question about a shot, need help
 

Tonight is diffently one i will never forget, i feel so ashamed of my self. a young buck came under my stand at 4yards. I told myself since i am in the "uban zone" and can take 3 bucks, i would shoot for meat first and than worry about a rack. Well i drew on him and placed my pin low on him (knowing that my 20 yard pin would be real high on him) and released, wack i hit him high just under the spine. My arrow didn't pass through is was sticking out both sides. He ran off and than stopped, i listened and waited silnce. i waited for about 20 min thinking i might of clipped the top of the lungs and found blood, lots and lots of blood. i started to follow the blood, the blood were in big pools, and when the deer was walking it was like some one was pooring it out in a solid line. And when the deer was running it was nickle to quater size drops. I was sure this deer was going to die soon and not go to far. Well i tracked him for like 2 hours and 250 yards (i walked real slow). Well it went on a well defined trail and the blood started to get less and less. than there where two big poddles of blood and than nothing!!!! i mean not a spek. I looked and looked for atleast an hour and couldn't find anything.

I pulled out and decieded i'll wait till moring to prusue the buck, but i am thinking does this sound like a deer that is just shot through the loins or backstraps, or a deer that i hit the artery that runs under the spine (if so shouldn't it be dead within 100 yards). I don't know what to think about the shot, i tried to compensate for the short distance but oblivously not enough. And one more thing why the no passthough i never had a problem with that before and my thunderheads are sharp as can be.

thanks
sean

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

please respond if you have any idea on what to do

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

Sounds like a one lung or liver shot to me. A deer doesn't bleed as much as you described from just a flesh wound. He will be dead by morning if I was putting money on it. Since the shot was so steep you may have only got one lung instead of two, a deer can travel a long, long way on one lung.

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

what did the blood look like, any bubbles, pink, chunks of any color, with that much blood i'd bet the deer is close, you mentioned a solid line of blood and pretty good size spots, is the area thick you may have been very close to the deer, they are amazing when running low on blood, in the morning i'd go to the last blood and check on your hands and knees around the area, if this did not turn up anything i'd start making a circle, slowly, also look on twigs and limbs in the thick stuff around this, was this a pretty straight down shot, you mention going above the lungs but the deer was very close and you said you were in a stand, im having trouble figuring out the angle. is it possible you clipped a lung?

i hope you find him for piece of mind, best of luck

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

the blood is just red, not dark or bubbly, i am just worried that it is a flesh wound, i hate that feeling that i might of just wounded an animal.

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

that straight down and that much blood i would think you clipped a lung and he's down close by, sometimes these shots will plug up and quit bleading thats why i mentioned checking twigs and brush in the area and making the circles


hope you locate him

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

Good luck in the morning

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

I think you made the right decision to back out. With a high hit it may be bleeding good internally but pooling up inside the deer. With the amount of blood you describe I think you probably got at least a lung. Get out early this mornng and claim you kill. I'm pretty confident he won't be far.

Good luck!

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

I read a book by Tom Brown on tracking and some of the techniques he's used to track humans, deer, and just about anything else through the woods. The best tip I picked up is to lay down on the spot where you see the last bit of blood. What is invisible from an angle, becomes a nicely defined line in the leaves where the deer walked. You don't have to rely on the blood trail so much if you can see the disturbed leaves using this technique.

Another tip for injured deer is that they will tend to run downhill towards cover. This is especially true if there's water in the form of a stream or spring within that cover. I've heard speculation that blood loss causes massive thirst, and their instinct is to find water or other cool spots. The bases of hemlocks or rhodedendron are also good bets. From personal experience, the deer that didn't drop where I hit them all ran into streams or died under hemlock trees.

Good luck.

RE: question about a shot, need help
 

Flesh wounds can pruduce a lot of blood.