Shot a buck on Thursday morning at about 18 yards quartering slightly to me. 350 grain arrow tipped with a Grim Reaper 1 3/8" expandable hit what I think was the back half of the shoulder blade. The front 6" (at best) broke off inside the buck as he ran off (no limp, and did jump a 4' fence). I'm shooting nearly 300fps at 72# (I only have a 25 5/8" draw length). I did find blood for about 200 yards with some bubbles in it, but no beds. We then began a blind search to no avail. What kind of experiences do you all have with penetrating the shoulder blade? I guess I expected more on a marginal hit with my set up.
Cornfed
Bowhunting Addict
In my opinion it takes a TON of kinetic energy to blow an expandable head through a shoulder blade. It is difficult enough with a fixed blade head. It sounds like at the very best you may have punctured one lung. Which may or may not be fatal. I read an interesting article a while back about deer surviving single lung hits.... it is hard to believe they can though. A high hit like that will generally produce marginal blood as a lot of the blood is inside the body cavity.
I would not give up looking for him... hopefully you can find him. Quartering toward you shots are difficult at best and a lot of bone is in the way with the shoulder, ribs, brisket area, etc.
I hope you can find him :way:
I would not give up looking for him... hopefully you can find him. Quartering toward you shots are difficult at best and a lot of bone is in the way with the shoulder, ribs, brisket area, etc.
I hope you can find him :way:
Luckily the guy hunting on the other side of the fence is a really nice guy from Louisanna that we ran into the evening of the search. He is keeping an eye out for us. I'm a veterinarian so I guess I have probably over-analysed the shot placement and evidence found. I think I got very little of the broadhead into the lung. I took a mount off the wall and compared shot angles and penetration depths to see what kind of dammage there might be. This guy never acted like a seriously wounded deer. Most of the trail was up hill through difficult terrain, with no sighns of stopping. He wasn't that spooked when he ran off, just kind of trotted away.
Iowabowtech
Active Member
I had the identical shot as you described last year and never found him. Lost blood after about 150 yds. About all a person can do is to walk out the area and hope you come across him. Best of luck to you.
Cornfed
Bowhunting Addict
Sounds like the head may have glanced of the shoulder blade....sounds like he will be a little sore for a few weeks but likely no worse for the wear. The single lung hit article I was referring to I believe was written by Randy Ulmer... who also is a veterinarian.....
I had a single lung hit 4-5 years ago, but that was a complete pass through with no liver involvement. I waited 4 hours to begin tracking (we waited 7.5 hours for this one) and kicked him out of his bed 100 yards away. Checked the bed and there was blood, so I waited 1/2 hour and began tracking again. Wind blowing in my face, I actually got a visual on the buck. He would lay down for 10-15 minutes, then get up and begin walking off again. Finally I was watching him with my binocs from about 50 yards away and couldn't see him breathing. Walked up on him (didn't have my bow) and called my friend on the cell. I was gonna dispatch him with my knife. 5 minutes late the buck jumped up and took off on a dead run and fell over 40 yards away...Finally dead. That was 3:30. He traveled about 400 yards.