RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

a couple of years ago my cousin shot a buck that bled like that, tracked it for over a mile. fast foward to black powder season whenhis broadhead fell out of the hide when i wasskinning the buck. the deer will likely live. hiswas a shoulder hit though, not that far back.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

I agree with Rob, give him some time and then be prepared to drag him outta there!

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

Tallow is a very dense fat deposit foundforward inthe brisket (chest in front of the shoulder), and high along the spine. Older deer will have larger tallow pockets.You can feel this on large dog breeds like Labs. They'll have a pouch of sortson their chest, and it will move with the skin when you pet him.

Tallow would be detectable onyour arrow as a sticky or greasysubstance, more easily felt than seen. Other body fluids will be runny like water,or soupy like intestinal contents.

Aboutthe arrowprotruding from the deer, and thenfalling out but still being covered with blood from end to end... It seems that the Broadhead came out the other side during the shot, but the arrow didn't go through completely until the BH got caught on something alongthe trail and pulled the rest of arrow through the wound. That's the only thing that seems to connect the dots of your observations.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

DAMN IT![:@]my buddy and I went out yesterday and tracked for another 4 hours, and would lose the blood and then circle around and find it, and then we just lost it. This deer went over 2 miles and never bedded down. I dont think this deer is dead. I am so frustrated the shot looked great just two inches back from where I wanted.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

From the way the deer is acting, I believe you got a single lung. Did you have any bubbles in the blood? A single lunged deer will not necessarily bed or seek water. If you clipped the liver, stomach, intestine, it should have bedded.

Could it live on one lung? Very possible.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

That's a tough break.
You definitly get an 'A' for effort trying to follow her.
That's a long way to track an intermittant blood trail.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

It's hard to tell from the pics but the blood doesn't look dark enough to be liver. I'd say muscle. If there were never any bubbles, then no lungs were hit. A muscle hit will bleed hard then rapidly dry up due to a deer's ability to chemically produce a coagulation agent - can't remember the name off the top of my head - (unlike in humans) that aids in stopping bleeding within minutes. Not to mention this time of year deer are rather fattened up for the winter with tallow found everywhere, including along the back and rear quarters, which will also plug a wound. Since the deer did not stop and wasn't pushed, I'd say you hit the infamous "void" and only hit muscle. Seeing as the blood trail dried up, that deer will more than likely be fine. I've had this happen and unless you hit the main artery running down the top of the back, the deer will likely not die.

Good effort on your part, but you may have to let this one go. It happens. I don't care how good of a shot you are on the range, anything can happen over a live target, and will. I would suggest however that you replay the shot back in your mind a few hundred more times than you already have. I find it absolutely necessary to pin point exactly why your shot went south in order to try and avoid it in the future. For a couple years for whatever reason I had problems with follow through which led to either missed or not so perfect shots on deer. It took me a while but I figured it out by playing it over and over in my mind and weighing the evidence. It sucks but it is part of hunting.

God bless and be safe.

RE: Pics of Blood BEWARE
 

I have to agree here. You gave it your best on tracking him and youwill probablyneed to let it go. Don't beat yourself up too bad. It happens to all of us. I neck shot a deer Friday night. Wasn't aiming to. Misjudged my distance and hit high on a quartering away shot. I got lucky. I found the deer about 120 yards in deep brush. I was upset that I had missed like this but felt really fortunate to have found the deer. You did all you could do.

Good luck in the future.