Finally kicked the flu last weekend so I headed to the lease on Monday, since I had already taken off for the Christmas break. Took a friend and his grandson to hunt Monday eve and Tuesday morning. On the way down I scored a 65 Qt. RTIC cooler for $169 at Buccee's. Thought it would come in handy since I planned to stay the week. It did and worked great.

Monday evening my two guests were able to score some does. They skipped the Tuesday morning hunt and headed home. I stayed and hunted. Saw lots of young bucks and does. Never saw any real rut activity and only a handful of mature bucks. All dinks. Got to watch a bunch of things you don't see everyday. Like bobcats stalking bunnies. We have more rabbits that I've ever seen before. Bobcats seem to being doing well. At one point I had a bobcat only about 6 feet from me.

Through the week I resisted the urge to pull the trigger on some hogs and turkey. I stayed the course and hunted for my buck, which never emerged.

Thursday morning was really slow at my stand. Foggy and drizzly. I decided to head in to camp at 9 AM. Drove by another stand and through the fog I could make out a large bodied deer at the feeder (342 yards). I looked through the binocs and could see a mature bodied deer with a small basket rack. He was unaware of my presence. I decided to shoot him since he's an obvious cull. Lined everything up, dialed my MOA, held high on the shoulder, and sent a Hornday 140g SST from the .270 Win. A loud "Wallop" confirmed a solid hit. I lost the deer in the recoil and when I finally got back on the scope the buck had cleared off the sendero.

I waited about 20 min. and then drove to the point of impact. Found brown hair, small amount of blood, some meat and some serious "peel out" marks where the buck lunged. Followed the tracks into the brush. About 20 yards in found huge puddles of blood. Followed the trail for over 100 yards and then it went dry. The buck dumped buckets of blood and then nothing. The brush was really thick and difficult to see or move through.

Within an hour my hunting partner arrived and we resumed the search. 2 and half hours of searching and we turned up nothing.
I was sick and demoralized. In all my years of hunting I've never lost a deer....ever. Can't say that anymore. I felt really good about the shot, heard the impact, saw the blood. I have no doubt that the deer was hit hard. Just can't figure out how he went that far, lost that much blood and still couldn't locate him. I even went to our range before the evening hunt and confirmed zero. Then made three shots from 300 yards. All were inside MOA. I just don't get it.

Anyway, I decided to come home after this morning's (Friday) hunt was pretty fruitless. Gonna take a few days off and go back next week. Hopefully things will pick up.

If the blood was a dark red, I'll guess it was a gut shot. They tend to close off after a while, and the blood trail just disappears. Been there and done that. For what it's worth, gut shot deer seem to go to water.

Also could be a leg shot, but you wouldn't have a lot of blood. It would be dark red though.

I look for bright blood and lung chunks, and I know the trail will be short.

I hate to lose a deer. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

Sounds like you just grazed him real good. He may still be alive. Deer can take a lot more punishment than we realize. Finding "meat" isn't that common on a gut shot deer and if you had broken his leg, there is a real good chance that drag marks would have been present and obvious. We had a doe walking around our lease this year with a large grove cut into her back. Had to be 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide and an inch deep. I would have thought it would have paralyzed her , but she was coming to the feeder with her yearling like it was no big deal. Watch for buzzards in case, but don't stress over it. Most, if not all seasoned hunters have done this and we learn from it. It sucks to put it bluntly, but it does happen. My guess is he is still out there running around! Good luck!

Sorry to hear it. The only deer I ever lost was back in 94 hunting in Webb Co. It was the only time I ever took a high shoulder shot and it was on a big mature 8 pt. My BIL and I tracked him for 3 hours going through brush a rabbit couldn't go and finally had to call off the search bc I had to get back. It was a overcast dreary rainy day and it was the longest 4 hour drive of my life. Not a great feeling at all.

I doubt he lived. Blood wasn't real dark, kind of frothy and lots of coagulation. Maybe hit the liver, just not sure. I'm back home now, otherwise I'd be looking for the Cara Cara's. It sucks to lose one. Hope that never happens again.