RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Why argue over this? Theres an easier way to explain it. Its called " shi+ Happens" .:D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Hollow spot, dead spot, whatever you want to call it. It does not exist inside the thoracic cavity, period. The shots in question are above the spine and hit muscle, ligaments, bone and basically nothing vital. If you slip an arrow directly under the spine, along with both lungs you are going to cut this little structure called the aorta, not compatible with life. It does not matter what state of exhale/inhale the animal is in, the lungs and the thorax expand and contract together. These are poor shots that hit in a non vital area. Would be the same as shooting one in the ham and saying got him in the dead spot.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

If you hit the area above the spine it does not bleed very much because it has no main arteries through it. Were as this deer bled good for 100 yards. There was no problem finding blood, but then it quit. I thought he was dead we looked for 3 or 4 days. Then it got hot and we went looking for stink, I told the farmers around to watch out when taking out there crops, I thought he was going to die somewhere. I shot him oct 1 then on nov 4 i seen him scent checking does and sparing with another buck. This deer weighs over 200 pounds. with some distict fetures. He looked fine from what iI could see.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

THE DEAD SPOT EXISTS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I shot a huge buck in Sept. and the arrow hit high, didn' t pass through. I backed out and waited 2 hours before starting the search. Looked for a total of about 8-9 hours in a small wood lot and never found him. 2 weeks later to the day he got hit by a car and killed. If the dead spot doesn' t exist how did he live for 2 weeks after the shot?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Wanna bet? :D

I had a 6-point string jump on me last year and I backstrapped him (above the spine and even with the shoulder). Spent the entire day tracking that deer 400 yards (with blood) just to make sure he was alright. When he crossed the highway and into another property, the search had to be abandoned. Permission to continue was denied by the landowner.

Sorry, but superficial flesh wounds will generally continue to bleed slowly as long as the animal is kept moving. And because the body cavity was not compromised, all bleeding is external.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

The logic of " I shot a deer and didn' t recover it" =" dead spot exists" or
" I shot a deer and someone else shot it later" =" dead spot exists" doesn' t work. They are just bad shots. Meat shots. As someone else said, you could drive an arrow through the hindquarter and the deer might live (or die slowly) and call that a " dead spot" or " hollow spot" . It' s not accurate. If you shoot a deer and you don' t recover it or it lives, then you have hit the dreaded " lousy place to shoot a deer" spot. That' s all it is.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

It is also called I know I hit the deer really high and I never found him so it must be the mythical " hollow spot" !

kegei I have an important question about the " healed" deer killed later on, was the scar/wound above or below the spine?

I will beleive in the hollow space when someone can show me them slipping a broadhead below the spine all the way and not hit the spine arterty, the lung cavity or the lungs.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

If the arrow didn' t pass through, you didn' t hit the " dead spot" . You hit bone, most likely a shoulder. That' s how he lived.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Mez:

I knew you were in the crowd! :)

For those readers that do not know, " Mez" is a vet.

Now, for those laypeople who would argue with God, form a line on the right and take your turn telling " Mez" that he is full of it and does not know which is the hole in the ground! ;)


PS:

ArtP, davidmil, cardeer, charlieP, etc: I know you have have been hunting as long or nearly as long as I have (39 years). I don' t recall ever hearing about a " hollow spot" or " dead spot" in my earlier years of bowhunting. Did you? Anyone have an idea when this fable (excuse) started?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I' m not arguing that, and maybe " Non-Vital" is a better term but all I' m saying is that the shot looked lower than the back bone and definitley didn' t hit a lung. The deer lived for 2 more weeks and was healthy to I' m sure I just hit muscle and nothing vital. The point is it happens. Is it a bad shot? Yes. But it happens a lot, deer jumping string is a good example. It' s gonna happen no matter how much you practice.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

:D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I don' t think anyone' s arguing it doesn' t happen, just that there' s no " hollow" spot, and if you hit right behind the shoudler and don' t recover the deer, one of two things happened.
1) You hit over the spine. This is just about every time someone says they didn' t get a pass through, and the blood trail stopped after a little ways.
2) You hit under the spine, but never learned how to properly trail and recover a deer.

