davidmil

YUP, above the spine and he didn't miss a beat. It stopped bleeding with in minutes and was heeled up in a week.

live2bowhunt

I agree that there is no void, but I now KNOW that deer can live with what we would all probably consider a perfect shot. It happened to me last year. This buck was perfectly broadsideat 20 yards when I shot him fromabout a 15' high treestandwith a Magnum Slick Trick...FMJ arrowout of an 80# Hoyt Vectrix XL. Made a loud sound like it may have caught the off-side shoulder or leg, but got a complete pass-thru. I use white nocks and saw the arrow enter right behind the front leg. Should have been a perfect shot. It was a very thick area, and the buck took off and went out of sight. We trailed the blood for about 80 yards, and then it disappeared. Used a dog to search to no avail. I was sick! Then, I got this trail camera pic of the buck two weeks later chasing a doe. If you look, you can see that 2 of the 4 blade slits have already healed up. I still can't believe it.

Some say that buck is a zombie.

MOTOWNHONKEY

livetobowhunt, My buddy shot one close to the exact samespot one year with the same result. I couldn't believe it either. I can't explain how that happens.

Schultzy

Wow, that is crazy live2bowhunt!

Germ

My only guess is it deflects of the the rib cage and misses the vitals, weird for sure

silentassassin

I witnessed another crazy one. I had a buddy hit one in the same spot. Double lung shot but high in the lungs. He shot the deer and the deer wound up coming by me out of range. I didn't realize he had shot the deer until he got down at dark and started tracking my way. Well we had walked WAY back in apublic hunting area so when I got down I went to him and told him which way the deer went and that it was still going go when it came by me. I talked him into walking out and taking our climbers and bows to the truck to give the deer som time and to lighten ours loads for dragging. Well we stopped on the way back in a few hundred yards (this side) of where I had last seen the deer to give it a little more time since he wasn't sure exactly where he had hit him. At this point over an hour had passed and we were sitting there talking and we kept hearing something in the brush. We kept dismissing it as a coon, possum, or armadillo. Finally, we got up and walked over to where the noise was coming from and it was his buck. The buck stood up when we got close to him but he was too weak to run. So Chris cut his throat to finish him off. At this point over 1.5 hours had passed since the shot and disection confirmed a double lung hit. Needless to say I was amazed and probably wouldn't have belived it had I not seen it. I am sure the deer was going to die but I don't know how much longer it would have taken him. Just reminded me that there is never a never and never an always!

davidmil

HMmmm... me senses a mechanical broadhead issue here.

NCRemington700

That's incredible.

davidmil

Another real possibility here that I'm sure I'll hear. It didn't happen. BUT, we all know how fast a deer can drop and turn at the sound of the bow going off. I bring this up because of a personnal experience with a hit about2 inches lower and about2 inchesback. I released the arrow and immediately saw a red spot appear right behind the shoulder. The deer had been standing almost completely broadside with just a smidge of angle away.... but really you'd call it broadside. I watched the deer tear off own this ridge and kept saying... OK, he'll fall any minute... OK... he'll fall soon... OK... DROP DEAD NOW!! The deer went out of sight about 100 yards away barreling off this steep ridge. I'll shorten the story and talk of very little blood, but 600 yards later I watched this deer finally expire after jumping it twice. I watched from 100 yards away with my binos until dark. An autopsy showed the Thunderhead had hit exactly where I thought. The deer must have turned just enough at the sign. The arrow caught the elbow high shattering the bone and nicking a leg artery. The arrow, whether deflected or because the deer jumped and turned enough, slid right along the outside of the chest wall and exited low in front of the front shoulder. The only thing that killed the deer was a broken shoulder with a nicked leg artery. The arrow never entered the vitals. Had I not hit the artery I could have had a picture exactly like yours. A nice 3 blade thunderhead 5 or so inches up behind the shoulder and I'd still be talking of super buck or Zombie or whatever. If your deer swung just enough and you got a little angle and the broadhead kicked enough to give you one of those infamous angle mechanical hits... well you end up with the same thing I did without the broken elbow and nicked leg artery. NO ARROW passing completely through at a 90 degree angle where yours did will not kill a deer. Unless you have something odd like I did, or your broadhead failed to open and then you might get a survivor.... but I doubt it. Not a super deer by any means. It's an angle or a complete failure of the broadhead.... I'll except angle more readily.