Shotgun hit no blood trial
 

Try to keep the story short. Went into woods on public land around 1pm for a evening hunt and seen there was only one other truck in the area could have been on either side of street so I went with a rougher area to decrease chances of ruining something for them. Ended up standing a good buck up 10min into the woods got what I thought was good lung shot on it but he ran off back towards the parking area tail in the air. After investigating i could find very small amount of blood and a small meat chunk and few white hairs but I felt I had a good shot and not belly. Decided to give it hour or so and went ahead and climbed hill and set buddy up to hunt but when I went back searching still no blood searched large area where he could have been and came up with a warm gut that was on the side we was hunting about 50yds from road and the other hunter didnt stick around for a evening hunt and no other shots were heard close. I apologize for the long run on sentaces just want to ask some experienced fellas opinion. Trying to learn from poor shot bad judge of waiting or lousy tracking skills.

While it is entirely possible that somebody found and stole your buck, it's just as likely that they shot a buck before you arrived and tracked it there and took it home.

I don't know if this is good advice or not so take it for whatever it's worth, but I almost never wait in gun season to track. I'm confident in my woodsmanship and tracking ability to get onto a trail right away and to be able to make a follow up shot if need be. Conventional wisdom says to wait, and I do in archery, but I never do in gun season. I get on the trail and go find the deer. Always watching ahead and ready to shoot if need be.

You said there wasn't really much, or any, blood trail to follow. So it's not an issue of your tracking skills. Shot placement could be to blame. I've only shot a handful of deer with slugs, but they've all had very impressive damage after being hit. Slugs seem to hit hard. So, if you made a good shot I would expect good results. Either a dropped deer or a solid blood trail to follow.

Strange things can happen after a deer has been hit. Sometimes they flop over and sometimes they run 100 yards without a heart.

Get back out there and good luck on the next one.

-Jake

Thanks for the info Jake I'll be sure to take it to take it to heart and best of luck to you as well.

were you using buckshot or a slug? buck shot rarely leaves nearly as prolific of a blood trail than a slug loaded shot gun.

I've shot a lot of deer with a shotgun both with buckshot and slugs. If you were using a slug and hit him in the lungs then you would have seen a blood trail that would look like it came from a firehose. Buckshot is another matter. But I'd be concerned about the white hairs because I have never seen a whitetail deer with white hair in the lung area. Since you say you found a chunk of meat I'm guessing you were using slugs and since you found white hair you hit him too low since the white hair is on the belly or the throat patch and if you hit him in the throat patch he would have dropped right there.

You have a gutshot deer on your hands. Only thing you can do is start a grid search in the direction he went and hope for the best.

Yeah was using slug thinking more that I had to get belly but minus the initial area there was nearly no blood went and searched farther this morning hoping for best but no luck rain cleared any chance short of me walking up to a body. Just gonna hope he recovers or someone else gets to harvest. Definitely a rough feeling for sure appreciate everyones wisdom.

I'm speculating that the possible gutshot deer could have bedded down 1/4 to 1/2 mile away. I believe that some trackers say that a hunter should wait 6 hours before picking-up a trail on a gutshot deer. This scenario (if legal) might call for a good tracking dog --- but the rain ain't gonna help. May I suggest that you still search for him tomorrow.