No way I missed

[351 WINCHESTER]

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my truck eating some peanut butter when I saw a nice buck. I got out and took a steady rest off my truck and when the crosshairs were "there" I squeezed the trigger. The .303 British roared and I heard the bullet hit. The buck crossed the road and abruptely did a 180 and dissapeared into the swamp. Distance was about 75 yds. give or take and he was broadside to me when I shot. I could not find any evidence whatsoever, no blood, hair, bone that he had been hit. Earlier that day I verified my zero and all was well.

I looked until dark and when I started my truck up it was running rough. My son just now fixed it so I couldn't look for my deer today (ugg).

I'm 58 and haven't gotten buck fever for decades. I mean I had this buck graveyard dead yet he showed no indication of being hit.

I'm going looking for him tomorrow, but it's not going to be easy as there is a lot of water this year.

I was using a handload with a 150 gr. speer sp at about 2500 fps. I'm thinking I may have shot him thru the lungs, but why wasn't there any blood? Did my bullet fail to expand?

 

[sumpnz]

I've shot a couple animals that left little or no discernable blood trail. In one case I couldn't even find the entry wound until skinning (there was no exit wound). In another case even with 2 good exit wounds I didn't see much in the way of a blood trail. Granted it was getting dark, but still. Sometimes they just bleed almost if not totally internally.

 

[dakotasin]

sometimes there just isn't much blood. the things can cover several yards in a single bound, and sprint at a pretty good clip. even well hit deer sometimes do not show any evidence of being hit, nor much of a blood trail to follow.

you're gonna have to work a grid or circle pattern and look for evidence other than blood (disturbed trail bed, etc) until the buck slowed down enough to start letting blood hit the ground in amounts large enough for you to see.

good luck - hope you recover it.

 

[bswiv]

High lung shots will often not bleed externally. It all collects in the ribcage area.

As suggested.........a planned search.

I'm in NE Fl. too and I would think, based on how cold it is now and how cold it was yeaterday afternoon when we were out chasing hogs, that the deer should easily be good if you find it by midday today.

I'd go look.

 

[interlock]

time to get the dog out

 

[CajunBass]

I trailed a buck for a friend once for over 100 yard without a drop of blood. The deer was DRT when I got to him. My friend had shot the deer with a 25/06 at less than 100 yards and though he missed. He wasn't even going to look for it. I looked and could see where the leaves had been disturbed in a straight line. Walked right to it.

Sometimes they just don't bleed.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I had a six point run about forty or fifty yards this year and I thought I had missed him. He was quartering towards me and I hit it in the shoulder. The bullet went almost all the way through. There was a knot on the off side and I just slit the skin with my knife and pulled it out. It had mushroomed perfectly to twice it's original side. There was no blood whatsoever, and I almost gave up. He had run into some of the thickest mess I'd ever seen. I didn't want to risk loosing a wounded animal, so I sucked it up and went in. I'm glad I did, because it's the best buck I've ever killed. Let us know how if you find him.

 

[CoRoMo]

I bet you hit that deer, and it's dead & cold. It's just going to be hard to find.

Not only can it run off without leaving you a trail of blood, it can fold up in one heck of a hard spot to find. Good luck. I lost one animal, thought I missed it, searched acres and acres of ground and gave up. Found it a long while later (too late), just a few dozen more yards from where we decided to give up.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

My son got my truck running late yesterday. Today I went looking for him. The area where he ran into was covered with hog rootings. I looked for several hours and didn't find a thing other than turned up earth. It's supposed to rain tomorrow too. I will be checking for buzzards the next several days. With my luck the coyotes already got to him anyway.

That's the second buck that I shot and never found in over 40 years of hunting. It's still a shame.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

It happens...like has been said, probably a high lung shot. They can go a few hundred yards hit like that.

It ruins a bit of meat...but I like to bust at least one shoulder (preferably both)...they can't run as far on 2 or 3 legs.

 

[slabuda]

time to get the dog out

Ditto

 

[swampboss]

IMO when you are that sure of a hit. Get a good blood trailing dog on a leash. Dogs can smell blood you cannot see.

 

[deerhunter61]

I shot a doe earlier this week and a buck earlier this month. When I shot the doe the way it reacted I thought for a moment that perhaps I missed...but then again NO WAY. After a moment I got down and went to check to see if I could find any blood or anything. All I saw was where the doe bolted. You could see the prints in the sand where she took off but no blood or anything. I simply could not believe I missed so I started searching in a fanning method over the path that it took. About twenty yards up I finally started finding blood and the farther I went the more it bled. I ran about 100 yards before it fell. It had two pretty big holes in it. It was a lung shot. Normally I am a little better and get the heart but this time I missed it. The buck on the other hand I blew out the heart and yet did not see any blood until I saw the buck. He ran about twenty yards before he fell in a pool of blood but I sure would have thought I would have found blood where I shot him yet there was none.

So I said all of that to say this...it happens. You can make a good shot not find any or much blood. I will say most of the times that this has happened to me and others I know it is from higher shots.

Good luck finding it. Let us know if you do.

 

[RockinU]

Leashed tracking dogs are legal in FL...here is a link to some that may help:

http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/index.php?option=com_tracker&view=trackers&st=fl