Odd blood trail

[mauser06]

So yesterday I was still hunting with my flintlock.

I got a shot on a doe. I was kneeling on one knee. Support arm rested on my knee. Had a good sight picture and great ignition. I thought she was slightly quartering to me and mid stride when I fired.


The smoke cleared and there was a cloud of fur.

She ran kinda towards me and away from me. I got a pretty good look at the side I shot.

There was a patch of fur missing about 6-8" long and 2" wide. It started behind the shoulder and looked higher than I'd have liked.


I couldn't find ANY blood at the hit sight. Not a speck. There was about 8 feet of fur in the direction she ran.


She was running hard but I was pretty focused on the wound...as she created the ridge I had a pine tree as a landmark.


After an hour and a half I finally picked up blood as she started down the mountain. About 100yds from the hit.


I followed blood about 200yds down the mountain. Headed nearly straight down. Never had blood on the exit side. Never had good blood. Mostly all red. A few purple/watery. By the time I found it, most of it was dry. Very difficult to take it as far as I did. At times it was follow-able but only a few feet here n there.


Went back this morning and realized she was like 40 yards from the road (secluded dirt road..couple cars a day) below the road is a pretty decent sized creek.

I was thinking a lung and liver. So I combed the creek. Nothing. Back up and I found a few specs and fur about 50 and 100yds to the right..like she didn't wanna cross the road and made a right.

After that nothing.


I combed 450yds that direction and crossed the road and combed between it and the creek the rest of the way. Nothing.


Never bedded and I don't think I put any pressure on her.


I was convinced it had to be liver/guts if not a bit lung/liver/guts.


Now, I'm not so sure the ball ever entered.



I've seen lead roundballs do some odd things...because they are round. I was shooting a 58cal (.570" ball) and a hefty powder charge.


I'm kinda thinking the ball rode the edge of the backbone/ribs and blew off fur but never made entry....


Not bedding in like 450yds that I took the track doesn't line up with any of my experiences....aside from flesh wounds.


I've never seen anything like it. Not unusual to not get great blood from a roundball...they don't cut like a broadhead and don't have the shock/trauma of a modern bullet. I've killed plenty of deer with roundballs and flintlocks. And I have seen them do some odd things.


Any thoughts? I was pretty confident I'd find her this morning but over 4 hours and a couple miles back and forth I am out of ideas. If she continued the way she was heading the terrain gets rough and Rocky unless she headed back up the mountain...neither of which seem probable for a fatally hit deer to do without bedding.

[Rich M]

Crazy - I too have a .58 cal.

Hard to think something with that weight & size didn't punch thru. Might have been off just enough to strip some hair and not gone in.

[PK_]

I think she would have certainly laid down if it went in. But strange things happen. But I would guess it either didn’t enter or didn’t make it much deeper than the hide...

[mauser06]

Guess I can share some pics....













Those are the biggest blood drops. Not much that size was found. A few. Really not much blood at all. The steep hillside just gave me enough of her trail to follow and I found specks here n there.


I don't think I've ever seen hair come off a deer like that. First thought was "man! I turned her inside out". Till I heard her running.

Initial instinct was the missing fur patch was high and back. I was borderline on if it was too high to get in the body of not...


I'm kinda thinking the ole roundball rode the body and deflected off and never went in. As she came down the steep mountain side, she opened the wound enough to let a little blood out. Flat top and flat side hilling, she didn't seem to bleed.



Hate loosing deer. I was surprised she took a step let alone wasn't recovered. Shot felt great.


Shoot enough deer and weird things happen unfortunately. I am fortunate enough to get several shots a year...and have had a few that didn't work out so well unfortunately.

[Jdw]

Here is a guess.
If she saw the gun go off it’s possible she turned as the shot was going off, similar to string jumping a bow shot.

[mauser06]

I've read people claiming that.


It could account for the big being higher than intended by 6-8" and her angle being more forward than I shot for...


I've never seen it. And my rifle goes off pretty dang quick. But I guess that it's possible. There is certainly a period of time from the time the flint hits the hammer till the ball is 25yds down range.


I couldn't tell if she was on to me or not. When I was sneaking through, I spotted a little one..which appeared to see me. It alerted me to Mom's position. I got binocs on her and made sure it was an adult doe. She basically bee-lined my direction. She was dangerously close to hitting my wind. I scooted around enough to get a shoot-able offset between 2 big cherry trees. She definitely seemed to give the "oh poop" look as I was pulling the trigger. She was mid-stride but maybe...just maybe all that factored into her "ducking the ball". Never really considered it. I've probably killed around 20+ deer with flintlocks.

[seazofcheeze]

Just by the amount of hair, I'd guess it was a steep angle, which I think supports the grazing/no entry theory. The blood looks like muscle blood to me as well, and if you saw a high wound, even if the ball entered the deer, it sounds like it was above the cavity and probably rode topside of ribs or backbone with no spine damage. It's a bummer but definitely sounds like a hit that wont be fatal or at least not in the near term.

[Rich M]

My ex-wife shot a small deer and hit just low - cut a crease along the deer's entire belly and hit the opposite rear leg. We had a lot more hair than that (all white) and a couple little chunks of meat, smaller than a pinky fingernail. Couple drops of blood and no deer. Took her 3 years to finally kill one.

The next day I encountered that deer while pushing a thick swamp (you could see about 10 feet) and had a deer pop up next to me, saw its head and shot it. Turned out to be the one she hit the day before. There is a good chance it would have lived if not for me. The damage to the ham wasn't very bad.

Might be similar but along the back...