I went deer hunting for the last 4 days. Although the season runs for about 3 more weeks, due to work load and travel schedule, this is probably it for me.

I sat in a ladder stand that was pretty well situated. I saw many deer, many very close. However, the bucks I saw were a fair distance off. I decided to user my climber. I put it on a tree a few hundred yards away. The first afternoon, I saw a number of deer including 2 bucks that I passed on. I was supposed to hunt quail the morning of January 1. I decided to climb the tree and sit a couple of hours before we went bird hunting.

Around 8 AM, I noticed some deer a few hundred yards off. Ironically about 30-50 yards from the ladder stand I had sat in. At first I saw a doe & a yearling. I saw more deer, one of which was a shooter. I moved my climber around the tree for a better angle. I didn't laser the distance because of so many pine trees. I estimated 325 yards. First mistake.

The buck was walking toward a trail into a dry cypress pond, a major bedding area. I felt this deer was going to disappear and I was pretty comfortable with the shot. I had my Browning X bolt in 270 Winchester with Federal 130 grains Barnes Triple Shocks. I wish I had brought my 7 MM. Second mistake.

I fired and all hell broke loose. Deer were scattering everywhere. At first I thought I hit it. Quickly, I became not so sure. Interestingly, a few actually ran closer. The buck in question stopped at about 150 yards. I took another shot. At the shot, he took about 2 steps before he was in the swamp. I thought it was a good shot but he was gone so quickly, I didn't see much of his reaction. I marked the place he disappeared and sat for a half hour before I got down.

I diligently searched the area. Not one speck of blood was found. Not one hair was found. I was dejected. I walked to the area that he was originally in. I found tracks but no blood and no hair. I became even more dejected. I called my buddy to come pick me up.

My buddy arrived. I recounted the story. He wanted to see for himself. I dismissed him and assured him that I had missed. Third mistake. After much good natured harassing, I proceed to show him where the buck went into the swamp. Now my buddy fancies himself as a great tracker. I humored him. Guess what? He found no blood and no hair either. I again told him I missed.

We stood there BS'ing when my buddy decided to take a little stroll into the swamp. I figured WTF and I went in as well. I still looked for blood and saw none. Neither did my buddy. He was maybe 10 yards from me. I was about to leave when he spotted the 9 point deader than a door nail.

We inspected the deer. I had indeed hit it with both shots. The first was a little low. I believe that this was caused by me not estimating accurately. The actual distance proved to be closer to 400 yards than 300 yards. However, the second shot is FAR more puzzling. The bullet went in exactly where I wanted. It exited in the center of the far shoulder. The exit wound was circular and was between 1 3/4 and 2 inches across. It was a big hole.

Now there was a ton of blood around where the deer fell. We back tracked and the blood started only about 12-15 feet from where the deer fell. How in the world could the bullet have caused this much damage and there was absolutely zero blood trail? I was floored. Happy but floored. I simply could not conceive of what I was seeing with my own eyes.

I was ready to give this one up as a clean miss. I won't do that again when I am feeling good about my shot.

Did you happen to notice if there was a piece of bone or fat right where the blood started?

I experienced the same thing with a deer my brother shot a few years back. The deer was standing behind him and he had to lean way around the tree to get the shot. He was shooting my .300 Win Mag with 180 grain XLC's. The distance to the deer was maybe 25 feet. To make the shot angle around the tree, he had to pull the stock away from his shoulder. When he pulled the trigger, he caught the scope in his forehead hard. It broke the scope and dad had to put in 11 stitches in the field to get him closed up!

When we went to where the deer was, there was no blood or hair, but you could easily see his tracks in the soft soil. I trailed by his tracks for about 100 yards. Then I found a big piece of bone, enough blood to fill slaughter house and a dead deer. He hit him right through the shoulders. The exit hole was a little bigger than a golf ball. All I can think of is that the piece of bone I found had plugged the exit wound.

Pete

took a while for the chest cavity to "fill"
allowing for "exterior" blood loss?
had the same thing happen on elk, 75-100 yds before trackable blood to hit the ground.
granted a much larger chest but ....
good lesson on following up a animal

I didn't notice bone or fat. However, I could have missed that in my excitement of finding the buck.

Thank goodness for friends who believe in us, even when we don't believe in ourselves!

Nice story and lesson to think about here for all of us.

WTG...Mr. Shores!
I've done that before & it pays to always be thorough.

quote:

Originally posted by CamoManJ:
WTG...Mr. Shores!
I've done that before & it pays to always be thorough.

Not me, I've trained my deer, after I shoot them, they all walk to a clearing and skin themselves before dying.

Congrats on finding your buck Larry. Lesson well earned. I always keep looking and when in doubt, keep looking. Murphy's law can enter into any scenario. Glad you found him.
David

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:


Not me, I've trained my deer, after I shoot them, they all walk to a clearing and skin themselves before dying.

I wish you could come train the ones in D7 to at least stand still in a little clearing, with a patch of light right on them, broadside to me. I wouldn't mind tracking them if I could at least get a shot.

Red

I shot a gemsbok in SA back in 2005 with my A Bolt 7mm Rem. and a 160 A Frame. About 325 yards. Dropped her like a rock. When we walked up to the carcass. there wss no blood. just clean entrance and exit wounds.

