Anyone else have this happen?

[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.