borealboy

Add me to the list of people who post here with sad stories about a bad shot. I had a nice 8 pt come in just before dark last night and after circling my stand several times, presented me with a quartering away shot at 25 yds. I took the shot, heard a thud and he took off. My arrow was broken in two and the front piece is bent just behind the broadhead. NO BLOOD on the broadhead or feathers but a bit of blood half way down the shaft where it broke. It was dark at this point so I left him overnight and returned this AM. No blood trail nearby but by shear luck I found a few spots of blood on some grass on a beaver dam that he crossed about 200 yds away. The blood was on the grass about 10 inches off the ground and the trail ended quickly. 5 hrs of searching was unproductive.
My guess is that this was a none fatal hit possibly a leg shot which glanced off a bone. I hope I'm correct and that he'll recover from his injuries but obviously I'm worried about it. I'll go out again tomorrow after work and look some more but I know all their bedding areas and there were no signs of him.
Anyone had this experience before who could give me some advice?

HAZCON7

Best advice on bad shots - Don't take em

Charlie P

I'd take a quartering away shot at 25 yards, things happen some times. I guess Hazcon has never had anything go wrong with a shot while bowhunting.

No real advice except do everything you can to find the deer.

HAZCON7

Yep, I've had a couple of bad shots and thats why I gave the advice above.

Based on what I read, I'd say it was more than 25 yards out. He misjudged the distance and came up short on a long bone hit.

BobCo19-65

25 yard yard quartering away shot is not a bad shot to take in my book. If you got penetration half way down the shaft, you should have had enough penetration. It sounds like you may have hit some heavy bone however. If you didn't see any bubles in the blood and the blood was not pinkish, you propably did not get a lung. If it was bright red, then it was proabably a muscle hit which probably will not be fatal. My guess is that you hit too far forward on the deer.

Charlie P

So how do you figure out it was more then 25 yards from his post. Some many other things could have happend . Low light maybe he hit a branch.Or raised his head to see the arrow hit. Or canted his bow .

HAZCON7

Again, refer to my original post. If these conditions exist then the possibility of a bad shot exists. Don't take bad shots and you won't have to ask people for their opinions.

Otherwise, run around the woods and try to find a deer with a limp.

borealboy

For the record, the distance was 25 yds on my rangefinder. I range all the trees around my stand when I start so I knew the distance. The view was unobstructed with no wind. Bottom line, I made a bad shot maybe dropped my bow arm, who knows. "Don't take a bad shot" is good advice. "Don't get your truck stuck in the snow, Don't trip over the dog,etc are also good bits of advice but for some reason these things still happen
It seems like a superficial bone hit was most likely. Hopefully he'll live to be shot at another day. Thanks for everyones input.

deerhuntr33

Don't beat yourself up there,everyone has had a bad shot some time or another.thats why we're called humans.Practice,practice,practice.And you will be fine