I lost one... or missed...

After sitting all day Saturday, a doe here...a doe there.....Finally I saw a doe spring across the field. Shortly after a fawn came out, looked around and went back into the trees. A few minutes later another does sprinted out, stopped in the middle of the field, looking back where she came from, then bolted.

Then here he comes.......in hot pursuit. I was ready, I thought.....It a fast trot, but not quite a run. I was following him through the scope. In desperation, because he was not going to stop moving for me, I made a loud ERRRRRRNNNNTTT grunt sound......He stopped, and postured up, looked my way, and gave me a great broadside shot. I could not believe that worked. I got my scope back on him and pulled! He reacted like I hit him, I think I hit him, it was a fast fast zero on him and pull. But he bolted into the treeline on the other side of the field. I searched, but could not find him or blood, but this field mid thigh high broom weed, so finding blood is next to impossible. There is a fence-line to the next property about 30 yards into that treeline.

I dont know. Ruined the rest of my weekend. If i did hit him, he jumped than fence.

I wish I could rewind that experience, and take a little bit more time before I pulled.

UGH.

I hear you. Pulled the trigger on a doe and watched her run. Thought it was a good shot but I could see the exact trail she took and found no blood or sign that I hit her. I have been paranoid all week that I did hit her and just couldnt cut the sign. Sorry to hear that.

It happens, man. Never easy.

Have access to a dog?

If you had a good follow through on the shot, and the crosshairs were solid on the deer when the rifle fired, you hit the deer. That assumes the rifle was sighted in at somewhere near the distance to the deer.

I have found it very helpful to, after the shot, use my rangefinder to measure the distance to where the deer stood. Once you walk to where you think the deer was, range backwards to the stand. Sometimes there isn’t much blood, and if you are 5 feet from the impact spot, you won’t see the blood trail. So use your RF. It works great for that use.

If I'm reading your post correctly, you could not look for him any further than 30 yards into the treelike because that's the property and fence line, correct? What's the distance from where you shot him to the property line?

You say he "reacted" like you had hit him. How did he react? A solid hit in the vitals will often cause a deer to kick its front legs quickly back and in a stiff fashion.

I know the feeling man. That's why I use a 30-06 with 180 grain bullets

Had the biggest buck I've ever seen bolt on my halfway through my bow draw a few days ago...

Shot was at about 150 yards.....He ran probably 75 yards to the treeline on the North side, and 30 yards into that particular treeline is a fence @ a property line.

If he was still jumping after a 100 yard run, I'm leaning towards a clean miss.

In cases like this, it can be very telling to try and duplicate the shot at the same distance and setup in the same brief amount of time. Do everything the same and see what the result tells you. You'll either feel more likely that you hit him, or just the opposite,