Hello everyone, my name is Jim. I've been reading the forums for about a year and decided to join in on the fun today. I hate to start off with just a negative post, but I was hunting yesterday morning and had a buck coming in. I manage to get him to stop about 25 yards away very slightly quartering away. I shot and hit him high and forward more than I ever wanted to. The arrow stuck in him. He went over the hill, then I lost sight of him. I waited 4 hours then started trailing him. I found some blood for about 20 yards, then it shut off. I searched and searched, but couldn't find anything yet.

I wanted to post a picture of the 'hit' and get some feedback. Do you think I was too high and forward to catch any vitals? Do you think he will make it. What are your thoughts. I plan to look some more tonight. Thanks, I appreciate it.

Depends on the angle of the shot .... was it downward from a treestand or stright on from the ground ????

Sorry, I was 17feet up in a treestand. Thanks

What kind of penetration did you get?

IMO, you would have gotten part of the right lung, missing everything on the offset side. Will the deer make it, good question. There is another post on here about a 1 lung hit, much debate about how to go about tracking the animal, moreless if it is a fatal hit or not. Good luck and keep us posted.

you should have hit something.. I would suggest going back today and looking the area over again. Pay attention to near by water, and cover and deer escape trails. Also, pay attentions to voltures. I have found deer by watching the birds. sometimes the birds find em before you can even get out of the stand.

make slow moving circles from you last blood, id give it a good looking over before you give up, if you have a friend that can help or know someone with a tracking dog its better then doing it alone.

Good luck, keep us posted.

It looked like my arrow was 1/3 in him. Maybe 10 inches or so.

In that case you might have hit the top of one lung but I doubt it , chance's are the buck will live though it.
The shot was way to high to hit any vitals in my opinion .

What did the blood look like? Was it crimson and watery? If so, it could have been muscle. From your picture, it should have been spine or above though. You can see the crease from the shoulder blade right in front of the dot. At 25 yards, it's tough to pin point a hit though.

It was a real 'red' blood. Not watery, but not thick also.