How long to track a deer with no blood?

[Kristopher10]

Wife and I were hunting today, she made a stalk on a white tail buck and took a good broadside shot from ~120 yards or so. I was watching a few hundred yards away through binos, heard the shot and I saw the deer hit the ground face first. I figured it was done right there, made my way over to her and she said the deer got up and ran into the bush afterwards, which I couldn't see. Gave the deer some time and went looking, we couldn't find any blood or hair anywhere. We followed it's tracks 500 or 600 yards and found no signs of injury. If I didn't see the deer hit the ground I'd say it was a clean miss, she says everything felt right about the shot too. We pulled out because it got dark but we're going back in the morning to take another look.

How far have you tracked an animal and found it dead with ZERO signs of a hit? At what point would you call off the search?

[1shotwade]

I helped on retrieve last year on a whitetail buck same scenario, but I found one drop of blood where he jumped a fence. The bullet blew out the liver and the deer made it 1/4 mile and bedded and died.

[bessiedog]

Same thing. Shot this guy.... less than 150 yards with a 7 mmrm. Perfect boiler room shot.



Deer trotted away into the Bush 200 yards away.

No fur from shot that I could find. Lost the track because it went through a deer intersection.

Found it the next morning due to the birds (I’ll never know why the coyotes didn’t find it)

Upon retracting it with my cousin from the shot... we found one pin dot of snow with blood.

ThT deer was maybe 1/2 k from the shot.

[Peebles]

I can't explain the science behind it but I can add another voice saying sometimes a deer won't leave a blood trail initially or maybe at all. Last year I shot a deer on a cut line and was sure of it, but it ran into a pine marsh. I wasn't totally sure on the entry point into the bush and had no sign, so I went in following the path of least resistance. Luckily I found the deer off the main about 75m in, but there was no blood until the spot it had piled up. I was stressed the whole time, but luck bailed me out.

500 yards of track is a lot different than 100 without a print, but I think you owe it to yourself to keep looking. As bessiedog points out birds will help confirm or disconfirm the next day. Calling off the search is a difficult decision that depends on your confidence the search area is clear, but I would say a full day of search would clear my conscience as much as possible in most cases.

Good luck. I know this is never a good feeling and it may end in uncertainty. Life and death are unpredictable.

[KazIce]

I was fortunate to fill my tag early this year so I have been the guide in my hunting party. One member of our party took a shot at a big buck at 250 yards out with about 10 mins of legal light left. I thought he hit him; so we waited a half hour and then searched. Couldn’t find him or evidence of a hit, but I really thought the deer was hit. So we returned the following morning to search and we did not find him, nor did we find any flocks of birds in the area. I kept searching for that buck every time we went out, and we were going every other day this year. We hunt the same area so I know we would have found that deer had it died elsewhere. We all sleep a lot better knowing we put everything we could into searching for that deer. I think when you know you have exhausted all options you can rest easier.

Same member of our hunting party took a shot at another buck at 180 yards. Deer dropped to the ground on its front legs, bounced back up and ran 400 yds across the field into the bush. Fortunately we had fresh snow, and there was no blood anywhere on his trail. Grazed the buck, it dropped, and ran like heck after.

Same thing happened with my uncle years ago. We were together and he shot a whitetail; it literally froze stiff and fell over the back side of a small ridge. We went to retrieve our quarry and... nothing! Just some fur on the ground. The buck was stunned and ran up the hill in that narrow crevice so we could not see him. No blood anywhere on that trail at all.

So if you searched 500 yards deep and no blood, deer dropped but was up again instantly and ran for it, I think it might have been grazed. I’m not an expert though, just a guy who has been there for too many misses lol.

[KegRiver]

Hit a bit high and you could track him for a mile or more before he goes down or leaves any blood.

They can bleed into the body cavity a long time without leaving a drop on the ground.

I've tracked Deer up to a mile and Moose for two, with no blood sign.
Found them dead too.

But I've also lost a couple that went down like a ton of brick then got up and ran, some times after a few minutes of thrashing on the ground.

Your chances of finding him aren't good if the birds aren't on him in the morning. If he hadn't gone down, I'd say your chances are far better.

When you knock them down hard like that it usually means you hit bone.
If he get up and run you probably hit the shoulder blade and only knocked the wind out of him. He may die but it will take a while, maybe days.

