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Questionable hit

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cjgarrett

New Member
Hey guys,

Saturday, Nov 7th, I was able to release an arrow on the buck that i have been chasing for the last 2 years. Unfortunately that is the only good part of the story...

The deer showed himself at last light and presented a 22 yards broadside / quartering away shot. He might have been 10 degrees off of broadside... Anyways, my arrow hit 2/3rds the way up his body tight to the shoulder. Upon impact the buck jumped straight in the air and took off at a dead run with his head down. He continued to run out of sight. (125 yards). I gave him 2 hours and went back in to start tracking. To my surprise, i found my arrow 5 yards from impact with 6" broken off and blood 4" up the shaft. The blood was not great so we backed out for the night. The next morning we were able to pick up on the blood trail which fizzled out after 80 yards. The blood looked like lung blood but there was not a ton... I searched for 5 hours on Sunday and came up empty. Monday i went out and put up 5 cameras over corn to see if i could get pictures. (Im in Kansas) I went back out thursday and the cameras showed no sign of him. I decided to go walk the area i thought he was bedding and check a nearby pond. 35 minutes into my walk i bumped him right where i expected to find him. He let me get within 10 yards of him before he busted out. No blood in his bed and he ran off 100 miles per hour... I'm at a loss on this one. I put more corn out and figure i will give him a week to settle down and see if i can get him back on camera. If he is a no show again, i guess i go back to do a body search. Anyone else see anything like this? My only guess is that i hit the front of the near lung on the high side and then the arrow lodged in his off shoulder blade.

Shooting a 100 G5 Striker, 70 lb draw at 22 yards.

I am going to stick it out as long as i need to with this deer because he will be my biggest buck to date, any advise is appreciated. Thanks
 
Crazy. Based on the description of your shot placement, I would have thought dead deer, no doubt. But if he was still alive on Thursday and ran as well as you say, I'm going to guess he's fine.
 
First off, all blood is red and any blood that comes out of a wound while the animal is running may be a little foamy. In fact a chest/lung wound is more likely to spray than be bubbly. I am firmly convinced that the whole concept of being able to identify "lung blood" is extremely questionable. No way to tell that from muscle blood. That said, if you saw him 2 days later and he ran off "100 mph" with no blood in his bed, your broadhead did not hit lung or any major vessel. Can't say for sure where the hit was but sounds like it was the proverbial "flesh wound" of cowboy movie fame. The good thing is he will very likely survive and you may get another crack at him either later this year or next. Go ahead and kill him & prove me wrong. Good luck! :)
 
I took had the exact shot last week. My shot was right behind the shoulder, middle to upper half of body. Arrow went 8.5 inches in and arrow was snapped off. I think i hit the opposite shoulder and stopped. I waited almost 4 hours and myself and 3 others found no trace. It's sickening.
 
cjgarrett said:
Pretty tough flesh to bring an arrow traveling 285 ft per sec to a stop!
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"Flesh wound" is just a figure of speech. Broadhead hit bone just can't say for sure which one, but pretty durn sure it didn't hit lung! Go ahead & kill him & let us know what you find.
 
HorseDoctor said:
"Flesh wound" is just a figure of speech. Broadhead hit bone just can't say for sure which one, but pretty durn sure it didn't hit lung! Go ahead & kill him & let us know what you find.
Click to expand...

Any ideas on what bone the arrow hit? Interested to hear your theory with your experience. My theory is that there are only 2 bones big enough to bring the arrow to a halt. Spine and scapula. I've hit them in the spine before, they don't go far =) But i am shocked that i could hit the far shoulder and not hit vitals.
 
OK, I'll guess... Based on your initial description, I would guesstimate that he may well have dropped a bit and your shot may have hit a few inches higher than you thought. An shot in that area may well have hit one of the spines sticking up above the vertebra. That wouldn't necessarily damage the spinal cord & drop him especially with an arrow hit. Shot in that area with a rifle will likely likely drop them in their tracks, only to have them get up in a few minutes & run away. Even on a huge elk. Don't ask me how I know that or I may start crying again... :( It's possible/probable that your arrow also went through the very top of the shoulder blade also. That combination of bone(s) could stop the arrow. If the arrow passes through shoulder blade & embeds in the dorsal spines, the shearing action of him running would account for the relatively quick broken arrow shaft. Again, only my best SWAG but certainly a plausible scenario. Go kill him and let me know if I'm close. Good luck!
 
You'd be surprised how far the spine and back straps come down right behind shoulder. I think he'll be fine unless you get another chance.

 
Just wanted to give everyone an update. I FINALLY got pictures of the deer that I shot on the 7th... He was back on camera the 19th and the 23rd. As i feared, i hit him high shoulder, 2/3rds the way up. By the look of the wound, i am surprised i didn't spine him. 2" back and i would have double lunged him.
 
Well.... as tough as it is to come that close that close & not close the deal, at least he's alive & out there for another try and not in a gully somewhere feeding coyotes. Go get him! Good luck!
 
Good to hear he is still alive. Hope you get another crack at him.

Out buddy did what sounded like the same thing on our farm Nov 14th in WI. He was a 5.5 yr old buck we had been watching since age 2.5. Has a less than desirable rack but a true trophy at that age. Our buddy was sick about it...Rifle season just ended yesterday so I haven't been in there at all to check cams. Hopefully he shows back up. Will be checking this coming weekend. Either that or I'd be happy to find out if one of the neighbors shot him.
 
Hoping to get back on him here in the next week or so. He has definitely taken it as a lesson and completely changed his routine. I have my work cut out for me. Ill keep you guys posted.
 
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