Strange things can happen with arrows and blood. I'd really have to do the autopsy to figure it out. had a similar shot only from above one time. The arrows entered about th 4th or 5th rib and exited low in the arm pit on the offside. I literally was on my hands and knees looking for blood. My buddy was behind me marking the last spot. We found no more than a tablespoon of blood in the 100 yards the deer went. My buddy finally said, there he is. I looked up ahead about 25 yards and couldn't see him. I ask "Where"??? He said your nose is almost on him. He had fallen with his legs tucked under him and his head back along his side. No white showing. I was about 5 feet from him. Most of the blood we found was at a spot where he jumped a little ditch. We found the arrow had passed through his food pipe. He evidently vomited or something and a large glob of chewed up food followed the arrow right to the lowest hole and plugged it solid. There was a glob of food about the size of a baseball between the chest wall and the hide. I was positive of the hit and exit on this deer as he was only about 15 feet off the arrow when I let it go. I was only 8 feet off the ground in an old stand I had found in the woods. I saw the hole appear right where I was looking. The arrow was covered with green slime, but never entered the guts, just passed through the food pipe. When my buddy saw the arrow he insisted I shot him in the guts. I was positive I saw the hit and where it was and insisted the deer wasn't far away.

I'd venture to say your tracking skills will improve if you're slow and dilegent. Most people hurry or panic or both. They usually never leave blood on the ground for the first few hops. You'll find a few specks and hair at the hit site and then nothing for a few yards. A deer shot in the heart sometimes is the worst. If the heart shuts down or quits pumping, the blood has nothing pushing it. Fortunately, these deer usually drop fast. FAT can plug a hole in a heart beat. Deer shot high up don't bleed as well as one with a hole near the bottom. All kinds of variables. The one constant you can count on..... They're all different. GO SLOW. Positively mark the spot of the shot and the spot of last sightings. If all else fails, get help.