quartering away shot from ground, what are my chances this is fatal?

[Bowmanmike]

I think he’s dead quick. The only thing that gives me pause is the lack of penetration. I bet you got more than you think though

I don't know how you can not get good penetration at that angle. Maybe you hit his offside elbow and it stopped the arrow if the leg was back. Still a fatal hit because you definetely got lung and liver if you are correct about theimpact site.

 

[jbogg]

I hope you find him. I just started hunting with a recurve recently. I shot a nice size doe a couple of weeks ago just before dark. Had a complete pass through with a two blade cut on contact head. I followed one of the heaviest blood trails I’ve ever followed for as fast as I could walk. So heavy, that I knew I would walk up on her laying there at any moment. Before I knew it I had gone over 400 yds, and bumped her out of her bed.

Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back I should have considered a liver hit with the absence of bubbles in the blood, and given it much more time before tracking. My judgement was clouded due to the sheer amount of blood. I went back the next morning but could not find much blood beyond where she bedded. Did a grid search for a couple of hours, but never did find her. Several lessons learned that day, and I will do things differently next time.

 

[redsquirrel]

I don't know how you can not get good penetration at that angle. Maybe you hit his offside elbow and it stopped the arrow if the leg was back. Still a fatal hit because you definetely got lung and liver if you are correct about theimpact site.

I agree. If he hit at the red dot that deer ran off and died before he could bed. Lack of penetration would most likely be due to hitting the off shoulder and in the heat of the moment it can be hard to determine exactly how much arrow was hanging out.

That being said if he was tracked 80 yards to a pile of blood that was lost, I don't think it hit at the red dot. As the deer quarters away the angles can change pretty drastically. A couple inches to the right on that photo and you have a single lung hit that you may not recover (been there done that unfortunately). On that shot you really want to err on the side of too far back. Even if you hit right in front of the hind quarter the arrow is going to hit the guts minimum and likely go all the way up through lots of good vitals resulting in a likely recovery if the deer isn't pushed. I'm interested to see how this turned out, the lack of penetration is puzzling.

 

[krub6b]

he's been hit by a car before and his back right leg is messed up (I call him tripod) I think if he is still alive the yotes will kill him tonight, hopefully quickly. luckily I am off tomorrow and can do a proper search

Any updates on the track?

 

[colin.704]

Any updates on the track?
[/QUOT

Any updates on the track?

no luck so far unfortunately

 

[colin.704]

no good news as of yet
.
this hunt was behind a fire station and every time they leave a large pack of yotes start going off close, like 300yds close. my dog is 22lbs and I'm not gonna let him off leash in this area much. but we searched, me with thermal (open woods so it works good) and him staying pretty tight. I don't think dude laid down with an arrow in him like that but kept moving, like a shoulder shot deer does. 1 lung isn't gonna kill him either, at least not anything near quick. was hoping he stayed in area and the dogs got him last night but found no evidence of that.

what I figure (may) of happened is I hit ribs at an angle that possibly deflected out off first rib taking some energy, hit solid on 2nd rib but taking energy, hitting third rib and deflecting in but robbing the energy. the cell cam pic is taken above his back. the ground he was on was a foot or 2 higher than the ground i was on, so at best I was level with the red dot if not shooting slightly up hill. I hit where I was aiming and the only thing there is ribs to stop it. the sound was wrong also, sounded like hitting a tree not a watermelon and when he ran and I saw my arrow paint my first thought was that's not enough. what I have learned from this is while elevated a quartering away shot may be the best to take and not be affected by ribs, but on the ground that can be a wall of bone and I should of aimed for belly and left of front left leg. I was aiming at belly just behind back rib at first, but moved right to line up with front leg at the last seconds before shot and it cost me a brute. better yet I could of waited for more of a broadside shot, it would of came. I passed on this deer broadside 46yds 2 weeks ago, videoed him tearing up a tree.

we're not done searching but not feeling good about this. he wasn't trapped by terrain like the last one was.

 

[colin.704]

I agree. If he hit at the red dot that deer ran off and died before he could bed. Lack of penetration would most likely be due to hitting the off shoulder and in the heat of the moment it can be hard to determine exactly how much arrow was hanging out.

That being said if he was tracked 80 yards to a pile of blood that was lost, I don't think it hit at the red dot. As the deer quarters away the angles can change pretty drastically. A couple inches to the right on that photo and you have a single lung hit that you may not recover (been there done that unfortunately). On that shot you really want to err on the side of too far back. Even if you hit right in front of the hind quarter the arrow is going to hit the guts minimum and likely go all the way up through lots of good vitals resulting in a likely recovery if the deer isn't pushed. I'm interested to see how this turned out, the lack of penetration is puzzling.

he ran off at a right angle, I got a pretty good look at where I hit and how much arrow was in him. what I didn't see was the angle, was it 45 degrees or was it 12 degrees

 

[John 35]

Perhaps the arrow was deflected and that’s why it made a weird noise. If not there may be an issue with the bow being out of tune. Poor penetration is usually a red flag for something being wrong I think.

 

[KYRanger]

Mechanical or fixed blade broadhead? What brand? Just curious.

 

[colin.704]

Mechanical or fixed blade broadhead? What brand? Just curious.

fixed, muzzy trocar.

 

[EricS]

If you hit anywhere near your red dot he should have been dead and fast. I much prefer a pass through but it’s like having a ninja taking a swing with a sword with every lunge a deer takes when the arrow is hanging out like that. I really want to say your arrow went in farther and bounced off the front leg showing much less penetration than there actually was. If that was the case though you would have found him where that first pile of blood was.
I shot slick tricks years ago that had a similar profile to the trocar. Those short stubby broadheads are more likely to skip or plane on hard quartering shots.
It’s much more likely you didn’t hit where your brain is telling you you did. Tuning issues will severely limit penetration but on a 35 yard shot it would have to be visually fishtailing not to be stabilized by the time it got there. Without a recovery it’s all just a guess.