ORIGINAL: crazyguy117
The no zone is not through the back straps. The no zone is below the spine, but above the vitals. The no zone does exist, and most hunters will hit it some time in their career.
This "no mans land" or "void area" does NOT exist. HOWEVER, when shooting a whitetail with a broadhead, it is possible to hit the lungs without calapsing them or causing enough hemorage to kill the animal and yes, it will survive. I wouldn't have believed this until I read "Tracking Dogs for finding Wounded Game" by John Jeanenne. They did autopsys on a controlled hunt from an island in NY and found broadhead scared lung tissue. (Pictures in book).
When hitting the lungs, the upper back lobes of the lungs have less blood vessels as the lobes low and forward on the deer. You can possibly send an arrow through these upper lobes without major injury to the animal. Remember, broadheads kill by hemoraging.
If you shoot a deer and pass high under the spine without damaging the spine YOU WILL still catch the upper lobes of the lungs, possibly without mortal damage. You cannot pass under the spine and not hit some lung specifically from a treestand. You will catch the opposite lung, think abou it. And yes, it is possible for a deer to survive on one lung, humans do it all a the time and I think deer are tougher. If disease or infections don't set in, deer can survive tremendous odds.
A few years back i hit a buck right behind the shoulder, but high. I waited 45 min. before tracking, and never recovered the deer.
Side Topic: Do you feel that a deer can survive a one lung hit. If so, that would also be another reason why some deer are not recovered from high hits. Just a thought.
First off, Read or Reread the Recovery thread pinned at the top of the page. Under your circumstance I highly think you pushed the deer regardless if it survived or not.
I LOVE IT...I'm watching Deer and Deer Hunter and they are talking about this very subject right now and say too THERE IS NO BLACK HOLE, NO VOID, NO NO MANS LAND....IT DOES NOT EXIST.