term that I can't understand, not only mentioned in this thread, but also by the 'game commission' of every state, is the term 'waste'. In nature there is no waste. The deer didn't get found by the op and that was a waste to the op, but you can be sure that every bit of that deer would have been utilized by something. From the obvious scavengers such as vultures, coyote, and racoons, down to the field mice that will dispose of the bones (for the calcium). Worms and bacteria have to eat also.

I've been very lucky I've never missed a deer, not gloating I just pick my shots. I have passed on many deer, either I couldn't get a good shot on the animal or the back drop was not safe.

red rick said:

I am surprised he went that far with a double lung shot . Did you push him after the shot or wait a little while before looking ?

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We probably pushed him. I was not with my brother when he shot him, but by the time I got to my brother we started tracking right away. We should have waited another 10 minutes or longer. But there weren't any high bushes , mesquite, or trees that could have obscured the deer, field of view so it was opened field for the first mile until we got into the canyons and ravines.

Gave it your damn best look? Good..... Thats all that needed, because S%#T happens, even hunting.

Keep that up ideal and feel like a real Hunter.

That animal did not want to die, nor make it easy to be found.

Nothing gos to waste in nature.
Its only the "Man" in management that says that, not the wide variety's of animals that eat it, right down to the worms.

daniel craig said:

This is why I got in the habit of shooting with both eyes open.

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Along those lines, it’s a big chunk of why I don’t shoot a bigger round. Recoil jolts the entire body whether we like it or not, a few miss the subtle movements. If I do hunting with a heavy recoiling gun, it’s going to be one that does anough damage to know you either hit or missed. Example,1-1/4oz 12ga slug at 1700fps

If hunting were easy or predictable, it would neither be challenging nor fun. These things happen.

The best you can do is to be ethical, and always make the shot you take ethical. That doesn't mean you will always hit your target, or drop your animal. Like buck460XVR and others said, no point in beating yourself up over it, it's just another facet of hunting.

bihj said:

One term that I can't understand, not only mentioned in this thread, but also by the 'game commission' of every state, is the term 'waste'. In nature there is no waste. The deer didn't get found by the op and that was a waste to the op, but you can be sure that every bit of that deer would have been utilized by something. From the obvious scavengers such as vultures, coyote, and racoons, down to the field mice that will dispose of the bones (for the calcium). Worms and bacteria have to eat also.

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What you are referring to is what is called "Wanton Waste" and it is illegal most anywhere hunting is allowed. It is the intentional waste of a game animal by leaving it lay after shooting it. Many times folks don't want to burn their tag, or the animal is considered "too small" or it's been shot so most of the meat is ruined. Sometimes, there was never any intent to legally claim the animal, just the thrill of killing something. Indigenous People used most every part of an animal and there was little waste. Nowadays, we don't use the hooves or the sinew or the bones and it is accepted they are thrown out. It's when the whole animal is thrown out with not attempt to use anything but the horn, that is considered "Wanton Waste" and even then it's hard to prove. Because of CWD here in Wisconsin, the DNR provides dumpsters for deer carcasses during the gun season so they don;t just get dumped in the woods(as was once legal). Took a coupla of carcasses to one myself last Friday. Amazing the amount of animals not even skun, just had their antlers removed, or the amount of skun animals that were only missing the backstraps and hindquarters. Some only had the backstraps removed. Ma Nature does provide for her own, unfortunately there were hunters that could have provided for others that didn't bother, and that is a waste.

A couple of thoughts: Did you have permission to cross onto the other property? Also why didn't that property owner take the deer as a harvest animal? Actually anyone could take it. If the animal wasn't gut shot, taking it a few days later won't hurt the meat depending on the weather. I know many "experts" say a deer has to be gutted right away. That is really not true.

"It" happens. Often despite our best efforts. I beat myself up about it pretty bad if I flub a shot and lose one. The night between shooting my recent buck and finding it was a long one. Sometimes things just don't go perfectly. Even when we think they did. All we can do is our best to ensure a good shot, a quick kill and make the most out of the animal. If it were easy, everyone would do it.