Congrats on the recover! I had a similar experience last year with a doe. I shot her and she bolted with her tail tucked, I knew I hit her. I waited for an hour to give her time to die. Walked to where I had shot her and found no blood anywhere. I tracked a 50 yard radius of where I shot her and eventually found her 15 yards from where she was. I found no blood until I walked up on her. The bullet entered through the lungs and somehow ricocheted to the guts and the bullet was lodged in between her left hindquarter & the hide. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.

Glad you found your deer. It just goes to show, do not give up, especially of the deer shows signs of being hit.

Any time you shoot at an animal it's your responsibility to give a 150% at recovering that animal unless the initial look-see finds that it was definitely not hit (bullet is in a tree ahead of where the game was, etc.). Many times a deer or bigger game does not appear to have been hit, leaves no blood trail from where they were standing, and yet are dead on their feet and don't make it 100 yards from where they were hit. Good going and good example of not giving up without giving it that extra effort, as we owe it to the animals we hunt!

Thats a sad story, i never lost a deer! ktugghill glad u got it!

Never worried about a blood trail
 

Always found a rifle shot buck or deer laying where I shot it.

After shooting deer with a bow, the first time. Figured it went some 50 yards in the thick brush. Took a compass out and took the final reading of the fleeing deer. On the first move took a exact reading. Found the deer twenty five yards later. Why do deer have to go far.

Never worried about a blood trail. Accurately shot deer don't run far. My deer hunting always started at a rifle range or bow range.

I would say accurately shot deer almost always die. How far they run, well that is another story. I shot a nice 8pt the week before last that was shot right through both lungs and still ran darn near 150yds, after plowing leaves for 10yards at the shot. I was actually surprised how far he made it. Blood trail was heavy the whole way.

Game animals are tough, I never underestimate them.

I've blown their hearts completely out of the chest and seen them run 100+ yards. Then again seen them drop right where they stood from an identical shot with the same rifle,distance,bullet, and angle. Poked 3 bladed and 4 bladed broadheads through both lungs and the top of the heart and had them run 80-100 yards then again same shot I can watch them drop 10 yards from where they were hit. The absolute ONLY way to drop a whitetail in it's tracks FOR SURE is spinal interruption or brain shot, period. Any other shot is a coin toss. May get hydrostatic shock to the nervous system,,,may not..

I've had a few deer go lights out almost before they hit the ground. I don't count the couple of spine shots. I hate those because they require a finishing off. I like them to be done when I get to them. Those experiences are enough to make me concentrate on making a good shot.
When I shoot a deer, I just expect them to make the 25-50 yard death run. It has been further than that, but a good hit deer doesn't usually go past 50-60 yards. I give them about 45 minutes and I trail to a dead deer. That is the way I like it.


I've learned that a deer jumping in the air doing a mule kick means a shot through the ribs right behind the shoulders.

It's easy to tell if you took out one or both of the shoulders.

A deer that kind of hunches, or doesn't act like you would expect would probably mean a miss, or a shot south of the diaphragm. I would give that deer at least an hour before I started trailing. If it is early in the day, it wouldn't hurt to give even more time, especially if you don't find much blood at the point where you hit him.


Two years ago I hit a big doe right through the ribs with my 50 cal muzzloader. I found good blood right where I hit her and trailed what seemed farther than normal. I left orange marking tape as I found blood. I must have gone about 150 yards when I found the deer and I did not know where I was in the woods. I knew I had a decent drag on my hands and I pulled out my phone to see where I was on the property with my GPS. I was shocked to see that I was about 15 steps away from the trail I walk to my stand on. I stepped out on the trail, and the 4 wheeler was 20 yards away. I gave the doe a big "thank you!" I was concentrating so hard looking for the blood I didn't know where I was in the woods.

C. Davis

Sorta the same thing that happened to me. 25 yard shot, broadside. After the shot he had his tail tucked and ran off. Seemed like he was hit to me, but no hair or blood. Looked for a couple days with no sign or anything. My heart sunk cause I felt like I missed but in the back of my mind I think I drilled him.

I shot a doe this year at 10 yards with my 270 and it left no blood or hair whatsoever. I had to track her steps best I could. I did see where she headed so I had an idea. At about 40 yards I started seeing blood and she only made it 10 yards further. Because the high velocity, the bullet pencil-holed in and hit a rib, deflected a bit, and busted a rib on the other side, and broke her offside shoulder. Because I hit her high, the chest cavity had to fill with blood before any dripped out.