The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Here is a quick story.

Opening Day, Oct 1, my buddy stuck a nice 10 pointer and hit him high. Not back, just high. Well after many hours of looking, not just him, but me and his girlfriend, we sadly gave up. Last night, over a month later he seen him chasing a doe out in a field. Same deer, still alive and still running hard. I would trust this guys word over anybody' s when he said he hit it high. He is really self concious and he knows where he hits every deer. Before we track one of his deer he can always tell you where it was hit and he is always dead on the money.

So, the dreaded hollow spot took another victim!!

But he shot a nice 10 pointer a couple of weeks ago to somewhat make up for it.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I think the same thing happened to a hunting partner of mine 2 weeks ago. He shot a doe at 15 yards and said he knew he hit her high. The shot was a clean pass through with good blood for maybe 40 yards, then a few more drops, then nothing. We looked high and low and there' s no way if that deer died on our land that we didn' t find it. The direction it ran it would' ve had to get by 2 of us on stand in order to get off our property and we never saw it. I' m 99% sure he hit that hollow spot and she lived.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

..and I thought you were talkin about YOUR head.

My bad:D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

LOL 4pt. I thought I got to the thread early enough to get him on that, but you beat me to it. Nice leaving yourself open IL_BOY. :D

Was he able to find his arrow after the shot? I' d be curious to know what the sign on the arrow looked like.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

LOL, that' s funny! :D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

he bled within 30 yards of were i hit him. There was a good amount of blood for about a 100 yards, then it quit. I think i caught a little bit of the loin because the arrow did not pass through.
there is about 8 inches of arrow still in him. I thought from the blood at first that i caught one of the artery below the spine, but i must not have.
I seen him last night checking out does, and sparing with a smaller buck.So maybe i will still get another shot at him!

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

People say the hollow spot is a myth, but im a firm believer it exists. Best of luck getting a second shot at him.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Ive hit 2 there this year....:(

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I hit a doe at 20 yards two weeks ago in the same spot describe. Looked all day and found nothing. Completel pass through slightly quartering away just a little high. She bled for a 100 or 150 yards then stopped.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

A friend of mine is a large animal vet and has been for 39 years. Many moons ago, I asked him about the mythical " hollow spot." He advised that the " hollow spot" does not exist.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

C903,

ILSQ, IBM, Myself, and thousands of bowhunters have first hand knowledge of the " hollow spot" and I would take the word of an experienced bowhunter over that of a vet who has probably never run an arrow thru one of their " clients" to find out.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Unless all the medical (vet) facts that have been taught in higher institutions to people who were to become and did become medical doctors and surgeons of animals, are proven to be incorrect, I will have to go with a skill and expertise that greatly surpasses bowhunting opinions.

Holding with the medical facts until the facts are proven to be corrupt, I would then assume that a shaft that enters the fabled " hollow spot" is nothing more than a shot that went bad and did not hit a vital organ that causes immediate or soon death, but death may occur within a day or two.


PS:

mr4pt, you have a list of those " thousands of bowhunters?" ;)

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Isn' t that the whole point of the " hollow spot," as these other guys have defined it?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

MAY occur? OK, it may occur but then again, it may not, as in ILSQ' s case, not to mention a few of my own and yes THOUSANDS of bowhunters around the world.

Where do you want me to send that list to?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Not quite!

With a lot of shooters that claim they hit the " hollow spot," an area (hollow spot) having lethal immunity, a screw up by Mother Nature, a location that is void of any physiological and anatomical connectivity or continuity, simply an empty space located within the interior of a living organism, I believe the " hollow spot" claim is a premaure excuse so they do not have to engage in a very difficult and time consuming track, so that they can quickly climb back into their stand and shoot another deer ….hopefully not in the " hollow spot." ;)

mr4pt:

I would like to send you a dollar so you can turn it into several thousand for me. :)

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

No such thing as a hollow spot

A shot ABOVE the backbone is a non-starter however.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Boy did you ever miss the boat with that one.

