[antler3]

Well I thought I made a real good shot. The arrow did not pass through. I saw about 5 inches of the fletching end sticking out as she turned to run. It looked like I had got her right in the heart. Any body ever shot too low behind the shoulder ? Arrow was sticking out about 3 to 3.5 inches up from the bottom of her and right behind the front leg. We trailed her for about 8 hours and finally lost the blood trail. She went.... gosh a long ways before we lost it. I'd guess probably 1/2 mile or more. We saw where she would stop and drip a good spot three or four times but the rest was just drops and sometimes just a pin head size drop. She jumped a 6 strand bob wire fence after going at least 1/4 mile and left blood on the fence. Didn't appear to cause her to bleed anymore from jumping it. The blood was bright red without any froth from lungs. I know I missed her lungs but I thought I had gotten her heart. Maybe I just got too low and missed all of it. I'm thinking the arrow probably hit her far shoulder, reason for not being a pass through. Anybody got any thoughts as to what might have happened I'd like to hear from ya .....

 

[Rico]

Shot a cow elk just like you are describing once, with a similar result. Talked to a guy the next year who found my elk two weeks after the hunt while squirrel hunting and said it had just died. He said the arrow missed the heart, passing low and in front of the heart. !/2 the shaft stayed in the animal and eventually worked its way back out...until it nicked the heart and caused the death. Sorry for your loss.

 

[argeaux]

I had something similar happen Friday. This was my first time hunting in many years and first time with a crossbow. I was in the stand at around 5:30pm and had been there about 3 hours so far, when this doe came walking up. I let her get to about 30 yards and she presented herself sideways and I took the shot. She hobbled about 40 yards to the right, stayed for about a minute, then hobbled to the left and then jumped and disappeared over a hill. I waited about an hour for my friends to come and we started looking around. We found a pretty big deep, red puddle where she was standing for a minute and a nice-sized blood trail that disappeared after about 40 yards. At that point it was late and everyone wanted to go and pick it up the next morning. Unfortunately it rained overnight. We met then and and did a sweep and my friend suggested that it wasn't a fatal shot and the deer probably lived and got away. I was bummed because I really did think it was a pretty decent shot but he is the expert so we left it at that. I've been in the woods three times since then and had no other chance to take a shot.

 

[misplaced hillbilly]

Have suspicions. What is your bow setup? (about how fast does it shoot, how many pounds of pull, what type of bow, compound or recurve/long bow). What type of broadheads are you shooting? (fixed blade/mechanical). What angle was the deer at to you at the time of shot? And what was the position of the front foot, in relation to the front foot on the opposite side of the deer, at the time of the shot?

 

[fullcredit]

Another question----has that broadhead ever been shot at anything? Target, another deer, ANYTHING??? Or, is it a new broadhead that has not been ever been used, even though it is a few years old? (they can get dull over time due to oxidation) After my experience last week on a good shot that could have gone bad, I'll not use a broadhead on anything except shooting at game. After I shoot one from now on, I'll change to a new or resharpened set of blades.

http://www.arkansashunting.net/showthread.php?t=41162&highlight=lesson+re-learned

 

[Down on the White]

Fullcredit is right I made a bad shot one year and the blade ripped the belly instead of making a clean pass thru. I finally retrived the deer but learnt a very hard lesson that day after tracking for four hours plus. Point it was a dull broadhead.

 

[readytoshootsumtin]

I had the same thing happen to me this morning, 25 yard shot, low behind the shoulder. I did get a complete pass thru, but I only got about a 80 yard blood trail. I lost blood in a thicket. I had some buddies come over and we did a grid search of the thicket and never found hide,hair or blood. I was using brand new G5 Montec broadheads, they were factory sharp, but I'll put my own edge on them before I go back out

 

[BPShunter]

Yep! You want your blades to be so sharp that your scared of them. An artery on a deer is like a rubber band and will just stretch around a dull broadhead blade.

BPShunter

 

[John Stiles]

Yep....lessons just keep right on coming...they don't ever stop.....I shot at a doe this very evening an hour before sundown....the sun was in her eyes as she was trying to spot me from 20 yds. I had already drawn and figured her for a drop as soon as she heard the string, but I have never been able to aim too low in that situation....lesson: I missed again fractions of an inch over her back! But I didn't have to trail blood like you did, I came home happy and had a cup of coffee. I'm sorry for the loss, but ya can't let it eat at you. All these guys have stories of the one that got away!:up:

 

[Buck-Ridge]

I did the same thing a few years ago. Shot one right over the heart heard it run up in the woods and fall. I picked up the arrow where she broke it off and went to get her the next morning. When I was almost to her she got up and left the country. There were 2 drops of blood on the ground in her bed. Looked the rest of the morning till noon and never found another drop. I just didn't hit anything that bled good.

 

[antler3]

My bow is just a beginner bow. It's a PSE. I'm only pulling 40 pounds right now. I have 75 grain muzzy 3 blades. The doe was broadside with her onside leg stepped up and her far leg was straight. She was coming straight onto me and then turned broadside and stopped. She was looking back at another deer coming up behind her and never saw the arrow coming. My broadheads are new and never been shot. Yea I am trying to convince myself that things happen this way sometimes, but is hard not to be a little sad for the deer. I hope she looses the arrow. Thanks for the input.

 

[huntindoc]

Sounds like the shot was more forward than you thought. She wouldn't have gone that far if the arrow was anywhere inside the chest cavity. Sometimes its easy to get fooled on the exact angle. I've shot deer I would have sworn were dead broadside only to find on recovery the exit wound to be 3 or 4 inches forward or back compared to the entry wound.

Stuff like this will happen if you do this long enough. Don't get down about it. Just do the best you can to learn from it and avoid making the same mistakes again and again. Be as proficient as you can be with your chosen weapon, take shots you know you can make and like fullcredit says make sure you only shoot razor sharp broadheads.

hd

 

[mlsouth]

Get chaley over there; he'll kill it. He shot mine that I had wounded the day before. My shot had went in on the right side of the neck, and came out of the left shoulder. My broadheads left a huge hole, but must have missed every vital organ. Chaley was able to put the deer down the next morning.

 

[antler3]

Good on Chaley ! Glad ya'll was able to finish the job. I have had that thought before ... maybe I'll see her again and can take her down. Now that would make for a very satisfying hunt. :up:

 

[John Stiles]

Good on Chaley ! Glad ya'll was able to finish the job. I have had that thought before ... maybe I'll see her again and can take her down. Now that would make for a very satisfying hunt. :up:

At last...a glimmer of hope:up::up::up::biggrin:

 

[misplaced hillbilly]

I am an advocate of using light broadheads with faster shooting bows. I am using 85 gr slick tricks this year, with my near 300 fps matthews I would probably step up the weight of my broaheads with this lower poundage. But I would not expect a complete pass thru. It is often better for the arrow to remain in the chest cavity. My opinion is that the arrow probably did indeed hit forward and perhaps the deer was twisted slightely away. The deer will likely survive. It has a far greater chance when bone is hit of surviving with a bow shot, than a gun shot. This is disheartening, I have hunted a long time and quite extensively with the bow and arrow. I have learned a lot of lessons along the way. Just do your best and try to learn from experiences. Sometimes we do almost everything right and something just happens. All we can do is, try to evaluate the situation, make every effort to right the situation, but also try to build on it and it will make us a more effective. Don't give up and good luck.