Anyone else have this happen?

[rickjordan]

I shot a doe the other night at about 200 yards with an '06. I have shot alot of deer with this gun and it is dead on accurate. I put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder and squeezed and the deer jumped like 5 feet straight up in the air and ran off with flag up. Well, I was SURE I killed the deer so I gave her twenty minutes and went over to where she was standing. I found what looked to me like good body hair but no blood. I know you don't always find a blood trail immediately and I am very good at tracking wounded deer. I ran out of light so I went back the next day and it poured as usual so no blood. I combed the area for hours- looking under blow downs and anything that looked out of place but couldn't find the deer. Has anyone out there had deer jump straight up like that? And if you did, where did you hit them? Would just like to know to put my mind at ease. Have also been back three times since then to look for crows and coyotes but haven't seen anything.

[L. Cooper]

I think the reaction means a hit. But you can not predict what sort of hit.

I have seen several heart shot deer jump straight up in the air like they were on springs, and I have seen at least one that was just singed by the bullet in the brisket do the same dance (it was shot again seconds later when it stopped to try to figure out what was happening). I've also seen heart shot deer just stand as if missed. You can learn more from the blood trail than the deer's reaction to the shot, but blood trails can be hard to find.

Sounds like a bad shot. It happens. We must all admit it does happen, and do everything we can to make it happen as little as possible.

[Andy L]

Low, cut the hairs on the brisket gets that reaction. Ive seen it before. Not saying thats what happened, but could be?

[rickjordan]

Thanks guys- that's what I was hoping for- graze the brisket and she'll be ok. The only other deer I ever saw do anything close to that was a spike I shot the heart out of. I have a hard time convincing myself I didn't kill that deer and she deserves all the effort I can give to find her.

[fabsroman]

Yep, if you found a lot of white hair, the shot was low. The fact that the deer was bounding away with her tail up also means that it wasn't a good hit. All of the deer I have seen hit with a decent shot run away with their tail tucked down.

We had the exact same thing happen several years ago. I didn't see the shots being taken because I was in a different area of the farm, but I did hear them. The guy unloaded the gun on the doe in the middle of a large grass field. We found a decent amount of white hair on the ground and he said the doe jumped into the air pretty high. Of course, we couldn't find a drop of blood anywhere around the hair or otherwise and this was in a grass field in the morning on a clear and sunny day. There is no doubt in my mind that he hit her really low.

[Nulle]

I would vote on the low shot also and it is how one I missed acted.

[rickjordan]

Well, I don't have a very happy update on this thead. I went back there today and about 20 crows led me to the deer. She went 75 yards from where I shot her and my shot placement was perfect just like I thought- looked like a dead lung/heart shot. I knew that deer was dead- my shot felt right and I'm not usually wrong with that. The deer had literally crawled under a four tree blowdown and I know I walked by her several times when I was looking for her. The coyotes found her and pulled her out enough to eat 2/3 of the deer and the crows were cleaning up the rest. Man, this ticks me off. I searched and searched for that deer and finding it makes me realize I should have looked longer and harder. Damn, wish I had never found it!

[trex]

You gave it your best. Thats all you can do. JMO, but I like to take a high shoulder shot myself. Little low and you take out both shoulders along with both lungs. Dead on and it's both lungs along with dramatic shock to the spinal area. Little high and its spinal area which is instant death. All of those situations have been dead deer in their tracks for me. Always. Good luck the rest of the year

[gd357]

A friend of mine had a similar situation happen a few years ago. His brother was hunting and has several deer come out at about 80 yards. He shot at a buck, and it ran off into the woods. They searched the hillside for quite some time with no luck. About a week later, they found the remains under a blowdown that was so thick, they had a hard time seeing it when they could locate it by smell. All you can do is look as hard as possible, but with no blood trail, it'll happen sooner or later. As long as you know you put the time in, and was looking in the right place, you can't fault yourself. Good luck with the remainder of the season.

gd

[Dom]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner Rick, because I was going to vote "Heart Shot", typical, but not always as said, they will jump straight up. Once shot a spike Elk (Red Deer), jumped, no blood, found it the next morning with a dog though. Several other heart shots react similar, but not always. Why there is limited blood could be a few reasons, mainly because they tear out like a bat outa hexx.

One thing different in Europe vs. most stateside laws is the use of dogs. Over here it's almost mandatory you take a trained dog out to the spot of the shot and work from there, even if there is no visible sign of a hit. I've shot several boar and you don't find squat at the shot, but get a dog on it and very often you'll find the boar. Also, like you said, if you have confidence in your equipment and know you made a good shot, it's hard to believe you missed. Sure it happens, but . . . just last year I shot a good boar, that night the dog didn't pick up the trail, me and my buddy went out the next morning and started making a circle 40 yards out from the POI, very slowly. Took us a while but we found a couple drops of blood -- ya, we found it, only 90 yards away, shot thru the boiler room.

You gave it your best, sometimes the law of the hunting doesn't deal you a good hand. I know it doesn't make you feel any better, most times I can't sleep very well after shooting and not finding, even though I'm confident I got a good shot off. Thankfully going out the next morning has paid off well. Those who have never "missed" or not found haven't hunted enough yet, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[rickjordan]

Thanks for responding, guys. Dom- there probably was blood but it was pouring so hard, I couldn't find it. I looked for an hour that night and six hours the next day, starting with small circles then spreading out but with zero chance of finding blood, I would have had to step on her to find her. The blowdown she crawled under I have no idea how she got under there- My four year old son couldn't have crawled under it! But never underestimate a wounded deer- they will do some things you'd never expect.

[GoodOlBoy]

My grandfather shot one onetime with a 222 and he responded the same way. When we got to the point of impact the bottom of the lungs where laying there in the dirt. We found the buck about 300 yards in where he had run headlong into a brush pile. I have seen my share of whitetail "running dead" in my short time on this hunk o rock.

Stuff happens.

GoodOlBoy