flags

I'm along this line of thinking myself. You might have hit him just above the lungs and below the spine which isn't a fatal hit. I did the same thing on a pronghorn doe in WY once with a 7 mag. She was with a herd and the whole herd took off at the shot. Never found any blood but I found her later in the day (saw blood on her side in a spotting scope) and she was with the same herd. Stalked in and put her down with a neck shot. First round had gone clear through but hit nothing vital.

Sometimes crazy things happen.

FlaBoy18

Ive done the same thing several times with deer. Few with a bow. Few weeks later u get game campix of the same deer. Just fine

ktughill

Just want to update all of you fellow hunters. I did find my buck this morning. We never did find a blood trail which I think due to the fact that it was a heart shot. Actually he did not go far as I suspected. The problem is that we were walking into the woods thinking that is the direction he went however the deer ran a very short distance and died along the high weeds along the trail. It was very nice 6 point. Thanks for all of your advise!

Champlain Islander

Glad you found it. Congrats on a nice buck.

FlaBoy18

Congrats glad you recovered your buck!

kidoggy

right on! congrats.

BRUSE

I would keep looking in the am. My buddy shot one last year with a 30/30 the exit hole was plugged with an organ. The deer went about 350 yards before we heard him walking on some rocks in a bottom . It took us a while to find him. Good luck on your search

super_hunt54

Good to hear. Kinna figured you may have gotten the escape direction goofy. Under those conditions it's easy to misconstrue which direction they take off sometimes. It's why I suggested you re-spot the shot location and check for the hoof trail. Glad you found him.

springer94

I'm going through the same thing.Broadside shot 25yds Muzzleloader.At the shot the deer ran head down and tail down.Got to the spot where he was standing and I could smell the odor of a hit deer.No blood ,no hair and I am in a foot of fresh snow.Tracked him for about a hundred yards where he never stopped running about 12 feet between tracks.It was late so I let him go to lie down.We got another 8 inches of snow last night making it really hard to follow his track beyond where I left him yesterday.I know I hit that deer.Trouble his he had a doe with him so now I have a possible two tracks which are no more than dimples in the snow at this point.Input please...Thanks,Ron

flyinlowe

Springer, what kind of bullet are you using in your muzzle loader. When I first started hunting with a ML I was using hornady XTP bullets. I was killing deer with them but noticed often times little or no blood trails. I started asking on here and other sites and many people had the same issue. I was told the bullet was basically a hand gun bullet sometimes would not preform well at the speeds my ML was shooting them. I shot a doe once with fresh snow on the ground and not a hint of blood for the first 50 yards or so. Had there been no snow to track I would not have been able to find her. I switched to Barnes for my ML after reading reviews on the XTP.