So the neighbor calls... He said he shot a buck

But can find anything but one drop of blood and some hair.. Looked for a couple hours and nothing.. Says he doesn't know how he missed broadside shot.. Only thing he can think of is that he is shooting reloads in his 300.... Said it was a big 10.. I'm pretty sure I know what buck he is talkin bout and I so hope he just grazed the buck and he isn't wounded or dead and won't be found... I would think that with a 300 mag that even a bad shot would put him down??!.... What are the chances he did just graze him and the buck is ok?.. It's just eating at me

I actually think the higher the caliber, the more likely a bad shot will occur. And no, just because it's a 300 doesn't mean a bad shot will take him down. Check out the .223 thread.

I would keep looking. Not trying to compare apples and oranges, but I shot a buck this year with a Rage broadhead. Two inch gash on each side, double lung. He bled very little and it got really tough once he got into some high pasture grass.

Sometimes, deer just don't bleed like we want them too.

Physics...he should have been able to just kill that buck by showing him the caliber stamp.
None of us were there to be able to say if it was a bad shot or marginal shot or a great shot. Without a blood trail it can be very difficult to trail unless the ground is soft enough to track. I would not let it bother me from the fact it was on his side of the fence and at this point it is only pure speculation on your part. There is nothing you could have done to help him until after the shot and that would be help him now if he wants you to. Did you suggest them calling in a dog to see what the dog could find?
I shot a buck one time that was in a small opening with a lot of other deer around him. I was looking back at the mornings sunrise and glare was really bad in my scope. I knew the shot felt good but the deer did not drop in his tracks from a high shoulder shot. The deer scattered like a covey of quail, but I was 100% sure of the direction he ran into a small creek drainage and he did not ever come out of it. I waited a little while then walked down to the spot I "thought" he was standing to look for blood and track marks. I found absolutely nothing and walked circles there in and around all the brush and cactus looking. I searched up and down the drainage. I searched across it with not single bit of sign. I went back to where I "thought" the shot was at on the buck. I finally figured out he had been standing about 20 yards closer to the blind. I walked back and forth and circle the area and found no blood or sign. I walked around small thick clump of cactus and brush about yards from where he had been standing and he was piled up inside. I had spent 1 1/2 hours looking in the wrong spot. He had not left a single drop of blood but was dead within yards. IME a lot deer can be found really close due to them making an erratic exit when mortaly wounded.

Physics all physics. A 300 can kill a deer by grazing his tail! It's all physics really muzzle velocity, FPS, grain, barrel twist yada yada.

In all seriousness it depends on the shot. Low and forward in the brisket, broken leg, grazed high ect....and they can live. Or he's dead and the neighbor lost him. Could have doubled back, circled, or piled up close like stx said.


Ask him,
How'd he react to shot. Just hauled butt, stumbled, went down and got back up, tail up, tail down?
Crash through brush leaving, ever stop and look back?
What color was the hair?
Color of blood?

Could always go help try to find him.

Just too many variables to know for sure.

Sometimes your only option is to wait for the buzzards to uncover the truth. And even then, you can only hope to learn or be told what they had to say.

I'd be waiting a long time for buzzards. They've all gone south for me. You guys further south still have cara cara, I don't. Only thing I could follow would be raven, IF any of them are even around.

That method usually works. Obviously a dyslexic deer that read it as 003.

What does shooting reloads have to do with any of it? Ill take my reloads over any factory ammo I could afford.

Shot a nice 8 several years ago with a 280 and 140 grain softpoints behind the shoulder. Shot felt good deer fell over got back up and ran off. Took us 45 min to find him and he only went 25 yards. 2 spots of blood, one about the size of a pencil eraser where he fell the other was under him where he finally died.

Big caliber doesn't make up for poor shot placement.

Like Redchevy said, I shoot a 280 140 grain, have for 12 years now. I have had very few leave blood trails, but never go far. I usually mark the spot I shot the deer, but then I just go the direction the deer traveled, and try to find him. Just wandering if you are going to help him look?

LOLOLOL

When all I find is hair I try to determine what part of the body the hair came from. White from the bellie, dark brown or even black from the back, light grey probable body shot.
Don't give up looking if you are sure of a hit. Sometimes taking a break and going back helps, and if that doesn't produce the deer, then look for the birds and listen for the coyotes.

You guys need to switch to a 6.5X55 Swede! Then you'd have a blood trail....it's all about the caliber you shoot not the shot placement...

Oh...and the trail would only be about 10-15 yards...cuz they pile up pretty quick

yeah I hear yall on everything your saying..just bothers me that the deer may be hurt or not found... but could be alive too I guess...

I've seen some pretty bad hand loads. If you know what you're doing they are without a doubt the best way to go, but it takes a special talent to be good at it (I'm not cut out for hand-loading but my dad is getting pretty good)!

By the book, minimal blood with hair should mean a marginal, typically non-lethal shot to the haunch or brisket. In my experience the book can mean jack squat in the field and, of course, you can't argue with physics and the knockdown power of the .300!!!!

I'd guess that deer is still alive!

Bad luck, but I wouldn't fret too much over it and I certainly would let it ruin the rest of my hunting season worrying about it either. This stuff happens, move on and enjoy the rest of the hunting season.

Ditto, at least you don't have to lay there every night wondering "If I had just"

bad shot placement is just bad.....larger caliber will only help to some extent. if a deer was gut-shot I'd rather it be gut shot with a .243 or a .270 than a .22 hornet or a .223. I think though the difference between say a .270 and a .300 would be nothing.

an example..my brother body shot a mid size hog with a .300 weatherby and 180grn bonded bullet. that bullet is made to be shot at a 1000lbs elk at 300yds.....not a 75lbs hog at 75yds. it was surprising to the both of us...but the bullet on that size animal was almost like shooting FMJ....little to no bullet expansion. that pig ran forever. we blood trailed it quite a ways.

the same shot with a better suited bullet, pig would have been DRT

Search for the deer until you find it or until you are convinced that it's still alive and move on.
Tell the neighbor he might need to go to the range and check his rifle to make sure it's still on.
A guy on our lease shot at a good buck last year at less than fifty yards and missed. He checked his rifle at the range and it was shooting almost a foot high.