Lost a deer for the first time
 

I got her at about 60 yards. Clear shot right in the lungs. The herd ran south and she ran north, after rearing up first. No trail, no blood, nothing. I looked for about an hour. Nothing.

Sucks. First time for everything, I guess.

"About an hour" looking for a wounded big game animal and giving up is absolutely ridiculous! You should take the time and cover every square inch of land within a large area where the deer was hit and quitting after an hour tells me you didn't do any such thing. One hour is not enough time to thoroughly cover anywhere near the area you need to. If this just happened today, I would strongly suggest you get your rear back out there and do the job properly and maybe take some others with you that know how to track or what to look for if that's possible.

I knew someone would say that. I did look as much as I could. Walked, drove, glassed from a knoll, etc. There are private land boundries that I had to consider. The land I was on was searched completely. No traces at all.

x2 what top said. and if you don't find it today go back out tommorrow.

if deer ran off property you should go try and get permision from neighboring landowner. if refused I GUESS NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO but you don't try you have no business hunting.

No business hunting. Whatever.

I've been hunting for many years. I'll tell you that I have had tough retreveals, but never no evidence of where she went before. That was the part that got me. No blood trail, nothing. Not sure what happened there.

If you hunt long enough this happens to everyone. Sometimes we never know how it happened. If you are confident of your search that's all you can do.

Thanks. I am, and would gladly look more if I had any evidence of anything at all. Never happened before, so I don't know what the next step is. Hate killing a beautiful animal for no reason. Sucks.

Well that is odd. A lung shot without a trace of blood? How long did you wait after shooting to trail it? I am guessing you may have been a little high of the lungs - too high for the lungs and too low for the spine. You then hit nothing to bring them down and little blood is lost, and they can even heal up and live. This can happen from the ground, although from a tree stand it is less likely because of the angle. See http://www.fieldandstream.com/answer...nd-below-spine . And you are sure you hit it?

First, thanks for being honest and sharing. I might think about asking someone with a good tracking dog, take 'em to where you shot the deer, perhaps they can pick it up. Making circles around the area where you shot has been the best method I have found...good luck.

Thanks brother. I tried that circle thing. She was close to the boundary of the farmer's land and the huge ranch to the east. My guess is that she went that way, but no blood trail.

Sorry, but I can't go along with that first line. I've only had to track one deer of many I've taken over 6 decades of hunting with a gun and all the rest went down within my sight. Archery hunting is different and you need to know how to track. It's amazing how many times I read where people have lost deer while archery hunting and it appears many were because of shooting too far or just plain not knowing what to do or how to track after hitting an animal.The OP didn't say what he was using when he shot this deer he didn't find or if he was on the ground or in a tree stand. Knowing those things might give us a clue as to what happened, but this sounds like it was shot with a gun and at a chip shot distance to not have a clue as to what happened or where it went. IMHO the OP owes it to the deer and all ethical hunters to do a lot more than he has stated before he gives up. Some may not agree, but that's life! I wonder if the OP would have quit after an hour if this had been a big buck, rather than a doe!!!

A couple of tips. It depends on if you have any landmarks. I shoot a lot of pastures and fields so there aren't any. The ground looks different anyway when you walk out looking for spore. I set up some sort of marker a simple stick will do, pointing at the spot where the bullet hit. A little toilet paper marked and you can walk back look down your stick and make sure you are searching the right spot. It is really easy to be 20-30 feet or more off.

I take a roll of toilet paper with me so I can mark what I've already checked. I walk in kind of an ever widening spiral.

Take periodic breaks, tracking is the kind of thing that can numb your thought process, your vision can blur.

Remember where they came from, not always but often enough to be a trend, when wounded, if they don't hunker down soon, they will reverse direction and head back the way they came. The best explanation I have heard as to why, is the only safe direction is the one they just came from.

I think every hunter ought to have a dog or access to a dog.

I've spent an hour covering a couple of hundred square feet, sounds like you kind of half assed it some. Ethically and practically, you just can't do that sort thing.

My first bow hunt I lung shot a Mulley, he took off up hill into the Chaparral, I walked around all hunched over for a couple of hours. It was getting way hot in there by the time I gave up. I actually tripped over him on my way back to the truck. I learned a lesson that day, you have to use a system and you have to be thorough. If you walk past it, you are looking for nothing.

