ive never butchered a deer...dad wouldnt teach me and always took them to the butchers...hey..he paid the bills. so i really dont know where the backstraps run. i know they are the back muscle but dont know how forward the come...

im a firm believer that you can hit high above the spine and lungs and not kill the deer. i am sure thats what happened to me last year when mine ducked. looked like a decint shot..but high...but the backbone comes down lower than we think in the vital region because of the shoulders...i USED to have a great link someone posted pics and all that explaining all that on another forum...but the link doesnt work anymore...

but after the vitals, the backbone is pretty much on the back of the deer...so if thats where we are talkin, i say no.

i witnessed it...i know where i hit and know that deer did not die. never even bedded in 400yds and definently wasnt jumped. i had drying up blood the whole trail. to me, it looked like a good hit...but when i found my arrow, with only 3 inches of shaft broken off, i knew something was wrong. i hit the backbone.