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Something to Think About

K

Kaylray

Guest
Several years ago a friend of mine shot a nice 170 class. It got dark and he could not pick up a blood trail so decided to wait till morning. In the morning he was able to find the deer a short distance from where he had shot it but the coyotes had gotten to it and damaged it so bad he just caped it and threw the carcass in the trash pile. Several days later while taking out the trash he noticed the yotes had it picked clean but something looked strange. Upon investigating it he found that it had a broad head fused to a rib from an old wound. Had the coyotes not gotten to it, he could have been seriously injured reaching up into the chest cavity while field dressing it.

I never thought much about it, but I have heard several stories of hunters getting severley cut cleaning deer. I recently heard a story of an elk hunter who severed an artery while cleaning his elk and bled to death before he could get help.

I am starting to think it may not be a bad idea to look a deer over for old wounds before starting the cleaning process?

I have posted a couple pics so you can see how easy it would have been to grab a hold of while cleaning.

I am no anatomy expert but it would seem obvious that this deer had to survive with only one lung.

Helluva conversation piece!

HT

P.S. Interestingly enought the arrow in this deer turned out to be from a relative the year before.


1609pic3.jpg
 
Great post and pictures.

The top picture really gives a good indication of the deers anatomy in relation to the spine. I think alot of shots thought to have been hit in the "void" area of the deer (between the spine and lungs) are actually hit above the spine. I would also suggest that there is low probability that you can shoot a deer below the spine but above the lungs. Shredder what is your opinion?
 
wow those are some cool pics, that would be quite the suprise while field dressing. im with onecam i think it would be hard to hit that spot too especially from a tree, i would think it would always hit a lung. i bet most do shoot above the spine, sure is awesome pics though!!!
 
Wow!!! How'd ya like to run your wrist into that reaching up in the chest cavity. That definately could've been a bad deal!!

CRITR
 
Cool, scary to think what would have happened if someone stuck their hand in there without looking. That would be a wonderful picture to use as an aid in a DNR hunter education class.

I'd guess that arrow was shot from a tree and penetrated the left shoulder blade and the big portion of that rib it is fused to. Compare this link of a deer's anatomy to the picture.

http://www.nbef.org/deer_java.html



It makes me wonder how often arrows do clip part of one lung without causing enough hemoraging for the deer to die? I also wonder if it makes a difference what part of the lung is hit as to how much it bleeds?

Thank you for sharing

IaCraig
 
You'd think every time that deer layed down, stood up, ran, etc. that the broadhead would've cut more and more and eventually killed him. Very informative (and scary) picture and story. I've even had near misses on my own broadhead inside a deer. Any time you don't get an exit hole you should be extremely careful when field dressing. When the external part of the arrow is broken off it's easy to forget the broadhead is still in there. Thanks for sharing these pics.

NWBuck
 
you know.....Hogie told me after i missed low last week, that he always holds high if he's not sure of yardage. He said even if your arrow hit's high you should still be in the kill zone.
 
I remember once my dad shot a buck with the shotgun and took it to the local locker. Not sure why we cut up our own as long as I remember. Anyway he called and chewed dad out for not telling him that there was a broadhead in him. We didn't know couldn't tell. Dad has the head. It is amazing how fast they heal.
 
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