Well hear is the dreaded story no one wants to hear. First things first: this is my first year archery hunting. last night i went out and sat in my stand. about 30 minutes before complete darkness i had 4 does come out of there bedding areas and come into the field i have my stand next to. Then a spike buck comes in and he is 10 yards below me i am aiming to get a trophy buck this year so i wasnt goin to shoot him. well he is eating corn underneath me for about 10 minutes before one of the does comes in. i let her get to 15yards broadside then place my pin on the vitals and let her have it. well i watched it and it hit her in the shoulder a little high. i seen her run off with about 10inches of my arrow sticking out of her. i knew right away that it wasnt an ideal shot and there were deer still all around me so i waited 30 minutes before getting out of my stand to even look for blood. my buddy comes over and we both try to find a trail. now we didnt go far cause if she bedded down i didnt want to push her i was just trying to find blood so i knew which way she went. well we couldnt find a drop of blood so i decided i would take off half a day today and go look for her. This morning i get up and take my 2 sons out with me to try and find this deer. we walked for 3 hours this morning and in every direction i could think of. there is a creek that runs thru the property i hunt and i had my sons walk the entire thing without any luck.i searched under EVERY tree in the area as well. I am very dissapointed that i couldnt recover this deer. I am going tonight to my local proshop and have my bow zeroed in again just to make sure this doesnt happen again. thats the only thing that i can think of is that i must have hit my sights or something to make my arrow miss by that much. The arrow hit 5 inches higher and to the left of where i aimed. Im wondering if this deer will survive from this or if she is going to get ate by the yotes'. any advice will be appreciated.

Ahh, That really sucks. But it happens! Its a part of hunting. I hate it though, I dont bow hunt but a couple years back i shot at a doe (i was rushed and wasnt using my familiar gun) and hit her, couldnt find her. I still think i clipped her leg or something. Its not a good feeling but its part of hunting. Better luck next time!
-Bayou

Shoot the bow and see if it is off!! I hope you are not letting the pro shop shoot it to sight it in because it may hit different when you shoot it if it's sighted in for someone else.

no im gong to shoot it and let them make adjustments as necessary

I had this happen last year. I only found 1 drop of blood every 50 yards. I looked and trailed this deer 3 hours after dark and 1 hr before dark. My shot was dead on but a little forward hitting the shoulder. I watched her run off with most of my arrow sticking out. I like you searched high and low. I even tracked her across two creeks with little to no blood. finally backed out 3 hours after dark after searching a 20 acre field of waist high saw grass. Went back at sun up and managed to track her to a cedar thicket and upon going in I jumped up 3 deer and I found the deer I shot 3\4 eaten by coyotes and my arrow laying under a nearby cedar. I don't have to tell you what a sick feeling it is to lose an animal to a bad hit. It was only a 20 yrd shot. I was not prepared to give up without finding her. But under some situations no matter how hard you look you'll never find the animal. I wish you the best, sorry this happened. BTW your in Kansas coyotes got it pretty quick I'm guessing. We can't let one lay over nite in this part of the state. Good luck!
Live it up! Doug

im sure the coyotes got her by now. they were really loud last night as i was sitting in my stand so im sure they got ahold of her. the only thing that i did find was a 4inch patch of deer hair. showed it to my boys and searched that area hard but to no avail. it definitely is heartbreaking as this was going to be my first harvest with a bow. im going back out either thursday or for sure friday so hopefully i can put some meat in the freezer then. sigh...

Keep your head up! It happens to all of us. I wish you much success on your first bow harvest!
Live it up! Doug