Unrecovered - not happy about it

Went out for a hunt on Saturday, cold, wet and foggy - headed for a spot that i'd noted on my last trip as having high levels of activity based on sign in the area - aiming to get there with the sun hitting the spot.
We get there, the weather means there isn't any sun so not expecting any deer as we scope the clearing. Moving around in thick brush around the edge of the clearing - I spot the white backside of a deer ahead, no clear shot - signal my wife to stop moving as I move for a better angle... deer looks up and freezes looking at me - broad side - approx 30m, but body is obscured by bush - neck/head and 1/2 front should in the clear. I take aim...

Here's where a couple of errors occur - I'm not using my own scope, I have a scope I'm reviewing on my rifle (zero'd and set up day before) and it's very different to VX3

1) I have the parallax dial set for to far out (100m) - it's very stiff to adjust on this new scope so I didn't try to adjust for the shot
2) I have the magnification higher than I should have as I was checking the clearing before hand - this doesn't matter much as I still had the deer in sight
3) I was having problems with the glass fogging up, the coatings are obviously not as good as my scope
4) The last deer I shot the front shoulders were blood splattered from a double lunge shot, I decided to aim for the neck to save the meat.
5) shot was free standing unsupported

I take the shot, the deer jumps up and back as if it had been hit, we hear maybe a couple of seconds of crash then nothing. I am confident on the shot. My wife stays where I took the shot as I move in to find the animal... I look around for blood and cant find any, it is raining and the brush on the ground is thick. The only sign I can find is where it had scrapped a branch with its hooves - We spend a long time combing the area in the rain and cant find anything, no blood, no body.

Felt utterly miserable afterward - quite upset - I'm confident that I hit it. Really I hope I missed as I'd hate to have killed it for nothing, or wounded it and left it. Wished i'd had a dog to track it.

I will learn from this one - in future I would rather sacrifice the front shoulders if It means a sure kill, especially on a free standing shot. Some reading after i got home - a neck shot if it misses the spinal cord will allow them to run quite a way before bedding down to die, and there may be quite a delay in finding a blood trial - I think I aimed a little low in the neck, and may not have searched far enough out to find the body. I value the simplicity of my VX3 for hunting - good glass, fixed parallax, I am having a locking elevation dial fitted at the moment but will maintain a 200y zero for hunting for point and shoot inside 275m.

I'm sure this happens sometimes but it sure makes you feel pretty retched.

Yup. It happens and it sux. Try to not be too hard on yourself. Learn from your mistakes and try to not repeat them in the future.

Know how you feel man its gutting all right. Same thing happened to me on sunday. Dog picked up a scent and led me 300 odd meters to a yearling standing broadside at 50m so aimed centre shoulder and fired. Deer did the classic death wobble and stepped down into bush below it. I waited then went to where it was standing and there was the bullet hole in the tree behind where it had been all covered in deer hair and fatty fleshy shit but not a drop of blood so tracked it for another hundred metres before the dog lost its trail (goats and multiple deer trails crossing paths) so searched all over for hours but it had disappeared. I reckon I must've just clipped it somehow but it was such an easy shot and felt sweet. Dogs pissed at me now haha no venny for him last night

Mate that sucks alright. You are doing the right thing by honestly reviewing your mistake and learning from it.

I have had very similar experience in the rain that lead to a change in scope. I too favour simple scopes.

Did you have both eyes open? At that distance you should and it would be like using a shotgun. Good you are looking at all possible issues to learn from.

It happens, I would say a lot of us here have had a similar experience.
I have a couple that years on still bug me and make me wish I had never pulled the trigger.
Shows you have the right ethic's to hunt and respect your quarry.
As the guys have said, learn from the mistakes and apply the lessons learn't for the next hunt.

Nothing to add really but yes, good on you for having the right attitude and yep I've had this happen and it is not a good feeling. The difference between guilt and remorse - guilt we just carry with us, but remorse, we acknowledge how we feel about it, resolve to do better in future, forgive ourselves, accept, and move on.