Still wondering: Was there at least hair to indicate a hit? How long before tracking? How sure where the hit was?

It was ground level. I waited about 15 minutes. That's what I always do.

30-.06 165 grain. It's all I use on deer and pronghorn. I am a meat hunter, so I have only hit one buck. Long time ago. I was on the ground and so was she.

The direction she ran was towards the rancher's house, and leads off to a huge ranch to the east, about 400 yards from where I shot her. My guess is that I didn't hit lungs, but must have missed by micro inches, if so.

There simply was no other place to look. I guess you'll have to believe me.

My point of the post is that there was no trail of any kind to follow and it is odd to me.

For a lung shot 15 minutes would probably be OK. I usually wait 30 minutes. More if it is not a good shot. Still wondering about the certainty of the hit (hair?) and where the hit was. As I mentioned, if you were just a little high, you could miss the lungs and that could result in virtually no blood.

I wish that I had a hunting dog. Not in the budget.

I honestly don't think that I did it poorly. The area had a slight creek bed with some trees, mostly cut alfalfa. There was a slight rise from the field to the road, searched it a lot, and a small knoll that was cut short. That is the one I got onto and glassed. The only other area was the house of the rancher. Didn't see anything there either. I counted the deer in the escaping herd, and they were all there, except the one I hit. I simply felt that there was nothing for me to go on anymore, and I had no access to the big ranch on the other side of the street.

Your conclusion is the only I came to, also. I hope that she recovers.

I been hunting 40 years and lost 1 with a rifle and 2 with a bow,and strange things happen. The buck I lost was shot on a mountian and I tracked blood down the mt.,across a blacktop road and about 1/4 mile into the heavy cover all with about 12" of snow on the ground! The blood just stopped and there was so many other tracks,I never did find him even after looking a day and a half..NOTHING. It's all a part of hunting my friend... :confused0024:

I hear you. Maybe I am the odd guy here, but it would never happen to me. What a lame self view, huh? I just hold myself to high standards, and this didn't fit.

Thanks for the encouragement.

If you were on the ground shooting horizontally and hit that doe anywhere solidly in the body with a 165 grain 30-06 at that distance she shouldn't have run out of the country like you're saying without giving some kind of evidence. It sounds like the shot that you think went though the vital lung area didn't if the country is mostly open cut alfalfa like you're mentioning and she wasn't anywhere to be seen. If she went out of the country without you being able to see her, there must be enough cover or something to block your view. Is that basically what you mentioned when you talked about the rise in the field to where you glassed from and she went over it and out of sight? Sorry I'm getting on you like I am, but I've read so many posts on various websites by people that have lost deer or elk this year and posted about it since I got back from Wyoming a few weeks ago that I'm about ready to puke! I guess this post of yours was the last straw even though you may have done everything right---sorry, but I still think you should do more followup by asking the neighbors for access to look for her where you think she may have gone. I tracked a doe a guy shot one time with a 12 gauge slug that went over 200 yards and when I found her and dressed her out the slug had blown her heart in half. They have a tremendous will to live and sometimes can go a long way even when hit hard and I'd have never believed that one if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

I've been shooting Core Lokt bullets for many years. Once in awhile I'll get a through and through with seemingly no bullet expansion whatsoever. The wound just doesn't bleed much, if at all. Maybe it is my bullet placement, maybe it is the bullet.

All around it is a good bullet, it seems to put them down OK, doesn't tear up a bunch of meat or fragment bruise excessively. Just every once in awhile I get the same size hole exiting as I do entering and no blood.

Some years back I shot one in the snow, it was getting dark. It was standing behind a weed grown barbed wire fence. I picked a gap in the weeds and shot. Took off like it was never hit and actually ran right under my high seat. No blood, a whole bunch of tracks from other Deer, I figured my bullet hit something on the way to the Deer and I had a clean miss. I eventually gave up and figured I'd bring the dog back in the morning. I started up the truck, turned on the headlights and my Deer was laying maybe 45 feet in front of the truck.

Sometimes you need a little luck, skill isn't enough.

