ORIGINAL: Cossack
Congrats on the kills. Too bad about the loss. Maybe we can all learn from that. What kind of broadhead were you using? If it was a mechanical perhaps it didn't open. (Or, was it further back from the heart than you thought?) I've gone to Slick Trick magnums for that reason. Getting great flight and terminal performance. As for noise, there isn't much you can do...except throw money at it. That will help a little bit but nothing like a properly silenced compound vertical. Heavier strings and bolts do help some, tho. By the sound of things the noise is bothering you more than the deer, however.
I'm not sure about the broadhead, I'll have to look next week when I go to my cabin. Being that I never found the deer i'll never really know where I hit him. I forgot about the noise after I shot the first deer. I don't notice anylonger. When I was setting up the bow I probably noticed it more because of the amount of shots I was taking. Now it's one shot and done, What noise?
What I did learn from that loss of a deer was, when uncertain of the type of hit, wait a little longer. I found a plate size spot of blood 10 yrds in where that deer went in and I think he had laid down and probably would have died there had we not walked in to soon. Learning experience # 978