Listen, I am not saying that you can hit this so-called " hollow spot" and not get so much as a drop a blood. I am just saying, as ILSQ and others can attest to, that there is an area below the spine and above the lungs that you can run an arrow thru and it will amount to nothing more than a flesh wound.

I' ll give you my address for that dollar, only if you deliver it in person.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I am no vet or biologist, but I do not see how you can squeeze a broadhead between the spine and lungs of a deer over the kill zone, now if your shot was high and forward, or high and back I could see it, but there is no way shooting in the kill zone. Just an old guys opinion after gutting/butchering a couple of deer.

Any one who really feels there is a dead zone, I would like you to take the next deer you kill, gut and skin it, hang it and then see if you can figure out a way of getting a broadhead under the spine above the kill zone without cutting the spinal artery and at least cutting the top of the lung cavity.

One more thing to think about for those of you hunting from a tree stand, try it at the angle the arrow would enter from your treestand!!! I bet you money you can' t even come close to doing it.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Good post Tazman. It' s just not possible, especially from a tree stand.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

From the ground, I beg to differ.

From a stand...no freakin way

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Tazman,

I think everyone who thinks that dead spot is under the spine mistakenly thinks the backbone runs along the very top of the back. I think the dead spot is actually OVER the spine.

Take a look at this link
http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

(I' m going to have to quit posting this guy' s link with out giving him some credit! lol)

Dac

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Wow, I can' t believe ILSQ2 remembered his password!!

He was shooting from a stand, but the stand is about 5 ft off of the ground. It is known as the " Low Stand" .

Not like 4pt, I am not going to argue with you guys. I only know what my buddy tells me and to him hunting is life. More to him than what it is to most of you guys on here and when he tells me he hit him high and not forward or back, I really never have to question his judment. The deer he explained the night he shot it isn' t a normal deer for his area and to see another over a month later is a 1 in a Million chance.

If you don' t believe in the hollow spot, good for you......but just remember someday when you can' t find a deer that was hit high, there is always that chance.

And for you 4pt....I resemble that remark!![:o]:D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Sounds like bone rather than loin. I sure hope loin will not stop your setup from passing thru.

I too am not a " dead spot" believer. And from a tree stand forget it!

Even if it goes against what your eyes saw - I would guess an over the spine hit into the vertebre.

Either way I feel for you and congrats on your other deer:D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/woo...ot.jpg&.view=t

I can not view the other anatomy of a deer link, but this link is excellent as far as agreeing with every deer I have ever dealt with. The only places I can see to slide one through with no vitals being hit are forward of the kill zone or back.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Well what do you know, I actually uploaded it!!!!

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

This is what I' m talking about.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I' m not sure exactly how many medical professionals and vets have to state that there is no " void" above the lungs and below the spine before this myth will die. No disrespect, but the fact that so many bowhunters keep swearing by it simply reinforces the notion that some folks hunt animals who' s anatomy they don' t have a good knowledge of.

But hey, I once heard a story about a giant catfish that ate skuba divers, so I guess anything' s possible. :D

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Just butcher your own deer. There aren' t any hollow spots except inside the windpipe.

I think if people substituted " non lethal" for " hollow" it would be more accurate. A non-lethal shot is a bad shot. Calling it the " hollow spot" makes it sound like a trick of fate that the hunter didn' t get the deer. I don' t think people are necessarily trying to say that but that' s what it sounds like. I shot two deer last year right through the lungs with the rifle and they never bled a drop until they dropped. If I hadn' t recovered them, could I have blamed the hollow spot?

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

On the contrary, you can pass an arrow under the spine and not hit the lungs. This will depend on multiple factors, including the exhale/inhale state of the deer, the shoulder position, and the actual anatomy of the individual.

