Tracking mystery

[farwellhunter]

Buck walked under me and I shot at him while he was walking straight away at 15 yards. Last light, but still clearly visible that close. Aimed just left of spine inside front shoulder.

Deer ran 20 more yards and stopped him with a grunt. He stayed there 20 minutes bobbing his head at the ground as daylight slipped away. I then heard some guttural type choke sounds.

15 more minutes I got to the ground. Hair stuck all over arrow, but no apparent blood. I walked to the spot he was standing and found a handful of blood and more hair.

This morning resumed and could not find any other trace. With only hair and no blood on arrow, but obvious blood where he was last seen, what are your thoughts?

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[boyne bowhunter]

Gave him a razor cut?

A buddy of mine did that this year, at least we presumed that's what happened. There was a pretty solid blood trail for quite a ways but there was absolutely no blood on the arrow, no way that it passed through. Only some hair on the broadhead. Best we could figure was he shot low and sliced the bucks chest with one of the razors.

 

[Jbiehn]

How high were you?

 

[DanielB89]

Buck walked under me and I shot at him while he was walking straight away at 15 yards. Last light, but still clearly visible that close. Aimed just left of spine inside front shoulder.

Deer ran 20 more yards and stopped him with a grunt. He stayed there 20 minutes bobbing his head at the ground as daylight slipped away. I then heard some guttural type choke sounds.

15 more minutes I got to the ground. Hair stuck all over arrow, but no apparent blood. I walked to the spot he was standing and found a handful of blood and more hair.

This morning resumed and could not find any other trace. With only hair and no blood on arrow, but obvious blood where he was last seen, what are your thoughts?

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I'll try to keep my thoughts nice..

My initial thought is why would anyone ever take a shot without a chance at penetrating both lungs?

My next thought is I bet the deer had a horrible night of suffering and is likely suffering from a single lung hit..

I don't mean to sound like this, but It irks me with the lack of respect for our game some shots present, with this shot being one of them. The absolute BEST case scenario, imo, is a spine shot that drops him and i'm allowed to put another arrow in him quickly to minimize suffering. The second best option is the arrow catches the inside of one lung and then some of the heart as well and dispatches him quickly.. In my opinion, there really isn't a good third best option.

 

[heretic]

It's hard to speculate since we weren't there, however is it possible your arrow deflected off the top of one of the ribs? How did the impact sound? Was it a higher pitched smack? Or a lower pitched thud? The aspirated breathing leads me to believe it's a single lung hit. However it could be possible the arrow skirted the ribcage and passed between the shoulder and the ribs. The reaction to the shot is interesting, what kind of broadhead are you shooting? Mechanical? Fixed? Cut on contact?

 

[dlist777]

That's a horrible shot to take. And, you should wait longer before you get down. You'll never find him, but you should spend a day looking for him. anyway in case you got lucky...if you saw blood you hit him. It's much better to let him walk and try to hunt him again than take a shot like that.

 

[d_rek]

One lung or shoulder slice/meat hit. If he was walking straight way that's a pretty low percentage shot. Would have been preferable to spine him and drop him in his tracks.

Hate to be bearer of bad news but you should prepare yourself for reality that you probably wont recover this deer.

 

[farwellhunter]

How high were you?

18 feet to my bow

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[farwellhunter]

Thanks for all the comments and constructive feedback. I dont disagree with any of you and will feed my lessons forward.

Still bewildered about this. I suppose now that a shot through ribs and lung makes the most sense. Still though I would expect to see more blood than the single spot that was found with a pass through. I recall the shot sound as if it just hit earth. No crack or sharp sound. In fact, I thought I had cleanly missed.

Buddy and I searched this morning and have a larger group coming to help this afternoon.

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[farwellhunter]

Gave him a razor cut?

A buddy of mine did that this year, at least we presumed that's what happened. There was a pretty solid blood trail for quite a ways but there was absolutely no blood on the arrow, no way that it passed through. Only some hair on the broadhead. Best we could figure was he shot low and sliced the bucks chest with one of the razors.

This was my thought, but doesnt explain the blood.

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[farwellhunter]

I'll try to keep my thoughts nice..

My initial thought is why would anyone ever take a shot without a chance at penetrating both lungs?

My next thought is I bet the deer had a horrible night of suffering and is likely suffering from a single lung hit..

I don't mean to sound like this, but It irks me with the lack of respect for our game some shots present, with this shot being one of them. The absolute BEST case scenario, imo, is a spine shot that drops him and i'm allowed to put another arrow in him quickly to minimize suffering. The second best option is the arrow catches the inside of one lung and then some of the heart as well and dispatches him quickly.. In my opinion, there really isn't a good third best option.

Completely understand. Thank you for chiming in.

