I've noticed many posts where guys talk about the pass through shots they have made on animals.

I was always told that it is better to have the arrow penetrate and stay in the animal, the theory being that every movement is creating more damage with the sharp blades, thus, more hemorrhaging and a quicker, cleaner kill.

My hunting partner shot a bull this past season at 45 yds with a GT 5575 and a Muzzy 3 blade 100 grain BH. The arrow went through the bull so fast, the animal looked at where the arrow had hit the ground, he didn't even know what happened. It was a well placed shot which looked to be a double lung. We watched him for 15-20 minutes at 100 yds, he looked "sick puppy" but walked across the meadow and out of sight. We gave him an hour to bed down and stove up. We tracked him for close to a mile, and the blood trail stopped. At one spot close to where he had shot him, we found what appeared to be a large chunk of pink tissue in a blood spot 12" in diameter, we had good blood for quite a ways (half mile) then it slowed to a spot every 20 yards or so and eventually nothing at all. There were 5 of us tracking the animal and unfortunately, we did not recover it. Don't beat me up over this, I've done a pretty good job to myself. We had two other hunters tell us where the carcass was 5 days later, they had been hunting bear over it. We went back in and took the horns, which my partner tagged.

I believe that had the arrow remained in the bull, it would have continued to cause damage, and we would not have lost it.