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Deer anatomy lesson via dissection

Here's a couple pics of bucks that were poorly hit. The one on the top was hit in the neck which is a poor shot with an arrow and the one below was hit on a quartering away shot and went in the left shoulder just as the guy in the video explained. These were sent to me by hunters. I saw a button buck with an arrow stuck in his head back in the 80's and he stayed out in the open because every time the arrow would touch anything it would make him flinch from the pain. Had he ever got close enough I may have taken him to put him out of his misery because that arrow was firmly planted in his skull.
 

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Last year I had a doe jump the string and I thought I had hit her in that dead spot between the lungs and the backbone. Now I know that I most likely hit her in the backstrap. No blood, just a little meat on the arrow. She walked away like nothing happened. Followed up and never did find her. I'm sure she is still alive today. Sucks wounding one but all you can do is learn and apply the lesson to the next one.
 
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Last season on Oct 13th, I hit this buck high on a 32 yard shot. I immediately knew it was not good. With it being an evening hunt and having a nice cold front at the time, I decided to wait until morning. Long story short, I ended up bumping him up around 9:30 the next morning about 300 yards from where I hit him. He ran off like a perfectly healthy deer. I checked the bed he was laying in and it was clean except for a few small dried up drops of blood. Flash forward a week later from the same stand, he walked out into my food plot to check out some does that were already out. He never got closer than 45 yards or offer a stationary shot. I was just relieved that he seemed to be fine and wherever my hit was,it was superficial.

Flash forward to Nov 2nd. I took a quick lunch break from my morning set in another location and got right back out for the evening in the same stand I had shot him from weeks earlier. At 2:45, i looked up and he was coming right down the pipe on a trail offering me a 15 yard chip shot quartered away and I double lunged him.

I have no doubts he would have survived had he not made a mistake a third time. I attribute his remaining in the area and visible to the fact he never saw or smelled me in that location. All he knew was something stung him good there. The will and the ability that whitetail have to survive and live is simply amazing and admirable imo. It only deepens my respect for them that much more.




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Bwhana

I think this is the best thread ever on SaddleHunter for novices and long time hunters as a reminder of exactly where to aim and shoot.

Another very interesting fact of mine is just as much hunting pressure related as poor shot placement related. Of the 31 book bucks I've taken in Michigan from public and knock on doors properties, 28 of them had previous wounds and several had more than one from both gun and bow. Of the 19 book bucks I've taken out of state, none had ever been touched by a projectile. Here are 4 projectiles I took from a buck I took in 2000 and it had a 2 1/4 inch cut Vortex buried in his shoulder and it had passed through the top of his left lung and it was all scar tissued over, two 00 buckshot pellets in the front of his neck and a 12 ga. sabot slug in his hind quarter.
 

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Letemgrowitllshow said:
Last year I had a doe jump the string and I thought I had hit her in that dead spot between the lungs and the backbone. Now I know that I most likely hit her in the backstrap. No blood, just a little meat on the arrow. She walked away like nothing happened. Followed up and never did find her. I'm sure she is still alive today. Sucks wounding one but all you can do is learn and apply the lesson to the next one.
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Watch those Masterpiece videos about the fallacy of a dead zone.

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John Eberhart said:
Bwhana

I think this is the best thread ever on SaddleHunter for novices and long time hunters as a reminder of exactly where to aim and shoot.

Another very interesting fact of mine is just as much hunting pressure related as poor shot placement related. Of the 31 book bucks I've taken in Michigan from public and knock on doors properties, 28 of them had previous wounds and several had more than one from both gun and bow. Of the 19 book bucks I've taken out of state, none had ever been touched by a projectile. Here are 4 projectiles I took from a buck I took in 2000 and it had a 2 1/4 inch cut Vortex buried in his shoulder and it had passed through the top of his left lung and it was all scar tissued over, two 00 buckshot pellets in the front of his neck and a 12 ga. sabot slug in his hind quarter.
Click to expand...

Good God what a warrior. Those numbers are mind boggling as well. Would you attribute them to insanely high Michigan pressure, below average Michigan marksmanship, or a combination of the two?


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John Eberhart said:
Bwhana

I think this is the best thread ever on SaddleHunter for novices and long time hunters as a reminder of exactly where to aim and shoot.

Another very interesting fact of mine is just as much hunting pressure related as poor shot placement related. Of the 31 book bucks I've taken in Michigan from public and knock on doors properties, 28 of them had previous wounds and several had more than one from both gun and bow. Of the 19 book bucks I've taken out of state, none had ever been touched by a projectile. Here are 4 projectiles I took from a buck I took in 2000 and it had a 2 1/4 inch cut Vortex buried in his shoulder and it had passed through the top of his left lung and it was all scar tissued over, two 00 buckshot pellets in the front of his neck and a 12 ga. sabot slug in his hind quarter.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, NC is not too far behind MI. I have found many bullets, buckshot, and broadheads in bucks I have taken on public lands too. In fact, last year's buck had a smelly, oozing wound high on the shoulder and I found a very cheap, Walmart brand looking brand broadhead in him. A few years back, I took one that had a perfect 3 blade cut from side to side through the backstraps.

I have noticed that almost all of the broadheads have been found high on the body/shoulder. Total speculation on my part, but I think it has more to do with deer ducking the shot (especially longer shots) than the intended placement or from being shot from an elevated position. Curious if you have noticed the same high locations of arrows/heads you have found? Maybe it is just coincidence for me.

