Hey everyone, This isn't my first post, close but not quite. I just found this forum at the beginning of this month. I had been posting on Bowhunting.com but I like this BBS setup better. Easier to follow threads.

As to my hunt. I know I'm in for critisism, and may deserve it, but let me make my case.
First, I have been bowhunting since '92 and have taken several deer, and gun-hunting deer for close to 10 years before that. As far as shooting at low light: I shoot instinctive, with a bare compound, and shoot very well at low light situations, in fact, in some regards better because I'm forced to concentrate more. I practice shooting in such light and have killed deer in less light. This was well within legal shooting light in VA. It was a twenty yard shot and I could see the deer well but just no color. I just couldn't follow the arrow all the way to impact, even though I have white fletching. But having shot deer I recognized the sound of the arrow hitting a body cavity and that's what I heard. No arrow could be found and no blood or hair in the arrow. I've seen weirder things bowhunting than that so I wasn't too worried. I had thought that I would have found a complete pass-through and the deer hadn't even felt it but had jumped away from the sound of the bow. I staid in the stand and my hunting partner came over a half hour later and I pointed out where I had shot. We looked around for about 30 minutes that night and although we couldn't find sign I was certain I had hit him. The arrow had been heading toward him in flight before I lost sight of it and it sounded like a good hit. We didn't keep looking that night for a couple of reasons. 1) although I was sure I had hit him, I couldn't swear that it hadn't been a gut shot. I didn't want to push him over the mountain and thirty minutes wasn't long enough a wait for a gut shot. 2)The ground was already wet from a week of rain and seeing the blood was already a near impossibility in the dark unless it was bright pink and at this point it didn't look like that was the case. The forecast was for chance of scattered showers, we chanced it and lost. We did show back up at first light. We had four guys looking uphill and downhill, along trails and in ravines, for three hours in the rain and fog. The temperature raised too high during the day for the meat to still be good by the end of the day. So as far as meat it is a loss anyway. I will probably continue to look for him but having to work I have to wait for next weekend.
The point of my post was to try and get theories of what happened. My theory is that my arrow entered at a high angle went through the body and lodged in front leg on the opposite side. As to how he acted after the fact I'm not sure. That and the fact that I'm bummed. I have seen lots of deer so far this year and have passed on them, including a buck that I decided to hold off on for a better opportunity.

Thanks for input though.