[baldguy637]

Shot the 10 pt. I'd been watching every evening tonight, and i'm a bit confused to say the least. I watched him jump the fence heading my way, i drew my bow when he was around 40 yards out. Wind was in my favor when all of a sudden, he stopped 28 yards broadside slightly quartering towards me. There was a couple of little trees i had to snake my arrow through, but i felt pretty confident i could make the shot. I settled the 30 yd pin just behind the front leg and let her fly. He made a little hop and stood there, then walked back down the fence row that he had came in on. I saw him walk out of sight into the woods. I sat there for around 30 minutes and got down to find quite a bit of white hair but no arrow or blood. Long story short, my buddy and i searched for 2 hours only to find about 6 drops of blood spaced about 50 yards apart down the trail, but we still cant find the arrow??? My buddy think i undershot him, but if that were the case my arrow should be there. By bow shoots around 290fps with a 395gr arrow and 1" coc heads, so I'd think t would have blown clean through if i hit him. I guess what i'm getting at is what are the odds that it didn't pass through and he's not bleeding? I'm going back in the morning to try to find more sign:set1_thinking:

 

[waylonb19]

Is there a chance you grazed over or under him and your arrow is burried or rattled around off some logs or sticks? Or was it in a open field?

 

[baldguy637]

It was on the edge of a cornfield, corn still in.

 

[HOYTLVR]

could be in him still, tough to say. Could you see your arrow hit. This is the exact reason I am using tracer nocks now. I should be able to tell exactly where my arrow hit and where the arrow comes to rest.

 

[thelefty41]

Sounds like you just grazed his underside, especially since he didn't seem to spooked. If you would have hit him good he should have bolted off. You should be able to find your arrow around the area you shot him when it gets daylight. I doubt that it is still in him.

 

[brownback]

friend, I would bet you nicked the brisket. a lot of white hair an a few drops of blood sounds like it to me. I did this a couple years ago on a nice one and it sounds exactly like your situation....as for the arrow it could have burried or nicked a tree and flew any where. Keep us updated.

 

[hitman846]

It sounds like you shot low and your arrow is laying flat under the dirt where you can't see it.

 

[kawie23]

Maybe check in the corn for your arrow, I shot at a deer once and search forever for my arrow. I eventually used some string to trace the shot and found my arrow stuck in a corn cob. Just a thought.

 

[CWarmouth]

It sounds like you shot low and your arrow is laying flat under the dirt where you can't see it.

Yep, I agree with that. I have lost arrows on both misses and pass throughs when they bury under the dirt.

 

[baldguy637]

could be in him still, tough to say. Could you see your arrow hit. This is the exact reason I am using tracer nocks now. I should be able to tell exactly where my arrow hit and where the arrow comes to rest.

No, i couldn't see it hit, right at dusk, and i already told the wife i'll be going to the bow shop this week for some tracers. I dont ever want to go through this again....

 

[IL-Gutpile]

I have to preface my response. First of all, I wish you good luck. I hope you either just "nicked" this deer as others above have proposed or that you find him tomorrow. I also want to say that I by no means want to sound like a know it all. I have shot a couple decent bucks but made poor choices and not very good shots and did not recover bucks.
Having said that...no one else above has said anything so I feel I must.
1. There is no worse bow shot than a quartering to shot. If you shoot where you SHOULD hit the lung, you will like hit shoulder and get poor penetration. If you shoot far enough back to miss the shoulder, you're looking at possibly clipping one lung and then running right through the guts. you very well might have gut shot this deer and the white hair you are seeing may be the exit wound on the belly. If the arrow passed through the deer and hit the back leg because it was quartering too, the arrow could have stayed in the deer for a 100 yards or more before pulling out.
2. If you weren't sure about the shot, why would you only wait 30 minutes before following up a deer? I wouldn't trail up a deer in less than an hour unless I SEE or HEAR the deer go down. If you did gut shot this deer....and I think you did....by trailing up the deer within 30 minutes and tromping around for 2 hours you very likely pushed this deer and may never find him now.

Again, I've been there and done that and I'm not saying I'm better than you or anyone, but people need to learn from situations like this.....IMO.
Good Luck. Hope you find him.

 

[baldguy637]

friend, I would bet you nicked the brisket. a lot of white hair an a few drops of blood sounds like it to me. I did this a couple years ago on a nice one and it sounds exactly like your situation....as for the arrow it could have burried or nicked a tree and flew any where. Keep us updated.

That was my first thought, but not being able to find the arrow is eating at me pretty good.

 

[bowhuntermitch]

Good luck, but im guessing a brisket hit, non lethat usually.He will still be out there, Go get him!

 

[IL-Gutpile]

Good luck, but im guessing a brisket hit, non lethat usually.He will still be out there, Go get him!

I hate to be argumentative, but brisket hair is brown....not white. What am I missing?

