A missed shot - or a recovery operation?
Guys, I would appreciate any and all input.
Last night, I believe I missed on a nice doe at 30 yards. It was about 30 minutes before legal shooting time ended. I put my twenty yard pin on her a little high and released. I didn’t see the arrow hit but she did jump and/or arch her back. She whirled quickly and ran off, making a shrieking sound I’ve heard deer make when I’ve accidentally spooked them before, sort of a warning call of sorts to the other deer in the woods. Then she circled back, waving her tail and slowly watching in my direction from about 75 yards off. At this point, it’s too dark and she’s too far to see if there’s a point of impact.
So I go back to the house and come back with my 15 million candlelight flashlight and light up the woods. No blood, no arrow, nothing. If it was a clean miss, like I assume it was, the arrow would have likely sailed into the slough about 25 yards behind where she was standing at the time ( I was in a ground blind), so I may not find the arrow until winter. So I slowly canvassed the woods following the path I saw her take and nothing. I didn’t hear anything moving or getting up and running either. I went in after about an hour as it started pouring raind and did a quick hike though the woods before work again this morning. Nothing.
I’m thinking it was a clean miss or worse, a gut shot. However, wouldn’t the arrow normally pass through the guts? It all happened so fast, all I saw was the deer jumping and whirling and bolting. And then coming back slowly to check me out from a distance. She wasn’t acting hurt, just rattled.
I do think I’ll take off early from work tonight and go out for awhile again just to make sure. Any thoughts? Similar experiences? Also, if I did gut shoot her and she died overnight, is finding her this afternoon in 70 degree temps too late to save any of the meat. Regardless, I would tag her and accept what happened out of respect for the deer.
Thanks in advice for any insight and the occasional insult I will expect with a potential recovery thread like this.