Five Minute Willie

Just because you couldn' t find any blood doesn' t mean he didn' t bleed. If you hit high it is possible that his bleeding remained internal. Blood would not begin to drip out until after the body cavity had filled with blood. If he was running, then blood would have pumped harder, thereby filling the cavitry quicker and getting to the point of leakage sooner. If he walked off slowly, then the cavity will take much longer to fill.

I think you owe it to the deer to keep looking. It doesn' t guarantee that you' ll find it and it doesn' t guarantee that he died. It does guarantee that you' ll at least feel better for continuing the search. This is the most overlooked part of hunting preparation. I know, I' ve put on long searches. It' s worth it.

Good Luck!

Mossy_Oak_Bounty_Hunter

i know how frustrating it is looking for a deer like that. You feel that you' ve looked EVERYWHERE and are not only exhausted and stumped, but (i do anyway) just feel helpless. Everyone is telling you what to do and i agree with all that, but there is a limit on what you can do. Do everything you can, as soon as you can, but after you' ve done that, dont sweat it. We all feel terrible after wounding/losing an animal but you cant beat yourself up about it. Ive had a bad year as far as wounding goes, i cussed and whined and swore i was gonna sell my bow and everything else. But you just gotta relax and make sure of your equipment and your shot. The thing that has helped my confidence level from this forum is something that someone said to me. I dont remember who it was or the whole post but what i think about when i think about the deer i lost this year i think of " You may never lose another one" thanks to whoever said that, even though its just hypothetical or whatever, its helped me a lot.

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

I feel really bad about it because this is the first deer that I have hit and not recovered. All the work and all the practice. I have a lot of confidence in my shot. In fact, it may have even been within 2 inches of being a perfect hit? I don' t know? I have harvested 3 deer and helped to track 6 and have never seen 0 drops of blood on the ground. I scoured the area for blood. I got down out of the tree about 30 minutes after the shot. I checked at the spot of the shot and along the trail that the buck slowly trotted off on for about 40 yards and there was no blood. Not even a drop. I am guessing that the broadhead remained lodged in the shoulder blade and basically plugged the hole. Also, as the buck trotted off he never fell, tripped or stumbled. I thought that to be odd if he had just had his shoulder broke? Anyways, with the time invested and the broad area covered, I am almost certain that he is still alive.

adams

Tbo,
I' m glad to hear you made another effort at locating the deer, even if the outcome wasn' t favorable. You say that you got 6-6.5 inches of penetration and also found the arrow? Did the arrow pull out as the buck trotted off? If so, What did the broadhead look like? If not, did the arrow break? You should be able to tell something about the hit by the condition of the broadhead. Please fill us in.

ac00buck

watch for the buzzards

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

Adams, the arrow fell out about 15 yards from the hit and it did not have the broadhead. In other words the arrow was broke off right near the broadhead. The broadhead remained in the deer? I was on hands and knees looking for blood 30 to 40 minutes after the shot and could find none. Again, the only blood found was on the arrow shaft. The blood went up the arrow shaft for 6 inches. So, it is possible that the arrow didnt penetrate that far, but the blood seeped down some? I think he still lives, but I probably won' t see him again until possibly next year?

TBO

adams

Thanks for the additional info. Sounds like if the shot was lethal it would be very difficult to locate the deer. The only question I forgot to ask (and I' ll leave you alone after this) is what type of sound did your arrow make when it hit.(ie hollow thud, cracking noise) I' ve been lucky enough not to hit a shoulder but I' ve wasted old crapy arrows on a tree and when they hit a solid object they make a much diffrent sound.

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

It was definately a loud smack. Kind of like if you have ever hit something solid with a carbon arrow and it shatters. The buck did not react to the shot and when hit it pushed off to the right and wheeled back to the direction it came in from and then just started to trot off slowly. I could see the arrow fletching and he looked hurt. However, he never did stumble, trip, hobble or anything like that. He appeared to be walking/trotting just fine? I appreciate everyones input on this. I am glad that you guys encouraged me to go back out even though I knew I had to and would have gone anyways. I won' t be able to hunt for a few more days as this is still bugging me and I problay won' t add to this post any more. Thanks again guys!!!

TBO

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

Oops, I meant to say he " didn' t" stumble or any of that. Thanks again guys!