muscle hit?
 

I shot one tonight but hit him a little high but i think about the right amount back. Blood had no bubbles in it so im guessing its a muscle hit. Trailed him for 75 yards with not a lot of blood. Going to look again tomorow.

Do you think he will survive? I am using rage 2 blade and it was a near pass-thru, as the fletchings had blood on them but the arrow was found 15 yards from where I hit him.

Just wanting some thoughts.

Get back on the trail. With the blood on the fletching you got good penetration. I had gotten my buck last year (high& lack of blood) with 1/2 pass and just took patience, letting him sit. Rage is a good Head so IMO I dont think he's gonna make it. Good luck in finding him, looking fwd to the pics and story.

Any updates??

If you have blood on your fletchings, surely it was a passthru. That's what I would guess, anyway. It would be hard for you to hit high enough to miss the lungs without going over the spine. May have done that, and if so, you won't be finding him dead anytime soon. If it was a little farther back than you thought, and behind the lungs, he will take some time. What kind of blood was on the arrow? Intestinal material, bright red or dark red?

went and trailed him anotother 30yds (100 or so total) and got down on our hands and knees to find a few specks of blood and lost the trail. Looked around for hours and no deer.

it was a passthru barely. Blood was bright red with no bubbles

can i get some opinions on whether you think this deer is going to be ok or die?

Im going to say that deer was wounded too high in back and may recover just fine. If you have any water sources near by check them. A wounded deer will generally head for a water source. Get back out there with 4 or 5 people and do a comb of the area, He could have layed down and gotten sick. You wont get a lot of blood on a high shot because the blood is filling the cavity and not draining out. Muscle blood is usually dark, lungs are bright red or pink and heart is red. If you have bright red blood you may have gotten one lung. But you wont know until you find him if you find him. Was he broadside, quartering to you or away, straight down??? tell us more about the shot

Depends on how high you hit him. If you barely clipped the lungs, he may have gone a good distance, but is probably dead. If it missed the lungs, and possibly hit above the spine, merely a flesh wound...would be alive.

Deer are amazing animals. They can cover great distances even when you would think they would die extremely quickly. I was out with a good friend last year and he hit a 9 point that was quartering away fairly drastically with a great hit. Went through opposite shoulder, only hitting one lung, but shredded it almost in half. We had to trail him for close to 500 yards putting out decent blood the whole time. When we found him, and examined the entry and exit wounds, I would have never guessed he could travel a fifth of that distance...but he did. I say all that to make this point...if you got the lungs at all, it is a wound that almost never will be recovered from. He may go a long way, but will die. Unless, of course, he doesn't!

If it is a muscle hit then you need to push him to find him. If you do not push him and keep his blood flowing then his blood will eventually clot and quit bleeding. Even if you hit one lung and keep pushing him, he might go a long way but he will die sooner or later. The only shot i do not recommend getting on the trail right away is the gut shot.

I hit a buck high earlier this year and got down right away to find bright red blood but i knew i hit him high. I decided to wait and i tracked him for a few hundred yards and lost the blood. I think this deer will survive but i also think that if i would have got right on him i would have found him.

he was sligthly quarting away. 10 yards from a 12ft stand....bascially a slam dunk that i rushed the shot on.

Im going to say if you have blood on all 3 fetching the deer is dead.
I know if I had blood on all 3 I would have the deer in my freezer come hell or high water,you say the deer was at 10 yards you most likely couldn't of been to far off on the shot.

Your description is consistent with a that of a high (loin) hit - of course there are other possibilities. Last week, my tracking dog and I ran a suspected loin hit out 700+yds and did not recover the deer. (I've done volunteer tracking for 21 yrs on a local military base and just started using the dog).

Deer should typically survive an above-the-spine hit. I have a few old trail cam photos of a doe in the weeks after a friend shot her high, and she healed up fine.

-fsh

the shot was below the spine