I finally made it out in the woods this weekend and after sitting there for about an hour, I get a text message saying my fiances brother had hit a nice 8 point. He is 16 and has taken 3 bucks with his bow in his life and decided that this year, he was going to be more selective. He missed an 8 point and a 9 point earlier in the year, but over the weekend, he hit a nice 8 point. He was able to get him on video after he made the shot. We did not recover this deer, any ideas on where he might have hit it? Here is the story...

At 8AM, thebuck was 30 yards away (broadside) and he drew back. As he drew, the buck turned quartering away...perfect shot (30 yards isn't a short shot, but there was no obstructions and the deer was quartering away in the picked cornfield). He let the arrow fly and said the deer kind of ducked a little bit, but thought he might have hit low? He has the buck on video walking away and it doesn't appear to be hunched over or anything. I could not see anywhere on the deer where the arrow exited...no blood or visible hole. After the deer went into the brush and disappeared for a few minutes, he looked up and saw the deer had crossed the road and was walking through an open field towards a small woods about a half mile away. Where he hunts, deer just don't go out in open fields, so something was up? He saw the deer WALK all the way to that woods and enter the woods. He waited a half hour, got down to get his arrow, and then headed home. The arrow had dark red blood on it, definitely not lungs, but he didn't think it was guts. The arrow did not smell of guts either. After waiting 2.5 hours, he obtained permission and took up the trail at the woods. I was out hunting and unaware of what was going on, otherwise I would have told him to wait until morning because if you hit a deer and it walks nearly 5/8 of a mile, you did not hit heart/lungs/main artery. They looked for a little bit and found a small spot of blood where he entered the woods. Then, he heard what sounded like a deer running through the woods. Shoot, he kicked him up! They found where the buck had bedded down and saw a small pool of blood and decided to wait and come back the next morning. I went with him in the morning and could not find any blood other than the spot where he had laid down the first time. I did not look at the place he shot him, I started looking where they saw the buck go into the woods. We grid searched the 20 acre woods and found nothing. 4 of us walked back and forth for over an hour and are sure we covered the whole woods. We were mainly looking for a dead deer, but were also looking for any blood, hair, or over turned leaves. The woods was pretty much out in the middle of the mile surrounded by picked fields with standing corn on one side. We looked all over the outside of the woods looking for anything we could, but had no luck. I had to head back from Michigan to Chicago, so I could not help him any more. He will probably get permission and walk the entire corn field, and then give up on his search for this deer. The deer could be alive and well, not really sure.

Where do you think this deer was hit? There was red blood on the entire arrow and all3 blades on his spitfire opened up. I didn'task him if there was blood on his vains, so I'm not sure about that. Could he have possibly hit so far back that the arrow went through the hind leg and into the ground, without going through the hind leg on theother side? Or, wouldthere have been more blood? Hopefully it was just a fleshwound. Let me know what you think...but please don't reply if you are just going to say that he should have waited at least 8 hours to take up the trail.. He's young and knows better now.

30 hits no replies...guess you got your wish!

was it a slight quartering away or a major quartering away. where was he aiming. if there was blood on the entire arrow then i would guess there was some on the fletching. just remember deer are amazing creatures and can go forever if the buck was in rut. even with a wound.

If the deer 'ducked' I find it hard to think that he hit 'low'...I would think a high, above the spine shot. Was the deer walking when he shot?

It could have been a high liver shot which I think would account for the lack of blood (but dark where its found) and the deer kind of hunching and walking off. 2.5 hours before he was jumped could have been just short enough that he didn't die from the liver shot and made one last sprint before making his last bed. I don't know for sure.

When you found his bed, could you tell which direction he was laying perchance and then be able to place the bloodied area somewhere along the body giving you an idea of where he was hit?

hmmm tough one to say.... It didn't "shock" the deer if it walked away after the shot... and if it was low my two guesses are brisket shot (that will bleed but not kill the deer... or a skimming shot off its belly... My best guess is the first of the possiblities...

Was slightly quartering away, completely stopped.

He was aiming at the lungs.

Deer never hunched after the shot.

I was thinking he hit either the backstraps (in the perfect spot missing vitals/guts) or backleg. I guess he could have hit the brisket? I wish he knew exactly where he hit, sometimes its tough to tell though. I never asked him if there was hair on the arrow or groun, so if there was, I'm not sure what color it was.

I'll give him a call tonight and see if I can figure anything else out, seems to me this deer is going to live though.

too bad...
doesn't sound like a fatal wound to me...