No blood?

[Foxtrot1]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a strange experience with a deer I shot.

I was hunting from the ground and had a buck chase a doe right to me. I ended up shooting him broadside at about 15-20 yds with my 7x57. After the shot I was expecting to see a deer lying there, but he had disappeared over the edge of the ridge we were on. I gave him a few minutes and walked over to where he was standing. No blood or hair. It had been raining all day, but had finally stopped, so I was able to follow his tracks. He had bailed off the side of the ridge and would occasionally slide, kicking up pine straw. 200 yards and still no blood. When I lost his tracks I started circling because the woods were open and I thought I might pick him up. No luck, so at that point I called in help and we were able to pick up more kicked up pine straw farther down the ridge. We finally found him 1/4 of a mile from where I shot him. Never found blood or hair on the ground or on trees. The shot hit the center of the rear edge of his closest shoulder and angled to exit high in his rib cage. Double lung with a 1" exit. His chest cavity was full and ran out of the exit wound when we rolled him over. Crazy he made it that far. Maybe since his adrenaline was up chasing does and the fact he ran down hill helped him go farther? I wonder if being on the same level with him when I shot him affected the blood trail?

It really makes me wonder about all the deer people "miss" and give up after looking 100 yds. I have never seen one shot with a rifle leave no sign before.

 

[88man]

How about out the mouth and nose blood?

 

[nrpate05]

I have little experience with this but it seems that shots that are high, especially where they exit, seem to leave less of a blood trail.

 

[Foxtrot1]

How about out the mouth and nose blood?

He had a little in his nostrils, but not much. It pretty much stayed in his chest cavity. This is how we found him

 

[338 win mag]

I have seen several deer shot perfectly and dead within 100 yards or less with no blood or hair. All were without exit holes though. I agree that lots of deer are lost because people just assume they missed. I shot a buck a couple years ago at 20 yards with my muzzleloader. Looked for 2 hours, no blood, not a trace! Stumbled on him after almost giving up 75 yards from where I shot him in a thicket. Not even a drop of blood where he lay. Shot through the front shoulder.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I shot a deer in the lungs with my 300 WSM one year and if there had not been snow I am unsure if I ever would have found him. He maybe dropped 1-2 drop of blood in 200 yards. Strangest thing I ever seen. My dad was there and said oh it looks like you missed him and I just looked above my glasses at him and smiled....I said "trust me, he was 75 yards away in the wide open...I didn't miss..." Literally a 10X shot.

This year I shot a deer in the same spot with my 30-06 and it ran 100 yards with very little blood. Perfect shot. So I dunno. I do know that if they had been hit in the exact same spot with an arrow they would have bled more and died closer....

Way to keep after them.

 

[Foxtrot1]

I shot a deer in the lungs with my 300 WSM one year and if there had not been snow I am unsure if I ever would have found him. He maybe dropped 1-2 drop of blood in 200 yards. Strangest thing I ever seen. My dad was there and said oh it looks like you missed him and I just looked above my glasses at him and smiled....I said "trust me, he was 75 yards away in the wide open...I didn't miss..." Literally a 10X shot.

This year I shot a deer in the same spot with my 30-06 and it ran 100 yards with very little blood. Perfect shot. So I dunno. I do know that if they had been hit in the exact same spot with an arrow they would have bled more and died closer....

Way to keep after them.

We were lucky. If he hadn't have been at bayonet range, I would have given up and chalked it up to a crazy miss. I just couldn't comprehend how I missed him that close. I was afraid the shot had been back into the liver after we hadn't found sign in a couple of hundred yards, but it was even more frustrating when we found him and the shot was good.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I beleive you. But only because I have had the same thing happen to me. And for the record the 300WSM was 150 grain winchester ballistic tips, the 30-06 was my 168 grain nosler ballistic tip hunting bullets..

Neither of these rounds hit bone. Striaght in straight out. Not even a broken rib. And yes, I also find that hard to believe...lol

 

[rjthehunter]

I shot my buck this year with my .338 and it was the worst blood trail I've ever had to follow from a rifle. I'm talking maybe a couple drops every 5 to 10 yards. It was challenging. I knew I hit him good because he jumped and kicked hard when he was hit. Went about 80 yards. Perfect shot, most the blood was in the chest cavity!

 

[tzone]

I've shot 3 bucks with my 7x57 and none gave any blood trail. On WI buck had some blood on the ground where I found him dead, but two others left none. I tracked one by busted brush and tracks on the ground. Died within 30 yds of where he stood when I shot him. He was heart shot. Not a drop. SD buck dropped on the spot. No need to worry about it.

 

[Jape]

Hit a bull elk last year in the lower portion of the lungs and top of the heart. Not a drop but with the heart hit he only went 50 yards. Always amazes me how strong they are.

 

[blueridge]

Things like this drive me absolutely NUTS. When they're not found, it takes up the majority of my mental space for weeks.

Two years ago I shot one with my .50 cal muzzleloader at 35-40 yards. It was right at dusk so I aimed for high shoulder hoping to anchor him. Hit him so hard he did a somersault. Laid there for about 5 seconds, then got up and ran off into the rhododendron thickets. I found one watery blood spot the size of my pinky nail where he dropped, but absolutely nothing after that. Spent 1.5 hrs that night gridding with a flashlight, and 2 hours the next morning. Nothing.

Janis Putelis talked about the "void" a few weeks ago, below the spine and above or at the top of the lungs that won't leave much blood, but a full double lung shot like yours????? I don't get it. Sucks.

