crazyguy117

A few years back i hit a buck right behind the shoulder, but high. I waited 45 min. before tracking, and never recovered the deer.

Side Topic: Do you feel that a deer can survive a one lung hit. If so, that would also be another reason why some deer are not recovered from high hits. Just a thought.

twildasin

I believe if your hunting out of a treestand with the angle down its hard not to clip a vital. There is a dead area there.I butcher all my animals and make all my meats myself. I would say if you hit this(dead area)you would have to have a straight on shot from the ground. Ive seen deer butchered already with wounds covered over on there chest just below the spine with broken blades stuck into the ribs. And I also seen deer butchered with a complete broadhead stuck next to the spine! Hope this helps you understand a little.

Critr-Gitr

I believe it could be possible, under highly unlikely circumstances, to cut both backstraps without severing the spine. Not cut them seriously, but possibly a light cut. Either over or below the spine, with the arrow rotated correctly where just the blade of the broadhead passes between the vertebrae, but not deep enough to sever the spinal cord. It would be a matter of fractions of an inch, if indeed it were possible.

BobCo19-65

As long as nothing else was hit then yes, some will recover.

Rob/PA Bowyer

This "no mans land" or "void area" does NOT exist. HOWEVER, when shooting a whitetail with a broadhead, it is possible to hit the lungs without calapsing them or causing enough hemorage to kill the animal and yes, it will survive. I wouldn't have believed this until I read "Tracking Dogs for finding Wounded Game" by John Jeanenne. They did autopsys on a controlled hunt from an island in NY and found broadhead scared lung tissue. (Pictures in book).

When hitting the lungs, the upper back lobes of the lungs have less blood vessels as the lobes low and forward on the deer. You can possibly send an arrow through these upper lobes without major injury to the animal. Remember, broadheads kill by hemoraging.

If you shoot a deer and pass high under the spine without damaging the spine YOU WILL still catch the upper lobes of the lungs, possibly without mortal damage. You cannot pass under the spine and not hit some lung specifically from a treestand. You will catch the opposite lung, think abou it. And yes, it is possible for a deer to survive on one lung, humans do it all a the time and I think deer are tougher. If disease or infections don't set in, deer can survive tremendous odds.

First off, Read or Reread the Recovery thread pinned at the top of the page. Under your circumstance I highly think you pushed the deer regardless if it survived or not.


I LOVE IT...I'm watching Deer and Deer Hunter and they are talking about this very subject right now and say too THERE IS NO BLACK HOLE, NO VOID, NO NO MANS LAND....IT DOES NOT EXIST.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Now, you can shoot behind the lungs and in the upper large intestines, it's called a slot shot....you are still catching the intestines which will kill the animal, probably 8 hours later. You may be high and too far back.

It is also possible to go high above the lungs but forward of the lungs, high through the shoulders and if you don't catch any major arteries, you could only flesh wound the animal.

Knowing your deer's anatomy prior to going to the field is of the utmost importance and using the tips in the Recovery thread as well as those who post to it might just make or break a recovery. Good luck guys and girls.


NO VOID area!

BowHunterJim

No i was just watching Deer and Deer hunting and they said u have a better chance of getting stuck by lighnting. An examination of the deers body once it is dead is useless because the lings expand up to 3 times the size filling up the void zone. This is what Deer and Deer Hunting said I dont know what to think so i posted this.

gobbleblaster

I just saw this topic on an episode of Deer and Deer Hunting, they said "there is no black area" also they explained when you cut open a deer and see the space between the lungs and spine is because the lungs are deflated, when the deer is alive the lungs expand almost 3xs their size. Also something that i thought was interesting is that the inside of the deer's chest cavity is pressurized so if something punctures it and causes the chest to depressurize the deer will eventually die.

GMMAT

Yes but the lung membranes are attached to the ribcage inner wall. So...whether or not the lung was inflated or deflated would have no bearing on whether or not you hit lung tissue (membrane).

gobbleblaster

lol jim, i guess you saw the same episode but you beat me to the punch