I've seen head shots, spine shots and shoulder shots knock them down where they get back up again. Shoulder shots seem to be most likely to injure but not kill.

Head shots either kill or just knock them down but if they get up they usually live. Spine shots will kill them but they will drag their back legs at least for a ways.
But shoulder shots can knock them down and if they get up and run they seldom leave any blood sign or drag marks and they can go a long ways before stopping.

As a guide you some times see some real poor shooting. And do a lot of tracking.

[KegRiver]

About when would I give up? That's not easy to answer.

It depends on a lot of factors. How easy it is to track, did he stumble or show any sign of being hit? Was he running normal? Did the shooter see dust fly off the critter? Did anyone hear the hit? How much time do I have?

I would go until I was sure I would never find him or until I lost the track or ran out of time.

That Moose I tracked for two miles? I had actually given up on finding him.
I was trying to turn the skidoo around when I spotted a dark hump a 100 yards in the direction I had been tracking. So I decided to see what it was.

That Moose showed no sign of being hit when the shot was taken. There was no blood or hair where he was standing or anywhere along his trail, but when I reached him the first thing I noticed was a bullet hole high on the shoulder and a bit far back.
The bullet had cut but not severed the main artery along the underside of the back bone. 1/4 inch lower and he would have survived.

That day our hunters knocked down three Moose, two ran. One dropped in his tracks and was stone cold dead when we reached him.

One staggered and slobbered and ran a couple hundred yards, got up and ran again. Three times he bedded and got up. I found him still warm but very dead 400 yards from where he was hit. Shot was high and too far back.

The third Moose is the one I tracked for two miles, through timber. Fortunately it was quiet open among the trees so I was able to follow him on my skiddo or I'd have given up a mile earlier.

You just never know. That is why I never stop shooting until they are down and never put down my rifle until I know for sure they are dead.

I've seen and heard of far too many animals getting up and running after the hunter was sure they were dead. It's happened to me twice.

One Deer and one wild hog.

My dad shot a Moose years ago and hit the spine just ahead of the hips. The Moose never went down but he was dragging his back legs when he left. We tracked him for days. Eventually a snow storm wiped out his trail.

The following spring we cut his trail, still dragging his back legs. We tried tacking him again but never did find him.

[Kristopher10]

Thanks for the replies. We’ll be headed out in the morning again to look.


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[Grizzly Adams]

I've found, sometimes you've got to head him off at the pass and work your way backward. Even an injured deer is a creature of habit.

Grizz

[roper1]

The size of the gun would help me make up my mind how hard I looked. I think you have a decent chance of magpies showing you him in the morning. Good luck!

[KegRiver]

I just remembered another such incident.

Dad, myself and BIL went hunting Moose one fall back around 1980.

First thing we see is a nice sized Whitetail Buck. We decide BIL should shoot it. He had a 270 with a range compensating scope. Dad and I were both hunting with .303s with iron sights.

So BIL takes the shot, Buck jumps three feet into the air and hits the ground running.
We track him 300 yards across the field into the bush, he never broke stride.
Found some light blood smears in the bush and a bit of hair bit no sign of a good hit so we went back to Moose hunting.

I went up the ridge to drive Moose down to the hunters in the field.
Half a mile on a Nice buck steps out in front of me and I drill him dead center. He runs thirty yards or so and piles up.

When I reach him a see where my bullet hit just above the heart but one front leg is broken. That made no sense to me at first until I examined him more closely.
That's when I found the bullet hole in his leg and a bullet crease across his chest.
Both very fresh.
We're pretty sure those two wounds were caused by BILs 270.

Buck was a good mile and a half from where he was first shot.
I still have his antlers, Nice balanced set about 140 class, with one blemish,a lump in the right main beam.

[Big Grey Wolf]

I always like Kegs detail on subject. Message is develop good tracking skill and do not give up to early. I tracked a moose brother in law wounded in September and used only a few very small drops of blood and bone chips to define his trail. We found and shot the moose almost one mile later.

[Sooner]

My dad shot at a buck once, I watched it fall through the binos just like you described. When we got there, it looked like the bang from the gun startled him and made him jump, in which he slipped on the icy log area ruts and fell. But you have to follow up and after following its tracks for a long while with no sign of a hit, we came back and deemed it to be a complete miss as further looks showed the bullet trail in the snow. Low and under the body was our myth buster result. Funny thing about this buck, he was the smaller of 2. I told dad the bigger one is on the right, shoot that one. He shoots, the left smaller one falls. We were both facing the deer the same way. He though my right was his left. We still laugh about that day.


