If your shot description is correct he should be dead. Did the right thing by backing out. Goodluck and hope to see some pics.
don't know what to think...help?
Well can't believe it but it has happened. Was in stand for the last day in the evening. Wasn't really expecting mch because I hadn't see any good bucks since early archery. Heard a twig snap and here comes 4 bucks together. I was in a tree stand 22 ft up on field edge. Bucks entered field 25 yds away. First one was a older huge bodied 8 pt.
Here is what happened. Slighty quartering to me. deer was 20 yds at this point feeding. Put the pin on him down on heart area...shot..arrow hit high above shoulder on left side and with the shot angle came out what appeared to be sticking out right in the lung area on other side.
All the bucks ran out into field about 70 - 80 yds and stopped to look around..I am watching expecting him to drop at any second...nope..just stood there and was trying to either lick wound or pull arrow out..Finally after several mins they ran down into woods. I climber down and walked over to where they entered woods and could find one drop of blood. Looked around field..no blood. Heading out here this morning to see if I can find any sign or the deer. Have some buddies helping
any thought on what happened here..one lung hit? I am just sick about the whole thing...never had anything like this happen before...help?
Here is what happened. Slighty quartering to me. deer was 20 yds at this point feeding. Put the pin on him down on heart area...shot..arrow hit high above shoulder on left side and with the shot angle came out what appeared to be sticking out right in the lung area on other side.
All the bucks ran out into field about 70 - 80 yds and stopped to look around..I am watching expecting him to drop at any second...nope..just stood there and was trying to either lick wound or pull arrow out..Finally after several mins they ran down into woods. I climber down and walked over to where they entered woods and could find one drop of blood. Looked around field..no blood. Heading out here this morning to see if I can find any sign or the deer. Have some buddies helping
any thought on what happened here..one lung hit? I am just sick about the whole thing...never had anything like this happen before...help?
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I hope you don't give up on finding that deer. Especially in this warm weather. Not fully understanding the shot angle and such, but I suppose it's possible that the arrow glanced off a rib or shoulder bone and went under the skin and did not penetrate a vital organ. Just saying. What kind of broadhead were you using?
I hope you find him, but I'm afraid you went over the spine and have nothing more than a flesh wound.
You did the best thing by backing out. Take up the trail slow and hopefully you find him.
the spine dips down right above the shoulder, and it sounds like you may have hit above it.blacktail said:I hope you find him, but I'm afraid you went over the spine and have nothing more than a flesh wound.
hit 'em high, wave goodbye. hit 'em low, down they go. old saying, but true.
Never heard that one Y-dog, but I will remember it for sure!yellodog said:the spine dips down right above the shoulder, and it sounds like you may have hit above it.blacktail said:I hope you find him, but I'm afraid you went over the spine and have nothing more than a flesh wound.
hit 'em high, wave goodbye. hit 'em low, down they go. old saying, but true.
Won't get into the debate of "the dead zone". But, the lungs themselves are NOT attached to the bone or muscular structure of the deer. Internal organs are attached to the rest of the "stuff" by a membrane called the "plura". Simplistic pictures of animal anatomy that show the lungs going all the way to the backbone are just that, simplistic.
On exhale, the lungs deflate like a balloon or air bladder. I killed a buck back in 2005 and when we dressed it out, it had been hit the previous year in a high shoulder shot. The triangular shaped wound of the fixed-blade head was not completely closed, and calcified around the edges. Not a trace or indication of the wound on the outside. Anyone who does not believe in "The Dead Zone" would see where this hole was and say it was impossible for the deer to live. Well, it was alive, healthy, fat, and well when I shot it, and there wasn't an indication of a previous wound until we skinned it.
The shot being discussed in this thread could have clipped one lung, or the top lobe of a lung, and might not be fatal. It might heal up. Only need one lung to live, these tough animals.
A high hit like that will not bleed out with a high exit hole. But if both lungs were blown up, he should be blowing blood out the nose, head-high on leaves and trees.
