Bucky10

I shot a pretty nice buck this past Saturday, I was about 20 ft. up in a tree stand and he was 31 yards away. I shot him and he ended up ducking a little and it looked like I hit him directly above the heart, just about 2-3 inches down from his back(So my windage looked perfect, but I hit high) I had an lumenok on my arrow and tried to watch my arrow hit the best as I possibly could. Upon retrieval of my arrow there was very little blood on it but the rage 2 blade was covered in meat and so was the rest of the arrow and fletching...We let him go overnight and came back the next morning. We followed what little blood trail there was for about 200 yards and finally lost it and never recovered the deer Maybe I did not hit the deer exactly where I thought....any ideas would be appreciated!!! I would like to to turn this into a learning experience

kickin_buck

Well from your description of where you think you hit, it should be high lungs. However, after 200 yards and no deer, I am guessing that is not the case.

What color was the blood on the arrow?

With the meat you are seeing on your Rage and arrow and the lack of blood on the arrow, it sounds to me like a flesh wound. You might have gone above the spine and put a hole in his backstraps. The good news, if I am correct, he is still out there alive and well and ready to give you a second chance at him.

Some on here believe in a "void" spot above the lungs. I for one do not believe in it. If you look at the anatomy of a deer, if you hit below the spine, you are hitting vitals. I am not saying that a high lung shot makes for an easy track job, because it does not, but it will kill the animal.

Again, without knowing what color the blood was and with the meat you are seeing on the BH AND if your windage was good, I would have to believe you got backstrap. However, this is JMHO. I am sure you will get a bunch of people on here that will disagree with me.

Bucky10

The little blood we found on the arrow seemed dark and so was the case with the blood we found on the ground, seemed to be really dark.

That may be the case 'kickin' I may have hit him higher than I thought and got backstrap.

mfd1027

I believe Kickin Buck hit the nail on the head with his comment. Without a slow motion video review we'll never know "exactly" where your arrow entered the deers body and who knows how your Rage deployed ie. "was it in a horizontal or vertical plane upon entry". I would say you hit above the spine. Below the spine in that area and you will have lung damage.

Dan

c_str

Sure sounds like a muscle hit to me. It all happens so fast it can be very hard to see where the arrow actually went.

nchawkeye

Until you find the deer, you never know where it was hit...

I've even seen guys clean a deer and not know the anatomy well enough to know where it was hit...

Bucky10

Kind of bitter-sweet......did not find the deer but i believe he will be around for another day!!!!!!!!!

blindluck

lotta meat and no blood...sounds like you hit him in the shoulder or backstrap...probably backstrap....i did that too a doe last year...jus got alot of meat and hair but very very little blood...if you hit him there, you will not find him cuz he will not die!

bowfly

same thoughts...hit high on the back...if meat was all over the arrow though, that makes me thing you may have even hit between two vertebrae...he will live on

cwanty03

ya that seems to be the worst spot to hit a deer with experience. Right between the lungs and the spine. man i have known couple ppl who hit there and always resulted with no deer.