Most of the time if the jump in straight up in the air they are hit pretty hard. My guess is that you hit him in the heart. Good luck on the recovery!

Not a good shot to take at all. I bet you took out one lung and without the passthough you will not have any or much blood at all. All I can say is that you are lucky that the arrow is still inside the deer. Hopefully it will puncture the other lung or heart. Good luck finding this one.

Yup, if you don't get another vital. It could even survive (although the chances are slim)the hit if you hit one lung and nothing else.

The reason your not finding blood is obviously because you didn't get a complete passthru. But if your arrow is sticking out somewhere near the bottom of the deer you will find blood up the trail. Most likely, you didn't penetrate the lower half of the deer resulting in very little and I mean very little or even no blood. If you hit lung, liver, or major arteries or vessels, it will take awhile for the body cavity to fill up with blood before it starts to come out of the hole you punched in the deers upper torso. I've seen deer go several hundred yards after a marginal shot (one lung, liver, etc.). It's hard to say what vitals you hit, but I'm sure the deer's dead. Be persistant and don't give up till you find that deer. I hope it's a speedy recovery, but it may take alot of work to recover this deer.

P.S.- If you have a dog, use it, it can save you many long hours. Good Luck!

I think you made a good decision to back out of the woods. If it dosn't rain you be able to see alot more with good light.

has anyone had this happen and if i can not find a blood trail how do you track a deer that has been hit like this?

Not exactly a you've described but I've owned a marginal hit or two in my career. You've started off by doing the right thing. Time is your friend. The doe I shot earlier this year was hit very poorly. The shot was a good shot but I flat out shanked it. I backed out and and gave her 9 hours and when I returned I found her bedded down about 40 yards from the hit.

Tracking can be tough. I didn't find a silgle spot of blood but is he tore off you might be able to follow his tracks. It will be tough but can be done. The most important thing now is perserverance. You took the shot and now you owe it to yourself and the animal to locate it.

If you can't find blood and a grid search dosn't turn up any sign a good bet is to work your way down hill and also look neer water. My doe was bedded withing 10 feet of a creek.

Good luck!