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Bwhana said:
Unfortunately, NC is not too far behind MI. I have found many bullets, buckshot, and broadheads in bucks I have taken on public lands too. In fact, last year's buck had a smelly, oozing wound high on the shoulder and I found a very cheap, Walmart brand looking brand broadhead in him. A few years back, I took one that had a perfect 3 blade cut from side to side through the backstraps.
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Totally agree that NC is a pressured state as is Pa., NY., Va., W.Va., and Ma.. These are the most pressured and have terrible P&Y entry ratios per licensed hunter ratio.

The best states are Wi., Ia., Ks., Ne., ND., SD., In., Oh., Il., Mo.
 
hokiehunter373 said:
Good God what a warrior. Those numbers are mind boggling as well. Would you attribute them to insanely high Michigan pressure, below average Michigan marksmanship, or a combination of the two?
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Percentage wise, I would assume every state has the same average experience level of hunter. Just heavy pressure, if there's not many hunters to shoot at deer thy don't get wounded. Also the states with lower pressure also have hunters that can pass on 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks and still get opportunities every season so the young bucks don't get shot at on the same percentage level.
 
MathewsShooter7 said:
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Last season on Oct 13th, I hit this buck high on a 32 yard shot. I immediately knew it was not good. With it being an evening hunt and having a nice cold front at the time, I decided to wait until morning. Long story short, I ended up bumping him up around 9:30 the next morning about 300 yards from where I hit him. He ran off like a perfectly healthy deer. I checked the bed he was laying in and it was clean except for a few small dried up drops of blood. Flash forward a week later from the same stand, he walked out into my food plot to check out some does that were already out. He never got closer than 45 yards or offer a stationary shot. I was just relieved that he seemed to be fine and wherever my hit was,it was superficial.

Flash forward to Nov 2nd. I took a quick lunch break from my morning set in another location and got right back out for the evening in the same stand I had shot him from weeks earlier. At 2:45, i looked up and he was coming right down the pipe on a trail offering me a 15 yard chip shot quartered away and I double lunged him.

I have no doubts he would have survived had he not made a mistake a third time. I attribute his remaining in the area and visible to the fact he never saw or smelled me in that location. All he knew was something stung him good there. The will and the ability that whitetail have to survive and live is simply amazing and admirable imo. It only deepens my respect for them that much more.




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Click to expand...
Some 25 years ago I made a poor decision and tried to shoot through a small opening at a small 8 point. Long story short, the arrow deflected and hit him high and back and I was unable to recover him. Fast forward 2 years. . . sitting in the same oak grove I managed to take a nice 8 point. I got him home and when I skinned him I was astonished to find that he was competely missing one back loin. I mean it just wasn't there . . . it looked like it had just never developed.

After a while it occurred to me that maybe this was the deer from 2 years previous. I went and looked closer inside the hide and sure enough, there was the distinct scar from the 5 bladed broad head I was using at the time. I must have cut the nerves and/or bloodflow to the affected muscle and it just atrophied away over the next two years.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Some 25 years ago I made a poor decision and tried to shoot through a small opening at a small 8 point. Long story short, the arrow deflected and hit him high and back and I was unable to recover him. Fast forward 2 years. . . sitting in the same oak grove I managed to take a nice 8 point. I got him home and when I skinned him I was astonished to find that he was competely missing one back loin. I mean it just wasn't there . . . it looked like it had just never developed.

After a while it occurred to me that maybe this was the deer from 2 years previous. I went and looked closer inside the hide and sure enough, there was the distinct scar from the 5 bladed broad head I was using at the time. I must have cut the nerves and/or bloodflow to the affected muscle and it just atrophied away over the next two years.
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Whoa, that’s one of the craziest deer stories I’ve ever heard.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Some 25 years ago I made a poor decision and tried to shoot through a small opening at a small 8 point. Long story short, the arrow deflected and hit him high and back and I was unable to recover him. Fast forward 2 years. . . sitting in the same oak grove I managed to take a nice 8 point. I got him home and when I skinned him I was astonished to find that he was competely missing one back loin. I mean it just wasn't there . . . it looked like it had just never developed.

After a while it occurred to me that maybe this was the deer from 2 years previous. I went and looked closer inside the hide and sure enough, there was the distinct scar from the 5 bladed broad head I was using at the time. I must have cut the nerves and/or bloodflow to the affected muscle and it just atrophied away over the next two years.
Click to expand...
That is an amazing story...They are just tough as nails!
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Some 25 years ago I made a poor decision and tried to shoot through a small opening at a small 8 point. Long story short, the arrow deflected and hit him high and back and I was unable to recover him. Fast forward 2 years. . . sitting in the same oak grove I managed to take a nice 8 point. I got him home and when I skinned him I was astonished to find that he was competely missing one back loin. I mean it just wasn't there . . . it looked like it had just never developed.

After a while it occurred to me that maybe this was the deer from 2 years previous. I went and looked closer inside the hide and sure enough, there was the distinct scar from the 5 bladed broad head I was using at the time. I must have cut the nerves and/or bloodflow to the affected muscle and it just atrophied away over the next two years.
Click to expand...

Man, I wish you had pictures of that. That’s insane


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Bwhana said:
Sharing a good video that will be good for newbies and veterans alike. It is long, but very interesting.
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I appreciate the share. It shows the difference in bow hunting vs gun. It is easy to take out the shoulder with a fire arm, not so with a broad head. As hunters it is our responsibility to be professional in regards to our quarry.
 
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