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.