Just in case you missed it.....here is MEZ's reply on the "other" thread...

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Haven't logged on in a while. In case anyone cares here are my opinions on the shot, or lack thereof.

As to the exit wound, definately in the abdominal cavity. No question in my mind that the arrow passed under the vertebral column. The still pictures it is very hard to tell. You can see no topographical landmarks on the deer in the still photos to relate the exit hole with. Also there is alot of angle in the shots, making the hole actually appear higher on the deer's body than it actually is.You get a much clearer picture from theclose up video posted on page 8.In the video you can see bony landmarks to equate the exit hole with.I lableld the picture below with those bony landmarks and some other anatomical things of note.



Two black circles: The top one is the tuber coxae, you can clearly see this in the video, and as you can see in the above picture it lies directly over the spine. Bottom one is the location of the patella in the stifle joint, harder to see but I know where it is on the video.

Red circle: Exit wound 2/3 of the way between the patella and tuber coxae. Well below the spine.

Two red lines: lumbar vetebrae and thoracic vertebrae, notice the height difference. Huge difference. It is much harder to shoot over the spine in the lumbar area than it is in the thoracic area. The whiters, area between the shoulder blades are much higher than that over the back.
Two more pics to illustrate this, the first is a thoracic veterbrae, the second is lumbar, note the height difference.



The angle is irrelevant in the photos. There is only one way for there to be an exit wound wherethis oneappears to be and have not entered the abdominal cavity. That would be from directly straight above the deer pushing down between the skin and body wall. IMO, if the arrow exited at the tuft in the photos and video, dead deer. Cut the rumen, and likely small intestine as well. Gut shot and he'll die.

My other opinion, your cousin missed the deer clean Rob. In the video I can't see any evidence that that is an arrow wound. At three days were that a wound there would be drainge from the wound or at least evidence of drainage. There is none. Appears to be a tuft of hair to me. There is clearly a wound on the neck of the deer but I would say that wound is a minimum of 10 days old by the appearance. You can see the skin is pink. That is either new skin or simply a patch of missing hair.
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