Your thoughts?

[TOMMYPOINT]

I finally saw a decent buck last night. I decided to hunt a spot I was going to hunt in rifle season. Anyway I was hunting on the ground and I shot from about 15yards. I thought my shot was high. I watched the deer for atleast five minutes after I shot him. I thought i had missed becouse he hung around for so long and didnt really act hurt. After dark I found my arrrow 3 feet behind were I shot him. No blood but a ton of white-clear fat all over the arrow from tip to knock. Then we found alot of blodd like he was bleeding from both sides were i had watched him mill around after my shot. Blood dried up after about 50 yards and thats were it ended last night. Went back in this morning and nothin. Seeing the fat would indicate to me high on the back but usually they will not bleed like that. Also the fat being all over the arrow would indicate a pass through shot so I am puzzled. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

[stka]

I had a hit like this. I got deflected and didn't see where the arrow hit, but had the same fat on the arrow. The doe I hit hung around for quite a while also. when I got down and looked where she was standing there was a fair amount of blood, but she walked up a hill about 50-75 yards and by the time she got to the path on top of the hill, the blood stopped, completely. My father, uncle and I looked for any sign from there for hours. I think that deer survived, unless she died from infection much later. From the blood we found off the ground on the short trail it was there for, our best guess was that I had hit her very far forward and just passed through under the skin. Plus that's where I found my arrow, forward of where she was when I shot.

 I think you probably hit similarly, just under the skin somewhere. It's possable that you could have got a pass through in the empty zone between the lungs and spine, but I wouldn't expect to see so much fat from there. It doesn't sound like it was a lethal hit, but that's just a guess. Was there any hair? what color?

[TOMMYPOINT]

I did not find much hair. I expected to see white hair but just brown hair on the arrow. We looked for 2 hours last night and went back this moring for an hour. I dont think he was fataly wounded. I just hate the thought of leaving a deer dead in the woods. (they taste to good) little buck fever is guess. Scent lock works good I am embaresed to say it was a 12 yard shot. I guess i should practice my short game once in a while also.

[upstatehunter]

You didn't say what color the blood was. If dark red then does sound like high and forward. Flesh wounds will bleed like crazy for a bit, but deer have a very good clotting factor. Even hit with a sharp broadhead they will clot in minutes, leaving no blood trail. If it was high back above the gut but below the spine, and missed the carotid artery, it may still fill with blood and die but will be a long track job. Maybe a dog could help determine if it is still going or help find.

[monk]

A description of the blood would help, color, pattern of the blood spatter and smell???

[TOMMYPOINT]

Yeah the blood was dark red. We tracked again last night and came up with nothing. I have a feeling he will be just fine. Thanks for the responses.

[stka]

Dark red sounds like possable liver hit to me, but it can be hard to tell. I had a similar hit yesterday. Had good blood for ~75 yards, maybe more. Then nothing, I did find blood about 3 feet high on a tree so I'm thinking I either hit the blank area between the back and spine, or under the skin above the spine. Went back out in the daylight with the girlfriend today and nothing, we covered a lot of area around the last blood but with all the rain we were only looking for the deer, all sign was long gone. By far the worst part of bow hunting, a hit and no recovery.

[larz]

did you consider a shot that was back and high as you know the most fat on a deer is on the rump and also the brisket area is normally fatty as well but this would have been white hair the rump is my guess. I hit one in the neck about four or five inches forward i had to lean out and shoot around the tree i was in and i tracked him for about three days before the conceding i had lost him but there is no toughfer animal then a whitetail deer for survival. I have seen some that still had a broadhead in cased in grizzle a friend shot one with a aluminum arrow snapped of on both sides that was lodged in the deers neck and never touched a thing to kill it he said he could hear him trying to clear his throat so he shot him he said that the wound holes were nearly healed over and you couldn't see the arrow he hit it with his knife while gutting it

[WhiteTail Madness]

Im going to say high and forward??  Hard to tell.

[grouse]

did you consider a shot that was back and high as you know the most fat on a deer is on the rump and also the brisket area is normally fatty as well but this would have been white hair the rump is my guess. I hit one in the neck about four or five inches forward i had to lean out and shoot around the tree i was in and i tracked him for about three days before the conceding i had lost him but there is no toughfer animal then a whitetail deer for survival. I have seen some that still had a broadhead in cased in grizzle a friend shot one with a aluminum arrow snapped of on both sides that was lodged in the deers neck and never touched a thing to kill it he said he could hear him trying to clear his throat so he shot him he said that the wound holes were nearly healed over and you couldn't see the arrow he hit it with his knife while gutting it

my dad's 7 point bull elk had that, forward in the chest, but it healed and we saved the arrowhead.