Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

This evening I made a bad shot on a nice 9 pointer. I was about 20 feet in the tree and shot the deer at about 20 yards on my right side. When I released the arrow I didn't follow thru which caused a slight jerk of the bow. The result was a bad hit. It happened pretty fast but the the arrow hit pretty far back near the hindquarter. If I had to quess I would say only 8 inches of the arrow penetrated the buck. I remeber clinching my teeth when I saw the big 9 do a 180 with my arrow sticking out of his back hind area. I saw the deer run down the revine and up the other side about 75 yards from where I shot him. Once I got down from my stand I looked for blood and found NOTHING! Not even a drop or hair! Looked about 50 yard down the hill where the buck ran hoping to find my arrow. I found nothing, no blood or anything. I am having a hard time figuring out where the arrow may of hit to cause it to stick out and leave no blood trail. I know this was a bad shot but would like some help determining what kind of wound this sounds like? Does anyone have an opinion if they think this deer will survive or how I should proceed?

PS. I am shooting a Mathews q2 with goldtip arrows and redhead fixed blade broadheads.

Thanks for all the help....
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270gameover

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

Anyone???

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

Unless you got him square in the hind quarter I don't understand how you only got four inches of penetration.

If thats the case, the deer is going to be hurting, will likely get an infection, and will die. Eventually.

If you hit him near the hind quarter, you would have hit the paunch. The deer will be dead by tomorrow morning. Do a grid search and you'll likely find your deer.

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

I may of hit some of the gut, the arrow hit hard and didn't passthru. I am taking a guess at how much penetration I got. I know the arrow was definately sticking out towards the rear of the deer while he ran off. Puzzled by the fact that not even a trace of blood or hair. Wonder if he could survive the hit? What could I of hit to not allow the arrow to penetrate and stick out so far? Sucks, I won't be able to track him well since we have a storm moving in overnight.... Not sure what to do...

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

You need to go back and look really hard. If anything, try to track him as far as you can. I shot a deer too far back one time and was really worried. When I got down, though I did have a blood trail. It turned out to be one of the shortest trailing jobs I have ever had. The arrow sliced the artery just below the spine and killed the buck in a very short time. You may have gotten lucky and hit something like that and the deer could be bleeding internally. You have to go back and look some more.

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

What to do is to get back out there first thing in the morning and look for your deer.

If you hit him in the guts, he will die. He'll bleed internally, which will leave you little to no blood to follow. When you open him up, you'll find the blood pooled and congealed in the bottom of his belly.

Follow all likely trails he may have taken. Look in the thickest, meanest looking brush you can find. If there is water nearby, look there.

Take as many people with you as you can and do a grid search.

And my advice if you don't find him, don't post it here. You'll notice people don't take too kindly to poor shot threads.

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

That is a tough one. If you truly shot him in the hind quarter, the best you can hope for is a femoral artery shot. They don't always bleed on the outside but could be bleeding profusely on the inside. Don't give up. Look again in the morning for blood. There has to be a drop somewhere. If worse comes to worse, see if you can pick up blood near a creek crossing he was headed toward or fence or do a grid search as suggested from where you saw him last. If you did get him in the guts, this can be very tough. You may never find him but don't go out tonight looking for him, wait at least till morning and if it is cool, I would wait even longer unless you have rain or snow moving in that would cover the trail. A gut shot deer can live longer than a day, up to three days. Wish I could tell you something more positive. I have been there and know it is no fun!!

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

Thankfully, I have never been in this situation. I have heard however that some hunters will take up trail immediately and actually push the deer so it does not bed down with this type of hit.

You could have lucked out andhit thefemoral artery in the hind quarter. The deer would surely die if this was the case.

I would get back out there in the daylight and just search my butt off.

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

We have a massive storm moving in overnight. ICE, rain, snow... This is the worst case scenario I could ask for to track this deer. I am getting antsy!

RE: Help, made bad shot with bow on 9 pointer. Need advice and opinions of wound and how to proceed.
 

I shot a Buck in IL last year in what sounds like the same spot as you did.The arrow stayed in him finding just a little blood here and there not muchfinally stoped.He went about 600yard's from were i had shot him going up and down hill's and we just happen on to him in a creek still alive.I put another arrow in him and got him.He would have died right there anyway.I would find the nearest water and look there.Hope this help's.