With that said, the arrow that passes under the spine and does not hit lung still punctures the pleural cavity. The pleural cavity, in mammals, is responsible for providing lubrication and maintaining air pressure for the lungs to properly inflate/deflate. Puncture this cavity and the animal will surely die, albeit a slow death, as the lungs will collapse given time. Basically the animal dies not to blood loss, but due to asphyxia.

There are hollow spots above the spine, and you can angle an arrow between the shoulder and vitals if the animals is steeply quartering away with his head down. You can also hit below the pleural cavity.

Other than that, it is merely a muscle shot that missed the vital region all together. If you hit behind the diaphragm you may actually miss vitals altogether, and the intestinal cavity is separated from the pleural cavity thereby protecting the lungs.

Many of these misses are dependent on the individual deer, anatomically, genetically and position-wise. The amount of fat on a deer also makes a difference, as subcutaneous fat is layed down within different reserve areas within each individual (hence, that' s why some men/women have a large butt and others have a large gutt!)


S&R

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Rico signing in to confirm the Hollow spot IE the dead zone. Hit a Doe At 15 yards high and Behind the shoulder. Arrow went all the way through and stuck in a small sapling. She broke the arrow in her exit and i clearly saw my red Fletching. She was not hit in the shoulder.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Dacotah I agree that is the only way I can see you can be high in the kill zone and not get lung or the spinal artery, over the spine!


nny243 said a mouthful with this statement.
Strut&Rut said I have butchered deer with a lot of fat over their shoulders and hardly any on their hind quarters and vice versa.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I think the major point here is that we should always be thinking that if we cut a deer with an arrow, it will die. Yes, statistically it might live but we can' t assume that it will. It is safer and more honest to assume that it will not. Whenever I talk to people that have lost deer, they will almost always end up by saying that the deer will live. It' s a defense mechanism in our own mind. It might be days or it might be weeks but the animal is going to die. Anecdotes about seeing the same deer the next year or next month are probably the exception, not the rule. That' s why shot placement is so vital, especially to bowhunters.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Sorry guys - I was wrong about there not being a hollow spot - I can' t beleive I was so foolish not to see it before - here it is.


.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

There is not so much as a " hollow spot" as there is a non-lethal zone you can hit. On two guaranteed factual instances we harvested a buck during rifle season which we had wounded during bow season. Both were hit high with the bows and had visual scars on them when we butchered them after the rifle season.

This is a FACT not a myth. Believe it or not, your choice!

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Any of the white area on the diagram above could be considered a non-lethal zone, although as I' ve said, they should probably be considered " slowly lethal" zones. They are all just bad shots.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I in fact have changed the way I shoot at deer. I will either miss them low or get the heart. I am sick of tracking. This all has to do with the high non lethal shot. Even if you hit them high in a lethal spot, they are extremely difficult to find, especially with no snow on the ground.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I' ve never hit a deer in this spot (real or not), and don' t know anybody at home who has either, but if such a thing does exist, I think that Strut and Rut may have the right idea.
My first thought about this " hollow spot" was that it could exist when the animal was at full exhale between breaths. Not sure, but it sounded reasonable in my head. (It was hard to tell with all of the echo.)

...but then there is that whole pleural cavity thing. The lungs do need negative pressure it inflate.

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

lol Farm Hunter. I must be going blind. I didn' t even see that before. :D:D


I think it is a hollow spot after it is punched out. lol

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

Dakotah- I think you are missing the point, deer do go and live on with high non lethal shots. A friend of mine wounded a 6-pter (big one) by Crookston and then 6 weeks later another friend shot the same buck and it looked real healthy except for a few scabby wounds.

It happens quite often, whether people want to believe it or not. I can' t explain it.

To be sure aim low from now on, or if you feel like testing the theory shoot em high!

RE: The Dreaded Hollow Spot
 

I don' t doubt that, kegei, I just think the hits are either over the spine or not double lung. I don' t know what else it could be.

He didn' t by chance take a pic of that Crookston buck? I' d love to see the wounds. It' s nice to know some can heal up that quick.