I'm really not all that good of a tracker, but I am kind of obsessive and stick with it way longer than most people would. I've found a lot of game other people gave up on.

Well, I guess we just disagree. She reeled back, paused and ran funny. Looked like many of my other hits in the past. So, puke away.

I have been hunting for many years, and have never lost one. Ever. This is the first. I have followed some blood trails for a long time, but this time had no trail to go after. Most of my deer are dead very quickly, and near by. Not sure what happened here, which is why I posted. I was looking for that one response that had some insight.

There is ablosutely no access to that neighboring ranch. It is just that way. I have hunted this land for three years, and the access that way is never available. Never had a deer, or pronghorn, run that way either.

Enjoy the puke. I did my best, and have a clear conscience that I did all I could. Just nothing to go on.

I'd go back and work on the assumption she is in a pile in a slight hollow or dip, vegetation covering some of her. Seriously, I've been within feet of a downed Hog or Deer before I've seen it.

I figured out a long time ago, I don't see shape well, I see motion. It really doesn't take much cover to hide a Dead Deer, just enough to break up it's outline a little and it can be nearly invisible.

And seriously it really doesn't have to be a trained hunting dog. If most any dog gets a whiff of a dead Deer it is going to want to investigate. Do you know anybody with a Dachshund you can borrow?:)

You haven't said how much land you have to hunt on and how far that doe could run before she got out of sight and onto property you say you can't access even if you ask for permission to have only taken an hour before you gave up. Please answer that because I'm sure I'm not the only one reading this thread and responding that is wondering about only about an hour followup. I also believe I just gave you a good response and that is that I don't believe you hit her where you said you did to not be able to find her even if the bullet may not have fully expanded at that short distance. If you can't access the adjacent property legally and it's not very far to it, my final suggestion is to start shooting your deer right on the shoulder to knock them down and then if they try to get back up shoot again so you don't have to do any tracking! You'll lose a little more meat than a vitals shot through the lungs, but not the entire deer like you did this doe!

I aint going to jump ya, much :D , but I feel you kinda shorted the search a bit. If you hit it where you think you did and didn't jump right up after it then more than likely that deer didn't go more than 100 or so yards. Lung hit deer tend to lay down faster than heart hit deer. Shock from both the shock of the bullet strike and the not being able to breathe puts them down fairly quick. Anywho, sorry to hear you lost ya deer.

If you want a shot placement that is absolute dead right there have a look at this image and practice aiming for the red spot.




That right there will USUALLY take out the spine or at least cause serious trauma to it while taking out the lungs as well. Wastes very little meat and what little it does damage is well worth the not having to track the dang things. Getting to dang old to track after a deer for miles!

Thanks for that post man! You basically stated in one short post what I've been saying since I started posting on this thread and you also verified with that picture and statement what I mentioned to him in my last post to be sure he doesn't need to do any tracking!

It sucks DJfan I hope you didn't stay up too late worrying about this. As I sit here 2 hours before sunrise I am hoping you have a day planned of going back out to look for this deer again. 1 hour isn't enough time to look for a deer you didn't recover. You should also take your rifle and a target to see if something happened to your gun. This is what i would be doing if I where you. I will be offended if you are online the morning after typing about it when you still have things you could be doing.

I've shot many whitetails with cartridges far weaker than a 30-06 where SuperHunt pointed and, if I didn't get a good blood trail to follow, the deer have dropped with a broke spine or died close from blood suffocation with blood dripping out the mouth.

If the above didn't happen I either missed, hit where I didn't think, or been walking by a dead deer. Good luck and keep us updated on what you find.

My spot, exactly. Down for the count every time.

I used to try so hard to aim there but being primarily a bow hunter it took me years to not aim dead lungs in the moment with a gun

Boy do I know THAT feeling Rock. I used to be a "pocket" shooter myself but I trained myself hard for the high shoulder shot a good bit ago because I found it so much easier than tracking heart hit deer leaving no blood till the cavity filled up most of the time. But it does take me a moment to bring my scope to the high shoulder and off the ribs. ESPECIALLY if it is right after Bow season. Cross training old dogs like me is pretty rough. Especially a hard headed stubborn old fart like myself :D

Its just something you have to learn on small properties. I mean people simply don't want you walking around their property looking for your deer during their 3 day gun season. Specially folks that paid $2000-$3000 to hunt.

