• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

troubleshooting after miss

mschultz373

mschultz373

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
May 9, 2023
Messages
404
Location
SE LA
missed a buck at ~10yrds at last light today. i was on the ground and he came out of a thicket about 50 yards N of me, walking behind a nice sized hickory the whole way. i saw his head and body briefy to the right of the tree then he disappeared - perfect. I drew back and first mishap: my peep is cockeyed, so i'm not getting a full sight picture. then, as I'm looking... what the heck, my TRU GLOW pins are barely visible to me! but here he comes, from behind the tree, facing west and I can see the outline of a rack of antlers - probably a nice 8pt. I settle my pin just back from his shoulder (from what I can see), hesitate a moment and let it fly. first time I've let one go on a deer! third mishap - where'd my arrow go? no light from my lighted nock?? he high tails it out of there, I hear no crash... i walk over to where he was and there's no blood. follow the tracks of him bounding off about 20 yards back - no blood along any of it. clean miss. kind of relieved. never find the arrow.

i think my gear malfunctions were too numerous here. My peep has had this issue of going cock-eyed before and I always fiddle with it to get it right. tonight i didn't have that foresight to make sure it was oriented correctly. my TRU GLOW sight came with my bow, which i bought used, and probably needs replaced since the pins weren't clear in the low light. and the lighted nock battery was almost certainly dead...that arrow I used tonight was one that had fallen out of my quiver leaving an area after a morning hunt and then found going in before dawn on the trail i used to come out.... the nock was lighted for like a week. I had turned it off, replaced the broadhead and figured it was OK....

n00b mistakes but I'm gonna take the bow to the shop to get that peep figured. any sight recommendations would be welcomed. It was an exciting hunt nonetheless, with a smaller 6pt passing me 30-35yrds W around 4:30. I couldn't have got a shot from my setup as I was nestled back in some thick cover.
 
Montana Black Gold. Shot them for years. Every time I try something else. I always go back to them. I will add, the only reason I try other sights are just for fun. They end up sold and a Montana Black Gold comes for their place.
 
Forgive me if this sounds crass but the troubleshooting stops at the point where you made a decision to force the shot knowing you were guessing at accuracy and where the arrow would go. As soon as you saw your peep wasn’t aligned you should have let down and tried to regroup. If the animal gets away, so be it.
 
If you didn't find your arrow, how do you know it was a clean miss? A lot of times, and I have seen it many times before, you don't find blood until way past 20 yards. I think if you asked on here there are several guys that probably shot deer this year and didn't get blood until way after 20 yards. If it was me, I would be right there at daylight this morning trying to find that arrow to verify a miss and I'd follow his tracks as far as possible looking for blood if you can't find the arrow. Also, I learned long ago that bowhunting is a sport where the tiniest details matter. That's why I am soooooo anal about my gear and set ups. If you can eliminate all of those nasty little mishaps you will have success.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
If you didn't find your arrow, how do you know it was a clean miss? A lot of times, and I have seen it many times before, you don't find blood until way past 20 yards. I think if you asked on here there are several guys that probably shot deer this year and didn't get blood until way after 20 yards. If it was me, I would be right there at daylight this morning trying to find that arrow to verify a miss and I'd follow his tracks as far as possible looking for blood if you can't find the arrow. Also, I learned long ago that bowhunting is a sport where the tiniest details matter. That's why I am soooooo anal about my gear and set ups. If you can eliminate all of those nasty little mishaps you will have success.
Click to expand...


Was just about to say the same. They don't always bleed out right away.


What about sounds, did you hear your arrow strike anything? You really need to look hard for that arrow and verify the miss. If you can find the arrow, it should be able to tell most or all of the story.
 
I would also suggest that the arrow could be in the deer. It was close range. Did you hear a thump or pop from the arrow hitting the deer, or brush/branches the arrow was deflecting off of, if you did miss?
 
I agree it would be prudent to go out and backtrack and look for that arrow. There are so many factors that go into a blood trail or lack thereof but a straight shot from the ground will almost certainly give you an exit at the same height as your entrance.

Lowlight shooting, whether it is last light or just thick dark woods is probably the most challenging condition we face as bowhunters. I practice it a lot and struggle with it.

I like a HHA single pin (.019 diameter) with a light for those last 5 minutes. I turn the light as far down as possible, so it won't wash out the sight picture. That is the one thing I really like about trad archery. With my longbow if I can make out the silhouette of the animal, I can still pick a spot. There is no sight or peep to worry about. This is one advantage trad archery has over compounds and sights.

Good luck, you may find him yet. Getting a good buck to about 10 yards on the ground is an accomplishment.
 