 

[NorCalSkinner]

Hang tough... try and get some sleep (easy for us to say!) and see what you can find tomorrow morning. I wish you the very best of luck in finding some resolution to what has happened.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like your buck is no worse for wear, aside from a little hair cut. He isn't spooked so I would say keep on him and hit good next time.

 

[baldguy637]

I have to preface my response. First of all, I wish you good luck. I hope you either just "nicked" this deer as others above have proposed or that you find him tomorrow. I also want to say that I by no means want to sound like a know it all. I have shot a couple decent bucks but made poor choices and not very good shots and did not recover bucks.
Having said that...no one else above has said anything so I feel I must.
1. There is no worse bow shot than a quartering to shot. If you shoot where you SHOULD hit the lung, you will like hit shoulder and get poor penetration. If you shoot far enough back to miss the shoulder, you're looking at possibly clipping one lung and then running right through the guts. you very well might have gut shot this deer and the white hair you are seeing may be the exit wound on the belly. If the arrow passed through the deer and hit the back leg because it was quartering too, the arrow could have stayed in the deer for a 100 yards or more before pulling out.
2. If you weren't sure about the shot, why would you only wait 30 minutes before following up a deer? I wouldn't trail up a deer in less than an hour unless I SEE or HEAR the deer go down. If you did gut shot this deer....and I think you did....by trailing up the deer within 30 minutes and tromping around for 2 hours you very likely pushed this deer and may never find him now.

Again, I've been there and done that and I'm not saying I'm better than you or anyone, but people need to learn from situations like this.....IMO.
Good Luck. Hope you find him.

Let me clarify, my guess, he was at a 80 deg. angle from me. I know it wasn't a perfect shot by any means, but i was 100% positive it would be a double lung. Also, when i said 30 min. that was when i got down from the stand to look for my arrow. After 5 min or so, i went to the truck to get my buddy, probably a quarter mile walk or so. Sorry, i should have been more specific.

 

[baldguy637]

Thanks for all the support guys, time to try to get some sleep. I'll let you know what i find in the morning.

 

[IL-Gutpile]

Let me clarify, my guess, he was at a 80 deg. angle from me. I know it wasn't a perfect shot by any means, but i was 100% positive it would be a double lung. Also, when i said 30 min. that was when i got down from the stand to look for my arrow. After 5 min or so, i went to the truck to get my buddy, probably a quarter mile walk or so. Sorry, i should have been more specific.

Hmmmm. OK...that helps.
I apologize if I come off as "You shoulda done this!"
Not trying to be an ass. Just my suggestions from what I read on the first go round.
If I remember correctly, white hair doesn't start on the underside until well beyond the tip of the sternum. In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, white hair is a good 6-8" further back than that and is more around the belly area. Any chance the deer was walking and or took a step between when you shot and when the arrow got there. Maybe you had it line up and the deer took a step as you released? I hate to disagree with the majority above, but I've hit deer in the brisket and that is definitely brown to black hair, not white. This sounds like either a gut shot or just nicking the gut. Could you see the deer as it ran off? Think back to the sillouette of the deer when it ran/walked off. Did you see anything odd? Anything hanging down? Anything sticking out?
If it WALKED off, that is like a nicked belly or a pass through and you should have found your arrow. If the arrow was still IN the deer as I was originally thinking, it would be far less common for the deer to just walk off slowly. We won't know the answer to this until you find your arrow in the morning.
Good Luck! Man, I've been in your shoes and I feel your pain. Try to relax and get some rest.

 

[baldguy637]

Hmmmm. OK...that helps.
I apologize if I come off as "You shoulda done this!"
Not trying to be an ass. Just my suggestions from what I read on the first go round.
If I remember correctly, white hair doesn't start on the underside until well beyond the tip of the sternum. In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, white hair is a good 6-8" further back than that and is more around the belly area. Any chance the deer was walking and or took a step between when you shot and when the arrow got there. Maybe you had it line up and the deer took a step as you released? I hate to disagree with the majority above, but I've hit deer in the brisket and that is definitely brown to black hair, not white. This sounds like either a gut shot or just nicking the gut. Could you see the deer as it ran off? Think back to the sillouette of the deer when it ran/walked off. Did you see anything odd? Anything hanging down? Anything sticking out?
If it WALKED off, that is like a nicked belly or a pass through and you should have found your arrow. If the arrow was still IN the deer as I was originally thinking, it would be far less common for the deer to just walk off slowly. We won't know the answer to this until you find your arrow in the morning.
Good Luck! Man, I've been in your shoes and I feel your pain. Try to relax and get some rest.

Don't worry about it, i dont wear my feelings on my sleeve, lol. I just should have added some more info in that first thread. No hard feelings, let you know more tomarrow. And to answer your question, no i did't see anything odd. He just walked off like nothing happened, never ran.