But when the skinners hung her up and opened the chest cavity, it resulted in a huge gush of blood, several liters, I would estimate. I had heart shot her and all the blood filled the chest cavity. So you don't always get signs of external bleeding.

Same thing with a SC whitetail at about 100 yds. No blood and I was sure I hit him. He had bolted across a little deep creek into the trees. I kept looking and found him dead about fifty yards into the forest. Heart shot, and not a drip anywhere. It happens.

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
took a while for the chest cavity to "fill"
allowing for "exterior" blood loss?
had the same thing happen on elk, 75-100 yds before trackable blood to hit the ground.
granted a much larger chest but ....
good lesson on following up a animal

Bingo. Seen it happen too. Bullet seems to have done its job just fine so no sense in second guessing that. Congrats on your buck, and if anything this lesson should give you a tremendous amount of confidence in your shooting.

Although a "large" exit wound would typically indicate broad expansion of the bullet, if it was the result of hitting the shoulder bone on the way out, the trauma to the internal organs might not have been all that great. Did you find much in the way of organ damage upon field dressing the deer?

"Slow" kills on light game like whitetails is one of the more frequent complaints heard about the monometal bullets.

There is little doubt that the first shot would have taken a long time to kill the deer, if ever. The second shot wrecked the inside pretty badly.

The deer ran about 30 yards after the second shot before it died. However, that 30 yards was a total change in terrain. One could not see the deer unless it was about 10 feet away. Before entering the swamp, it might as well have been on the moon. One could have spotted it just as easily.

I originally decided against going in the swamp as I felt I would further stir up the deer. Having seen no evidence of a hit, I was reluctant.

larry,

I'm sure I'll catch some shit for this but my expereince is that the TSX does not give good blood trails. I shot a completely undisturbed nyala in Mozambique last year with a through and through lung shot using a 300 TSX from my 375 Weatherby. The PH and the trackers were sure of a perfect hit but we didn't find any blood until we found the bull about 100 yards from where I shot it. I've shot about 25 animals with the TSX and I've not seen a great blood trail yet or had even one DRT. Having said that I really like them as I can take a shot from any angle offered on about any animal and they are super accurate in my rifles.

Mark

Interesting. You may have a point.

Hard to argue with the final result though.

Larry,

I can understand not much blood from the wounds but why am I not finding blood blown out with the animals breath? I'm a litte puzzled.

Mark

Mark:

Me too. There was very little blood coming from his mouth or nose yet both lungs were wrecked.

When we looked around the deer, there was massive quantities of blood. 12-15 feet before the deer, nothing.

I have shot a lot of critters in my life. This totally baffles me.

how far did he go from 1st hit to piled up?

He ran no more than 30 yards from the shot that killed him.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
larry,

I'm sure I'll catch some shit for this but my expereince is that the TSX does not give good blood trails.
Mark

no shit from me but that's not been my experience at all. blood trails so good you'd think you cut the vitals with a broadhead.

I have shot 5 deer this year with the triple shocks.

The first ran maybe 8 yards, there was some blood trail but not a lot. There was also a lot of loose dirt with little ground vegetation. Not the best for a blood trail.

The second was shot square in the chest while standing in lose dirt with almost no vegetation. Absolutely no blood trail in the perhaps 50 yards it ran.

The next was shot square through the near shoulder and exited behind the far shoulder. There was a massive blood trail. it ran 60 yards.

The next was the buck in question.

The next was shot through both shoulders and never moved. However, there was little blood on the ground.

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
took a while for the chest cavity to "fill"
allowing for "exterior" blood loss?
had the same thing happen on elk, 75-100 yds before trackable blood to hit the ground.
granted a much larger chest but ....
good lesson on following up a animal

Had a similar thing happen with my regular season deer in Nebraska. One shot drop, but when we got up to her we could not find any blood.

When I field dressed her, it was a sudden gush of blood. All the bleeding was internal.

I had a 270 that behaved EXACTLY like that when using TTSX's. Had one very nice 8 pointer that absorbed every round out of that rifle (pre 64 model 70) and was still alive when I walked up on him at 175 yards. He took each round in the heart lung area and believe it or not I had to go back to my truck and finish him off with my 45.

I have killed a number of deer with TTSX's and the "No blood until I found the deer" happened a huge percentage of the time when using the Barnes bullet. My last deer I killed with one was a doe hit straight through the lungs with my 270 and she ran a GPS confirmed 310 yards before dropping...again, no blood until we found her.

No more of them for me. Best of luck with your situation.

Flame away if you like. I am wearing my asbestos underwear.

Good Post! My two cents; Have confidence in your tackle, or don't use it. Have confidence in your shot presentation, or don't take it. Have confidence in your ability to execute a well aimed shot, or don't send a bullet down range.

With all of the above said, have confidence that you connected with a good hit, and do not stop the search for recovering the game animal until you are confident that you left no stone unturned. There is no room for doubt in this equation

Best

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by CamoManJ:
WTG...Mr. Shores!
I've done that before & it pays to always be thorough.

Not me, I've trained my deer, after I shoot them, they all walk to a clearing and skin themselves before dying.

now THAT was funny ~ i might use that one sometime in the future!