Hunter260
Well-Known Member
Shot this deer, and as you can tell by the pic, didn’t recover in time to take the meat. I’m just confused by the shot honestly. I was on the ground and felt like I drilled the deer. It’s right in that vital V just above the elbow.
It’s what this deer did after the shot that was so confusing. I knew I hit the deer good and watched her run about 60 yards while stumbling in the front end like it was going down. The deer disappeared and I’m 90% sure it crashed about 80 yards away. I waited about 30 minutes and walked to look for my arrow, since no deer were in the field. I never found the arrow. I waited another 20 minutes and started to look in the shot area for blood. There absolutely was no blood. Not at the shot or the specific trail the deer left on.
I waited about 20 more minutes and decided I’d sneak in the direction the deer left in, hoping to find blood or sign. About 75 yards away it was bedded in the middle of the field and I walked to within 10 yards with my head down looking for blood before I saw it there looking at me. Once it ran off blowing I knew something was wrong. There was no blood on the side of the deer and in the bed only the tiniest few drops of blood.
I went home really confused, I thought I must have hit guts or something. I went back the next day and buzzards were circling already, just 12 or so hours after the shot. The deer was dead about 200 yards away from the bed, maybe 300 yards from the hit.
What do you think of this shot? I think I’m maybe 2 inches low but a deer can easily move 2 inches or more from when the bow goes off to impact. I will say I was shooting a cut on contact 4 blade which was hunting sharp, but not the scalpel sharp I would prefer.
My buddy held tight in the vital v on another buck and hit just a couple inches too far forward. That shot was outside of the body cavity and non fatal we believe.
I think going forward, I’ll shoot a couple inches back and not worry about holding so low. I’ll not be shooting a broadhead that is scary scary sharp either.
It’s what this deer did after the shot that was so confusing. I knew I hit the deer good and watched her run about 60 yards while stumbling in the front end like it was going down. The deer disappeared and I’m 90% sure it crashed about 80 yards away. I waited about 30 minutes and walked to look for my arrow, since no deer were in the field. I never found the arrow. I waited another 20 minutes and started to look in the shot area for blood. There absolutely was no blood. Not at the shot or the specific trail the deer left on.
I waited about 20 more minutes and decided I’d sneak in the direction the deer left in, hoping to find blood or sign. About 75 yards away it was bedded in the middle of the field and I walked to within 10 yards with my head down looking for blood before I saw it there looking at me. Once it ran off blowing I knew something was wrong. There was no blood on the side of the deer and in the bed only the tiniest few drops of blood.
I went home really confused, I thought I must have hit guts or something. I went back the next day and buzzards were circling already, just 12 or so hours after the shot. The deer was dead about 200 yards away from the bed, maybe 300 yards from the hit.
What do you think of this shot? I think I’m maybe 2 inches low but a deer can easily move 2 inches or more from when the bow goes off to impact. I will say I was shooting a cut on contact 4 blade which was hunting sharp, but not the scalpel sharp I would prefer.
My buddy held tight in the vital v on another buck and hit just a couple inches too far forward. That shot was outside of the body cavity and non fatal we believe.
I think going forward, I’ll shoot a couple inches back and not worry about holding so low. I’ll not be shooting a broadhead that is scary scary sharp either.