Originally Posted by
dirtyd
I hit my first buck last year with a perfect shot. He was hit right thru the heart and it was a clean pass thru. Now, that deer ran off 150 yards and maybe more. We followed the trail and deer had no ounce of blood in him. So just because its a perfect shot doesn't mean a deer goes down quick. Their adrenalin is a crazy thing.
My main question is how soon after did you go look for her? If you moved in quickly she could have jumped up an ran off.
That is what I am thinking.
You should have let the deer lay for a couple of hours before you started chasing it. A more experienced hunter would have been more able to determine where you hit the deer by the blood on the arrow and on the ground. Just because you have some drops of red blood does not always mean that you had a perfect shot.
If you were up in a tree stand and you practiced all year - standing on the ground, there is a very good chance that you hit it low or in the front leg and it bled but did not die.