An hour ago I had 5 does funnel past my stand. Right behind them was a 4.5 year old buck that I have on camera for three years. I put my 20 yd pin on the middle of his chest when he was slightly quartering towards. I am worried becauseI think the shot may have been closer to 17yds and if he jumped the arrow i may have shot over him. It all happened so fast that I can't say for sure whether or not I heard a whack. He ran off with his tail down, went 50 yards his tail started flicking like crazy, that's when I lost sight of him. I went to where he was standing couldn't find any blood and couldn't find my arrow. If i missed him shouldnt my arrow have been stuck in the dirt?? I'm twenty five feet up. Sorry for rambling but as you guys no this is the worst 2-3 hours of a bowhunters life.

Does the way he ran off mean he's hit????

I have seen the tail start flicking like that just before a deer crashes

Sounds like what a hit deer dose, but chances are you will have little or no blood to help you find him with a qurtering to shot. Good luck and be sure and let us know how this turns out

If you were 25 ft up, an arrow in the dirt should be easy to find. Best get back out there and look again for that arrow and then for that buck. Hope you made note of where you last saw him.

I'll bet youhit him. If you missed that arrow would be right behind where he stood. Good luck.

and then squeezed the trigger? Where is this middle of the chest you're talking about? You don't mean his chest plate between the two front legs?

A liver shot deer will almost always flick their tail like that even if you did get one lung. I would stay out until in the morning and then resume tracking!!!!!

The fast tail wag is almost a certain sign that you mortally wounded him. Unless he was looking at you or aware of your presence, he can't jump the string at just 17 yards unless you're shooting a recurve or long bow-- compound bows are just too fast at that range. Three yards makes no difference for a kill shot hit, half an inch tops. Sounds like youhit him though. Goback andlook forthe arrow at the spot of impact. If you still can't find it, the arrow is probably still in him soslowly and quietlystalk to the spot you saw him slow down and wag his tail eratically, if the blood looks good, advance, if not, give him until morning to look for him.

Did you hear the arrow crack? Did you catch shoulder bone? Even if you did with that quartering shot,the arrow might have deflected forward into thelungs. Thefast tail usually means you caught the goods.

I am almost positive that I heard an impact. But just as positive that it was a double impact sound....like impact then antler or bone almost. I just cant be certain it all happened so fast so don't quote me on that. All I can say for sure is that he turned, ran down the hill on the exact trail he came up, and once he reached the bottom he started kinda walking and stopping while flicking his tail like crazy. He definitely didn't look up at me while he was doing this so that's why I'm leaning toward the fact that I hit him. This happened at 4:15 I'm gonna head back out around 7:30, under what circumstances should I back out??

Hope you find him bud. Look for hairs, anything that might give you a clue. Where in SE Pa. are you?

Shane