As the Ottomans were pushing through even the last remains of the independent Christian feudal states in the Balkans, Božidar Vuković had migrated to Venice during the late 15th or early 16th century, along with his brother Nikola. Podgorica fell into Ottoman hands in 1474, during the Ottoman-Venetian War; there are indications that Vuković might have fled the Balkans in the refugee waves fleeing from the Ottomans, in particular after the fall of the Cetinje, the seat of Zeta, in 1496 and the subsequent flight of its last ruler Đurađ Crnojević to Venice across Budva.