Lethal Shot Question

[larsen]

I shot a doe last night at 20yds. I had to thread the needle to make the shot but felt comfortable with it. Anyways after the shot I saw the arrow hit further back and a little higher than I wanted. She took off and ran 30yds into the cornfield and did that drunken deer walk and fell over dead. When I got up to the deer I realized my shot was very high and back. Is there a main artery that travels beneath the spine?

 

[DOUBLE LUNG]

I believe it is called the dorcel artery.

 

[jlwdvm]

The descending aorta runs from the heart towards the rear of the deer just under the backbone in the abdominal cavity. If you cut that, the deer will die just as quick or quicker than a double lung. I have had to euthanise cows that way when a surgery hasn't gone quit as planned. There is also a very large blood vessel that drains all of the blood that is circulated throught the intestinal tract and takes it to the liver. Cut that and you have a dead deer also. I think that a gut shot deer that dies quickly with lots of bleeding will have had one of these vessels cut.

 

[larsen]

Thanks for your post Doc. I'm pretty sure thats what I hit then. I guess luck was on my side!!

 

[J Becker]

i have hit this twice, once on accient and one the shot was so straight down that my arrow clipped it on its way to the heart and one lung. Your shot will sometimes put them down quicker than a double lung!

HunterMan

 

[dcameron]

Something like this:

this deer crashed with 20 yards

 

[Benny]

Yes, Dorsal Aorta.

If you hit it they will die within seconds. It is the main artery that runs to the rear portion of the deer's body along the spinal column and then it branches off into the left and right femoral artery in the crotch area and the femoral arteries run down each leg.

 

[larsen]

Yep thats it David!! Thanks for the pic.
Mine was actually a clean pass through but maybe thats because I was shooting a Mathews