U guys recovered my deer.

[DannyD]

Ok, maybe not, but you sure did help.

So, when i released my arrow i believed the deer was perfectly broadside. I also believed I had hit it right behind the shoulder. In fact as it was running there was blood coming from a spot right behind the shoulder.
When i got down out of the climber, i went over the the point of impact. The arrow was there, BUT it did not reveal what my eyes had thought happened.

There was dark blood, long white hair and small particles of something all the way down the arrow and on the vanes.

So, I backed out, went home, had lunch, changed into clothing more suitable for tracking and went back out (about 3 hours total)

100 or so yards into the tracking my buddy shouts that he found it. It was laying on its side. I said to him, not to approach it right away because i was unsure of the shot based on what i saw on the arrow.

Well, as i get close to my buddy, he says "whoa it moved" i got over to him and saw the deer slightly pick up its head. I proceeded to put another arrow in it (dirct hit, over quickly)

The point being....Because all of you have talked about tracking and the signs of a good and bad hit, I did not let just my eyes determine the quality of the hit. Knowing what to look for and how to read the evidence made me back out.

If i would have believed my eyes only, i would have began tracking in 30 minutes and probably pushed the deer.
The arrow went in right behind the shoulder, but actually exited out the back of the deer between its legs just under its butt. Yikes. I don't know what caused the deer to quarter to me at that angle but i never noticed it

Thank you all for your input and experiences. U guys recovered my deer

[ksharvester]

i to have been learning alot from this forum and i am very grateful for it!

Good job. I think we all need to settle down after the shot. Its tough.

I know for me and my hunting buddy, we have jumped down and tracked the last 5-6 deer. I knew it would catch up with us. Finally, it did, and ended up pushing him, and took until 12:30AM, and still didn't find. Came back and found next AM.

[lovethebigguns]

In my opinion it is SOOOO hard to back out and leave them alone for a couple hours. I usually try to go eat some breakfast or supper and kill time that way. I typically can not stay in the stand, the suspense kills me, so as long as I think I can sneak out I will leave! Congrats on finding the deer.

[BGfisher]

You did really well. And learned that sometimes your eyes see what you want them to see, which isn't all all what actually happened. Good for you for having some patience and using common sense.