Salvatore440

Hello friends my name is Tom I’m 29 years old and I just started hunting last year and unfortunately did not catch anything last year. Going into the second year I finally shot at one and I believe I hit successfully but I cannot find blood anywhere? All I see is for that is Half brown half white. It jumped straight up with its legs stiff Ran about two seconds and stopped then It just walked away with the other deer. Unfortunately I have been learning this all on my own never really had any family member teach me so I’m kind of learning in the process so hopefully I can get some help on here.

Salvatore440

Typo: All I saw was a lot of half brown and half white hair around the area of where I shot

younggun308

Blood trails are tricky, in that it can take awhile for them to get started, and once started, they might be very spotty until you actually reach the carcass.

My cousin shot a doe last month in the lungs; she ran a good 100 yards without leaving a ton of blood sign. He didn't realize that deer seldom go down immediately after being hit, so his initial thought was he didn't connect at all.
Thankfully, we eventually found the spot where it was when he fired, and saw some bright pink blood with lung tissue. It was a struggle finding more blood, but little by little we followed a dots of pink blood here and there until I saw her laying about 50 yards away.

The best practice is to always mark the spot where the deer stood when you fired (it seems you did that if you found hair), then, start scanning the ground in the direction you saw it run. Be mindful of the fact the deer's trail may actually be a good 30 degrees to the right or left of where you're looking. Don't expect to see a lot of blood---if you do, great, but there's a high chance of a fatal shot leaving very little (especially when the hit's on the high lung, as it takes awhile for them to fill up with enough blood to spill out.

rockport

Yeah but you don't get white hair on high lung.

White hair is often bad news, specially if you were elevated.

Gun or bow? Were you elevated?

younggun308

Didn't he say "half-brown, half-white" hairs, though? Stupidly, I cannot recall if even the brown hairs have white bottoms.

Hatfield Hunter

sounds to me like you just cut hair off of brisket area ! P.S. we do not catch deer we KILL them !

younggun308

I personally prefer "harvest" them.

flags

Sounds like it may be a gut shot with the bullet hitting right at the transition line from brown to white. I've only made a couple gut shots in more than 40 years of deer hunting but they all jumped when the bullet hit. Not with a kick like a heart shot, just a jump. Gut shots are tricky and they often don't bleed much.

MudderChuck

If you ever catch one without killing it, you will likely wish you hadn't done that.

A good LED 2000+lumen flashlight really helps, White light seems to make blood flecks stand out better. Even on an overcast day it can help. It helps two ways, makes the blood stand out better and helps focus your vision in a small area at a time. Basically, tunnel vision in a grid, either a square grid or a spiral grid.

The trick is don't give up, many people give up the trail way too quickly.

Secondly get good with your weapon of choice, I mean really good. You have to trust your shot. If I can't get a good stable shot I trust, I don't shoot.

rogerstv

After reading your post, I am considering the most important aspect of big game hunting to be taught to a new hunter trying on their own is trailing after the shot. It is certainly something better learned in the field through experience as opposed to reading or watching videos. Over the years, I have seen many (if not most) of my well hit deer run as far as they can for ten seconds (give or take) before they expire. Unless you hit the spine, break legs, or shoot them in the brain, they can run farther with a hole in their vitals than most people would believe. A great blood trail is a bonus, but should never be expected.

The advice to start at the "scene of the crime" which you did then proceed along the path the animal took is very good. If you find blood, you trail it. Or, you start a body search in a circular pattern from the last sighting. While trailing, walk to the side of the blood trail or the path to avoid destroying evidence.

No one on here is going to provide you with the magic formula to find your deer. It appears you obviously hit it. Beyond that, you provide no clues to allow for more advice. White and brown hair is generally from the lower part of the deer. Hopefully, you are out looking or are field dressing.