Bad luck today.
 

The day started out really good. Got to my stand right on time. Fog rolls in, squirrels yell at me because I am in their area. I can hear movement all around me but cant see anything. Been there about 2 hours and then I hear something behind me. I recognize the sound as a deer. I have heard it before. I turn slowly and look over my shoulder and here comes a doe and a fawn not 20 feet from me(by the way, I sit on the ground, no tree stand). They are walking towards me. I cant even pull up my bow because they are that close. I have no idea which side of the tree they are gonna come on. Then I realize that they are coming to my left.....perfect. Mom goes first but she is about 10 feet from me and she never saw me. Yet I still cant pull up because she will be able to see me with her peripheral vision. So I wait until she is past that point. I think to myself pull my bow up as the fawn is walking by and that will spook the fawn and mom will stop to see what the comotion was......perfect. It works. Mom stops and she turns back around and gives me a quater away shot. She is about 15 yards away. I put the pin right behind the shoulder and let it fly. She moves at the last second and the arrow literally sticks right around the shoulder area. Arrow doesnt go through. The impact knocks her over as she falls into a tree and the arrow comes out. She takes off on a dead run, catching up to the fawn. I watch her disappear about 100 yards away into the thick brush. I am sick. I go over and get my arrow. Go back to my tree and inspect the arrow. It only went in around 4 inches. I am using 100 grain spitfires. Bow is Parker wildfire......60 lbs. With Easton Carbon Arrows. So I figure I didnt have a real good hit on her being that the arrow came out(remember it didnt go all the way through). So I wait 35-40 minutes just to see if there is a blood trail. I go about 50 yards and there is a drop of blood. Now I am walking real slow. Figure if I see a blood trail and take my time I wont be pushing her. I am walking quiet and not breaking any sticks(sorta, lol). About 75 yards out the blood is now in a bigger area. It is now abou an hour past of when I shot and I am only about 100 yards from where I shot. Great blood trail, big puddles about every 5-10 feet. And when I say big I mean about approxiametly 7 inches in diameter. I keep trailing her and taking my time as the blood puddles are getting bigger. I keep looking ahead to see if I see her. The blood trail staggers, in other words not a straight line. Like she is ready to collapse at any minute. I cant believe she hasnt fallen already or at least bedded down. She is actually going into thick brush, I figure to die. Now here is where it gets weird, she is going up hill. She crosses an old oil road and into the thick brush. Into the ferns. I can see where she has rubbed up against some of the ferns and the blood is kind like pudding now. Im thinking "Oh great, she is cloggin up". Finally about 250-300 yards in.......no more blood. I found one little drop and that was the last one. Now I am in the ferns and I can see spider webs on them. I figure if she came through there the spider webs would be broken. Nope. All spider webs are intact. I dont see her anywhere. Its like the last drop of blood and she just vanished. I went to the post of recovering a deer and saw that my arrow possibly hit her spine and thats why it didnt go all the way through or her shoulder blade. The blood is what puzzles me, that there was so much of it and she didnt die. I mean we are talking puddles of blood every 5-10 feet for over 300yards.The color of the blood was just regular red, no bubbles, not dark,just red. I dont think I was pushing her or I would have heard her. Is it possible that she just kept going to protect her fawn? I am dumbfouded on this one. I am going back tomorrow to see if I can find her. Any suggestions would be helpful.

RE: Bad luck today.
 

Wow....i dont think i can help you on this one but its defenitlyamazing how tuff they are......

Better Luck next time

RE: Bad luck today.
 

I think you would have known if you hit her spine, she should have dropped on the spot. Hopefully you will find her in the morning. Keep us posted and good luck.

RE: Bad luck today.
 

I just dont what else it could have hit, other than the shoulder blade. But looking at the "anatomy" pictures and according to them the spine is the only thing I could have hit but as you said she would have gone down right there.........I am completely puzzled on this one.

RE: Bad luck today.
 

Here's my take...
If she was quartering away and moved you my have smacked her dead shoulder(kind of like a person's tricep). The arrow may have never penetrated the chest cavity. In which case she will bleed, but may not die. Good luck searching for her. Are the ferns tall enough to cover her if she was dead in them? go back to last blood, check every direction, also see if she may have doubled back.

I hit a doe very similar to this one year but got just enough to poke one lung. We waited one, maybe 2 hours, then took the trail easy. Were able to track right up to her for a finishing shot.

RE: Bad luck today.
 

I would think that you hit the shoulder..Deer have a lot more blood than you think. I would go to were you last found blood and start making circles around it looking for the deer/blood. Make small circles at first then go to bigger circles.. IS their water anywhere? If so it might have headed into that direction.Did the arrow Break? IF it broke it might have got inside the cavity. If not your probably going to have trouble finding her. I wish you the best of luck i know how much it sucks to lose a blood Trail

RE: Bad luck today.
 

Goo luck, I hope that you find her, let us know the outcome!!!

RE: Bad luck today.
 

you should have got out of there and waited till morning now you probably lost her forever!By the way if it were a spine shot she would have dropped in her tracks!

RE: Bad luck today.
 

thats what i was thinking

RE: Bad luck today.
 

Well I went back out this morning. Nothing. I circled, even got down on my hands and knees looking for more blood. To answer a question earlier, no there is no water up there. I am so frusterated right now. I did check to see if she circled back. I looked in every direction for abour two hundred yards.