How many of you have had this happen?
 

Tonight I had a nice doe walk out in front of where I was sitting, on the edge of a corn field. I decided to take the shot, and when she was in what I thought was my clearing, I took it..well the arrow nicked a branch and I ended up hitting her in the stomach.
I feel ****ty that it was not a clean hit, we lost the blood trail but I am going out again in the morning to try to find her.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good luck and don't give up. You have given her the time needed to expire now
you need to find her.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good luck finding her. Hey check out the water sources in the area.Gut hits often make them go for water

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

This type of situation is bound to happen to someone eventually. We are human and can't possibly see every single tiny branch that may be in the way of a shot. The good thing is that you are putting the time in to find her which is admirable. Alot of people would have given up because they didn't want to "waste" their time. Good luck and like cardeer said, she's probably headed for water.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Been there done that![:'(] But don`t` give up keep looking!! she is out there some where?? And yes water is a good place to at least to check out. It would be a good idea to take along some friends to help look. Just about every bowhunter i know has made a bad shot from time to time but it`s what you do after the shot that makes the deference. I wish you the best of luck finding her!!

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

The deer is dead, you just have to find it. Water is a good place to look, but don't get locked into one way of thinking. How far did you trail her last night? If you are quite confident its a gut shot, I'd wait 8 hr minimum, should this ever happen again. Looking in the closest, thick nasty brush areas is probably a good place to look also, just look hard because in thick places like that you can be within feet of your deer and not see her. Good luck.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good advice! As long as you didn't push her too soon, you still have an excellent change on recovery.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

yup, i've had it happen to me as well...not a good feeling. i didn't give up on my deer and eventually found it...i walked past the deer less than 10 ft. away three different times in a thicket. i finally just happened to walk right up on it...

don't give up on it and i'm sure you'll find the deer. good luck!

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

I did the same with my 7pt last year. 10 yards and I clipped a balsam branch. Was I PO'd. I new it was bad so I marked the spot I last saw him(It is really thick where I sit so it was close) checked the arrow and went home for the night. I called a couple of buddies and we went out in the morning at 9 am and found him at 9:30am. He was still alive but was just about gone so we punctured his lung so he would expire. He ran within 100 yards or so of my stand. We had no sign just followed trails and came upon him.

Good luck to you, hope you find her. It happens to us all and we all get upset with it but we just have to add it to the memory banks as a lesson learned and try hard to keep it from happening again.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Another thing to do is listen for crows. They will find a gut shot deer pretty quick. If you hear a bunch of them in the direction you think she went be sure to check it out. This has worked for me in the past. Best of luck finding her.