Have you hit an animal that left no blood trail

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Yes I shot a doe a few years ago in the snow with a muzzelloader at dusk there were deer tracks all over the place looked for a hour in the dark it kept me up all night next morning I found her but the Coyotes found her 1st I still don't know why there was no blood and she jumped after the shot but she didn't run away just walk away into the woods I thought for sure she was dead on he feet. And would be easy to find

[Rick Hodges]

I helped track a buck hit with a 180gr. Jacketed 30/06 at about 80 yds. We found hair at the point of impact but no blood until we found the deer about 200 yds away. He was struck high in the near side lung and the exit was plugged with a huge wad of fat.

[500Linebaughbuck]

Only deer I’ve shot that left no blood trail were with 243 Winchester’s. No more 243’s for me.

LOL...a statement like that is sure to rile a few folks! But I too swore off the .243 years ago. That is probably THE most popular caliber for Hill Country deer hunting in Texas. Low recoil & super accurate! Most hunters say their deer dropped like lightening hit it or it took a few steps & dropped.

I'm the curious type, so over the years, when someone in our group gets a deer, I always back track & check out where it was standing & what kind of blood trail did it leave. The 6mm calibers do kill like lightening, but leaving a blood trail is not their long-suit. The good thing is that the hunters usually watch their deer stagger off & drop & go right to it!

i've tried a few 243 in my time and i swore(a whole bunch!!!!!!) off them too. bt, spitzers, round noses, partitions....doesn't matter, if you hit them in the lungs, they run and run and run some more. i have gotten everyone of them(deer), but i figured that a 243/6mm bullets is not for 150lbs + deer. blood trail? whats that? all i've ever gotten was a little bit of deer hair at the shot. i know that the 243 kills, but its not for me. i also figure that a 25 cal with 115-120gr bullet should be a minimum for deer.

[petroid]

My son shot a six point a few years with my Mosin nagant loaded with 123gr hornady SST. Deer went 30 yards an fell over dead. Not a drop of blood. Neat entrance hole and no exit. He hit liver and top of stomach. When dressed I saw hole through the opposite ribcage and felt a bulge under the skin. Dug out the remains of the bullet which only weighed 80 gr. It did the job but not really to my liking

[MT Gianni]

I shot a buck with the 308 150 gr Hornaday interlock. he took off at a dead run after the shot. I marked where he was (about 125 yards from me), put my hat on the ground and walked in circles looking for blood. I found nothing in the first 25 yards and 20 minutes later concluded I must have missed. I went back, got my hat, and proceeded hunting. When I crossed the main trail there was a two sided blood trail that looked to be 3"-4" wide on either side. He was dead in the bottom of a gully, his heart was loose in the chest cavity. Following it back he ran about 35 yards before I found any blood and when I did it was unmistakable.
I shot a buck in 1988 that got me into reloading. With Remington Corelocks, I hit him 6 times while he stood at 75 yards then wandered off with no apparent reaction. I went to where he was and could smell him but no blood. He wandered around the hill and dropped dead. That was the last game animal I shot with factory ammo.

[Bazoo]

Last year I shot a deer with a 30-30 jacketed bullet. I felt I had hit it good, but high. My buddy and I could not find any blood, and although im not super experienced, i've previously tracked by blood and did real good. It was pretty thick stuff and I found no sign that she had went the direction she did, as I found the carcass in the spring, 50 or 75 yards from where I shot her, but opposite the trail. I did some research, and it seems a high lung shot lots of times dont bleed much.

[megasupermagnum]

You guys are forgetting we are talking about snow. You can see a drop of blood from 20 yards away on a white background. The OP is talking about ZERO blood or hair at all, for at least 150 yards.

[chsparkman]

Three years ago I shot a doe with my Marlin 336 in .35 Rem. I saw it run 50 yards, stand still, then fall. I could find no blood anywhere, even on the deer! I carefully skinned it, and for the life of me never found where it was hit. Maybe I scared it to death?

