Originally Posted by fshafly2

Your description is consistent with a that of a high (loin) hit - of course there are other possibilities. Last week, my tracking dog and I ran a suspected loin hit out 700+yds and did not recover the deer. (I've done volunteer tracking for 21 yrs on a local military base and just started using the dog).

Deer should typically survive an above-the-spine hit. I have a few old trail cam photos of a doe in the weeks after a friend shot her high, and she healed up fine.

-fsh