Arrowed Buck Lost/Lethal Hit?
On Sept 15 in the evening I was out for the opener. A half hour before dark I had a decent 8 point come out in front of my blind. Right as he came to a stop I put my 20 yard pin behind the shoulder and let er rip. I hit him directly through the shoulder, a few inches to the left of where I aimed. I am shooting the Rage 2 Blade and the arrow stuck in him as he bolted off. My initial thought was that it may not have been a good hit..too far forward and that I should probably come back in the morning as it was getting dark. But then I was thinking that I have to be at work first thing in the morning and plus its 65 degrees out and the meat will spoil. So I waited a little bit and started heading towards the direction he ran. As I got over the hill I saw my lighted Easton Tracer nock flashing in the tall grass. I got super excited thinking that was him laying there dead with the arrow still in him. As I got to the arrow I found just the arrow. It must have popped out of him. Looking at the blood on the arrow it penetrated about 8 inches. That’s where the blood trail started. It wasn’t a great trail but there was enough blood to stay on it. It looked a little bubbly which made me think it was lung blood. Me and my buddy tracked him for probably 500 yards and then the bloodtrail ran out. After no luck we went home. After being a wreck the next morning at work I decided to go back out on my lunch break and we still could not find him after combing through the woods. So my question is…Is 8 inches through the shoulder enough penetration to get one lung and maybe part of the second? Don’t the lungs extend far forward into the shoulder area? I was thinking he had to die. I know there was a chance we bumped him too but I couldn’t come back the next morning and wanted to find him that night. I was thinking there wasn’t enough blood but I know they can be bleeding more internally than externally. This was the first buck I have ever arrowed and was terribly excited to only end up disappointed. I just switched to the Rage and was thinking maybe I would have had better penetration with my good ole reliable Muzzy. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.