What happened on this shot?!
 

Crossbow hunting.

A broadside shot at a doe at about 15 yards (ground blind). I found lots of coarse white hair--and the fletching end of the bolt broke off (white hair at the break point on that as well).

The deer ran out into the field. Lost sight of it in the tall grass. Spent considerable time criss-crossing the field looking for blood/signs. Nada.

I'm going back in the morning to be sure, but at this point I want to know what the heck happened and where I hit the deer.

(using carbon bolts and NAP Spitfires). I've taken deer with this setup before...the bow is sighted in properly.

Frustrating. The whole event was a high-percentage setup.

Did you hit a small sapling? I've done that with a doe at 15 yrds before, completely shattered the arrow, and of course the deer was fine, maybe only the fletching of your bolt hit a sapling, but I'm not sure. I lost another deer tonight.

Pete

White hair sounds like a low shot...Im not familiar with crossbow hunting so I won't speculate further than the fact of white hair.

How far in was the break on the arrow and how far from the shot did you did you find the arrow? Sounds like a low shot, maybe brisket, you may have just given her a haircut too with a very slight wound.

The arrow was broke off right at the beginning of the fletchings. I found that small part of the arrow at a right angle about five feet from where the deer had been standing. I thought that was a very odd spot for the arrow to break.

I hope at this point it's a graze shot and the deer will be fine, given that it doesn't look good for finding it.

It's possible. I'm going to look more carefully tomorrow for this type of thing. I did notice before the deer came out that not all my sight lines were as clear as they should be. It's funny the things you find out when sitting in the blind for the first time--even though you've had it set up for weeks ;)

No blood on the ground or arrow at all?

I'd look as much as you can in the direction that she ran and really check the ground. If there is no blood or no more hair hopefully it was a graze and the arrow broke on something else. You should have some blood if it was a hit but you never know.

Here is a picture of a buck I shot last year in gun season. Luckily he was only grazed by a bow hunter earlier that year or I might not have gotten a deer this year!

Interesting picture. Thanks for sharing. I really hope that's what I did. Of course, it was an easy shot and that brings up some embarrassing things for me to ponder--but I'd rather have that than a mortally-wounded deer I can't find.

Here is an other idea. This is a low shot, but not a "shave job in my opinion. A shot that low should not have resulted in a broken shaft ... unless the doe stepped on the blt as she ran off. Laugh ... I had this happen bow hunting many years ago.

I have a theory to offer. May be way, way wrong ... but. The bolt passed through the onside of the deer, very low. The broad-head struck the off-side foreleg and stopped from passing on through. Maybe it struck the large fore leg bone. The rear of the bolt was buried to the hilt more or less, but still exposed. As the deer ran, the scissor motion of the forelegs sheared off the rear of the bolt.

I would still expect to find some blood along the path that the doe fled, if for no other reason that there is "cut" flesh.

Any progress made ???