brianMO

Well guys I pulled the ultimate boner. I hurried a shot. Hope I missed entirely. A good ten-pointer. I have this fear I gut shot it. He acted as if he had been hit. Though he did not hump up like a gut shot deer. I gave him a few minutes and looked for blood at the place of the shot and where I seen him last. I found know sign of anything. How the question is...How did I miss? I prayed that I missed him entirely because he was such a trophy. Anybody have experience tracking gut shot deer? I am embarressed even to mention this! I spent about 2 hours this morning zig zagging through the timber hoping to get a sign of him. I lost sleep over this last night!

Brian MO

Tree climber

Brian;to start,what did you shoot him with?if with bow,you may not see much sign.the gut may stop up the holes.he will go a long way shoot with a bow.with gun , you should see some sigh,look close where he was standing and look for pounch contents,and also he want go far befor laying down.then you should find sign there.
lets hope you missed.

brianMO

I was using a 7mag. 160 grain sierra boattails. I lost my patience and took a running shot. It felt good. I just wished I would have waited and whisted or grunted to get him to stop. He responded to a can call and was looking for the hot doe. I feel bad...but will have't to be next time. I would have thought a 7mag would have left some sign if he was hit. Hopefully he lived. I do not like to lose a deer. It makes you sick when it is a good buck!

ir655

I have a 7mm Mag too, I gut shot a buck once. It got dark fast and I didn't have a flashlight, I went home and brought my dog and a couple of flashlights. When I took the dog to the spot where I estimated I had hit him the dog started tracking towards the woods (where he ran) and stop and sniffed the grass and pulled me in. As I looked where she had sniffed I saw something red on the grass and it was blood. That was the only sign of blood we had until about 50 yards in the think brush where I saw one more spot and we cam out to a small openening in the brush where he was laying in the 'bedded' position.

So there might be very little or no blood trail, even with a rifle.

strut

You should find some hair or something at the spot you shot him, especially with a 7 mag, I bet you missed.

eddie_v21

i agree with strut.i gut shot a doe at about 250 yrds. with a 7mm rem. mag and it tore her up,i found hair and blood at the spot and had a nice trail of guts scattered all the way til i found her.it was really cold that night and i could tell from the spot where she was hit that it was a gut shot so i decided to wait and get her in the morning.found her about 70 yards away and that was downhill so that want go far if you give em' time.thats the important thing on a gut shot deer.but anyways i believe you missedbecause with a 7 mag you shouldve got some sign.i guess that might be one of those cases where you hope you missed.

Split-Hoof

You said he acted like he was hit..........in this case, I wouldn't give up looking for him. I shot a nice buck with my .30-06 one year and knew he was hit good, but he ran off and there was no blood, hair or anything and we lost his tracks after a ways. It took a full day and a half of "grid" searching, but we did find him. The bullet had entered high up, taking out the lungs and passing diagonally into the rear hindquarter where it stopped just under the skin. Some shots won't leave any sign, even though they are fatal. Hopefully you either missed him clean, or if you did hit him you are able to recover him.