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[farwellhunter]

That's a horrible shot to take. And, you should wait longer before you get down. You'll never find him, but you should spend a day looking for him. anyway in case you got lucky...if you saw blood you hit him. It's much better to let him walk and try to hunt him again than take a shot like that.

Agreed and thank you.

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[redsquirrel]

Thanks for all the comments and constructive feedback. I dont disagree with any of you and will feed my lessons forward.

Still bewildered about this. I suppose now that a shot through ribs and lung makes the most sense. Still though I would expect to see more blood than the single spot that was found with a pass through. I recall the shot sound as if it just hit earth. No crack or sharp sound. In fact, I thought I had cleanly missed.

Buddy and I searched this morning and have a larger group coming to help this afternoon.

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You may have exited through the brisket. Did you find fat on the arrow? I've seen minimal blood on the arrow with a brisket shot.

 

[huntin_addict]

Thanks for all the comments and constructive feedback. I dont disagree with any of you and will feed my lessons forward.

Still bewildered about this. I suppose now that a shot through ribs and lung makes the most sense. Still though I would expect to see more blood than the single spot that was found with a pass through. I recall the shot sound as if it just hit earth. No crack or sharp sound. In fact, I thought I had cleanly missed.

Buddy and I searched this morning and have a larger group coming to help this afternoon.

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Im betting you cut him down the side.

 

[DanO]

You may have exited through the brisket. Did you find fat on the arrow? I've seen minimal blood on the arrow with a brisket shot.

I agree with this. If the arrow had sticky fat all over it that would explain the hair all over the arrow. Would also explain minimal blood. Single lung hit explains the guttural choking sounds you heard maybe. If true, you won't have any blood trail unfortunately.

 

[farwellhunter]

I agree with this. If the arrow had sticky fat all over it that would explain the hair all over the arrow. Would also explain minimal blood. Single lung hit explains the guttural choking sounds you heard maybe. If true, you won't have any blood trail unfortunately.

Good. Makes sense to me. Will certainly re-educate myself on angles and dilligence.

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[Blacksmith]

Sorry, It wont help you now but I only take a broadside or near there shot just for the reason you've just explained.

 

[BTaylor]

I am going to disagree with some of the previous post with a caveat or two. I have killed several deer with similar shots to the one you describe but I shoot a setup that over lots of kills has proven to be effective for achieving pass through shots almost without regard to the angle of the deer. Keep in mind the objective is to always put the arrow through the vitals and always shoot your exit hole. In other words aim your shot for the flight path that puts the arrow through the goodies. The caveats are know your limitations and dont take shots you think you can make, take shots you know you can make. Know your gear, make sure your bow is properly tuned and your arrow and broadhead combination are sufficient for the shots you would take. And finally, know the anatomy of the critters you hunt, that means where all the goodies are as well as where the bones are and which ones to avoid.

While you are gaining experience in killing deer, I would encourage you to keep shots to broadside or slightly quartering away in the 12-20 yard range. Those to me are the highest percentage shots. Also remember the only way to become a killer is to kill.

 

[Kowi Anukasha]

I don't think it's a mortal wound biased on the deer's reaction and the evidence on your arrow. You did your diligence by searching how you did and it looks like you just made a bad decision on the shot choice. But like you have stated you will learn from it but keep a positive attitude and strive to make better decisions. I don't know your experience level or how many deer you have taken with a bow but like @BTaylor said look for where your arrow will exit and what vitals it will impact on its path from entry. If you are not familiar with deer anatomy I suggest you look into doing your own processing and learn everything you can about what's inside their hide. If that is not an option their is an array or good anatomy videos on line that can help. This will not only make you a more efficient killer but will help your decision making on weather or not to take a questionable shot.

 

[BFI]

It was a tough shot. Just remember it happens and makes you sick and keeps you awake at night. Some here act like they never had a bad shot. Well if ya aint shootin ya aint killin. Just remember aim for the far armpit, keep your blades razor sharp practice with them on 3 d targets at all angles from your saddle. The higher you go up the more angle you have causing a smaller vital sweet spot. As far as getting down on the blood trail just relax for a half hour minimum unless you hear it go down dead. Just listen and wait look for land marks keep using your call then imprint it in your mind the shot angle the escape route and the wind direction. Have a hank of toilet paper handy to mark last bloods, call your buddy if you need to track a blood trail you can learn a bunch from buddies. finally when tracking do not rush look around find the arrow first inspect the arrow for fat, guts, color of hair, blood and smell the arrow it should tell the story. It will die so dont give up on it right away for sake of scaring deer out of the area they will be back the does come back right away, the bucks will follow. while tracking look to last blood look at the gate of the tracks this is where a tracking stick can be used keep positive look to water, streams, swamps, rivers , lakes, ponds and heavy cover because that is where they will go. sorry it happened but it happens.