RE: What would you have done?
Mr. Cyclone.
My knife did not cut the heart because I pulled the heart out with my bare hands!!! I did not cut through the sternum but reached my arm into the chest cavity and removed the heart and lungs. Maybe I did not describe it properly, but the arrow entered just behind the leg toward the center of the body. The deer was around 20 to 25 yards away and I was between 25 and 30 feet up a big pine tree. It did not hit the big flat part of the blade but in the "V" located above the front leg. I don't know how to describe it, but that is where the arrow entered. I could not believe the entry hole.
Anyway, that was not the point of this thread. The point was that the arrow did not indicate the true nature of the hit and that sometimes what may appear to a bad hit, may have been an extremely lethal hit. I considered all the evidence before I cautiosly began the tracking of the animal. I was ready to back away for several hours and not take a chance of jumping the deer from it's bed. But as I sat there and tried to piece together what happened, I decided to slowly and quietly search the first 20 or 30 yards. When I found the blood trail, I knew it was over.
I butcher all my deer, so when I get to that shoulder, I will see if it actually hit any bone. The entrance hole was large and it was difficult to see exactly where the broadhead entered. I was thinking that may have explained why my arrow exited so far back. It is possible the deer was angling more than I thought, but I thought it was nearly broadside. This was NOT a sharp quartering toward me shot!!!
One other thing, the doe had milk. She was a large doe and she did have another deer with her which was close to 3/4 her size. She did not have a lot of milk, but she definately had milk. She was also very fat. I ate the tenderloin for lunch today, and boy was that good. I've got some jerky going and my wife is cooking a roast from the deer.
Edited by - Esau on 01/23/2003 12:54:05