Allseasonhunter7

i learned its just as easy to wound a deer with a gun as it is with a bow [&:]

i went to a certain spot this morning because there is ALWAYS doe and i figured if i didnt see a buck i would take a doe ..well 815 or so i was about to get down because the idiot neighbor decides to shoot at who knows that like 4994 times as soon as im about to decent i see a fat doe staring at me quartering to and 50 or so yards... i quickly get my gun.. scope her and pull with the angle of the shot i dont think i aimed far enough to the front...any way boom... im excited but with the deer not dead in her tracks i was worried (i noticed on tv and forums deer shot with the new muzzloaders usually drop but thats neither here nor there) i seen her get hit pretty hard since she didnt know where to run and then she dissapeared. i walked over no blood any where so i laughed i was like i missed her...cant help but make the best of missing i go to the next closest stand to hunt the remainder and my dad calls i explain i missed and i think i looked over the scope after i shot becuase i didnt hit her.. he says did you look for hair and isaid no

then [&:][:@][:'(]i get down since i have to work walk through the thicket to make sure she isnt dead then........ i walk up and i see fur...and [:@]some bone fragments the hair was white so thats not good ..

im mad at myself.. but im not expert shot by anymeans (17yrsold) but i figured with a gun a quartering to is acceptable.

Allseasonhunter7

btw i am just bacially venting

Grasshopper13

I don't think you took a bad shot. I have taken many deer at that angle and with proper placement, a bullet will take out the front shoulder, and cruise right on through the lungs and possibly heart as well. The problem is you took a good shot with a poor bullet. You didn't say, but I suspect you were shooting a big, heavy grain, hollow point bullet out of your muzzleloader. If you did, it's likely the bullet expanded too much on the shoulder and didn't penetrate the vitals. However, you're other mistake was assuming you missed. Always check the area the deer was standing. It's very easy for you to miss some small reaction with the recoil, and smoke of the muzzlelaoder. Always check. By the way, if you found hair and bone, you still hurt the deer. If you haven't spooked her completely out by moving to a new stand, give her a few hours and go try and find her. There's a good chance, if left undisturbed, she bedded down somewhere nearby. If you can follow the blood/hair/bone trail, you might catch up to her. She will likely have a hard time getting up once she lays down, and even if she's still alive when you get there, if you're alert, you might be able to finish her. Get backout there and keep trying! Good luck!

GH

bowman15

It sounds like you gave up way too easily. Go back and TRY to find her. Really try! Remember the direction she ran in, and get down on all fours if you have to, and look at what she may have been looking at; small openings in the brush, maybe a tree she might have rubbed up against. And don't just look on the ground for blood-sign; look about thigh-high on brush, leaves, trees, etc. and see if you find anything.

Thisis hunting. You make good shots and sometimes, not-so-good-shots, but the other parts of hunting (besides just seeing deer and shooting) are just as vital to know and execute as the rest; shot placement, tracking, field dressing, etc. You can't just shoot at an animal, give the area a cursory-glance for blood-sign, and just walk away. Go back out there and look for her. She could very well be within view of the spot she was standing when you shot her. And if you actually found bone, I would bet she's not far.

Good luck.

hammerman

I'd say she is dead with you finding bone fragments. I know too many guys give up because a deer didn't drop in their tracks. I'd say she's probably with in 50-75 yds of where you shot her.
Good luck!

cowboy4513

i agree with everyone you have to actually LOOK and SEARCH for deer there are ALOT of stories where people havent found any blood or hair and still got there deer you need to TRY HARDER just dont GIVE UP on here you owe it to the deer to find her and harvest that animal. sounds like you hit her in the shoulder anyway so go ge.t her

Paul L Mohr

I hunt in lower michigan, so I use a bow, shotgun and inline ML. I haven't had a deer drop in it's tracks yet with a gun. These just are not high powered rifles, and it's not even a given that they will drop with a centerfire. Don't go by what you see on tv. All my deer have gone 50 to 90 yards after being hit with a gun at ranges between 20 and 100 yards. I aim for the vitals though.

And if you hit the heart you don't alway see a lot of blood where the deer was shot. If there is no pump to push the blood out it doesn't gush all over. It doesn't matter if you shoot the deer in the heart, lungs or a major artery it dies from the same thing, lack of blood and/or oxygen to the brain. This takes a little time and deer can run a LONG ways in that short amount of time if they want to.

The deer I shot last year was with a rifled shotgun shooting a 600 grn full bore slug at 20 yards. This load has over 2000 ft/lbs of energy with a massive frontal area. It punched a hole the size of a quarter thru both sides of the deer, destroyed the lungs and took out the top half of the heart. This deer still ran 60 yards, jumped a fence and ran another 30 yards before piling up in full stride.

Sometimes if you shoot one in the shoulder it will drop them on the spot. That does not however mean they are dead, they just can't move. No matter what you shoot your deer with, and even if you see it drop give it some time before you get down and go looking for it. 20-30 minutes is usually a safe bet. And you may not always see blood right where you shot it. Try and watch where it runs and keep a mental note of where it was when you lost sight of it. Then walk that path looking for signs and track it from there.

Tracking takes some practice and usually works better as a team. It really helps if you have someone with you that knows what they are doing at first.

Paul

Allseasonhunter7

ill circle down where she went tomarrow after school, but i was on all fours after i saw the bone it was a small trail of bone little blood on it, then that was it i walked the exact trail she ran on but maybe you are right. i willl check

isatarak

I shoot a 45 cal. muzzleloader and I killed 2 deer with it this year that dropped in their tracks. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I think the boy's deer is dead. I shot a doe at very close range a few years ago with an Hawken 50 cal. with round ball out of a ground blind. She took off and when I got out to look, all I could find was hair.It was also a quartering to shot. Not a drop of blood. She ran down a mowed trail probably 100 yards and then went off the trail and I lost it. It was getting dark so I went to get the lantern and the dog. When I got to the spot where I shot the dog took off and followed the trail and I think winded the dead deer cause he ran right to it. It was a devastating shot. I don't have any idea how she ran so far.

Allseasonhunter7

im also thinking the hair is from the exit.. maybe? its white from a tree stand angled down

but i will deffinetly look more.. with my dad id hate to see meat go to waste