Ken/WV

A buddy of mine was hunting a creek bottom yesterday morning. He shot a doe just after 8 am. He shot her at 30 yrds, with a muzzy 125gr. He got down and went back to my truck. I came in from the stand at 11am and we went back to his stand. We walked to where he shot her and found the arrow. The arrow was covered in blood and severly bent. He said the deer high kicked when the arrow hit her. So we started tracking. Very little blood for about 30 yrds. The last place he saw her was entering a small briar patch. That's the last place we found blood. So we searched for her till 1:30pm. Then I went back to stand and he continued the search.

At 4:30pm I shot a small racked buck. Probaly about a 5-7pt at 20yrds. The shot drilled home in the shoulder. Not behind, not too far low, or too far high. But right in the shoulder. I heard a loud smack when the arrow hit him. Not a thud, but a crack. The deer ran about 30 yrds and stopped. The small buck stood there for every bit of 15minutes. Tail between his legs and head low. I watched him through the binoc's and noticed blood coming from his shoulder. So I climbed down and backed out to the truck. My buddy wasn't there so I went back to his stand to find him crawling around looking for blood. But to no luck. So we both backed out and came home. We both got flashlights and extra batteries and headed back out at 8pm. We searched two small holler's and the entire creek bed, but found no blood and no deer?

We then returned to my stand and found no arrow. But we knew there was a complete pass through due to the blood on the other side of the deer when I watched it standing there. So we picked up the blood trail. We went about 40yrds and crossed a large creek. On the other side we found my deer still standing. We got to within 20yrds of him and he started walking off. He could barely trot so we watched where he went and backed out again. We returned this morning and trailed him about 50more yrds and no blood. We combed the entire hollar and still never found him.

What the hell is going on? I was shooting a 100gr. EXP-100 Mechanical Broadhead. My buddy was shooting a Muzzy 125gr. Why the lack of blood?

High Country Archery - "Driven to greater heights..."

Mr. Longbeard

Well from the sound of it i would have to say POOR SHOT PLACMENT!!!!!

I have been bowhunting for about 25 years and i am a very good shot and i will not take a shot past 25 yards. I really like to keep my shots under 20 yards. You might want to try that for awhile until you get a few deer under your belt. If you do your scouting right you should'nt need to shoot far...

Ohio Bowhunter75

My guess is that on your buck you nailed the shoulder blade.Maybe one lung if you are lucky.Your shot was to far forward.On deer with out a low exit sometimes blood trail are slim.What blood you had was mostly from the muscle tissue not vitals.I shot a doe last year quartering away and had a complete pass through.We never found blood untill we found the deer dead 100 yards away,and the shot was perfect.On your friends doe it could have been a good hit.Last Saturday I tracked a deer for 500 yards.The shot was a complete pass trough slightly quartering with a low exit right at the opisite leg.Infact it passed through the rear of the opisite leg.The arrow was covered in blood.There was no blood trail for five or six yards than mega blood every place.There also was times we were on our hands and knees searching for the faintest blood.We gave up on blood trailing the deer when she crossed the road into open fields.There was a small wood lot in between the fields.We thought for sure she had went in there to bed.We gave her an extra hour and searched the wood lot.No deer.We found her another 300 yards away floating in a large creek.It took us forever to get her out of there.When we look at the shot placement,it looked perfect.When the deed was done we found that some how the arrow had only clipped the first lung and passed through the secound.The angle was just off enough for only one lung.Looking on the outside you would have bet money on a double lung shot.That deer had traveled over a quarter mile on one lung.So never give up on a deer if you know the shot was there.It is around someplace,just not where you think it is.

wimp

WHen you are shooting an arrow, 'home' is not in the shoulder 1st of all. Gun yes, bow no. You seemed to have made decent effort to recover them, keep at it if you can. You'll get em next time.


I hope this post conforms with the "nice police" and you all don't feel I was too hard on this guy.

trapperDave

seems you've been wounding a lot of deer this year,this makes 4 or 5 now that i can think of off the top of my head. Maybe you should practice more and hunt less!!!!!!!

If I ain't huntin',I'm trappin',If I ain't trappin',I'm fishin'
If I ain't fishin',I'm wishin'!

JUSTINL

I'm tempted to think that some of these posts are set-ups.

It's not like we haven't tried to either - educate, coach, mentor, help, etc...

There are many on the board who don't even see in one season, as many deer as High Country has shot at this year.

High Country - we really do want to help. Can you see why some of the folks on the board get so upset at what is perceived as carelessness?




&quot;It's not the kill, it's the adventure and challenge! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>&quot;

muzzy 125

your hit on the buck was ? placment .
I would say your not going to find the doe or the buck.
I really think that if you did hit the shoulder /leg bone
your arrow didnt go throw.and the buck will be ok.

Ken/WV

1.) How can you all not see deer? Does are everywhere? You guys must be blind, or don't know where to hunt.

2.) You guys can get mad all you want. I'm sick of trying to please you guys on this board. If anyone else but me shot one in the guts for fun you would congratulate them for going and getting their arrow's and leaving the deer. I search all night for one, and get nothing but, you've crippled more deer then I have seen this year. I have crippled one deer...and this one makes two. It's not my fault it quit bleeding.

3.) You guys don't have to be nice. Don't sugar coat anything. Say whatever you want, because you can bet your butt I will say whatever I want. But I'm not going to complain or jump anyone for not recovering a deer. I post congrat's to those who kill their deer and go on my way. All I wanted was a simple answer to a question. Why did they stop bleeding? I didn't, nor am I going to read a bunch of crying and whining. You guys are worse then any woman I have ever met.

4.) I have killed plenty of deer in my life. I know how to shoot a deer, and I have taken quite a few with a bow. Maybe not as many as the older guys, because I haven't had that many seasons. But I've taken my fair share. So bite me.

5.) It's funny how half the guys here welcome people to post on this board and offer honest help. Then you have the other half who are nothing more then crybaby's who have nothing better to do then sit on the internet and whine about other people. Maybe you would see some more deer if you got off your butt, got away from the computer, and into the woods.

High Country Archery - &quot;Driven to greater heights...&quot;

BOWFANATIC

HCBF , You posted your story of the wounded buck and below it , your parting sentence was &quot;What the hell is going on?&quot; You had six replies , five of them were good honest advice!
NOW , go back and read your reply to the post! It is assumed by your reply that your speaking to all six replies to your thread. You had some good advice , the least you could do is thank those that are trying to help you. I'm starting to see a pattern of defensive behavior towards even constructive criticism from you. If you cant take even the polite constructive criticism from folks who are trying to help , then dont ask for it.
Hope you find your buck.

Bionicrooster

I personally think the shoulder shot is one of the worst, because it is so hard to get proper penetration, and when you do it is often just one lung. I would also offer that if you can't find any more blood on yours, you may not have even entered the chest cavity and if the deer can throw the arrow it should live. I can't comment on your buddies deer because you weren't very desciptive of where he hit it.