OH NO the shoulder!
 

SO here it goes. I was hunting in Northern WI. About 4:15 pm last night a spiker came. It's the late season so I'm not to picky. Anyways he was broadside and 16 yds. I pulled back aimed behind the shoulder and released the deer ran off like a bat out hell. I climbed down and backed out. I got my uncle and we went to recover him 2 hours later. There was blood right away, and spraying everywhereon the right side off his tracks. So I'm guessing that I didn't pass through from the blood pattern. I found the arrow 20 yds away. Fletching covered in blood. We tracked him til' 10:00 and then backed out, and went back in the morning. We couldn't find anymore blood and no sign of him. The only thing I can figure is because of the steep angle (26 ft up) I hit the shoulder and it deflected down appearing I made a pass through, by the blood on the fletching. I sick to my stomach. I told myself I would do everything in my power to take open brodside shots. Anyone have any other theries.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

You drilled him. I say he's laying there dead. Tracking in the dark can seem like a long track, but really isn't. When he took off did he jump like something goosed him? If yes then I say you drilled him, he laying there dead.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

I'd say you drilled him also. Do a grid search and post a picture when you find him.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Look for him alll over again, you'll probley find him

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

From your story it sounds like you made a good hit on him. He is definately dead...go back and look some more

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

What they said,And if you know who has a dog that likes deer bones,leave your bow at home,and take him or a walk inthe woods...

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Why do people get so high up in the tree? I guess at times it's a must. But you loose having a good broadside shot at anything under 20 yards. I would say the deer is probably dead though.

MC

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

I'd look some more, but there's a good chance you won't find him. If you had a decent chest wound with a truly sharp broadhead, you would have found him last night. I think you probably hit shoulder tissue as your thread title suggests. There's typically a lot of blood at first, then you lose em. I've seen deer hit in shoulder with 30-06 that we didn't recover.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Get off the internet and get back into the woods and look for him!!!!!

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

So the 30-06 didnt break his shoulder eh? I find it hard to believe that any deer hit in the shoulder with anything heavier than a .243 wouldnt die. If you dont mind me asking, does anyone else know of an instance where a deer was hit in the shoulder with a rifle and didnt die?

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

What!?!I've seen multiple deer hit in the shoulder with a .243, .270, 30-30 and a 30-06. Not one of them made it past 20 yards; most of them dropped instantly.

BTW- He's probably dead. Somebody mentioned a grid search. I'd do the same.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

With a spray like that I think you smoked him. Sounds like a really good hit to me. I wouldnt give up. I mean I've double lunged deer and had them leave a pitiful blood trail. I cant believe you didnt find that deer pretty close. Example: I shot a doe last year off the ground at 10 yards. I knew I drilled her but she took off like crazy and made it about 80 yds back into a thicket. No blood what-so-ever. I heard her kicking around so I eased back in there and found her in a ditch. Both lungs were destroyed but there was no blood trail. Except in the ditch. Good luck man

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

He is there so you need to go find him. Look everywhere!

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Two years ago I had a similar situation on a doe at about 20 yards that I got a shot at as I walked in to my afternoon stand. The shot felt and sounded good. After waiting about an hour before tracking, we started to pick up the trail with plenty of blood at first. Found the arrow maybe 30 yards into the track broken in half... only the back half, with the front presumably in the deer. However, not a whole lot of blood on the back part, so I am assuming it did not get enough penetration, and I probably hit her in the shoulder. I tracked probably 200 yards total, but the blood dried out and a grid search produced nothing. I truly believe that deer lived. I have seen some wounded deer that had fairly nasty scars, but were definitely surviving! Nothing I wrote here is to tell you you should give up the search- quite the opposite! As everyone encouraged, look some more and see what turns up, especially with all that blood he dropped. I was just sharing a similar story and the outcome that happened for me.

On the topic of shoulder shots with rifles- I hunt with a .30-06. I have never seen a deer hit in the shoulder blades that did not drop at the site of impact. There was an article about shoulder shots in some hunting magazine last year, I thought it was an interesting article. With the power that such a rifle produces, if you can break the scapula, it will drop right there. I usually shoot for the lungs because it wastes less meat, but I will take a shoulder shot if that is all I have, or if it is a nice buck where I am willing to give up a roast or two to make a sure kill. All my shoulder shots have passed through and dropped the deer in their tracks.

Best of luck finding your deer, let us know the outcome!

Jon

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Keep looking I am sure you will find him.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

If it's spraying and the fletchings are covered with blood I'd say you poked through. Maybe you only got one lung or something because he shouldn't have gone more than 75-100 if you got both. It's possible you hit an artery, but even so, he should be down in a couple hundred yards given the time you gave him. I'd say with the arrow sign and the spray, he's done. That said, if it was at an angle like you say, it's possible you did as you suspect or maybe even slipped in behind the shoulder and out the bottom. I had one go 600 yards with his leg artery shot off, but he did die. You don't get spray from muscle wounds' There was VERY LITTLE blood on the ground even with his leg artery slit. He had a blood clot the size of a nerf football between the shoulder and the chest wall when I skinned him.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Well I went out again but without any luck. My uncle and I tracked him for over a mile then the snow stopped and there wasn't any blood I'm sick. I changed my braodheads yesterday to muzzy. I can't believe this. I hope I never go through this again. I've been shooting non-stop. The reason I was so high was the deer were coming in to my stand from 360'. So I needed to get high because the deer were winding me.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

I shot a doe with my bow in the shoulder, and she dropped right there. There was bone on the ground underneathe her. So who knows what happened.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

You did the best you could, time to move on and quit stinking up the place.:)

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

The situations I was referring to were low shoulder hits. If you hit the lower end of the humerus or below it, sometimes there is no penetration of the chest cavity, even with a 30-06. I can remember twice with 30-06, twice with .35 Rem, several times with arrows hits like this. The results are always the same, lots of blood at first, then you lose them.

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Then you arent really talking about the shoulder. When we talk about a shoulder hit, we are talking about a direct hit to the scalpula (sp?), which is otherwise, and correct me if I am wrong, referred to as a shoulder blade. Now, if you are hitting BELOW the humerous, it is flat out just a bad shot. Seems like it would be classified as more of a leg shot to me. And, regarding your comment that you have seen a 30-06 not penetrate it (the humerous), I am going to have to say that is pretty inaccurate. I have seen a 30.06 penetrate many thick metals, as well as seeing it penetrate wood up to 10 inches thick (low density softwood). I cant see how a bullet carrying so much KE couldnt penetrate the humerous

RE: OH NO the shoulder!
 

Wheather its to late to track him now is up to you.
I have a tactic the works for me that sounds pretty weird.
If i get in that situation, which i have. I simply get on my hands and knees simply walk the trail. where it stops I pick a direction. You see alot more when your that low. I make it into like a CSI game, Takes the frustration out of it!
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My two cents