This is not troubleshooting, but rather advice towards prevention... Buy a decent sight with at least a 0.019" pin wrapped with +2' of GREEN fiber optic. Get yourself a larger peep sight (1/4", or my preference of 5/16"), you could choose another color than black for a bit extra light reflection/transmission, and then there's always the option of an aligner/tube depending on string/cable quality and condition... Unless you're in a blind, I would not recommend sight lights unless you fully understand what happens in low light and which light to choose or how to "fix" it. Practice in low light so that you know what you can see and not see.

One of the best (now discontinued) fixed-pin sights produced for hunting IMO: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285635056056?hash=item42812d11b8:g:8e8AAOSwXpJllFeN&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4PkAj4ckUMYWtLpLPLNmD7tGo4fTicualER2v5c68sYM89wfsi2G2Dm4O/lNzObl0JMeeHPBAJAnmPqXjlgHNLrP6GwZwDIkm8sQ/wAQNFvaG8U1bWMkQ6BA4PtoWh0wz+1OHi+0+rbkSIuujDRf1FhT/9N3eycVblvAo8r/U/TGcvEj6pXW6K3xcjvKSDqiEkmXrPkaLUkuRX/MC0/9rtNmcu14FeqYIYw7tJ9duAlFHo8R8/VfJvtp0zmmUnLaJRnNhGjybdhcsMUS38ejEn4vqiJUtR0pcZBTtoPT9zps|tkp:Bk9SR_jJkJ6bYw
 
First, are you sure it was 10 yards and how do you know? There is a big difference between 10 and 20 for arrow/bow performance.

At 10 yards, I would doubt that you missed the deer even with the peep issue. Even if you can only hold a 3" group at 10 yards you'd have to have had the pin off the deer to miss it entirely. If you couldn't see through your peep, the worst case (i.e. arrow furthest off target) would be if you put your eye over the peep which would aim the bow up. At 20 yards you'll be way high, but at 10 yards you'll still be inside the body of a deer. And at 10 yards there is no chance he ducks the arrow. Also, at 10 yards your entire set of 3 pins will fit in the vitals of the deer and will hit it somewhere so if you used your 30 pin instead of your 10/20 pin you'll be a little high but still have a hit

Your arrow and broadhead will be fine laying out overnight. I wouldn't put any of the error on that unless you're shooting aluminums and it got stepped on.

What arrow/broadhead/speed (or poundage)? Most any whitetail setup at 60 lb and a reasonable arrow is going to pass through almost everywhere on a deer at 10 yards. A shot in the hind quarter would stick. One into the shoulder bone would stick (but that's a dead deer). A shot through the gut or even a double lung can carry a ways and bury in leaves and grass. Looking for one that's buried like that in the dark is a losing proposition.

Like others said, I'd be out there now with good daylight looking for the arrow (first and foremost) and blood. Follow where he ran (leaves should still be kicked up) for at least 100 yards unless you find your arrow with no sign of a hit on it.

rick
 
I have to agree with the others. At 10 yards you would have to try to miss even with the peep issue. I would try to locate hair at the hit site or the arrow which can be very difficult from the ground, in my experiences arrows will burry themselves under brush or bounce off trees and disappear when shooting from the ground. I would suggest walking back in forth in about a 50 yard span in the direction he took off in for about 50 yards. if you come up empty try walking in a circle spanning out as you go. Always do your best and put the time in to make sure it was a clean miss, the animals deserve that.
 
We all had to learn and many of us did it the hard way so keep that in mind if it sounds like we are harping on you. I am going to keep my comments to the post shot actions since the others have hit most of the high points. When I shoot at a deer I am going to make note of the last place I can see the deer leaving, make note of the last place I can hear it and when I can no longer hear it I am going to take a compass bearing on the last sound. It can be helpful to take a pic of the last spot you could see the deer as well but I dont always do that. As has been mentioned, deer many times will leave little to no blood sign for the first 20-40 yards and may not leave any until the last 10-15 yards if that. Having good visual and compass references on line of travel can be massively useful in finding one that isnt leaving a good blood trail. It also can be helpful if it comes down to a grid search because you at least have a good direction of travel reference to start a grid from and to return too.
 
Another thing that I have been doing now that I am doing a lot more ground hunting is adding a small piece of reflective wrap to the back and sometime middle of the arrow shaft. I don't use much, just a little. From the ground arrows have the bad tendency to snake under leaves skip off things and fly out at odd angles. In the event of a light nock failure or no lighted nock at all like on my wood arrows it is a little bit of added insurance to help me locate the arrow after the shot.
 