[Texas by God]

I believe you missed, mattd. I had a similar experience two seasons ago. Nice 8 pt, solid rest on a round bale, about 150 yards right before sundown. When I fired my 25-06 and he twitched a little then trotted off. I was convinced there was no way I could have missed. Winter dead Coastal Bermuda is yellowish white so blood is easily spotted on it. I looked until ten pm and for days afterward. Every deer I've shot with this rifle has been drt with two bullet holes(in and out). I've killed lots of deer with my 22-250 and a few with .223 and .243. Not much blood trail with those if any but none of those deer went further than a few feet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[megasupermagnum]

Three years ago I shot a doe with my Marlin 336 in .35 Rem. I saw it run 50 yards, stand still, then fall. I could find no blood anywhere, even on the deer! I carefully skinned it, and for the life of me never found where it was hit. Maybe I scared it to death?

That's how it went for me this year. One shot, deer just fell over. I gave that deer to a family member, have yet to figure out if he ever found the entrance. Funny thing was there was blood on the snow, but nothing on the deer!

[Texas by God]

That's how it went for me this year. One shot, deer just fell over. I gave that deer to a family member, have yet to figure out if he ever found the entrance. Funny thing was there was blood on the snow, but nothing on the deer!

Here's another- several of us were returning to camp on our atv's after the afternoon hunt. A group of deer ran across the road, one looked back and hit its head on a 6" Steel pipe gate post- DRT! We consulted the regs book, put a .38 special boolit thru it's lungs to make it official and tagged it. It was a non protruding button buck. It just wasn't his day I guess.

[Friends call me Pac]

Happened to me last week. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...r-w-NOE-311165

As for deer and the 243, with 105gr jacketed speer spitzers I have only lost 1 deer. I have no idea how many I have used it to put a tag on one. I wouldn't hesitate to use a 243.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Shot a cow elk, 65 yards quartering away, Savage 99 308 Win, 165 gr Nosler Partition. She took off running hard, I went to where she was grazing when I hit her. A couple hairs, no blood, I heard her fall in some willow tangle. No blood, heart was shattered, bullet exited in front of shoulder, nothing to pump blood, ran about 175 yards in timber. No snow, reaction at the shot and sound of fall led me to her,heard her last gasps as I walked to her.

[JoeJames]

Years ago I shot a nice buck broadside chest area at about 40 yards - 308 - 165 grain Sierra Gameking; he ran about 125 yards, and no blood trail. Heart and lung shot. I asked my vet about it. He said if the heart is destroyed there is no blood pressure, and therefore no blood trail.

[Grmps]

Another advantage of PC or HiTek boolits, you don't have to worry about lube freezing.

[megasupermagnum]

Happened to me last week. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...r-w-NOE-311165

As for deer and the 243, with 105gr jacketed speer spitzers I have only lost 1 deer. I have no idea how many I have used it to put a tag on one. I wouldn't hesitate to use a 243.

If there was snow on the ground, you absolutely would have found blood. I know how hard it can be to see blood on leaves.

[toallmy]

Reading this post reminded me of my love / hate relationship with my 243 Winchester , in my teens I purchased a Winchester model 70 in 243 and loaded my own ammunition . I could shoot the change out of your pocket at a 100 yards on a bet even if you had a role of dimes but I couldn't kill a deer with it to save my life , or I thought at least . You see I read all the magazine's on bullet placement + used so called hunting bullets with a loads that were worked up nicely , with dismissal failures constantly every time . I'd sit out in the freezing cold hunting day after day , even sleep in a ditch to be out in the field at sun up just so I could get a shot on a deer . Then when I finally got a chance to put the cross hairs on the magnificent beast and take the perfect shot , I would watch the Nobel creature run off to never be found by me and die in vain , even though I would spend days looking knowing I hit it just like the book said to do with a hunting bullet . Now that was probably 35 years ago or more and it still breaks my heart to think of all the deer I punched holes though before I started blowing the shoulders out of them . I still have the rifle , and it will still knock a hole in a dime but I haven't used it much for hunting . I know a lot of my buddies neck shoot them with the 243 or hit them with a lung or Hart shot with a varmint bullet , but I just haven't had the Hart to take that rifle afield for years . The game deserves a quick and clean kill do your best .

[Blammer]

if you felt good about the shot make sure you do a thorough search. A real thorough search, likely he's dead and just needs to be found.

yes I've shot a deer and had no blood trail. I used a 50 cal muzzleloader, 333gr conical, he ran 100 yds then died.

actually now that I think about it I've only ever tracked two deer I've shot with a blood trail.