I lost a premo stag around 4 years ago spent days searching even now when I’m in that area still keep my eyes open for an antler poking out of the tussock or bones .

i think its happend to a lot of us i shot one at about 30m in bush clear shot and watched the deer walk off like nothing had happened i thought fuk thats wierd that should of been a hit waited for a bit couldnt hear anythingspent the next 3 hours looking in the patch of bush it wilked down into never found it then went out the next weekend to same place could smell something and had a look around found it about 60m uphill from the bushe i watched it walk down into felt pretty shit about it for a while

It happens. Least you had a good look. I always grid search and go further out than you think. Only lost a couple but it sucks big time.
As i only bush hunt ive learnt a couple of things that suit me.
1. 90% of the time shooting free standing and you only have a few seconds. No hero shots, ie head, neck, i just aim at middle of shoulder and they go down everytime.(or behind shoulder if using 223)
Best just secure the animal. Im normally boning them out so just doesnt worry me if i lost a little meat, esp as its only the mince meat or stew etc. Normally its only one shoulder that knacked and thats nothing.

Animals hit hard tend to go downhill rather than up.
Keep careful note after the shot which dirction its going and listen hard for any indication wheres its gone or heading. Be prepared to take your time picking up any sign,
Marks, blood, etc and mark the last good sign you have found. When you run out of blood etc go back to last good sign and start a grid search. Keep your ears open,
Deer hit that arent dead often only go so far, then stop. may even sit down. They get up and take off again when they hear you or get too close. So be prepared to finish one off if it bolts etc.

If all is lost and cant find it have a look where its unlikely to have gone, ie opposite where you been looking, have been surprised before and found deer only 40 m away in the opposite dirction where i thought, esp if didnt see where it went at the start.
just because you cant find blood doesnt mean you didnt hit it and its dead not far away. Found a number of deer dead with no sign of any blood in thick bush before. Normally not far at all as with shoulder shots they just dont go anywhere normally.
Sometimes shit happens lol , life of a hunter

yip...take the front wheels off and you cant drive anywhere....shoulder meat is mince at best of times...far better to loose a bit of mince than loose an animal...you did your best to find it...and having your Mrs there I bet my left testicle you REALLY REALLY searched HARD OUT......its bad enough to stuff up but none of us want to do it under the scrutiny of her indoors......
sleep easy ,you have done all you could and will learn from it.

Yep ya did all you could and you are honestly appraising it -only way you learn.
No hunter who cares wants to lose an animal but most of us have experienced it and there’s no worse feeling but it shows that you’re ethical and you really care
Neck shots are far from certain you need to hit bone most make the mistake of going for the middle and that’s under the spine especially stags in the rut .
A consistent spot is behind the ear but better go for the big bit every time years of culling with a 222 taught me exactly where to shoot in the neck but even then you do get cockups
Another shot which I am reticent to take is front on brisket
Easy to go above heart between Hilar of each lung without doing any real damage and projectile lodges in paunch they run no blood and they die slowly of essentially a gut shot not a good feeling.
All the best mate next time presented with the same scenario you’ll smoke it.

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Originally Posted by ex-NZFS

Yep ya did all you could and you are honestly appraising it -only way you learn.
No hunter who cares wants to lose an animal but most of us have experienced it and there’s no worse feeling but it shows that you’re ethical and you really care
Neck shots are far from certain you need to hit bone most make the mistake of going for the middle and that’s under the spine especially stags in the rut .
A consistent spot is behind the ear but better go for the big bit every time years of culling with a 222 taught me exactly where to shoot in the neck but even then you do get cockups
Another shot which I am reticent to take is front on brisket
Easy to go above heart between Hilar of each lung without doing any real damage and projectile lodges in paunch they run no blood and they die slowly of essentially a gut shot not a good feeling.
All the best mate next time presented with the same scenario you’ll smoke it.

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Year that brisket shot is a bugger:( been there got that rotten T-shirt :sick: found the animal the next weekend so did an autopsy and found out where I went wrong. She ended up 200m from where I’d shot her. Got one two steps after finishing up finding out what had gone on. Which was sort of the golden lining back in the 90s when deer where thin on the ground:) still would have rather had the one from the weekend before but that’s hunting ah:)