ORIGINAL: grkhunter

Hi All,
It is my first time that I went hunting with a bow. I have a raiders @ #65 and 29 inches carbon Eastern arrows with 100grm Spitfire broad heads. I shot a deer in a distance of 15 yards. I shot it on just a little bit left of the front foot and ~3 inches higher, I know that I was not dead center on the vital area but a little bit higher. The deer snorted and started running. After 2 hours I decided to go and track it down. I found the arrow broken, 3 inches of the arrow plus the broad head stayed inside the deer. I spent more than 4 hours trying to find it to no avail. I found a minimum amount of blood drops but then they disappeared. My hunting partner told me that he saw the deer running with the tail up approximately 300 yards away from the spot that I hit it. In his opinion if the tail is up the deer was not shot in the vitals.
I am trying to do the aftermath and see what went wrong and such an animal got to waste. I am very surprised on how the arrow did not penetrate the deer in such a small distance. Could it be the broad heads that I was using? Maybe they did not open up and somehow got stuck inside? Did anybody else had a similar experience?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

John