So my dad is at the lease and I'm hunting another ranch 10 miles away. He always lets me know where he's at as he is older and he knows dang good and well that I will clean any deer he shoots and help him out. I had just gotten up in my blind and my phone rings (not a text) and it's my dad that says he shot a monster buck. He goes on to tell me it's a 125 yard shot and the deer stumbled and went behind a bush. I told him to hang on and I'll be there in a few. Took me 30 minutes to get there and he's still in the blind. He tells me the story again and we walk that way. We get 20 yards from the spot and Mr. BIG gets up and runs, I pull up my gun just in time to see him jump effortlessly over the fence and into the trees. We go to the spot the deer had laid down and no blood. We walk his path to the fence and no blood. This deer had been laying on the ground 30 minutes and not a drop!!! I find a small piece of brown hair and meat the half the size of a dime and nothing else. I walked the place for 2 hours without any other sign of the deer...
My dad is a great shot, shoots pigs all year and for the most part I have never seen him miss, I just dont know what went on here!!! I asked if he was nervous and he said he didnt have any time to, that he just saw the buck and knew who he was and shot him. I think I might be as sick as he is after seeing the buck running away...

That's got to be super frustrating! Next beer is on me! Lol

And I'm in Abilene so I might just take you up on that!

Just curious, what caliber was he shooting?

I know the feeling well, sux!

It happens, in another thread I told of a perfectly place shot that took 6 hours and 3.5 mi to retrieve

25.06 Fed fusion ammo...the issue to me is the no blood for 30 minutes of being on the ground. I cannot figure out where this deer was hit!

its crazy to me that a deer would bed so quick if not a fatal shot. We had a member this year hit a doe in the leg. Looked for 6 hours and found a little bone and 1 spec of blood.

So where can you hit a deer thy would make it bed quick and not bleed? Very odd.

I have seen this before with my brother. Same story on big MD buck. I think they hit them forward shoulder. Like being hit with a linebacker, knocks them over and takes them a while to gather their senses and then the get up like they haven't been hit and you never find them.

Shot the first buck I ever shot at through the end of the brisket. Deer lived but he also bedded less than 10 yards from where I shot him. He left a decent blood trail for a few yards and spots where he layed up.

Sounds like a heavy muscle hit to me. Sorry to hear.

He said that he watched him and the deer looked at him and did the "death stumble". I feel sorry for the next buck that walks in front of the old man!! I'll be he takes a follow up shot even if the deer is on the ground. I dont think I could feel any worse for my dad who never shoots bucks and this happens. "Mr. Big" is a 150 ish ten point...

Yep. Seen it before, too. Strange things happen out there.

Call a dog if you found a little sign. The dog might find more than you found. It sounds like to me it was a high shot of some kind without a pass thru. The deer are really fat this year and fat can cover and entry/exit hole easily. Did you find tracks were he jumped the fence?

Had a guy at the lease shoot a nice buck in the middle of a clear field.. Saw it go down. He ejected his shell and reached down to the floor to pick it up. Looked up and the buck was gone! We searched for two hours and never found it.

Go to closest creek or water. Wounded deer usually will go to water.

Dog will give you both peace of mind even if the dog does not find the deer.

My dad shot one, watched it fall, and when he walked up to it it got up and ran off. No blood or anything significant. Someone else killed the deer about a month later. He had hit it high across the back. The wound had healed over and the deer was perfectly healthy.

Yes the deer jumped the fence at a low spot on the other side. So he jumped the fence where it goes into a wash, so 8 or nine feet to the ground. Followed his tracks in the red clay 100 plus yards after the fence so 250 yards on him.

Where was your Dad aiming on the shot? Was the deer running fast away or just moving away from you? Did he snort or blow at you or just get up and run? Was his tail up or down? Could you tell if the buck was laying normal on the ground or not?

Sounds like a high brisket shot. Probably a through and through. Good chance buck will recover in that case.

Tail up, didn't hear a snort, and yes the broom weed was laid down where he had been didn't appear to be on his side. He shoots shoulder shots.

What is strange to me is he hit him well enough to make him bed down and feel sick. It almost sounds like he might have hit high above the shoulders, barely hitting the spine. Paralyzed from the shock of the bullet hitting them but not hitting anything vital. I have seen two bucks hit high and lay for a few minutes then struggle and get up. Both ran off and no blood found just a bit a meat and hair like you found. What I could see on both bucks was their legs were straight out and not touching the ground when laying there. They pulled themselves up on the front shoulders then fell a time or two only to get up and finally get there rear legs underneath and run off. Both times I told the hunter to shoot again, but they were to slow and thinking the deer would die. Was there any sign of him thrashing around in the broomweeds at all?

I shot a buck almost identical to the story of your dad's. All I had was fresh tracks to go on, I bumped this buck twice, 2 hrs apart. I finally was able to get another round in him to put him down. What I found when I got him in the shop, the 1st round was back, barely hitting lung, no exit. When I unzipped him, blood ran like a faucet, but hardly any was coming from the initial shot placement. 2nd shot I put through both shoulders to pin him down, so that damage was easily discernible from the 1st shot.

I watched one hit like that drop like a rock only to not be found by the time we got out to him. Lucked into finding him hours later still alive not 150yds from where he first dropped with a fist size exit would and no blood coming out of it. From that point he was still able to go through a 30' drop creek with bluff banks.

The one my wife shot in the leg last year just below belly line bedded less than 100yds from where she hit him. He was leaving a little blood through, not much- crawl on hands and knees looking for specks on pine straw type of blood trail.