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No blood trail - Now what

3K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  H20fwler 
#1 ·
Yesterday was opening day of bow season. I snuck out of work to try to whack a doe for the freezer. Had a doe come to 15 yards but facing me so I passed on the shot, she fed for a while and then spooked of as the wind switched. About 20 minutes before the end of shooting time another smaller doe came in and gave me a shot.

27 yard broadside shot
70# Z7 Xtreme, Easton Axis arrows and Slick trick 100 grain mags.
Tree Branch Plant Leaf Woody plant

See the green lighted nock in picture. Shot looked good, could see where it went with the the lighted nock. Deer was not sppoked before the shot and was feeding. Pass through and the shot sounded good. I wait 20 minutes get down and back out to the truck. Change and get back to the arrow and this is what I see.

Started looking for blood and nothing. Not even one drop, the arrow looks good. After 15 minutes I started doing a grid search in the direction she went. Lots of trails and tall grass. About 15 minutes of walking around and I literally stumble into the deer about 150 yards from the shot. She was down, blood out of the mouth like a normal lung shot. Plenty of blood where she fell. So I backed up to see if I could find blood.
Looked for a few minutes and did not find one and I mean I drop of blood between the arrow and the deer.

This was the entry shot. You see something new every year. The point is just don't give up. I got lucky and only took me about a half hour but I would have looked all night if I had to.
 
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#2 ·
Flesh

Entry hole after the front leg was removed.
Red meat Animal fat Meat Flesh Food

Exit
Fish Fish Catfish


I did not take pictures of the lungs but I got both of them.
 
#4 ·
I had the same experience with slick trick and other broad heads .good shot .the next deer you hit in the same spot with same head might leave a blood trail you can follow backwards .i have never had that issue with rage extreme broad heads with the new stamped blades .
 
#5 ·
I was in the same situation last November with a buck I shot, right at dark, shot looked clean as can be, buck hit the ground hard in a death run barely hovering the ground. Ran well over 500+ yards, unfortunately, did not recover him for 3 days... I'm with bowhunter0210, it had to of just been a body cavity fill up, we searched with multiple people in the direction he headed for 2 solid days dusk til dawn and never found one speck of blood except by the arrow, neighbor found him checking his trail cameras. Glad you recovered, great post too because it does happen.. Product Close-up Glasses
 
#8 ·
i have shot acouple deer with slick tricks and only one of the deer had a decent trail but still not crazy good like other heads. the others i found the blood trail didnt seem to start til about 30 yds and even then it wasnt that good. plus they seem to run off like a pack of wild dogs chasing after them. i switched this year to a different broadhead thats made here locally. dont get me wrong i liked the slick tricks because they are super simple and built tough but i got sick of not seeing much in blood trails compared to other heads on the market. this was also my experience when i hunted with others using them and chatted with local guys that use them.
 
#9 ·
Guys I hope I did not sound like I am blaming the broadheads. I have shot slick trick mags for 8 years now and have never had this happen. I do not plan to switch and have enough blades and furrels to last me a few more years.
I have had seen things like this happen all the time and guys give up. You can never give up because each shot and animal are different. Just hoping to share this experience with others.
 
#18 ·
Shot big doe Wednesday evening. 30 yards perfect heart shot pass through. She only ran 60 yards and piled up in sight. However I wanted to see what kind of blood I had. There was not as much as I figured. Don't get me wrong I would have been able to find the deer even if I had not watched her fall but I figured heart shot would have produced more blood.
 
#19 ·
no blood at all until the last 10 yards.
 
#20 ·
I try to tell folks this all the time.......and if you have hunted enough you know this. No matter what broad head OR where you hit the deer sometimes you simply don't get a good blood trail......it's just part of bowhunting.

Learning to trail deer is the hardest part of what we do and always try to strive to get better.

Glad you found her.
 
#22 ·
My thoughts exactly. I've had a few great shots with no blood trails. It just happens.

On one doe I had to pull the front leg back 6" to line up the hole in her rib cage with the hole in her hide. I didn't get a single drop from that exit hole but got some from the entry.
 
#23 ·
Congrats on quick recovery!

I had same thing happen years ago with a Thunderhead, so far I've had great bloodtrails to follow with ST mags.
 
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