If not, very well could be one of those hits that didn't hit anything important.
well nothing good to report. Had 6 of us looking. Weather truly didnt hlep me at all. It has been foggy and misting all day. If there was a blood trail it was washed away this morning. When the deer ran into the woods it still had the arrow in it...couldnt find the arrow either. We took every possible exit from the area..then did grid seaches. I guess I know how it feels to lose one. Not a good feeling at all. I have heard that if you hunt long enough it will happen. I have taken over 30 deer with my bow over the yrs and this is the first one lost. All I can say is I am sick.
From the description of your shot, you hit high, above the spine. There is a lot more room above the spine than most people think. Also, there is no "dead zone" . If you hit below the spine, you're hitting lungs. Granted it's possible for a deer to survive that type of hit, but you're not going to shoot below the spine, in the body cavity, and not hit vitals of some sort.
I don't really know what to say. It was a give me shot..have no clue what happened. Saw the arrow go in above shouder and usually I get complete pass thru but was sticking out the other side what looked like half way down deer..can't even believe it..sick feeling
Man that's really unfortunate. Most of us here know exactly how you feel. I've probably lost 5 or so in my career, and none of them felt good. Hopefully it was a nonfatal hit and he'll show up on trail cams or something sometime soon.
theres a big ridge of cartilige above the spine, and it will stop an arrow. a buck drops at the shot and it's easy to hit there. been there done that, and when you see him alive & healthy next time you'll be happier than if you'd have found him dead today.sticker said:I don't really know what to say. It was a give me shot..have no clue what happened. Saw the arrow go in above shouder and usually I get complete pass thru but was sticking out the other side what looked like half way down deer..can't even believe it..sick feeling
i hit one there in '88 on the last day of the then 4 week season. my bil shot him on the first day of then "buck" season. i recognised the rack and showed him where i'd shot him a month earlier. the wound was completly healed, but no hair on the hide right there. he lost a peice of backstrap about the size of a tennis ball on both sides.
Then call it "The Alive Zone". I only wish when the buck I killed was in the day of cheap digital cameras and I had pictures of the hit. As I had a film camera, all the pics were gone once we started skinning.Borden811 said:Also, there is no "dead zone" . If you hit below the spine, you're hitting lungs.
It was well below the spine, both lungs intact, I hit the deer directly in the heart. I pulled the lungs out of that deer, intact, with my own two hands. Not....one....mark.
Call me a liar, call me stupid, call me insane. Get in line behind my wife. I know EXACTLY where that deer was hit the previous year, and I know what scars look like, and I know what pristine organs look like.
Someone sent one right through the high shoulder, under the spine, and the lungs had not a sign of ever being damaged. If you saw that broadhead hole (triangular fixed blade in a Muzzy/Thunderhead style), you would swear it was double-lung dead. I wasn't the one who had the unlucky shot, I can only look at the hole in his ribcage muscular structure and be happy that it didn't kill him so he could get big and give me a chance the next year.
I know what I saw. I really don't care if people believe it or not.
Don't shoot at deer quartering toward you.
This happened to my buddy once he hit it high and we couldn't find any blood we waited a day and went looking for it. We found the deer 120 yards from where he shot it and there was no blood trail intell we were 20 yards from the deer and even then it was very little
X2Bob_Hildenbrand said:Don't shoot at deer quartering toward you.
haha got it..dont shoot at deer quarting toward you..slighttly...have made this shot over and over agian..finally bit me in the you know what.
Ditto what Bob Hilderbrand said. Unfortunately you took a low percentage shot (quartering to) instead of waiting for a broadside or quartering away shot.
You've learned a valuable lesson and unfortunately there's a wounded deer out there...hopefully he makes a full recovery.
You've learned a valuable lesson and unfortunately there's a wounded deer out there...hopefully he makes a full recovery.
a few years ago we shot a buck in flintlock that had an arrow in it from that fall. The placement of the arrow was dumbfounding. it went across the chest cavity a little high, but didn't hit anything vital. It was healed over, it looked like it should have been a deadly shot
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