lost buck = heartache

C

cracker31

New member
This season I shot the biggest buck of my life (130 class 10pt), 15 yds w/ a 30-06. I had plenty of time and the buck fever passed long before I squeezed the trigger. Rock solid rest, steady cross hairs. 50yds into the blood trail i found a piece of lung the size of 50 cent piece. 400yds into the blood trail it dried up and no deer in sight. The shot may have been a little low but definitely a lung shot. Anybody got any idea of how this deer could have possibly escaped the taxidermist. I have replayed the whole thing in my head 1,000 times and can't figure it out.
15yds, 30-06, 150gr PSP bullet, steady rest, PLEASE HELP END MY TORMENT!!
 
Wow. Hmm....
Are you sure it was his lung that you saw?
Maybe he took a different turn than you expected and was laying out there somewhere?
 
It was definitely lung, the trail started drying up at 200yds until it just disappeared at 400yds

I have considered the possibility of just being too close, no bullet expansion etc.., but it still doesn't make sense. He should have bled more.
 
If you can still search I'd take a few buddies out there at the last point and look for paths with "ease of egress" as the main searching technique; think downhill, no jumping fences ect. Check every place he could have hunkered down to die. Sometimes they circle back toward the location they were shot. 400 yards is a very long way for a lung shot deer to travel. If it was a good shot I doubt he could travel much farther. Good luck.
 
I have seen this happen a couple times with some freinds. What happened in their case was they only got one lung when shooting so the deer went a long way before laying down, with one lung they can live for quite some time. We ended up finding them but it was well after the blood dried up and hours of looking. I would say it would be worth taking a few freinds and looking again until you find it, it's dead so it's a matter of just finding where it layed down, make sure to look under every item they could crawl into or under.
 
VaFisher is right about the one lung. If you only got one, they can go a long ways.

My dad shot a mule deer buck many years ago with a bow, and we tracked it for a couple of miles. It looked like it just walked until it fell over in the trail it was on.

I'd go back and look some more. Look for blood, of course, but also look for other signs of a deer passing. Tracks, scuffed up leaves, and broken twigs and branches might show the way. Also, don't forget to look on brush and trees that might have brushed the deer's side as it passed. If it brushes a bush, it'll leave some blood on it.

Good luck!

Daryl
 
Would like to get the answer to Pax`s question. Push a one lung shot deer to fast a he can run into the next county on ya. Usually a shot deer,if not pushed, will travel to the point it feels safe,lay down and expire. Rule of thumb I follow:on a KNOWN good heart lung shot with a gun,if deer runs oughta sight, its a good thirty mins. before trailing. Bow at least an hour and if shot is right before dark I`ll go back next morning unless rain,snow is expected. Years ago, hunting one evening,right before dark I shot what was probably a 150-160 class buck while bowhunting. Thought I made a good boiler room 25 yd shot,watched deer run about 40yds,fell behind thicket. He thrashed around and when he stopped, I knew he was mine. Its now well after dark about 45mins after shot. I go to thicket and no deer. Instead of me backing out I tried bloodtrailing and jumped deer approx. 20yds from thicket. Went back to house and next day five good hunters combed(with no luck) a good 5 mi. area. That buck haunts me today and now everytime I shoot, extreme patience is what follows shot.
 
If that was truely lung, I doubt he could go any further than 400 yards. Every lung shot deer I've taken hasn't went more than 100 yards tops. I'd guess you missed part of the blood trail some place.

I'd go to the last blood trail and search in ever widening circles. If it was lung, he's down someplace.

I over looked my buck this year at first. Damn thing feel in a drainage ditch and I couldn't see him even standing 10 feet away from him. No blood at all where he was hit and it was a lung shot too.

He's there - just take your time and you should be able to find him. And as Pax mentioned, always give them time to lay down and expire before pushing them.
 
Some thoughts:

In FL, unless you are in the panhandle, no vertical to worry about, so downhill doesn't work so much.

Water. How about some cypress swamp or creek nearby?

Palmettos. I've seen deer and hogs take a leap into palmettos. If they walked through, definitely look high on the fronds. Its easy to miss the blood at deer chest height when you are focused on the ground.

Circle back. Is the 400 yds straight or working towards something?

Dogs? Can you find someone like hogdogs to help you out? Put a curr on the scent and see where it goes. I'm pretty sure FL allows use of dogs for tracking shot deer for recovery. Perhaps someone can shed light on current laws since I left 14 years ago for my USAF adventure.

Good luck. This is the second close shot deer (the other w/ a .35 at very short range) I've seen on this forum in the last month or so. The last one he found within a few yards of where he lost the trail, albeit it was the next day and due to temps the meat was done.
 