Its a tough situation.

Do I want to let people go look for their deer? of course I do but can I afford to let them trample through the woods somebody is paying me to hunt? Not really.

6 one way half dozen the other.....somebodies going to be mad and its going to be my fault either way I do it.

I guess you'll probably be offended then when I tell you the OP was logged onto this site yesterday morning, again in the afternoon, and now again this AM. I guess being on the computer is more important than looking for that deer like we all feel he should have been doing. That's really a shame when a person obviously had the time for a much longer, meaningful followup and didn't do it!

Just saw this post on another website and found it interesting in that it's almost identical to the OP shot:

My buddy shot a doe with a 30-06 yesterday. The shot was at about 50 yards and went through both lungs. We had to track that deer for 400 yards. Good thing that we had snow. When I cleaned it out the lungs were just mush and it had been blowing out blood all the way. I've had bow killed deer act in the same way. I have been to Africa and seen that the critters there are tough, but nothing like a White tail in my book. They are one tough animal!

I guess you'll be surprised to know that I am logged into this site all the time. It's just faster for me.

Now for those who care, I have been very distracted by my father in law, who passed out a couple of days after this post, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor, that they suspected was cancer.

After the surgery this last Monday, he has required care and attention by my wife, leaving me the realities of family. I have been busy and focused.

So, if you don't like what I did or didn't do, too bad for you. I wouldn't stay up nights thinking on it, if I were you. Go ahead and stay up nights if you want to. I flat don't care.

I posted in hopes of getting some worthwhile info about this situation, as I have never been in it before. Started hunting in 1983 and have NEVER lost one until now.

My father in law is doing better, but has a long path.

Special thanks to those who sent me a supportive PM. Quite a bunch of understanding people. Too many know it all idiots around here.

I learned very little beyond that.

Baloney to what I bolded! You may have the site in your favorites, but you're not always logged onto the site as you have stated. All you have to do to verify if a person is on the site is look below their username to see if the circle is red or green. Green is when you're on and red when you're off, unless you deactivate that feature like I did mine and why mine is always white. Right now as I type this your username is red showing you aren't logged on. You can also tell the last time a person was on the site by merely clicking on their username and it tells you the date and time. That's how I knew what I stated in my post that you're contradicting and how I knew exactly when you had been on like I stated. I also know that this is the first time in several days that you've been logged on to the site to even see what's going on because you don't have to make a post and it still shows that last time you were logged on.

Now to the rest of your post! Sorry to hear of the serous family problems, but IMHO there was no reason to bring this thread back up the way you did to say anything more than news about your family. It's now obvious from your retorts that all of our comments trying to help you and tell you to go back out and how to look for that doe weren't listened to and that's too bad. PS: I don't lose sleep over anything, especially you and your muffed deer hunt!

TG 3006 your little dot is red at 5:34AM December 19th 2015, not white.

DJ fan best of luck with that cancer crap. Takes a lot out of people who are related to the ones who have it.
Daughter had it two years ago, brother a year and a half ago and dealing with it again now.

:D Al

Too bad about your father in law, I lost mine 5 years ago to heart disease. He never would go hunting with me and I now I know he did so because he had problems he kept to himself.

I would still recommend checking the zero on your rifle if you haven't yet.

DJfan my condolences for your family issues. Hopefully the situation will improve.

DJfan
It is what it is. Sometimes it happens even with our best efforts. I probably would have spent a little more time looking, but if you find no blood... that makes it tough, and you really begin to second guess everything about the shot/hit. Only thing I can think is maybe a paunch hit.. but even then, if you hit her anywhere there should be some blood somewhere, even if slight amounts.

Honestly I think for the majority of hunters - losing game is the last thing any of us wants to happen. But it does sometimes. Its been quite a while for me, but I have lost a few over the past 30yrs. I did my best to find them given the circumstances, and moved on.

I'm not gonna berate someone for what they did or didn't do. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If she died, the critters got supper... if not, well you weren't gonna find her anyhow. Sorry to hear about the health situation with family, been there. Hope it turns out for the best.