tone6486

I finally got the chance to go hunting this past week. I was actually going to go and scout my farmlands for sign because I haven't had time to do this all year. I told myself if the one treestand is still in tact then I would climb it and sit.. So, I got to that treestand and decided to go up and got up and started to get ready... within 20 minutes of me being up there I spotted a nice 8 point about 60 yards away and he started coming my way.. He got to within 20 yards and i pulled up on him and waited until he gave me a good shot... well i shot and somehow my arrow went towards his rear end and I hit high and behind the ribs.. The arrow showed blood with some fat and gristle on it but there was no blood on the path he took running away from me.. The past 2 days I had my family out there with me searching our farmlands and we didn't run across any dead deer...
So, my question to you is... Do you think I hit him high enough and far back enough that I didn't kill him? We own a 300 some acre woodland and we had 10 ppl walking through the woods and we pushed deer up and we found no dead deer.. so I'm hoping he is still fine because he was a dandy... I'm also hoping that he doesn't know what hit him and stays in the area if he's alive... please give me your feedback on whether or not you think he is dead.. thanks

Fieldmouse

Critter meat if he's dead. Screwed up rack next year if he's alive.

Mathewsboy

How high was the hit? You could have possibly hit high ABOVE the spine. This will give some blood, and definatley fat on the arrow.. If you did, he's alive, because you didnt cut any major ateries..If you did, you would have had a red brick road to walk.

He's prolly alive..

If you hit him below the spine, through the liver or guts.. he's dead....

I shot a buck last year, through the liver, blood all over my arrow, great blood trail for 70 yrds. Then just quit.. I found him 2 days later. almost 1/2 mile by a creek..

Good luck..

MOTOWNHONKEY

You didn't scout? Did you even practice with your bow at all? No offence to you but these are exactly the kind of resultsI would expect with that kind of preperation. If the buck dies he won't be waisted.

JeramyK

My guess is that the shot (assuming it hit below the spine) may have hit the kidney or intestines.That type of shot is going to be fatal. From what I've read it's best to give the deer 24hrs before even starting to track on a hit like that. But if you pushed him he could have ran a very long distance.

tone6486

of course i practiced... thats in fact why i haven't had time over the summer because i am on our college's archery team here in pennsylvania... you can look us up at www.pct.edu/athletics.. for the scouting business my dad has been out around his treestands and looked over our ground and found signs and he was the one that told me to go and try to get in that treestand and if it was broke down i should just walk around and see what i can find for the week ahead...
anyways... Yeah I hit behind the ribs and high enough that i might of actually overshot the spine.. my dad says that if i hit that high then the only thing that was ruptured was just the fat and hopefully he said that the buck didn't know what hit him and we'll be coming back into our ground again... thanks for the feedbacks and keep them coming.. i'm going out tonight again this time in a climbing tree stand to try another area out

Fieldmouse

Good luck tonight

davidmil

Check for buzzards, crows and other critters congregating. If he's down they'll be feeding on him. I'm guessing you skipped across his back ABOVE the spine. That's about the only way you'd get all the tallow and fat on the arrow. Below the spine would more than likely be just blood and/or gut material. I say he's alive and well.

Trapper_Hunter

He may have a funky lookin rack next year... KEEP a look out

cardeer

Sorry to hear