My failure

[bowfishn]

Here in Vermont because of the same problem with finding a dead Deer that is in a swamp or thick stuff without a lot of blood, we can use a tracking dog that is trained to find them. These dogs must stay on the leash when tracking, not much can hide from a dogs nose. I think it was a wise thing for fish and game to allow this, less deer go unclaimed.

Leashed Tracking Dog to Recover Deer or Bear: A hunter who believes he or she has legally killed or wounded a deer or bear during hunting season may engage a person who has a “Leashed Tracking Dog Certificate” issued by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to track and recover the animal during the season or within 24 hours after the season ends. Except as otherwise permitted in bear hunting, no person may use a dog to track dead or wounded deer or bear. A permitted bear houndsman may not pursue any bear for any hunter beyond a half-hour after sunset.
Applications for the “Leashed Tracking Dog Certificate” cost $25.00. First-time leashed tracking dog certificates, valid for five years, cost $100.00 for residents and $200.00 for nonresidents. Applicants must pass a test. Renewal certificates are $125.00 for residents and $225.00 for nonresidents.

[GLynn41]

.44man you are the most detailed and dedicated hunter I have ever known about-- your posts are always worth reading- you have changed some what how I cast to hunt -- no more wdww only ac ww --good meplat in my bigger cal (.410 GNR) and hp in my lessor .41 GNR and straight ..41 --don't knock your self about.. - the greatness of this site is guys like you for the rest of us to learn with and from
as to aiming points I aim for the opposite shoulder for an angled pass through-- or use the near side leg about a third of the way up

[Blackwater]

We all hate badly to lose a deer, 44man, but if it's any consolation, it can happen to anybody, even the really good shots. I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of pathologists outside the courtroom waiting to testify, and they were willing to discuss wounds and the variables, and why some seemingly hard hit survive, while some seemingly just grazed die. It was both illuminating and confusing, at once. Sometimes, the wounds just nick internal organs rather than hit them with much real force, and these are generally the ones that exhibit survival in seemingly unsurvivable hits. On the other hand, some fringe hits, if they hit an artery (like in femoral artery in the leg) can result in speedy expiration. And both of them said that sometimes there's really no real medical explanation, and it's been a puzzlement why some survive and some who are hard hit die. So if a licensed physician and pathologist specialist can't always tell why people (or game) die and why some survive or go long distances before piling up, I doubt any of us will ever figure it out here. And all anyone I know can say for sure is like Gilda Radner used to say, "It happens."

I've often wondered if it had something to do with some's brains having stored up extra oxygen, or if the mind just doesn't know what to do, it just dies due to indecision and fright, or what???? I've wondered, but don't have any real theories. Just questions. I know I've dressed out deer that looked really hard hit and I'd have expected it to fall DRT, but instead, they ran like Moody's goose for a good ways before piling up, and they weren't heart shots, eihter, because I checked. Then some that seemed not hurt too badly fell DRT.

I think we all know that the brain and the endocrine systems can have sometimes startling effects. But nobody I know or have even heard of can really explain these anomalies. Wish I could help, but at least maybe this makes you feel a little better?

[9.3X62AL]

Full agreement with Blackwater's post. Self-righteous naysayers should just stay low and keep dark, it is easy to criticize others giving their best efforts--while seated behind the comfy firewall a computer provides. The Cadre Of The Perpetually Indignant are a tiresome lot.

[44man]

Thanks for the comfort, You are all good. However I just cast a pile of soft points. You might get pictures of burger on the ground!

[Blackwater]

I doubt it's a lot of comfort, really, but it's just something I think we all, if we hunt and shoot enough, run into on the rare occasion, and it's frustrating to know you made a good shot and it STILL got away. But I guess that's why they call it "hunting" instead of "getting?" The more I've tried to learn about wounds, the less I seem to really understand, past a certain elementary point. The body, ours or a deer's, is a highly complex system of various systems, and any one of them can make or break a given shot. I just wish I understood these anomalies, but I don't, and I don't think anyone does, really. When real life pathologists tell you that sometimes, things that happen just can't be explained scientifically, I doubt any of us will find the key to it all.

Sure keeps a fella' busy musing on it, though! But what would life be without a mystery now and then?