bigwayne119

Today was opening day for Delaware archery season and while watching a fawn play 10 yards from me at sunset, an eight point I have been watching all summer suddenly chased the fawn away and stood broadside 15 yards from me.

I shot and hit what looked to me about midway up the torso, right behind the shoulder. The deer dropped to its front knees quickly before circling around and running like crazy into a corn field. The spot I was hunting was a 3/4 acre fallow spot within the field that is adjacent to a small woodlot and I was hunting from a natural ground blind.

When I left my spot, it was dark and I found the arrow easily as it was a straight pass through. It was laying 30 yards away on top of the ground and had bright red blood puddles completely down the shaft, the broadhead's ferrule (Muzzy 100 grains) was bent and the arrow was bent about 2/3 of the way down the shaft (aluminum xx75 gamegetters).

Upon inspecting the open field, I could not find any blood anywhere but on my arrow and because of the dark and chance of jumping the deer I headed back in. However, upon leaving the field I came upon the 4 foot deep ditch that I follow to this spot and I heard something that sounded like a grown and weak struggle about 30 yards down the ditch. I could not see anything in the ditch to the banks not being mowed this year.

I am heading back out in the morning to look for the deer and wanted to know if anyone had any advice past the normal blood trailing info available to finding a deer that does not put off a good trail and runs into standing, green corn. Also, I am guessing the meat will spoil overnight as it is in the seventies unless the deer stays alive and is just immobilized. Finally, what could have bent the arrow and broadhead so badly? I am shooting an old Bear bow that is only at 55 pounds, I was wondering so I could hopefully get a better idea as to where the deer is hit.

Patrick Eubanks

sounds like an easy recovery. You should have no problem trailing it. Good luck.
follow the footprints if its in a cornfield.

Thunderchicken217

In my experience with clean pass throughs it is hit or miss as to how quickly the blood trail will begin. I shot an 11 pt last yr at 25yds with my Xbow and basically center punched him about as perfectly as possible. My son and I did not evn find but 2 or maybe 3 droplets of blood for the first 50 yds maybe even 60yds but then he began to open up and wasnt but another 40yds from there. Seems to me that its all relative to the height of the exit wound on the chest cavity. If you hit middle up it takes a long time for the entire chest cavity to fill before it begins to come out the exit hole. The other part is trajectory and if you were on the ground and not in a treestand the exit hole is probably at least level with the entrance hole. If the deer were slightly above you because of the terrain it may be above the entrance hole making it even longer before the blood begins to spill out. Alot of things go into making or breaking a blood trail and for me, some of my best shot placements resulted in some pretty small amounts of blood to follow. Sounds like you got him so just take your time and crawl on your hands and knees if need be looking for blood if he isnt laying in the ditch you suspect he is in. Good luck and post some pics if you recover him.

MZS

There is a "no kill zone" just high of the lungs (but below the spine) just behind the front shoulders. If you hit this spot, the deer will probably still be walking around - this would explain absence of a trail. This is a hit over 3/4 up the body.

If you were midway up the deer as you state, this should have been a lung shot however and the deer should be dead somewhere. Even with a hard lung shot they often will not show a trail close to where you shot but rather 20 yds (or more) away. Good luck finding it. You might bring some toilet paper with you and mark where you have already searched with small pieces of the paper - a good thing to do when blood trailing after dark. Having some people help is a real plus too.

After you hit the deer, did you give it at least 30 minutes before trailing? (Sounds like you did)

bghunter777

This is not true. The "no kill zone" aka dead zone does not exist below the spine. You should be fine just put in the time and find that deer.

bigwayne119

Have been back for four hours now looking, found his tracks from last night and he ran in the open for forty yards from where I shot and into the corn, no sign of blood anywhere but the arrow was covered with bright red blood and long, brown hair. It looks like once he hit the corn he ran through a small gully until the ditch and at that point I cannot find anymore tracks but since the grass and shrubbery on the back is not matted or knocked over I don't think he crossed there.

The only other odd clue I have is when I am about 80 yards south of the lost trail I keep getting a smell once in a while that smells like deer guts and blood. I have been walking through the corn field looking through each row but have had no luck and still no sign of blood.

I did jump up another buck from a ditch in the same area but it was a much larger deer and leaped into corn from the bottom of a 7 foot deep ditch so I know it is not the one I shot last night.

Thanks for the help, I'm going back out after some food to keep looking.

olsaltydog

Hmm hard to believe you are not seeing any blood by now. You wouldnt happen to have any buds with dogs trained for tracking would you. If not you need to get more people out there to help out. Early season is not forgiving if the deer is dead.

bigwayne119

Still no luck. I have canvased 10 acres of corn so far with no sign of this deer. I have some friends to help out tonight but the trail just ends about 5 yards into the corn headed towards the ditch. On our property the deer could have either went one way towards my house, another way onto a different property, or straight across to our woods (300 yards away). Not sure what else to do at this point, he might just be a lost cause.

deernutz

It is possible he’s still alive. That no kill zone the other poster said doesn’t exist is wrong. I shot a deer behind the shoulder the last week of bow season, and lost the blood trail. I shot that same buck the last week of rifle season with the scars through and through. So yes it is possible to have a pass through behind the shoulder when elevated in a tree stand, and the deer still be alive. Now I will say more than likely your chances of hitting this zone are slim, but it is possible. Keep looking I’ve done circles before and almost stepped on dead deer before in tall grass.

MZS

I think you are correct for a deer shot from an elevation - it would be impossible to shoot above the lungs and below the spine. In fact, I would say it would be a very good shot.

But, however, from a ground blind it is a different story. I shot a deer from a ground blind that was about 3/4 up just back from the front leg. And I gave it an hour before pursing. I figured that it was a slam dunk. Pass through shot broadside. Trailed the faint blood trail. No deer. Then the trail became less and less. Found traces of it at 100 yds, then it was gone. Looked and looked. Came back the next day with 3 helpers. This was a small woods and we should have found it. We neither found the deer nor did we even find any trail. In another account from a different forum (I won't post the link), an antelope hunter posted:
Since the last incident, I figured out how to avoid this. Aim mid-body just a little farther back and mid-body so as to hit mid-lung. And if the arrow is a little high, it will still get lung since the lungs angle up higher. It is a little more risk of a gut shot, but at least a gut shot can be recovered. This is how I shot when I first started bow hunting and it proved to be reliable - I went back to this tactic with no deer lost since. And this is for ground blind hunting or fairly low tree stand hunting. I would again state that a shot behind the shoulder from a higher stand would be not only lethal, but very lethal.