bad shot
 

I was out Sunday morning I had the biggest deer I have ever seen come in @ 12-15 yards, I am watching some does out in front of me @ 50 yards. Well I eased around 1 min. he eased towards the does as I got turned and drew the dang does spotted me and blew and took off. He at the same time looked up at me as I was finishing my draw, I made a crutial and stupid mistake of not taking my time to zero in on the kill zone as I always do then shoot. I rush a little and hit him a little high and forward. I thought at first that it was a good shot. I waited 3 hours got a buddy who is very experienced at tracking to help me. We followed the tracks for 10 yards and not a single drop of blood. Now I saw the arrow sticking out of the deer running off so I know I shot him and also never found the arrow. We looked for over 6 hours covering the entire area 2-3 times. checked both creek banks all brush everything, well apparently not everything cause we didn't find the deer. We came up w/ the conclusion that the shot was high and forward. I am going back out the next couple of days and look for buzzards but it is the worst feeling ever. I try to be ethical and make good decisions on shot and shot placement, practice at least once a week in season to stay in tune. I'm just really discouraged right now. My advice to everyone is no matter what always take your time and follow through. Well what is you guys opinion on this do you think if he was shot in the shoulder will he live or die.

RE: bad shot
 

Sorry to hear about the bad shot rush creek and i really feel for you.
Please keep on searching and keep us posted on your sucess or failure to locate this deer.
Start from the hit and work outward again, i am sure you will locate some kind of clue as to where he is.

RE: bad shot
 

I am assuming that the arrow didn't hit any major blood vessel since you would have found a lot more blood. As long as the arrow did not hit the cavity and is in the area that you think you hit, I would say the deer that you described has a good chance of survival.

RE: bad shot
 

Where on this deer do you suppose you hit him.

http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

It might help you in determining your hit. It appears as if you certainly waited an appropriate amount of time unless it was a single lung hit. You failed to mention if he was quartered away, completely broadside or towards. Again, this anatomy chart might help.

RE: bad shot
 

It all happened so fast, again I thought it was a good hit when it first happened, I know for a fact it wasn't to far back the only thing I can come up w/ is that it was to far forward.

RE: bad shot
 

Keep your head up Rush. Sometimes bad hits happen and from your post it's clear you know why. Store that bit of imformation in the back of your head and I doubt that you'll make the same mistake again. The important part of hunting isn't killing animals. IMO it's what you learn and take away from it that really counts. I lost one about 7 years ago now and I often think of him when I'm in the woods. The shot I took was a good one and to this day I don't really know what whent wrong. All I know is I screwed something up and didn't recover the animal. I take that bit of information with me now every time I hit the woods. I look at every shooting situation a little diffrently and I believe that I am a more ethical hunter because of the buck I lost. It may sound corney but I'll never forget how I felt for the week after I took the shot. I spent the better part of the week searching from where I lost the blood trail to no avail.

Get out there and search but keep your head up in the process. Take what you can from the situation and you'll become a better hunter for it.

I wish you the best of luck in your search!

RE: bad shot
 

Rush Creek,

Looks like you got some good advice. The shot you explained sounds eerily similar to one I made and discussed on a recent post ("deer anatomy").

I shot high on a doe a couple of weeks ago. The arrow passsed through however, but the shot was high (above the vitals) and apparently just passed through the back muscle. Not that it is any consolation, but I saw the same deer yesterday morning. She (and two other does) came right under my stand. She was walking just fine -- she stopped at 10 yards and I got a good look at the area on her back ( a dark spot (dried blood) high on her shoulder about the size of a half dollar). Looks like she'll be just fine -- and perhaps your deer will be too. I couldn't get a clear shot without spooking -- and maybe I wasn't supposed too??

Keep your head up and good luck with the search and lessons from these things.

RE: bad shot
 

well i know some one who has had this happen to them befor my dad last year he shot at a nice 8 pointer with his bow and he was a little closer than he thought and he hit him high and forward we looked for him for 3 hours and even went home to get one of ouf old deer hounds to track him with. all we found was one speck of blood and a broken arrow shaft. he was killed be a gun hunter later in the season (about 5 weks later) the guy pulled the rest of the arrow out of him and gave it to us so we knew it was the same deer. he scored in the low 140's

RE: bad shot
 

I've lost 2 deer from shots that that looked pretty good but I believe they were High and forward.

I've never lost a deer from hitting too far back...but they can survive those high and tight shots.