aeroslinger

I shot a doe tonight at about 5:30. My pins were fading but I thought I had it on the boiler at about 20 yards. She was broadside turned to my right and that's the way she bolted. It sounded like a good hit. I found the arrow by a tree about 7-8 yards from where where she was standing and in the path she ran. There is blood on the arrow the entire length and on the fletchings. A few small bits of meat but not much. The blood looks more red towards the nock end and on the fletches but appears more brownish around the middle. There are a few hairs that are white at the bases and gets darker toward the tip with the very tip white again. I looked for about an hour and a half but could not find any signs of a blood trail and decided to go back in the morning. I'm thinking a high shot since not blood sign. Does this sound right? The temps are supposed to be in the mid 40's tonight. By the way, I'm shooting a Pearson Anaconda at 65 lbs using Easton 2315's tipped with Spitfire 100's. Any advice or guesses?

HNTNWHTTAIL4LF

Personally to me it sounds like you are doing the right thing by waiting..
If youre not sure of the hit.. But did you smell the arrow? Does it have a foul stinch to it??(that could indicate some gut). I also shot a doe this year right through the heart and there was not alot of blood either.. You stop the pumper you stop the blood.. Luckly i was able to watch her and know for sure which way she went..I found her with no problem but it was 1:00 in the afternoon too.. With just specks of blood but a trail non the less..
The white hair could be from the exit of the arrow through the bottom of the chest.. How high were you in your tree?
I cant really say because i wasnt there..But i believe you should find her in the mornin...Just get some sleep and be ready at 1st light..Take your bow with ya too cause you never know what could happen if you have it with ya..You might end up stickin another one while bloodtrailing her.It happened to me this year..Shot a buck while blood trailing that doe.. Good luck in findin her and keep us posted..

aeroslinger

HNTNWHTTAIL4LF, I smelled it but didn't think it really smelled too bad. To me it was just the blood smell but my wife thought it smelled but I think she would have thought it smelled if it had been a new arrow I just told her had gone through a deer! Thanks for the reply.

Two Beards

Based on what you've told us, and without knowing the angle of the shot, my guess would be a gutshot. More importantly is you got out of there. Waiting tonight and going back in the morning is the right thing to do.

When you looked for a hour & a half did you just search in the immediate area or did you follow the trail she ran away on? Hopefully none of the bloodtrail was disturbed. With the large cut on the Spitfire you used and a complete pass-through, I have to believe she won't go far before bedding down and expiring.

One of the toughest things to do as a bowhunter is back away from a bloodtrail and wait. The vast majority of the time it is the right decision and results in a recovered animal...good job! If I do not see or hear the animal go down at the time of the shot, I will always back out....this I've learned from experience.

Good luck in the a.m. on finding your doe. Hopefully it was a good hit and she won't be far. Keep us posted.

TB

PAHUNTER21

sounds like a high paunch hit to me,. Keep after her and you'll find her.

Greavous

If the arrow doesn't smell like guts and there is dark blood on the arrow I would lean a little towards a liver hit which arent known for heavy bleeding either. I shot a buck with a spitfire last year and there wasn't much if any blood at first. After scouting for blood in the direction I last saw him it became the most easy track I have ever made. Massive blood trail. So maybe you just didnt find the first turn she made due to darkness and it will all play out in the morning.

Good tracking.

Mathewsboy

The Liver Hit will have a Slight Odor too, not bad, but you can smell it.. I dont think I ever really smelled just blood.. I didnt think it really had an odor..

I hit a Deer in the Liver this year, Great blood for 70 yrs then completely cut off. Exit Hole plugged up. I found the Deer, PURE LUCK, about 1/2 from where I shot him.. If your Arrow was COVERED in BLOOD, and no Tallow, I would say, LIVER, if it was Gutshot, you'd KNOW IT..

SHe's DEAD.. Now go find HER..

Goodluck

nubo

Well I hope that I'm wrong about this but it's just my thought ,When I hear Brown then I have to think that you just might have caught the gut sack a bit ,but this doesn't mean you won't find her because gut shot's are fatal as well it just take's a little more time for her to die and if you didn't pressur her then she'll lay down near by. If she was quartering away the you still might have made a fatal lung shot as well as the gut sack ,so don't give up she most likely isn't very far away. When you find her give us the final analysis on what happened.

nubo

aeroslinger

Bad news so far, guys. I went back out at 7:00 this morning. Still couldn't find a blood trail. I was shooting from a ground blind. Its Texas hill country and fairly dense so I couldn't sight her path much past the tree I found my arrow at. I started there and spiraled out to about 50 yards. Then I tried a spoke pattern. Then I started making larger circles. Not sure how far but would guess ended up 300-400 yards out. I also checked 2 small creeks and a little bog. She ran perpindicular from where she came from but I covered a bunch back where she came in case she looped back around. I was thinking liver shot last night also but with no blood I was guessing it must have been higher up and just hadn't bleed out enough yet. I'm pretty flustered right now.

HNTNWHTTAIL4LF

That sucks man.. Hate to hear it. But in time i think just about everyone has an experince like this and it's sickiniing to the stomach.. You dont go out and prepare for the season to have stuff like this happen but it does and will... But keep huntin and may the next one go better for ya.. GooD luck to ya the rest of your season..