I think he's sunken in the lake.

Good to see a nice outcome from this story! Sometimes your eyes tell your brain what it wants to hear which is why you may have thought you hit him lower than you did. If you get a chance, post a picture of the entrance wound after you have him caped. It would be interesting to see the penetration.

Its a good feeling to know that a deer you thought was lost and dead somewhere was still moving and able to be harvested. You learned a lesson and quatering shots and the deer was able to have another week of staying fresh before he went to the freezer. Now you just have to convince your cousin that if it wasn't for you slowing him down he never would have shot him! LOL!

I made a shot similar to that about 5 years ago...the deer in on the wall. The arrow had good penetration, but no exit hole as the broadhead hit a rib bone on the back side. With the height of my stand and the angle of the arrow, there was no blood trail. I saw the direction the deer had gone and more or less followed the trail of distubed leaves the buck had left. Good luck with your search!

Very well said!

I would say you hit him in the liver I did the same thing this year and if there is water nearby if he can get to it he might lay down in it or be around where the water is I found where mine layed down

Good post, I almost lost my 2008 buck with a bad shot from my 6.5x55 If he wouldn't have turned around and tried to get back to his bedding area I wouldn't have found him. bad shots are made, you just need to chalk it up to experience and learn from it.

"I thought I was an alright bow hunter, but maybe I've just been lucky in the past. I think I made a really dumb shot this past weekend."

Two things strike me. One, you saying maybe you have been lucky in the past? How so? On low percentage quartering to shots? And two, your mind must be playing tricks on you if you saw an arrow enter near his back, but in reality it hit low in the shoulder, front side?

I hope you learned a good lesson here.