[Tripplebeards]

Thompson center 300 gr shockwave bullets don't ever give me a blood trail loaded with 150gr of 777 pellets. I've shot 9 deer with them so far. Not one blood trail. Most go 60 yards and drop in sight. It they didn't shoot all in one hole at 100 yards and 2.5" groups at 300 yards I'd switch. I know when I pull the trigger I hit where I aim...its just the load is to hard and doer the expand zipping right through the animal with no kinetic energy transfer. I even shot Kobe square in the shoulder one year. It still ran on three legs almost 45 yards and dropped. To hard of a bullet is not a good thing my book.

[Tripplebeards]

Yes, November 10th this year. I shot a good sized 10 pointer chasing a doe with a NAP sling blade broad head. The deer was walking at about 30 yards broadside when I let my arrow fly. The deer walked out out of the shot and I hit it in the liver. I heard the broad head make a big slapping noise when I hit the deer so I knew I hit it. The deer ran about 50 yards down the hill made a circle and ran back up the hill and stopped behind a downed tree a 100 yards away. I couldn't see where it stopped. I figured it was going to lay down there and die. A few minutes later the deer made and mad dash making huge leaps across the top of the hill another 100 yards and stopped. I thought it disappeared. A few more minutes passed and I could barely see its tail twitching back and forth frantically through the thick brush and tree limbs Which was another indication it was hit. After that I couldn't see it. I shot it at 4pm and got out out of my tree stand at 4:25 to look for my Arrow. I couldn't find it but found it a few days later when I went back out doe hunting. When I found the arrow it was solid red like I painted it sticking in the ground. No blood or hair on the ground anywhere around the arrow....but that night I couldn't find the arrow and no blood where I shot or going down or up the hill. I walked up to why it stopped behind the downed tree. I started making circled and found one place where it stood for so many minutes and found one spot of blood the size of both my fists put together. There was no blood trail from there on out when it ran across the top of the hill. I walked where it was twitching its tail hoping I would find the deer. I've shot several in the past with arrows that have stopped, and started twitching its tail frantically and lay down right there and die. Well, no deer or blood where i last saw it tail twitching. At this time I called my neighbors since it now crossed onto their property to get permission to look for my deer. Good to go and hung up and started following the main deer trail that looks like a cow path and figured my deer walked it. It was only about 2 to 3 seconds of time after I got off the phone till I saw my deer. It went a good 250 yards with one spot if blood where it stood for minutes. The deer expired between a couple logs and its rack got caught on the way down so it's head was still propped up. I figured it was still alive and let another arrow fly. I cracked it in the front shoulder. The deer never flinched at the impact. I have shot deer farther back in the liver and they maybe go 60 yards with a good blood trail. I learned two things from this. I should have made a BAAAA to stop the deer before taking the shot and not to ever use NAP sling blade broad heads anymore. The blades are signed to fold in and go around bone which is exactly what they did. When I cleaned it the blades folded in when going in and out of the rib cage making an arrow diameter hole in and out of the deer. I've shot hundreds of deer with bow and arrow and crossbows and can tell you this is the only deer I've ever found that didn't bleed. I got lucky and knew the lay of the land and know where the deer travel. The biggest key is watching where ever you last saw the deer and mark that spot in your head. Look for a certain tree or piece of brush to help remember the spot and make sure you aren't moving to alert the animal to spook it even further. The odds are it didn't know what happened and will not travel far and lay down. If I would have bumped that deer I would have never found it. In all honesty I should have waited a few hours before trailing like I always do giving it time to die but I didn't expect to find my buck.


What was really weird is 99.9% when I hit a deer bow or gun it will buckle or hump up a little when hit. This deer looked like a picture if health the whole time. It really through me for a loop when it bounded across the hill top after standing for several minutes. When I gutted it there was a good 5" slash and inch deep across its liver from the broad head blade.

Here is the arrow...and the deer. The shoulder shot was after it was already dead with its head propped up and eyes wide open. I wasn't taking any chances and thought it was still alive and sitting there looking at me. I passed this guy up three times bowhunting and never had a bigger one on camera or in sight the 21 days I put my butt in the stand so I harvested the filled my tag. Smallest buck I've shot in about 20 years. Finally had a bigger one pass my stand on camera the first day I decided to try out a new stand on the other side of my property last Friday during rifle season. Go figure. I'm after him with my smoke pole now,