Attachments

  • reflective strip 2.jpg
    reflective strip 2.jpg
    406.2 KB · Views: 29
  • reflective strip.jpg
    reflective strip.jpg
    390.6 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
DroptineKrazy said:
If you didn't find your arrow, how do you know it was a clean miss? A lot of times, and I have seen it many times before, you don't find blood until way past 20 yards. I think if you asked on here there are several guys that probably shot deer this year and didn't get blood until way after 20 yards. If it was me, I would be right there at daylight this morning trying to find that arrow to verify a miss and I'd follow his tracks as far as possible looking for blood if you can't find the arrow. Also, I learned long ago that bowhunting is a sport where the tiniest details matter. That's why I am soooooo anal about my gear and set ups. If you can eliminate all of those nasty little mishaps you will have success.
Click to expand...

Yep, 2 years ago, I shot a doe right above the heart....she ran 50 yards and fell over dead....hardly any blood until she dropped...maybe a few drops here and there but nothing I saw walking
 
mschultz373 said:
missed a buck at ~10yrds at last light today. i was on the ground and he came out of a thicket about 50 yards N of me, walking behind a nice sized hickory the whole way. i saw his head and body briefy to the right of the tree then he disappeared - perfect. I drew back and first mishap: my peep is cockeyed, so i'm not getting a full sight picture. then, as I'm looking... what the heck, my TRU GLOW pins are barely visible to me! but here he comes, from behind the tree, facing west and I can see the outline of a rack of antlers - probably a nice 8pt. I settle my pin just back from his shoulder (from what I can see), hesitate a moment and let it fly. first time I've let one go on a deer! third mishap - where'd my arrow go? no light from my lighted nock?? he high tails it out of there, I hear no crash... i walk over to where he was and there's no blood. follow the tracks of him bounding off about 20 yards back - no blood along any of it. clean miss. kind of relieved. never find the arrow.

i think my gear malfunctions were too numerous here. My peep has had this issue of going cock-eyed before and I always fiddle with it to get it right. tonight i didn't have that foresight to make sure it was oriented correctly. my TRU GLOW sight came with my bow, which i bought used, and probably needs replaced since the pins weren't clear in the low light. and the lighted nock battery was almost certainly dead...that arrow I used tonight was one that had fallen out of my quiver leaving an area after a morning hunt and then found going in before dawn on the trail i used to come out.... the nock was lighted for like a week. I had turned it off, replaced the broadhead and figured it was OK....

n00b mistakes but I'm gonna take the bow to the shop to get that peep figured. any sight recommendations would be welcomed. It was an exciting hunt nonetheless, with a smaller 6pt passing me 30-35yrds W around 4:30. I couldn't have got a shot from my setup as I was nestled back in some thick cover.
Click to expand...

hunting with a compound bow is way more difficult than a rifle

you have to be a bit OCD about all this stuff

and it's best to learn how to do your own work
 
raisins said:
Yep, 2 years ago, I shot a doe right above the heart....she ran 50 yards and fell over dead....hardly any blood until she dropped...maybe a few drops here and there but nothing I saw walking
Click to expand...
Similar story with the first deer I shot. Shot a doe in the neck with my .30-30. Cut the jugular. Small bit of blood at the impact and for about 10 feet, then... nothing. After 50yd, there was a single drop of blood every 9 feet or so. Every time her front hooves hit the ground, a single drop of blood fell down. I tracked those single drops of blood on my hands an knees for over 100yd, through a bedding area (covered in hoofprints, so tough to discern my signal from the noise) until she stopped running. Massive pools of blood on the ground and a furry brown rock that, as it turns out, was the doe!

If tracking dogs are legal in your state I'd try that route, before stinking up the woods with grid searches and the like.
 
Iron_llama said:
Similar story with the first deer I shot. Shot a doe in the neck with my .30-30. Cut the jugular. Small bit of blood at the impact and for about 10 feet, then... nothing. After 50yd, there was a single drop of blood every 9 feet or so. Every time her front hooves hit the ground, a single drop of blood fell down. I tracked those single drops of blood on my hands an knees for over 100yd, through a bedding area (covered in hoofprints, so tough to discern my signal from the noise) until she stopped running. Massive pools of blood on the ground and a furry brown rock that, as it turns out, was the doe!

If tracking dogs are legal in your state I'd try that route, before stinking up the woods with grid searches and the like.
Click to expand...

I think you just explained a weird shot this year.

I made a bad shot and had to follow up with a shot at 40 yards. That shot hit the buck towards the front of the lungs and exited mid-neck by the spine (quartering away pretty hard).

There was hardly a drop of blood but the deer was down in 50 yards. I'm guessing I cut the jugular then.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top