Well, your deer is coyote dinner by now. You where too close to that deer for the caliber/ bullet you where using. Im guessin you where after antlers. At that range, I would have clocked him in the eye. No need to track. Sorry to hear of your loss.
 
Hey Cracker31,where are you? Give us an update and some more info. Your probably right Armedtotheteeth. Head,kneck or shoulder shot at that range. If shot was broadside hitting no bone, probably no exspansion at all. 30 cal. hole straight through. If thats the case you wouldn`t get bleeding compared to an exiting expanded bullet or a broadhead. Deers innards can plug small holes off and stop external bleeding. If shoulder would have been hit at that range don`t think any trailing would have come into play. If that was lung tissue deers out there. As Globemaster said maybe in waterhole. You might go to place where shot and tie a marker up high,walk to where last known bloodspot is at and go 50yds or so past spot. Fan out and start circling around spot where you shot him checking all thickets,downfalls and ditchs.
 
this buck was shot in SW GA, in a creek bottom. After the shot he ran into the creek directly behind me and stopped approx. 25yds away. I thought he was down because I never heard any crashing or splashing and this place is thick and wet. We trailed the first 200yds that evening and lost blood trail in the water. came back the next day, picked it up on the other side going up hill into thinner brush (who'd have thought that). the trail peter'd out on a deer hwy, we searched another 200-300yds in all directions and came up with nothing.
Guys, this ain't my first rodeo. With the exception of not waiting (i've been spoiled by longer shots and ballistic tips), we did everything right. Any chance a deer w/ a low lung shot can survive, I've been told by some that it is very possible others disagree.
When I hunt that stand next season, I will be carrying either a 12ga or a 44 mag. Lesson learned.
 
Any chance a deer w/ a low lung shot can survive, I've been told by some that it is very possible others disagree.
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If it's both lungs, no, not a chance. If it's one, maybe, highly unlikely but maybe.


I will be carrying either a 12ga...
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150 yards or less, I wouldn't carry anything else if I could. I like 74 caliber holes. Even with sabots you get a guarantee of .54.
 
It's OK cracker.
It is part of hunting. We all have those experiences. Many, including myself, don't like to discuss it.

Just know you did your best before, during, and after the shot.

Try and pick out how you could have done something wrong.
My best guess is too much speed with the wrong bullet. It passed thru the animal too fast to fully expand. Thus resulting in a 'poked' animal.
ATTT is a fan of meat, as am I. Rack size on deer have little to do with our hunting trips.
We are also big fans of ballistic tips, made by Hornady. Yes, they explode. No they don't explode on impact like other BT's. Hornady V-Max's explode post impact, ie: .308 cal, 110 gr, explode after the first two to three inches of penetration.
Had you used one of those, the deer would have toppled over DRT. It would have also ruined both shoulders and portions of the backstrap.
That's why we wait for the perfect head shot; looking away.
I suppose a decent area to shoot with that bullet, and still have the rack, is the neck about 4 inches under/behind the jaw.
As a last resort, use it with a chest shot.

I feel your pain. Just try and learn from it.
Oh, and thanks for sharing your learning experience.
 
15 yds w/ a 30-06.
Click to expand...

When I hunt that stand next season, I will be carrying either a 12ga or a 44 mag. Lesson learned.
Click to expand...

I won't tell you what to use next year, but it wasn't the fault of a 30-06 that you didn't find the deer.

You made a bad shot, and that's the only reason that you didn't find it.

Back in the early/mid 1990's, I re-took a firearms safety course here in Arizona so that I could get the extra bonus point in the big game drawings (I'd taken it back in January of 1979, but the G&F dept only offered the bonus point if you'd taken it since 1980).

Anyway, they did some demonstrations at the range as part of the course. One of the demonstrations involved shooting a grapefruit at about 15 yards with a 30-06.

I've no doubt that the instructor knew how to shoot, but he flat out missed that grapefruit, using a scope...several times. He didn't compensate correctly for his rifle hitting an inch and a half or so low at that range, and was shooting under the grapefruit.

You stated low lung; I'm betting brisket. You might have clipped one lung, but you didn't hit the deer right. If you had, you'd have found it.

Use whatever you're comfortable with next season, but don't blame the 30-06 for a lost deer.

Daryl
 
strange things can happen shooting animals. strange things can happen with bullets. Some animals bang-flop, some seem to be made of steel. I've had ballistic tips act like barnes-x and the opposite with the barnes. you never can tell, all you can do is your best with the shot and the tracking.
 
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