I am new to bow hunting and tried it for my the first time wed evening. I have been praticing for several months and am confident with my shot. But as we all know praacticing from a deerstand in the back yard hitting a target and sitting in a deer stand and shooting the real thing is totally different.

I was fortunate to get a shot on a big doe at about 25 yards on my first bow hunting trip. I' m sure i stuck her. It sounded like when the arrow hit' s my block target but alittle more solid....the doe blew a lot as she ran off.

We hunted for her for four hours but could not find her. There was no blood and we did not find the arrow.

Is that what it sounds like when the arrow hits the deer? is there no blood if the arrow did not go through? Like I said I am new at this.
Any other things you can tell me tto look for in the future would be greatly appreciated.

robbie

Sounds like you missed to me. I' ve never had one blow after being hit. I' d say you missed or possibly stuck her in the lower leg. It you hit her, you should be able to find some kind of blood.

Could you not see the arrow impact? Too dark? If so, I usually try to avoid late evening shots when I can' t see where my arrow will impact. Good luck.

Did you find your arrow? Was there any blood or fluids whatsoever on it? Where were you aiming?

It' s kind a hard for a deer to blow with freshly ventilated lungs

Could you see the arrow as she was running away ? I don' t think I can recall ever seeing a deer not bleed if struck solid @ 25 yards. Did she have any indications of a broken leg, etc ?

Interesting post, buckmarlin. Got me thinking about deer I' ve shot in the past. Now I know a whole bunch of guys will offer conflicting experiences, but I can' t recall a hit deer EVER snorting while running off.

The sound an arrow makes hitting a deer, at least to my ears, doesn' t sound like a 3-D target. It has a distinctly hollow sound. The sound you describe sounds more solid than that.

As far as blood trails, pretty hard to generalize. A complete pass has the highest probability of good blood, but like most aspects of this sport, there are no absolutes. I' ve had solid blood when I didn' t get a complete pass. The six point I killed a couple of weeks ago was a sharp angle quartering away, and from a fairly high stand. The arrow entered about 3/4 of the way up the body, just behind the rib cage, which was where I aimed. When I found the buck, the broadhead and roughly 4 inches of the shaft were sticking out low in the chest and just behind the opposite shoulder. Although the arrow did not completely pass through, the blood trail was solid and easy to follow, and the buck ran only 60 yards.

I' m guessing you missed this shot. The good news is you seem to have noted the details once you let the arrow go. That' s the first important part of locating a hit animal. The sound, the attitude of the deer, and of course the direction. I also find using bright fletching helps me track the path of the arrow.

Good luck with the next one!

I would guess that you missed her. I have never had one snort when I hit them. The sound when you hit one is different than an arrow hitting a target. I would call that a dull thud and when you hit one there is a definate crack to it.

To describe a sound is actually quite difficult but if we use our imagination we might come up with a sound, when shot in the rib area, it sounds like someone took a baseball bat to a side of beef, it' s actually unmistakable once you learn it. When hit in the paunch/stomach and the ribs are missed, it sounds similiar but hollower.

Another analogy that could be used is taking the palm of your hand and smacking a big steak real hard...you get that slap sound....that' s what comes to my mind.

Without finding the arrow, it' ll be pretty hard to determine if you actually hit the animal or not. Like mentioned above, I' ve never had one blow at me if hit....they usually blow when they don' t know what happened...I imagine they may from time to time but never had it done to me.....I have on misses tho.

Arrows will bury themselves into the soft ground of the woods and can be very difficult to find...that' s one reason I recommend bright fletch that contrasts the forest floor and a deer' s hide, I use white and yellow or flourescent orange and yellow, bright, bright fletch or crest the arrow.

Good luck and I hope that doesn' t deter you from trying again, we hunt, we live, we learn......with no blood at all, it does seem you may have missed, they are amazing animals and can move like lightning when that bow goes off.

Was it blowing like an alarm snort or did it sound more like a huffing sound?
Often times a deer hit in the lungs will make a huffing sound as it runs off. Sometimes it barely audible but other times you can hear it very well. If you hit the deer in the lungs you should have found some blood. If you missed you should have found your arrow. How did the deer react when you shot? Did it crash away low to the ground or did it bound away like it was spooked? It sounds like you may have hit the deer. There usually is a distinctive sound when a deer is hit. The arrow striking the ground from an elevated position can also make a sound like your target but the fact that you couldnt find your arrow kind of makes me think that you hit the deer.

In my experance I' ve always gotten a hollow thud sound on a good hit. It' s kinda hard to describe if you' ve never heard it. A hollow thud is about as close as I can come. Once you' ve head that sound you' ll never forget it.
Did you search in the morning with better light? If you hit sounded solid I would belive you had hit bone if it was the deer you hit. I always try to get a good line on the shot and search closer and beyond where you think the deer was standing. Ofter times I' ve found the deer to be as much as ten feet further away that I thouth it was when I shot. This may help to explain the lack of blood. If your searching for blood 10 feet from where the deer stood you could look for a long time without much results.
Where you hunting from a tree or the ground? When I hunt from the ground I find that I misjudge distances more often than I do from a tree.
I' d try to get the best line on the shot possible and comb that line for sighns of hair, blood or your arrow....chuck

A " thunk" is good a " crack" is bad. I have only once seen a hit deer blow and that was one that I hit in the shoulder blade. But there was good blood for a while. Did you stick a tree? How about a rock near the deer? If you hit her, you should find hair, blood or something.

Greg