Yes very possible minimal or little blood left, I have seen it with bow, rifle and ml especially if no exit hole and the entrance becomes plugged. A couple questions 1) jumped up and humping...would indicate a heart to me. However you used hunkering...is this a hunch your referring too?( midsection rose severely) A heart you should find at least some blood specs, if not a pouring when he made few steps as he would be breathing it in..so no blood, hunched usually mean a bit far back (ie gutshot). If so blood trails are generally very weak, if you left him and didn't bump chances are he never went real far. Bad news meat is probably lost after being exposed to the insides over night. 2) Flag up or down? If he was flagging you missed, if down you should consider it a hit. 3) while not always true deer hit and fleeing usually have the head down or straight out, if up and alert most likely missed him. 4) Did you hear a whap, the sound of the slug/bullet hitting the deer. With a ML I have found this sound to be very evident.

Replay it in your mind to try to visualize as much detail as possible. In any regards you owe it to the animal and yourself to get out in the daylight and do a search. Hopefully you have a good idea of where he went after the shot and have some help to do a grid search if the bush is thick...take it slow.

Best of Luck