How is that possible???
 

I was videoing for a buddy in Oct on a bowhunt in W TX. We had setup on a couple of short 7ft tripods in a Live Oak with low hanging branches, clipped out the small twigs &branches to give a shooting/videoing window to the trail. On the last morning a nice doe walks in and stops to nibble some kernels that we had thrown out in the trail. She was at 10yds and ever so slightly quartered toward us. He drew, settled, and released. I caught everything on the video just right. She bolted and ran back the direction in which she came from, stopped broadside about 50 yds out,I zoomed in and could see blood dripping from the bottom of her ribcage. Then she walked into a small brush patch out of sight. After about an hour, we climbed down to inspect the arrow which was stuck in the ground. Not good! Very little blood and some gut on the arrow and the ground. Immediatelywe started reviewing the video in slow motion. He hit her about 2 inchesbehind the crease of the shoulder but the arrow exited out the bottom rear of her ribcage, the white hair area. What we couldn't figure out is how the arrow turned the way it did. It had to turn down and left to be able to exit where it did. At that distance and elevation, it really puzzles me. The arrow should've exited low through the opposite shoulder.

We trailed her to the brush where we saw her last but never found anymore blood. We looked the rest of the day with out any positive results. After checking the video again of when she walked into the brush, it looks as though there is gut plugging the exit hole. You can see a small clump of it kinda hanging out.

He kept asking me what he'd done wrong, and I really didn't have an answer for him.

His setup:
BT VFT Extreme @ 70lbs and 28.5 or 29 inch draw
Vapor 5000 arrows with 4 inch vanes
Muzzy 3-blade 75 grain heads
Approx 300 fps.


All I can think is that he hit a really tough rib that deflected the arrow out the bottom of the deer. I really don't know[&:]???

Is this where more FOC helps?

Anyone ever seen or heard of someting like that?

Opinions...

RE: How is that possible???
 

Not to be a dink, but you probably would have found here if you would have backed off and waited. You pushed her too soon, even though you knew it was a gutshot.

Should have waited at least 6-8 hours before trailing her.

Lessons learned.

RE: How is that possible???
 

This is the type of thing (if it was arrow deflection)where more FOC and a heavier arrow should help.

RE: How is that possible???
 

Dan, I understand what you're saying, and I don't disagree with you for the most part. It's just that , given the circumstances and the type of surrounding cover, we went ahead. Weexpected her to be in the 10x20ft patch of scrub where we last saw her. The next closest patch was probably 50 yds. I know it no excuse for trailing earlier than maybe we should've inmost cases, I just don't believe that pushing her was the reason for not finding this deer that day. Given a different situation and cover, waiting a lot longer, would not even be a question.

My question was more at, How did the arrow do what it did?

RE: How is that possible???
 

Maybe I should change the title to one of those "figure it out" threads to get a better response.

RE: How is that possible???
 

FOC for that arrow was probably down in the 6 to 6.5% range. Way too low, IMO. So, I think you're spot on about the arrow deflecting off a rib.