RE: A missed shot - or a recovery operation?
Update. So I found the arrow last night or at least half of it. It was snapped clean off right below the fletching and the broadhead end nowhere to be found. So I did another sweep of the slough, which isn't very thick and the neighboring properties but nothing.
Could an arrow snap in half from impact on a rock or collision with something else? I know the other dreaded possibility is that the other half was inside her or at the least it was hanging on to her and that she had not dislodged it yet. Still, where the arrow half lay was directly behind where she was standing and she bolted in another direction after the shot before circling back and blowing at me. So I doubt she would have broke it off at that spot. Plus I know now I aimed to high from carefully measuring the yardage. The arrow should have theoretically grazed her back.
I'm going to look one more time this weekend with some friends but I'm thinking all is well. Perhaps I'm too optimistic. On another note,I went and bought some of those arrow knocks that light up when fired and glow afterward to I'll see where they hit and find the arrow more quickly the next time. And I'm going to look into a range finder. Right now I am pre-measuring yardages from my stands with a rope and markers.