And yet, he refuses to understand my previous post.

This should be a good lesson learned. Too bad you lost the deer. But at least two things you said gives me pause. One. you weren't too sure about your shot placement and two, you found your arrow with only partial penetration.
My advice to you would have been to let the deer go for at least 4 hours or better yet, til the next morning. This happened to me a few years ago with a buck. I started trailing it after what I thought was a good hit only to jump it about 150 later. I left him and came back the next morning and found him 75 yards away.

Groundhunter........I really hate seeing anyone getting hammered on. Most of these posts, believe it or not, are trying to help! Your inital tone to your post brought this out. You could have wrote the post differently and gotten totally differant tones in the responses. Bowhunters have a ton of discipline. Knowing their kill range, (mine is 30 yards, if all variables are perfect, I've bowhunted for 16 years, I can shoot great at 40 yards and pretty darn good at 50. But I can't do that hunting) Another discipline is practice. You must practice to know your limits. Because of all the discipline, control and sometimes restraint, bowhunters don't usually let blaming their equipment be an excuse. Your post just rubbed people the wrong way. Anyone can mess up on a deer, in fact I'll bet almost everyone here has, if they haven't, they probably haven't hunted for very long! Good luck on your next deer, it'll be a success!

Good Luck!

GROUNDHUNTER-

You really should calm down and read everyone's posts with an open mind, we are only trying to prevent more mistakes...

GH , I've read through all the posts. Have a little to offer.

First, I wouldn't trash the mechanicals. I don't think that's the issue.

You say you've never killed a deer with a bow?? Well I have, about 35 of them, so I hope you'll take this as sincere, experienced advice:

I will not shoot over 30 yards. Period. Most shots are 20 or less.Sure, deer can be killed at longer distances, but there's too much of a chance that something will happen. Any problem at all, string hitting clothes, fletch clearance, flinching, etc etc, will only be magnified at that distance. An average doe is a good sized target at 20 yards, but give her more reaction time at 35 yards and the fact that the kill zone"shrinks" because she's further away and you're asking for trouble. Yeah, you might kill some deer that far, but you'll miss and injure a lot, too. You owe it to the deer to make a higher percentage shot than that, especially until you get more bowhunting experience under your belt. You can kill a million with a gun, but it won't mean a thing with a stick and string.
The proof is in the pudding. If 35 yards is ok to shoot in this example, and if you aimed right behind the shoulder like you said, you would have had your first deer with a bow. The fact that you didn't is good evidence the shot was too far to begin with. Too many things can go wrong at that distance.
I'd be more impressed with your ability to get closer , not make long shots. After all, that's the true beauty of bowhunting!!

I hope you see this as helpful and not critical. Best of luck to you in the future!

Am I the only one who has noticed he's edited his first post referring to the "10 minutes until dark"? So now it's 5 minutes til the end of legal hours? From some of the other posts I would have to say I'm not the only one to notice the 10 minutes.

You shot and she ran fast? Most deer do...but most people are also able to watch and see where the arrow made impact. You're not supposed to shoot with your eyes closed.

As for my math calculations and numbers...that's the second most important aspect of bowhunting right after placing the arrow in the boiler room. Those numbers determine what that arrow does on impact.

Ok, I can say I was way off on the gut shot...To have such a distinct 'CRACK' I'll bet that you hit the hips.

How long you have been bowhunting is of no concern. You could bow hunt your whole life and never put a deer in your freezer with the bow and you'll still be a rook. You only gain experience with each harvest. And saying that you would take a fading light 35 yard shot again just proves your a rook.

Take BuckMag for an example...he gave you a nice example what it is to mature as a bowhunter. Patience, patience, patience.

Does anyone else seem to have a problem with my math figures?

Thats true - and we've all (hopefully) learned from errors. Something I don't see happening here !

Yes, he edited his initial post after I made my first response.

GroundHunter - How long have you bowhunted ? How many deer have you missed or wounded ? You've already been asked about what type bow you shoot etc (a low KE bow might help explain the poor penetration regardless of where you hit the deer) etc etc

Again, the point everyone is making is that YOU failed you, your equipment had little to do with the loss of the animal. Yardage, low light, maybe excitement ..... everything factored in to make your "I'd take it again" shot less than a perfecte scenario. IMO of course

"Some men you just can't reach."

I totally disagree with that statement. I learn something almost every time I'm in the woods.

Why keep telling the guy the same stuff over and over? If he didn't listen the first time why would he listen the next ten? I'm tal;king about the same people coming back and doing it not people making a point for the first time.

If the only bow hunters that were allowed to respond to this thread would be those that have NEVER lost a deer, there would not be too awful many responses.

Arrows lose kinetic energy downrange. Mechanicals require large amounts of kinetic energy to penetrate effectively. Is that what "went wrong?" Who knows?

There was only one man present at the time the shot was taken. Ultimately he is the one that has to figure out what went wrong, learn from it, and forever avoid that scenario again..........just like WE ALL DID.