Another deadhead...

Your day will come.

 

I would hold that the wording chosen is specifically intended to induce a sense of guilt and shame among those that invoke this practice and justify their lack of follow-up as a clean miss. I also seriously doubt that it should be the compulsion of the hunting Public to conduct their actions in such a way that scavengers, such as coyotes, crows, ravens, wolves, etc. remain well supplied with carcasses. That too misdirected...

 

But had it been a large rack...?

 

Have I lost a deer, or not found evidence of a hit only to find it later or suspect that a dead deer I found was what I shot at - yes

Does it happen often - no maybe once every 10 years or more.

Happened to a buddy of mine this year. shot at a doe, no blood found, a few white hairs (maybe skinned it low?) jumped deer while looking, still no blood.

Looked in grid patter search the next day, no blood, no dead deer. a week later I shot a deer and while tracking mine all of 30 yds found an older dead deer in the creek 150 yds from where he shot in an area we thought we had searched well, was it the one he shot at? who knows, maybe, but we have also found car accident deer that far on to my property as well and after a week or more in the creek it was hard to say.


All I ask is that you do the work in attempting to recover, I have tracked some over a mile and recovered them, I have tracked some that far and never recovered them. It is an unfortunate part of hunting that some people are more skilled at then others, only thing that bothers me are those that don't put in the effort and assume a miss.

TD

 

I would bet 75 percent of unrecovered deer are hit in archery season. That said many of them are unrecovered because they don’t die. I have lost one deer in rifle season, because the neighbor refused me access to his property when I was 16, hope He enjoys his wall mount. I have lost 2 in archery season due to rainy conditions, one I found dead in the spring, the other I killed in rifle season the same year. It happens to everyone eventually. the biggest lessons I have learned are, don’t hunt in rainy conditions with archery gear, and don’t quit searching when the blood ends. Like others have said already, look at google map or onX. Look for water features or thick cover where an injured deer might head. I have Personally brought in 3 deer to my local butcher with broad heads from previous years still stuck in the deer.

 

Idk. I think it is likely 50/50. The old adage that the 30-30 has killed more deer than any ither gun....and also wounded more deer than any other gun. Lots of people shoot farther than their gun is capable or outshoot their abilities. There are people who take running shots figuring if you hit it you will get it with a rifle.

I see more wounded deer in gun season. I also come across more blood trails of unrecovered deer during gun season. Likely because of snow.

There is no shortage of poor hunters in rifle or archery season.

 

Deer Hunting brings out the worst in people,as a landowner in SE MI i can only say,we ve met everyone of our neighbors trespassing on our propety,have over 54 blinds on or within 10 ft of our property lines,find countless dead deer every year.Originally tried to accomodate everyones desire to retrieve shot deer only to determine the blood trail began on our property,it then became a convenient excuse to hunt here. We enjoy all forms of hunting,and the use of bows,rifle,and antique long bow and muzzle loaders.what we dont enjoy are greedy slobs,shiners,and men with lil egos! And i love shooting animals on the move as opposed to target shooting! Last 9 record book turkeys have been flushed into the air before making the shot. And yes 1 deer wasnt recovered out of 187,it was standing broadside,dropped it and took my eyes off of it,a cardinal sin,a very close friend had passed the day before and i shouldnt have been hunting...Beat myself up over the next two days clocking 10 plus hours looking for that animal. Bottom line have enough respect for what you hunt to function within your limits,that includes taking time to know them,respect your neighbors and those that provide you with a place to hunt.

 

Ok, now I'd be pissed.
That sucks

 

Wow you sure have found a lot of those this year .

 

I will never believe a hunter that tell you he has not lost a deer.
We all have had that misery.
The longer I hunt, the more I question if the miss was a pure miss.
I have seen to many deer hit with both rifles, and bow show no sign of a hit at impact point.
Been on tracking where no blood for 50 to 75 yards.
Would have in the past said must of missed it.
What changed how I track was when I hit a nice buck. I watch him do the nose dive and get up and do the death run.
I knew I hit him, but everyone else said I missed him. After 5 hours of looking and not one drop of blood, I found him.
When the deer fell he had jamb dirt and leaves into the entry hole, plugging him right up.

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