Jason, I can emphasize...this is what happened just a few weeks ago:

Opening Day of rifle season in NH, I was hunting from my treestand. I was set and ready at 5:45 waiting for the day to begin. As the sun was beginning to rise, I heard the distinct sound of deer walking in front of me. In a few minutes, I saw two does slowly walking to my left. Both were big adult does with no fawns ( I would have let them both walk if there was a mother with her fawn)...anyway, I waited for a clean shot and took it with my .308.

She was only 30 yds away and I watched her go down immediately after the shot. She was on her back with her legs kicking. I have seen this a few times and the results have always been the same. Death occurs momentarily. Not this time. The deer got back up and ran under my tree as fast as a deer can run. When she went out of sight, I could hear her running and thought I heard her go down.

I check the entire area for 2 1/2 hrs and then had the help of 2 buddies for another 2 hours and there was not one single drop of blood. Just a few drops of blood where she was shot.

I have never seen a deer hit that hard, that knocks her down and gets back up without leaving and trail to follow. There was water behind me and I heard nothing to suggest she went through it. I know that area very well as do my buddies and we finally had to give up the search.

Years ago, I lost the only deer after the shot, before this season. I was a nice doe that went down hard at only 20 yds away. She was groaning loudly and managed to get up and run to the edge of a ridge where she tumbled down. I walked up to her and saw that she was really hurt. That's when I made a costly mistake. Rather than put her down, I fully expected her to take her last breath when she suddely got up right in front of me and walked away like a new born colt. She was out of sight in a flash but I was not concerned. I expected to see her laying within just a few yards. That was not the case. I never saw her again. Two buddies and I searched for the remainder of the day with absolutely no blood trail. It was the most disappointing day in my hunting life. Not because I failed to fill my tag but because I wounded a deer that I should have put down in an instant. I had poor judgement because I thought she would expire in front of me instead of going out of sight never to be seen again.