dpv

I shot a doe and didn't recover it. Saturday just after 1 pm. 50 yards, crosshairs on chest as she's walking the edge of a creek. I shoot. she jumps, and kicks in the air. Takes off crashing into everything and out of sight. I thougt for sure she could only have gone 50+/- yards before going down. I came out of my tree, went over to where I shot her and there was nothing. No blood trail. I marked the little tree she was standing next to and started a grid pattern looking for some kind of sign. No blood, no hair, no bone, no stomach contents, no meat, no nothing. Did Grid, expanding circles, zigzagz, overlapping zigzags, walked the trails in the direction she took off, checked leaves on the ground and trees/bushes, etc she might have run into. went back to the start point , headed in the direction she ran and headed toward water, Went bac, and followed the terrain downward. Went back to the tree I shot from adn double checked my landmarks. searched for hours and hours. At the end of the day, I headed back to my truck in the dark with no deer. It was in the high 60's so the meat was going bad already. Nothing goes to waste in the forest and I know it will be eaten by the scavengers, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

David

o2bebowhunting

david--what did you shot her with? slug, buckshot, rifle? maybee you hit something in front of her(like a limb).

jrbsr

My question is how long did you wait before looking for the doe?

Sounds like to me a gut shot.

So if you went looking fer her to soon she will run for a mile or more before dieing.

If you can get one get a dog and track it down.

Even if you don't get the meat at least you will know where she ended up.

Good Luck

jrbsr

UncleNorby

dpv

You can't hit a deer with a bullet and find NO sign. I am assuming you did find the location the deer was when you shot of course, but if that's the case, there would be some evidence.

Crosshairs on the chest? If you hit it, there would have been plenty of sign.

Reminds me of a buck I shot at. It bucked and bolted. Dead deer I thought, went up there and found my bullet track in the snow, right between the tracks. My bullet had deflected low from hitting a twig, and hit the ground right at his feet. Apparently something did hit him, like maybe something kicked up by the bullet. Tracked him a while and had to leave at dark, but there was never any blood. If there had not been snow, I too would have wondered what happened.

I think something like this happened to you, but you did the right thing by really looking. You can't assume you missed just because you don't find blood.

hillbillyhunter1

uncle norby,
now that is a deer huntin name if I ever heard one and he is right--sounds like you did everything you could--go back with a clear concience and shoot another one
hb

blueeyedhuck

i hate it when that happens

GR8atta2d

umm I believe you missed.

dpv

The thought of a miss occured to me. It was just the deer kickin up like that the made me feel so certain I hit her. Weapon is a Marlin 30-30 shooting 170 Grain winchester power points. I spent a lot of time with it at the range getting it dialed in. IT's amazingly accurate at 100 yards. I felt pretty strongly that it would be near impossible for the deer to take that and not bleed. I would have taken my dogs (house dogs) out there to sniff around for it if I lived closer to that hunting area but I didn't get back till several hours after dark, and the next day I couldn't get out there. I will be back out there this weekend and I will likely be hunting down in that same spot. Hope

Indiana-Eric

my bro in law shot his first doe 2 days ago, he didnt hit it good
it bled for about 1 mile, drops here drops there
we caught up to it but it took off running,, then we caught up to it again,,, now the meat is at the processor

Texas Hunter

That stinks when that happens, however like it or not, that is part of hunting sometimes. The good thing is if she is dead, many animals will benefit from her.