I shot at a deer yesterday and it felt like a good shot, but there wasn't a single drop of blood anywhere. But, there was a good bit of white hair on the ground. Some of the hair was long and coarse and some of it was in short 1/4" pieces. I was aiming at its heart, but must have shot too low and maybe the bullet just knocked the hair off it's belly, because i looked all over but couldn't find the deer.

I picked up the hair and put it in a ziplock sandwich bag, for sort of a souvenier....might be the only trophy i ever bag It was a buck, too.

Plinker

Sometimes the dragon eats the prince.

Plinker, you should check behind every stump and in every swag within 500 yards of were you shot the deer. I have witnessed this very thing first hand. Chances are still good that regardless of your aim the bullet did not exit leaving alot of hair and no blood. The deer may have still made it a good ways before expiring if your aim was off to the stomach area though.

I can't go back and look anymore because it's a couple hours' drive. The guy whose property it is helped look and he is a good tracker and he gave up, too. He didn't want to give up, but he finally said the bullet must have only clipped it.

I know what you're saying, though, because my husband shot one a couple days ago and there wasn't any blood. We finally found it 120 yards over the hill. Even though it was shot in the heart, no blood at all for 30 yards.

Plinker

Plinker
Did he shoot it on Thursday night with a 30-06, by any chance? And you found it for him?

Why I want an exit hole .Entrance holes bleed little .Long belly fur can absorb a lot of blood.I shot my biggest buck with a 44 mag ,after going through about 25-30" of deer it stopped against the hide. No blood for 50 yds then a 1/8" drop every 8 feet. He was down in 75 yds. Get a bullet that penetrates and search very carefully.

a deer can show if it was hit by the way it acts just when you shoot. for instance the deer i shotthis year bucked when i shot so iknow i hit it.. if fact i thoughtit was in back half that can usually happen when they buck up and kick back.but it was lung shot.. so watch what the deer does when you shoot. they duck under arrows and hop strait up but havnt seen these variatons myself.. others may chime in as to the aspects of hit game.. the tail droping can (i think show a spine hit).. one more point.. i hear doezens of variations of where shot placement should be on deer and elk... the head, spine, heart, neck and on and on. shoot for the center of the lungs just behind the shoulder, youll then have your deer with a slight miss.. .. dave..

This is why I have 2 labs that are trained to track. Last year my lab found a nice Ohio buck for someone. He shot it with a slug gun and it traveled a long long way. We never found any blood but my dog ran right to him.

I have lost a few in my day also. Sometimes you just don't shoot as well as you might. Some deer don't die with a near leathal shot. Maybe that is redundant? Lots of deer found healed over with arrows in them. We had a deer on our lease once that had been shot and had a leg dangling. We tried to put it out of it's misery for several weeks. At the end of the season I saw a deer hop into a clearing at the very last shooting light. I whacked him. It was the same deer but it's leg was gone and the wound completely healed over. If you searched thoroughly, it just may have got over it and gotten away. Tracking dogs would be great where they are legal. Good hunting.

Plinker, what calibre of rifle were you using?

Sorry about your luck. Unfortanately these things happen but they do tend to make better hunters out of us! Experience is still the best teacher.