I have had two deer that were complete gut shots (through the guts and not angling into the vitals). I didn't find either one. The first I found out died almost 1000 yards from where I shot him in back of someone's house and a game warden was called to pick it up. We found some stomach matter that stopped about 50 yards from the shot and then did a grid search for several days over the weekend. I found out from a friend what had happened the following Monday.

The second one left no trace of being hit. I had decided the buck was too small after drawing back and was letting down. Since I had been holding for a little while in an awkward position when the let off of my single cam kicked in it jerked my arm forward unexpectedly and I hit my release. I thought I had completely missed the deer since he only ran 20 yards and then stood there. It was getting dark and I looked away to get my binoculars and when I looked back to where he was the deer was gone. I waited until dark and got out of the tree and my heart sank and my stomach churned when I saw my arrow coated with green material. There was nothing else indicating a hit and no sign to follow. My friend and I spent the next day doing a grid search in every wooded place within a 1/2 mile radius. Even after knowing the deer would have spoiled from the heat we searched through the blisters on our feet and never found him. I will never forgive myself for that one.

I have found a gut shot deer for my friend's father, but there was blood to follow and despite travelling a distance of about 500 yards we found him.