This topic is almost as bad as the numerous threads I read every day on these boards about making a " perfect" shot, but not recovering the deer.
Once again, you either didn' t make a " perfect" shot, or you can' t track a deer.
People need to stop making excuses for bad shots, they happen to everyone eventually, learn from it, don' t blame some mythical " hollow" spot, or your equipment, for that matter.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Don' t know if this helps but I hit a deer from a tree stand at 20 yards, the hit was high and passed through under his spine just over the back of the lungs. Decent blood in the snow for 80-100 yards, then nothing. I tracked the deer through the snow by following his tracks (which wasn' t fun as he used trails that had many tracks in it going both directions). On my hands and knees, I came to the deer nose to nose - he was just too week with the loss of blood but was still alive. Would he have died in a few hours? Who knows. Point is, the arrow passed through under the spine and didn' t hit lungs and seemed not to have hit artery (seems like he would have been dead long before I caught up to him if it were an artery).

I' m not sure I buy into that magical spot in the deer that gives them 9 lives or whatever, just bad shots and good shots. Tracking is part of bow hunting though - learn it, love it. Get your deer.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Bob, if you didn' t hit an artery, and didn' t hit the lungs, why would the deer be weak from loss of blood? What' s bleeding? I would guess you hit the very top of the lungs. That would take a long time to put it down.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

If that was the case then as nny243 said What put him down? Did you poisen the tip of your arrow? Trust me if you had missed both lungs and all arteries he wouldn' t have been on the ground when you found him. There are two shots responcible for this MYTH. First is the shot that goes over the spine. There is a lot more space between a deers spinal column and the top of his back than most people realize. Put an arrow above the spinal cord and there is simply nothing lethal up there to hit. You will get lots of superficial bleeding but no dead deer. And second is the high lung hit. This shot usually takes longer to kill a deer so they run farther before they die. This shot also gives you a higher than normal exit hole so the blood trail may be poor or virtually nonexistent. Combine slower death with poor bloodtrail and you wind up with a lot of lost deer.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I was always taught to aim behind the front leg.Looking at the diagram I will never hit the heart shooting behind the front leg.Are you sure this diagram is correct?The shoulder bone seems to be very high in the diagram.
As far as a hollow spot,I don' t believe in it.If you hit a non vital spot the chances are the deer or any animal will live.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

As far as hitting a deer high, not bleeding much and not recovering the animal, I' ve got the T-shirt. Been there, done that.[:@]

As far as these deer pictures some of you are posting...where did you get it? Out of what book?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Disputing the anatomy pics now? Sheez... never say die. lol

Read the post, you' ll find the original website.
Not good enough? How about Whitetails.com? http://www.whitetails.com/anatomy.html
or maybe International Bowhunters Education Program
http://www.nbef.org/deer_java.html

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

The anatomy picture is correct. Not sure where they got the pic but it matches what I was taught and the pictures in my anatomy books. The top of the shoulder bone in all animals extends to nearly the top of the back.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Dacotah,
Not doubting the pictures, actually thought they were pretty cool and wanted to show them to my step son. We' re just getting him starting in Archery and Bowhunting and think these will be beneficial. Thanks for the links.:) Actually he' ll be Bowhunting next season. That gives him a year to get used to his equipment and lots of practice.;)

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Ok, here was the cool one with the overlays.

http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Just another whack at the dead horse. I closely examined the skeleton of a buck I shot Monday. Not only does the heart/lung cavity extend all the way up to the spine, it actually is higher than the spine bottom at its highest point. The bottom of the spine extends down below the tops of the lungs. The only way to hit below the spine and miss the lungs is to hit too far forward or too far backward, throat shot or gut shot.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Belive me it does exist! Two years ago I shot a buck a little high behind the should at 30 yds. from a treestand. The arrow passed clean through. The hit was to low for the spine. I know the spine lays alittle low. I think I shot just at the top of his lungs. But, barely underneath his spine. I gave the deer an hour and jumped him from his bed. Without much blood.
The deer was killed 3 weeks later during our rifle season. He was in good condtion
with the entrance and exit hole starting to heal up. The shot was definetly under his spine.
It happed to me again last year. I had a sick feeling when I saw where it hit him. We never found the buck dead or alive. He had a short blood trail that soon quit altogether. It does exist!

Rusty

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

nny & todd, not sure what to tell you here. I know where the arrow went. I know the deer was still alive when I found him. What was bleeding? Well, a broadhead cutting through muscle tissue and whatnot will certainly cause bleeding. A main artery hit will cause bleed out fast and death to follow soon. This deer was still alive but too weak to travel. You don' t think a deer is going to bleed unless you hit an artery? Ever cut yourself real bad without hitting a main artery? Lot' s of blood isn' t there? Perhaps the back of the lungs? Don' t think so. As for the high lung hit, you get two lungs, deer' s dead. You get one, it goes further. Point is, double lung hits of any location is a very dead deer in no time. Just my opinion from personal experience. Maybe I' m hunting a biologically altered experimental deer zone.:D