RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

I am sorry about your luck. I hope things start looking up!

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

You said you mentioned a dark red blood, I'm no doctor, but I know that when a liver bleeds, the blood is unusually dark. Also, you said you heard a loud noise, you most likely hit a bone, shoulder or maybe the spine. Hope ya find the doe.

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

Ye dark red is an indication of a liver hit however it is also the blood color from a meat hit. The thing that gets me though is that the pinl tissue should be lung.

After this time, I'd bring out the dog especially with the advent of snow.

Bowhunter

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

dark blood is also a sign of a non-vital hit in the whithers....between the spine and lungs. im venturing to guess that he clanced off of the top of the shoulder blade, hence the loud "thwack" and the arrow probably burried itself in the whithers....they'll bleed like a son-of-a-gun, but they'll live none the less.

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

kgkoon I will again concur with krisken, from what you have said this deer if it is down for the count is layed up in the thick stuff, get a dog and work that brush HARD.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Proud father of a Devil Dog

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

Have had a similar hit ! This deer sounds exactly the same. The " lung matter" is more likely fat permeated w/ blood. The deer i hit wheeled at the last split 2nd and the arrow wentbehind the shoulder but between it and the rib cage and the broken blade stopped the penetration when it lodged in the shoulder blade. Chances are that the combination of dry and fresh blood say that the deer is being bumped during trailing.Had to shoot mine a second time. Caught up to her on the blood trail when I circled around keepin wind in my favor and having a partner continue the trail. She didn't wanna leave the thick stuff , so after chasin her round the block 1 1/2 times we had apretty good guess as to where she was goin. That and a lot o LUCK!!!! I don't believe this hit sounds mortal, atleast not from hemorhaging. You may be surprised how a little blood goes a long way, like oil on the garage floor!! She's definitely running in circles ( backtraking). You may even catch her feeding in the same place if ya let her calm down a day or 2. Hope this helps!!!

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

Twig, I think you are right. The last fresh blood sign I found ended in the thicket. I have searched that thicket over and over and found no fresh sign. The deer is either dead somewhere in that thicket or is still alive and stopped bleeding. I'm starting to think it has survived.
I still think I may have hit a lung because I ended up finding some pinkish blood and blood with bubbles in it. I am going to let the area sit for 2 days and see if the deer returns. "The field" I shot it in has a food plot. I have killed deer before in this area and the deer always return. If the deer returns, then I am going to start hunting it again. If it doesn't return, then I will start looking for the body.

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

I don't have anything else to add to this tracking except that I want to let you know I admire this type of effort in recovering an animal.
Too often we hear about the guy who spends a couple of hours and then goes back to hunting. I don't see where you have done anything wrong in the shot or the tracking. If this deer lives or is dead you can at least be proud that you took the time to do all you could in the attempt to recover the animal. The experience that you have got from this is what is will help you in the future.

Good Luck
Jeremy

" Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad"

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

SW Iowa, thank you for the kind words. I was raised to be an ethical hunter. I am still fairly young (27), but so far I have lost only one deer that I wounded (this might make it 2). This is only the 3rd deer I have had to bloodtrail over 50 yards as I have been primarily a rifle hunter in the past. I plan on becoming more of a bow hunter this coming season. What motivates me to look for a deer is that I took the responsibility to shoot it, and I took the risk of not making a clean shot.
Call me crazy but I feel some kind of spiritual connection to the woods and feel hunting is almost a spiritual activity. I say a prayer over the body of every deer I kill. I know an unfound animal will not go to waste as other critters will eat it, but as the killer of that animal I have a moral duty to seek it out. The anti-hunters will never understand this, but I am more in tune with the natural world and nature then they will ever be.

RE: Do you think this shot is fatal?
 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune kgkoon, it sounds a lot like a single lung to me. One of the problems of this type of a hit is that a deer does not feel sick like a gut or liver shot deer, and does not need to go to water. The single lunged deer can really travel.

Regards