A day of Disappointment

[timberghost35]

Morning started of cold and still. About 7:05, looked to my right and a really nice buck was moving towards me. Ranged him at 168 yards and half broadside, half quartering to me and let the 7mag ring. Heard the shot "hit" him with a thud. Deer hunkered and took off seemingly giving it everything he had to run with his head down to the ground.

Got down after about 30 mins and went to where he was standing to find absolutely no blood in the field. Went to where I thought he went into the woods and found a small amount of blood, then more blood about 5 feet away, then some what I'm guessing nasally bloody junk with bubbles. Blood was bright red and bubbly as you can see in the pics. There was also what looked like bloody cartilage/fat with a shard of bone in it. Blood did not smell "gutty" at all.

Called in a dog and 2.2 miles and 4 hrs later of searching through briars, thorns, creeks, and woods, I'm exhausted and sick to my stomach. Dog lead us to no more blood nor did we find any other sign of him…

I'm truly at a loss for words. He was a heck of a deer and I have no clue what went wrong. Shoot seemed good and I was steady with a rest. Only thing I can think is that maybe I clipped the shoulder blade and it stopped the bullet or something. I have no idea…

What's you guys opinion on it…

 

[TNLynn]

How experienced was the dog? 2.2 miles on blood or just walking?

 

[timberghost35]

How experienced was the dog? 2.2 miles on blood or just walking?

Dog was young, but has been on a lot of deer this year. Only thing close to where I'm at that I could find.

2.2 miles zig zagging and grinding. We found no more blood that the dog lead us to. The ground he ran into is an old hog farm that hasn't been mixed since around 2006 so it's nothing but briars and junk…

 

[backyardtndeer]

Maybe a brisket hit. Only deer I ever lost with a rifle I believe I hit brisket, found a chunk of bone and blood similar to yours.

 

[TNLynn]

I would go tomorrow and look every direction that you know the deer DIDN'T go!

 

[SEC]

Hit him low I'd bet. Bloody cartilage and fat came off his brisket. Tracked one a fellow shot like that one morning. The next morning the neighbor killed him a half mile away chasing a doe. We didn't find quite the blood you did though.

 

[timberjack86]

Y'all should have at least jumped him with the dog. I had a dog once it didn't matter if you shot a deer in the leg, she would at least jump him every time he would lay down until you gave up.

 

[megalomaniac]

Agree with above. Low brisket

 

[DoubleRidge]

Agree that low brisket seems like a possibility. Do you run cameras in the area? If so maybe you can get confirmation the hit wasn't lethal....and with fields of briars you may go back and walk looking for buzzards....also after a good night's rest you can slow down and grid search the area again just for confirmation ...and too know you did all you can do....after that....get back in the saddle and hunt....good luck.

 

[TNLynn]

I still bet he is dead.

 

[timberghost35]

Agree that low brisket seems like a possibility. Do you run cameras in the area? If so maybe you can get confirmation the hit wasn't lethal....and with fields of briars you may go back and walk looking for buzzards....also after a good night's rest you can slow down and grid search the area again just for confirmation ...and too know you did all you can do....after that....get back in the saddle and hunt....good luck.

Yea I run cell cameras. Hopefully he will show, but I will say, I haven't seen this deer before yest.

I'm going this morning to shoot my gun again to make sure all is good, and then hunt this afternoon. Hoping if he is dead, buzzards and coyotes will show me. I will say this morning, I did have 2 different coyotes show that I haven't seen in a couple wks.

I swore I heard the deer crash, but it's so thick, I would have to be right on top of him to see it.