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Old 11-12-2005 | 03:41 AM
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dkbs
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Default RE: Hate to do it but, I need advice...

I would guess liver. This past sunday I shot from a high elevated stand at a nice nine pointer, distance of 23 yards. The arrow flew through a bit back and high. The buck ran 40 yards and stood looking around like nothing happened for at least 20 minutes. Then he walked, gingerly up a slight grade seemingly headed for a spot a large tree had fell over a few years back. He walked like paunch shot but not hunched over. After a half hour I slowly got out of my stand and went to investigate the arrow and blood sign. I was on a slope while investigating so the deer wouldn't see me from where he'd went. The arrow was bright red, as if somebody spray painted it. The blood was bright red and not an abundance of it. The arrow had no green paunch matter and didn't smell of it. The blood s pot was bright red and six inches in diameter where he stood for the long period and looked like it was trying to gel. I left to go home and read my trusty "trailing whitetails" by John Trout Jr. In that book it seemed like my shot hit the loin and the whitetail wouldnot berecoverable with a bow and most likely it wouldn't be fatal.
The next morning, the shot having taken place at 2:15pm, I took up the trail which was non existent. So I went to where I seen him last and 10 yards further in the mess of massive limbs I found him dead. He'd probably died within a couple hours of the hit. Upon field dressing him, It didn't appear that his paunch was pierced, but the broadhead had sliced through the upper lobe of his liver.
Sorry for the long answer to your question, but this points out that not all liver shot deer will have signs of being paunch shot. Most do however, or at least all that I've shot through the liver. The few I've shot through the liver, stood around for a while after the initial flight and bedded not long after another short walk. It takes from 45-120 minutes for them to expire on those because I've had to wait while seeing them bedded from stand.
According to the book trailing whitetails, liver blood should be dark red. The above mentioned bucks blood was bright red like a muscle hit.
Good luck trailing. If you got the liver he shouldn't be far.

Sorry again for the long winded answer.
Dan
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