icedern

This weekend I was out hunting and had a shot at the biggest buck I have ever seen while hunting. He came trotting in and I got ready for the shot. He was about 35 yards away and perfectly broadside. Would have been a cakewalk shot, but his vitals were right behind a tree. So I waited. He then started to trot again and I "Meerrrpped" at him and he was about the same distance quartering away. I shot and he jumped the shot so much he dropped and turned away from me so much that my arrow hit him right on the top of the back parallel with his spine. He took off running and I could see my arrow on top of his back...didn't even look like it penetrated that far at all.

I sat there few more hours then decided to see if I could see any blood. Didn't see any where I hit him at. I started hoping that maybe my broadhead would have got his spinal cord. I walked into the next gully and took a look and didn't see him anywhere. Without any blood or any trail I left. I hope the trophy got the arrow out and will be just fine. I know they have a lot of fat up on their back this time of year.

Think he will be ok?

RTA47

Sounds like you hit just under the spine where there really is nothing.
Lets look at it this way? If you had hit the spine and penterated it he would have droped right there? So thats out! Sounds like your arrow hit way to high to hit any vital`s hart, lung,liver, ect... so thats out! Now you say your arrow did not penitrat much at all (imo) He`s fine. Sore yes! but still running around out there and most likely will be for a long time to come. just my 2 cents worth..
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Copper31

Don't mean to sound harsh but you really should have looked further. If you knew you hit the deer you should have exhausted all efforts to locate either some sign or the deer.How long haveyou been hunting? If you are newer to the sportIcan somewhat understand. If not there really is no excuse not to look. Once again I don'tmean to jump on you about this and please don't be discouraged about posting, I justhavea very strong feeling when itcomes to notfinding deer.Hard to say if he will live or not with out knowing how bad he was hit. Blood color can sometimes indicate where you hit. A high shot often times leaves very little blood in my experience.

icedern

Well when I looked for 2 hours and didn't see any blood or have any indication on which direction he went after he went over the hill, I don't really know how much more I could have looked. Ive been hunting 16 years now and I have only lost one deer...this is my second. I am very careful in my tracking...there was just nothing even begin to search. Like I said, I searched the gully where I thought he would have travelled but found nothing there either.

Trust me, if I would have seen blood, I would have tracked longer.

Washington Hunter

The aortic artery runs paralell to the spine, directly beneath it. Because of the angle of your shot, you may have severed this artery and the deer bled inside itself, rather than through the wound channel.

Just because you didn't find blood doesn't mean the deer didn't bleed out.

I'm not saying this is what happened, but it is a definite possibility, something to think about.

Trembow

Should have tried harder IMO. I would have. 2 hours isn't that long, terrain can tell you a lot.

If it was the biggest deer I've ever seen hunting in 16 years, I would have probably burned a whole day following up possibilities, maybe more.

Why do people post these threads anyhow. What if we said: yes, that deer is definitely dead, that's a fatal hit. Would you feel bad about not looking more? WOuld you look more? Or would you argue about it till someone gets all uppity?

Copper31

Your post was a little vague as to how long you looked so I doappologize. I just don't think 2 hours is long enough.

icedern

Well first off Trembow, I don't have the luxury of going out and looking again the next day. The place I hunt is 2 hours away and with work and all, its just not a possibility.

Secondly, people post these threads because they feel horrible about hitting a deer the way they did. They want reassurance from others that there is a possibility that the deer will live on and someone will eventually have the opportunity to harvest him again. And your first response definatly didn't help, so thank you for changing it...

rybohunter

I saw a buck a couple years back with an arrow lodged in his back VERY similar to the way you described. He was alive weeks after the season with seemingly no ill affects other than he had dropped his horns ealier than I'd ever seen around here. It was the end of november, and yes they were dropped, not busted he was 12 yds away.

Kopfjaeger

Hey iceden checkout a post from 11/9 I think its from (woman deer hunter) not sure, anyway they shot a nice buck with an arrow sticking out of it. From the picture it looks high in the center. If not yours, at least theres a
good chance it could live or maybe a trophy for someone else.