One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I read an artical i Peterson bowhutning a few months back and i talked about how a one lung shot was not a fatal shot and that the deer would not die. Is this true and has anyone experienced that?[&o]

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

Not true. There is a possibility that an animal can survive a one lung hit, but that is if you don' t hit any major arteries, or any other organs that would cause the animal to lose the majority of its blood.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I forget who it was exactly, but i believe someone on this board made a post about shooting a buck and only hitting one lung.He searched for the buck, and yeilded no result. Then he saw the buck a few days later and made good with his second shot.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

It is possible for a one lung hit animal to survive and it has happened.

John Trout Jr. in his book Finding Wounded Deer and also Trailing Whitetails discusses this in depth. Even lung cancer patients having had one lung removed can and do survive and live normally.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I read the article in Peterson' s. I don' t recall it reading that the deer could survive. In fact it started out: " The single-lung hit may be the most misunderstood of all shots." It continued on about a single lung hit doe that was recovered a day & a half later. An autopsy showed the doe had only recently died, meaning it lived for 36hrs from a 1 lung hit. But it NEVER said that type of hit was non-fatal.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I would imagine that one lung knicked by a broadhead hass the possibility of being non fatal, but I don' t want to figure the odds of it. I would suspect greater than 99.9% of single lung hits are fatal.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

Even though it' s not likely most of the time, I' m sure it is possible.

I can say with certainty that you don' t want to hit a deer through one lung...EVER. If the deer does die, it will probably be hours later and a long LOOONG way from where you shot it. Those conditions are not great for putting meat in the freezer or horns on the wall. It' s also a bit disturbing to know that it will take hours or days of suffering for it to die.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I' ve hit several deer thru one lung and have found them all. The longest went about 300 yds. On some of them I hit the liver as well, others I' m sure caught some other added vital artery that allowed me to find them. In all cases, I gave the deer at least 2 usually more hours before tracking.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I' ve recovered 3of 3 deer that I one lunged. All were dead whithin an hour and none had A good blood trail . I' VE been in belief that A bear is totally capable of surviving on one lung.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

there are memebers here that are living proof to that joebear! Bears and one lung can and will survive.

I dont lay a hole lot of claim to peoples blood trials without being on it myself or knowing someone I know fairly well to have been on it.

Things happen immediatly after the shot and shortly there after that can lead to a marginal hit animal to not be recovered. Some of it is impossible to forsee, other things are just lack of experience.

A friend of mine one lunged a caribou bull, he made it appx 150 yards before the bull laid down. We let him lay for a few minutes thinking his head will go down, his head will go down before realizing he might have only nabbed one lung. A carefully laid crawl by my pard and a well excuted 2nd arrow and the bull died almost as fast as it stood. Would he have died there if left alone, I believe so. Pushed, he could have gone for miles.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I worship at the feet of John Trout' s words.

The animal may or may not survive. It all depends on when you begin tracking the animal. He has been extremely accurate.

For One Lunger' s I refer to pages 80 to 83.

Some are and some are not recovered but it is possible for them to survive. Use the right tracking technoque and I think the chances of recovering your animal.

My mulie this year was a one lunger / liver shot. We recovered her in 264 yards. (by my GPS)

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

How do you know if you even hit one lung at all if the deer lives. Sure a deer can live alot longer if you hit it far back in the small of the lung. Just treat it like a liver shot let it bed for a long time.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

I watch several things when I release the arrow. Where I think it hits, the reaction of the animal to the shot, and how it leaves the scene.

My doe this year . . . I knew that I hit high and the animal jumped, kicked, and ran hard about 20 yards then slowed to a walk. My partner said he thought I hit in the rump so as soon as she was out of sight we started trailing with the intention of pushing her slowly to keep her bleeding. Sixty yards up the trail we came across the blood trail: on the right side of the trail was a pool of bright pink blood with bubbles (the first indication of a high lung hit) but on the left side of her trail was a dark red blood (indicating a liver hit). After a bit of guessing, I concluded that I hit high in her right lung and the arrow exited through her liver. We tracked her to her first bed where she was down for the count but not out. After a few minutes I put an arrow into her heart putting her away fast.

During the field dressing it was obvious that the right lung had been hit and the liver showed how my broadhead and arrow had passed through the liver thus confirming my conclusion. My arrow had passed through high in the right lung, angling slightly and passed thtough the liver and exited through her left side.

Never did go back to find the arrow . . . a mistake I' ll never make again.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to determing your hit.

I highly recommend John Trout Jr." s newest book on trailing deer: Finding wounded Deer copyright 2001 Published by Woods N' Water, Inc. and Bookspan; ISBN 0-9707493-0-9. Studying this book is as valuable to this 40 year bowhunter as to a neophyte or anyone that fits in between. BTW - I got mine through Outdoorsmans Edge Book Club.

I am fortunate also to have his first work on the subject " Trailing Whitetails" now out of print. As a reference set the two are a super combination.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

westaner, that is one of the problems with a single lunged deer. It will not necessarily bed or head for water like a gut shot deer will. It does not have that extreme sick feeling of a gut or liver shot deer that needs to bed down.

In reponse to the quesion, I believe that a pure single lunged has a chance to survive. Will it at 100%, no.

Dick, I just ordered Trout' s book on amazon. I am always up for some reading. Never too old to learn.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

Dick-Cress,

I just wanted to give you a big think you for pointing out the Book " Finding Wounded Deer" by John Trout. It was a great reading book and I was able to compare experiences as well as learn from the book. John seems like the type of guy who will really tell it like it is without being afraid of critisism or pride as so many of us are.

If anyone has not read this book, I would highly recommend it. There are not too many books out there like this book. The book is intented for gun and bow hunting, but I would definetely say it dealt more toward tracking with archery.

Thanks again Dick.

RE: One Lung (NON-FATAL) ??????????
 

Actually, I have both his books. Study them and every time you read through them you will learn more. I' ve gone to making 3" X 5" cards to carry and work on comitting to memory.