WEIRDOH

I hunt monroe county in Illinois. early this year I shot a doe with my bow my first ever. At the time i was only pulling 55 lbs shooting muzzy four blade 100 grain broadheadson easton 2117 aluminum arrows I shot the doe right behind the shoulder and I felt good about the hit so I waited a half an hour. and had my come and help me find her. we followed the blood trail all the way to were she was n't bleeding anymore, that lasted about fourty five minutes and then we started walking in circles hoping we could pick it back up but never did we searched the next day and still couldn't find anything. she left a good blodd trail and we still are wondering what I did wrong. Was the poundage to low or what.I'm know pulling 65lbs and shooting shockwave mechanical broadheads hopefully that won't happen to me again.

jimmya

well the only thing i would of done different would be wait another 1/2 hr. sounds like you put some time in looking. i do not know how far the shot was but if it was withen 20 yards the 55 pds. should not of been the prob. with the lower poundage i would of probably used a 3 blade, less drag as it was penitrating.

AK NIMROD

55# is plenty to kill any north american animal if the arrow is placed properly and the broadhead is sharp......unless murphy and his law mess with you. i have killed a big caribou and nice black bear with 52# recurve and 250# hog , 40" moose and another nice bear with a 56# recurve. two blade broadhead will give better penatration (sp). broadheads will dull just by sitting in the quiver over time from oxidation. Also it is real common that people don't get as good of a hit as they thought. i've missed judged where i have hit a few animals and a good friend that guided bowhunters for hogs said it was real common to be told "good double lung shot" to find the animal with his dog that was gut shot way back. esp. common with faster moving dark colored arrows, just can't see them well.

BGfisher

55 lbs is heavy enough. Did you get a pass-through and recover the arrow? Much as I hate to say it it sounds like a muscle hit to me and not the vital chest area. I know you know what you saw, but it's happened to me. I saw what I wanted to see but no dead deer. In fact, I watched the fletching disappear in the side of a deer once, and guess what? The video replay showed that the deer actually jumped the string and turned almost 90 degrees till the arrow got there. Maybe that's why my arrow didn't have even a hair on it much less blood.

round ball

There are a lot of variables in your shot how far a shot did you find your arrow what did the blood look like? The main thing is it sounds like you gave it your best to recover your game. That is the thing that upsets me when if a guy dosen't find the animal in 50 or 100 yrds they just give up.I shot a doe years back and thought that I had a solid hit waited one hour and started tracking it went about an 1/8 mile and lost blood, the next day I went back out and looked all day and found nothing I felt like you but you looked hard so it does happen. Better luck next yearand keep tracking<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

tobyn

TO REPEAT WHAT EVERONE HAS SAID 55# IS ENOUGH AND ARROW COMBNATION IS HEAVY FOR KENTIC ENGERY THOUGHT....
SO DID YOU FIND THE ARROW (DID IT SMELL LIKE POO???).
THIS YEAR I HIT A DOE POSITIVE IT WAS A GOOD SAW THE BLOOD ON ITS CHEST...THE NEXT MORNING WE FOUND HER AFTER TRACKING TILL 9:00. THE ARROW HIT THE FRONT LEG FOLLOWED THE BONE FORWARD AND SLICED HER BRISKET TO THE OTHER LEG. BLOOD EVERYWHERE BUT NO DEER.
YOU DID YOUR BEST TO FIND IT THAT WAS ETHICAL,KEEP PRACTICE AND PRACTICING, THERE MORE ADVENTURES AND QUESTIONS....

Rack-attack

After harvesting 30 deer with bow I have learned one thing.

NEVER 100% TRUST WHAT YOU SEE!!!!!

It is very easy to misjudge where an arrow hits.

The only true clues are the arrow, the trail and hair.

And even those can be misleading until you actually find the deer.

THWACK

I shoot 53# and have shot 3 deer this year. I had a doe this year thought that turned as I shot and I hit her farther back than I wanted. She had been quartering and turned broadside a step as I released. I still thought I had a good hit in the lungs though. I was surprised when she moved off about 100 yards and stood for over 5 minutes then slowly walked away. I backed out and went back the next morning. I found the arrow. I had heavy blood and good penetration.no stomach matter. What I figure is that I hit a single lung on the back side. She was still slightly quartering but the angle was good after her step. I followed blood for 250 yards to the river. I expected to find her at anytime but the blood trail was spots. I grid searched to no avail and then figured she must have crossed the shallow river. I couldn't find where she came out the other side. I felt very uneasy at not retreiving her. I spent a second day grid searching the far side of the river. When you give your all to find the animal then you are OK by me but the uneasy feeling is still there no matter how hard you tried.

THWACK!