If that deer was hit as you say, you should find it pretty quick this am. If you look today and don't find any sign of a hit or whats left, it may have been a miss. And that's a better feeling than knowing it is wounded and out there.


Good luck, hope the next post from you has pics of the wife's deer.

[Foysey22]

I’m going to say she likely hit him in the antler. Shot a deer on the run once and he piled up, then took off. No sign of blood. 4 days later I killed that deer and yup there was a hole in the horn.

[Kristopher10]

Well after going back and spending the better part of the day looking, we didn’t find him. We found a little blood starting about 50yards after we stopped the first night, we tracked him for 2-3 km with blood here and there. Found where he bedded down a couple times, less and less blood in each bed. Eventually made it onto a property we didn’t have permission on, and asking for permission resulted in several accusations and the landowners son being very aggressive and threatening. I’m not going to put my wife in any dangerous situation to find a deer that may or may not be there, so we called it quits. I tried getting into contact with a fish and wildlife officer to see if was anything else we could do, left a message but did not hear back.


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[coyoteman]

Haveing spent many years as a bear guide in Northern Ont.I know the frustration of following a blood trail for hours, without result.For a few years I had a hound that was the answer,he found many--But the country thick with many blow downs,there is a limit how far you go,of course kept the dog on a lease.The second advantage Bow hunters,they track most every animal, and always willing to help--Many a bear they found,which I am sure would have outherwise been lost.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Kristopher10

Well after going back and spending the better part of the day looking, we didn’t find him. We found a little blood starting about 50yards after we stopped the first night, we tracked him for 2-3 km with blood here and there. Found where he bedded down a couple times, less and less blood in each bed. Eventually made it onto a property we didn’t have permission on, and asking for permission resulted in several accusations and the landowners son being very aggressive and threatening. I’m not going to put my wife in any dangerous situation to find a deer that may or may not be there, so we called it quits. I tried getting into contact with a fish and wildlife officer to see if was anything else we could do, left a message but did not hear back.


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From what you say I believe you made the right choice. It sounds like a minor flesh wound to me. Not good but I think it very likely the animal will survive with few if any long term consequences.

Nature can inflict far more damage and all to often does. I have a folder full of very disturbing photos of animals that suffered severe injury from natural causes. A couple had healed but were handicapped by their injury, others clearly were not going to survive.

We do the best we can, that is all we can reasonably do. For every Deer Moose or Bear injured by a hunter there are hundreds injured by traffic on our highways. That doesn't make it okay, it just says, life in the wild is hard. Death by bullet is probably the best case scenario for a wild animal.

Only Bambi gets to live predator, disease, injury and parasite free. Almost all others face a short life and a unpleasant end. That is nature.

Predators kill and pray get eaten. That's the crux of the matter.

[Sooner]

She nicked the meat is my guess. Keep on keeping on and that deer is probably ok.

[Flatlandliver]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

From what you say I believe you made the right choice. It sounds like a minor flesh wound to me. Not good but I think it very likely the animal will survive with few if any long term consequences.

Nature can inflict far more damage and all to often does. I have a folder full of very disturbing photos of animals that suffered severe injury from natural causes. A couple had healed but were handicapped by their injury, others clearly were not going to survive.

We do the best we can, that is all we can reasonably do. For every Deer Moose or Bear injured by a hunter there are hundreds injured by traffic on our highways. That doesn't make it okay, it just says, life in the wild is hard. Death by bullet is probably the best case scenario for a wild animal.

Only Bambi gets to live predator, disease, injury and parasite free. Almost all others face a short life and a unpleasant end. That is nature.

Predators kill and pray get eaten. That's the crux of the matter.

It’s a deeply sickening feeling to wound an animal unless you are one cold hearted sob. Everything you can do to harvest ethically should be done but stuff does happen and as said, they live a short life with a mostly very violent end. The family isn’t gathered around the death bed in most cases I’m sure.

[scolopax-munster]

If you hit above the spine in the dorsal fins he'll also react like that, drop, and then shake it off with no blood trail, and if he doesn’t get infected he'll likely survive.