I shot at a rack buck and I am wondering how to know if I hit it in the guts.
I think I hit back too far in the deer. I remember seeing the crossairs a littl in front of the back legs when it went off.
I went down to where I shot and I saw no blood what so ever.
I did find some strands of dark brown hair.
I tracked it for a little bit but gave up on it thinking I had missed it.
I was thinking about it on my way home and I remebered seeing the buck kick his legs straight back after I had shot. Is that a sign of a gut shot.
I was shooting a 30 out 6 150 grain bullet.
As I was thinkning about it I thought that the bullet hitting the guts may never open up leaving a small hole, one that lets no blood out.
My question here is does anyone know what the signs are for a gut shot deer?
And do you think it is worth a shot to go back and try to find it?
Thanks.

If you are sure you hit it ....always go back and look.

Well . . .an 30-06 is gonna make a size sized exit hole. But if you hit him way back in the body you may see a bit less blood. You still should have found some internal sign on the other side of your shot. I would be walking those woods for a few hours at least trying to find that bad boy, even with out a nice rack.

Good luck

First of all if you found hair you hit him.

Second deer will generally hunch up on a gut shot, one indication of a heartshot is a deer mule kicking with his hind legs.

How far did you track this deer? Certain hits may not produce blood for 20-30 yards, some may be a killing shot and hardly bleed at all.

I would say from what you have said the deer was hit hard and you need to get out there and do some serious tracking, more than likely that deer is down for the count with in 100 yards, maybe more.

First of all, if you saw the cross hairs a little in front of the hind leg, why did you pull the trigger?


That being said, look around until you 100% sure you missed or 100% sure it can't be found. Look in water, in the thick brush, etc. If you can't find any blood or other sign, do a body search.

Greg

I'd grab a buddy, go out and run a zigzag pattern to try and find blood. Good Luck!

I did not know this, but I witnessed it on 11/29. I shot a doe at about 80 yards. When I shot she mule kicked then ran away with no other indication that she might have been hit. I sat in the stand for a few minutes cursing my scope because I was sure I had not hit her and I knew my aim had been true. I got out of the stand to look for blood and found a few drops, so I backed off for about thirty minutes. When I began to trail her I found a lot of blood and found her about 100 yards into the brush. When I was cleaning her I discovered that I had indeed hit her heart.

I thought this was just some kind of fluke, because every other deer I have heart shot has died within a few feet of where I shot them.

You need to change the first paragraph a little bit. It should have said "you remember seeing the crosshairs a little bit in front of the back legs when you pulled the trigger". You most likely hit the deer in the gut as this was where you aimed. Go back with a couple of experienced hunters and see if they can help. Should be a gut shot trail not far from where you shot the deer. Thet hit will kill him, just take a while.

Like Taz said a gut shot on a still deer usually produces a hunch up, blood will be small but should still be around in speck form, also you should find a greenish/bile tinge if you gut shot him. The leg kick is usually a vital hit indicator, however it is possible you grased him in the rear ham area which can produce a kick/slip response. Dark brown hair you found would most likely indicates a body hit of some sort. What position did you notice his head to be in when fleeing?(this can also indicate how hard he has been hit)
By the sounds of it, there is little doubt you put a hit on him and most likely he is down for good, I would head out with a couple of guys and comb the area. I have usually found a deer hit heads for the lowest, thickest stuff and then pile up if at all possible. Flat terrain they will usually head to some sort of heavy grass or terrain then bed down.

Taz is right on regards to a deer hunching up when gut shot. Heck, I might as well quit typing since he covered it all very well.
burnie, the best deer I ever shot was with the same round you used, I got one speck of blood about 20 yards from where he was shot and found the deer about 100 yards later. YOU GOT TO LOOK HARD!!!!