 

[SticksMcKinley]

Things like this drive me absolutely NUTS. When they're not found, it takes up the majority of my mental space for weeks.

Two years ago I shot one with my .50 cal muzzleloader at 35-40 yards. It was right at dusk so I aimed for high shoulder hoping to anchor him. Hit him so hard he did a somersault. Laid there for about 5 seconds, then got up and ran off into the rhododendron thickets. I found one watery blood spot the size of my pinky nail where he dropped, but absolutely nothing after that. Spent 1.5 hrs that night gridding with a flashlight, and 2 hours the next morning. Nothing.

Janis Putelis talked about the "void" a few weeks ago, below the spine and above or at the top of the lungs that won't leave much blood, but a full double lung shot like yours????? I don't get it. Sucks.

I've had a very similar situation with a muzzleloader. First deer I've ever lost and never saw again. It really sucks.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I shot a whitetail doe at about 10 yards with a 30-06 right before dark and she ran off like nothing happened. I started looking for blood and couldn't find any, and thought I must have missed her being so close. I started to grid a little and heard some thumping through the trees, and could just see her in the dusk through the trees as she died about 50 yards away. So I gave up looking for blood and went over to her once she died, as I got close I started looking for blood and couldn't find any. Could hardly find the entrance hole and no exit, just a tiny bit of blood at the entrance. Hit her in a rib and the bullet bounced up in her rib cage and took out her lungs and heart, no exit.

 

[Mudder]

I sure have no definitive answer, but I do have a guess. Maybe if the shot stops the heart, less blood is pumped out the wound? When they go down in a pile it is because the bullet has disrupted a major nerve path not because it has disrupted blood flow.

I shot one Buck at forty yards and he ran sixty yards up a slope, stopped at the top of the ridge and I took a second shot. Both the bullet holes were within an inch of each other. The heart was like a handful of chopped up Cherry Jello. My assumption is they can run a long way with no blood flow.

Here most hunters either have a dog or somebody on speed dial with a dog. My last tracking dog could follow an invisible blood trail at a dead run if you'd let him. Here you have to keep them on the leash when tracking, but it isn't illegal to track a wounded animal. It isn't the size of the dog that makes a good tracker, some of the best are Dachshunds. The upside to a Dachshund is it isn't that hard to keep up with.

 

[dgc1963]

ON a drizzly day shot a nice 140 class 10 pointer in Pa. 35 yrds with my bow it was an decent up hill shot I knew I hit it well saw the green knock go in the boiler room
but zero blood had a few friend help look for abt an hour no blood they went back to hunting I walked slowly up the trail and saw a deer moving so I leaned up against a pine tree as a doe came and bedded down 20 yrds for abt 1/2 hr as im cursing her in my mind for doing so, since I didnt want her to blow out taking my buck with her if he was still alive I looked to my left and under a big log their he was dead and hidden
But never had a drop of blood and I took out both lungs guess it was the angle of entrance and exit wounds

 

[BearFoot]

After a good nights rain, I was moving very slowly through the woods. Entering a tall grass meadow, I scanned about, when suddenly a bull moose jumped from his bed. He trotted away a bit and stopped sideways for a look. I felt very good with my shot. I found no trace of blood in the area. I looked and looked. My shot was good and the moose buckled on impact, but no moose was there!
I walked back to find his bed and stood there awhile. Many thoughts rolling in my head. Then I noticed, drops of rain missing from some of the tall grass before me. All around me, grass, plants, trees had drops of rain on them. I "could see" a path through the grass that had no droplets ! I followed. When grass turned to leaves on the ground, I noticed the leaves that had droplets and those that did not.
A good three hundred yards later, through thick timber, I came up on a lung shot bull, down but not out. I Fixed that. No blood was present in that track, only missing rain droplets.
This was some years ago, but a very good lesson on tracking, for me.


Early days I tree stand, or stealth stalk, where I know they are. Now I just call them to join my party.

 

[sbhooper]

If you hunt very much, this kind of thing happens. I have seen a number of deer shot with whatever-you-want-to-pick cartridge and had very little blood. I think most of my bow shots bled more than muzzle loader, or center-fire.

All this can be solved, if you just shoot them with a Creedmoor!

 

[JDH]

Things like this drive me absolutely NUTS. When they're not found, it takes up the majority of my mental space for weeks.

Two years ago I shot one with my .50 cal muzzleloader at 35-40 yards. It was right at dusk so I aimed for high shoulder hoping to anchor him. Hit him so hard he did a somersault. Laid there for about 5 seconds, then got up and ran off into the rhododendron thickets. I found one watery blood spot the size of my pinky nail where he dropped, but absolutely nothing after that. Spent 1.5 hrs that night gridding with a flashlight, and 2 hours the next morning. Nothing.

Janis Putelis talked about the "void" a few weeks ago, below the spine and above or at the top of the lungs that won't leave much blood, but a full double lung shot like yours????? I don't get it. Sucks.

I had the same thing with a muzzleloader. Only difference was he was down for about 5 minutes before he got up and took off.
Some times I wonder if the angle of the leg allows the skin and muscle to cover up the hole enough to block the blood flow.

 

[sbhooper]

I had the same thing with a muzzleloader. Only difference was he was down for about 5 minutes before he got up and took off.
Some times I wonder if the angle of the leg allows the skin and muscle to cover up the hole enough to block the blood flow.

Yep. Also, the amount of fat. Our deer look like you dipped them in candle wax. It clots holes pretty bad, unless it is a real large hole.