Deer Hit no blood

[Andrewj299]

Just looking for some people to share some experiences and their opinions.

I shot a doe this afternoon, for reference I was high on top of a hill on our powerline right-of-way, deer was 150 yards away. First shot hit her she immediantly dropped and rolled around and struggled heavily to get up, I sent 2 more rounds but they kicked up dirt( I have some suspicions my gun may be off zero now). She got up and struggled off into the woods I heard her moving in the hardwoods and it stopped. No crash etc sounded almost as if she was slightly trotting.

Got someone to walk to where she was and confirmed, searched for 20 minutes on powerline saw 0 blood, didn’t see any hair or meat anything. Looked down where the edge where she would’ve entered the woods no blood. Looked into the hardwoods where she would’ve entered and found 0 blood. We just backed out, I figure I may have being up on a higher hill than the deer, maybe skimmed her back or something of that nature and just couldn’t find any in the grass?

Thoughts?

 

[yoderjac]

A deer dropping immediately generally indicates some kind of spine hit. A solid spine hit will incapacitate the deer permanently. It is not uncommon for the hit to be minor enough to cause temporary paralysis dropping the deer that then recovers and gets back up. This can also happen with a glancing shot to the head.

Years ago, a buddy of mine shot a nice buck and dropped him in his tracks. He went over to the deer to take some pictures of his trophy. He laid his rifle across the deer for perspective and went to take the picture when the buck got up and ran off with his rifle and sling tangled in the antlers.

My guess is that that deer will recover.