That just sucks. Now the only thing to do is keep an eye out for the buzzards, or the strong smell of black bears (they smell like dog crap to me). I found a friends kill (two days after he shot) several years ago; I kept walking into the wind following the scent of dog crap and found the remains of his buck not a hundred yards from his stand.

Sounds like you flinched or pulled off at the shot. A .50 thru the boiler room of any make would pile one up fairly close by.

I doubt the buzzards will find it, but the hogs, foxes, and coyotes will. My wife and two youngest sons saw a black bear last Saturday, although it wasn't around here. I have never seen one in my life! I'm not sure there are any around here anymore, but we have a pile of coyotes!

I think something was wrong... I found some fluid that I took to be stomach or intestinal, which would indicate I hit too far back. The gun is on, so I know it was me.

I gut shot one with my bow last friday and it took me 7 hours to find him. There was very little blood where I shot him. I looked all over our woods and never found him. I didnt push him so I figured he'd lay down within 200 yards and die... WRONG. Later in the day I checked a trail that crosses between our woods and our neighbors probably 2 or 300 yards from where I shot him and there was a blood trail rite across the road. He ended up goin through that woods crossing a creek and a hay field layed down got up and died about 40 yards later. It can be really tough I know I walked 10 yards rite beside where he was laying and never saw him because of the grass he was laying in he's prolly rite under your nose but a wounded deer can go a long way even if they arent pushed. A wounded deer in shock can cover a lot of ground walking aimlessly very slowly. Bucks can get a long way from there home and sometimes I think wounded ones may just be trying to get back to there home turf but who knows. If you havent lost a deer you havent hunted long enough it happens to the best of us. You just owe it to the animal to do everything you can to find it and sometimes thats not enough.

It's amazing you found his blood trail. Congrats on finding him... probably made you feel a little better!

I have never lost one with a modern gun. Lucky perhaps... I've had to look for some, but I've always found them. I lost my first with a muzzleloader this weekend. I've lost three bucks during archery. That's a total... not this weekend! I've been hunting for 37 years.

Yes it did lol I have lost one during bowhunting in 10 years lol. It's just part of it sometimes you gotta be lucky.

The deer's dead. Theres no way a deer as small as the ones in FL would take a piece of lead that heavy and live. He's there. Try using google maps and read the terrain and see if you can map out different escape routes. Good luck!

Kerrdog, where approx. are you located? I hunt in the Palatka to Interlachen area and we are loaded with bears. Just two weekends ago I had a bear not 15 yds from me as I climbed into my stand. I didn't realize this until getting into my stand, smell, and hear something...I removed the red filter from my flashlight and shined him. He could have cared less....me I'm not so sure.
As for Florida deer being "small", sometimes I wonder. Several years ago my father killed a 6pt that weighed (FWC scale) "dress-out" 180lbs. Not sure how this relates to 'dem yankee hoss's' but not small. Fer sure he ded tho' som'eres...spit!

Agreed. No need to use Google Maps. I have been tromping this land for 9 years... know it very well.

I live in and hunt Hamilton County, almost into Georgia. There are some large deer here (for Florida... pushing 200 pounds), but not nearly the numbers there once was. Too many Yahoos around here that shoot everything! Most commonly they are in the 135 to 150 range. Bear sightings have been reported in the area, I just have never seen one. We have an occassional Panther and Jaguarundis... which are kinda cool.

That's good shooting! It always bums me bad to lose a deer, especially a buck, since you spend so much time "hoping" for that trophy. I never could figure out how you can have a double lung shot, enough blood that you can walk the trail without bending over, and then have it end abruptly. Like maybe a medical team hooked up with it! I know there's an answer... I'm just not smart enough to figure it out!