Not seeing the shot it is obviously guess work, the lack of blood could be 2 things, you went over the spine and through the back straps, or you exited guts and it clogged the exit hole causing a poor trail.

200 yards and no beds is not good, a gut shot deer will bed pretty quick most times, but nothing is set in stone. If you hit the artery along the spine it would be a blood bath. The lack of penetration suggests above the spine, the bone behind the back straps seem to slow penetration quite a bit in my experience.

Get a tracking dog if you think you are below the spine!

 

Thanks for your thoughts and quick reply. Follow up question, how much room is there above the spine? I feel pretty confident it was below the spine but maybe my deer anatomy understanding is a little off. Looking at images online it seems like shooting above the spine and having the arrow sticking in there out of both sides would be hard to do as not a ton of room. Thoughts?

 

4 inches of meat and a little more hide and fat, maybe 5 inches on a large deer anyway. How high were you in the tree?

I have seen deer shot through the straps many times, not sure if the arrow gets deflected to keep it out of the body cavity or what?

Had a argument over a deer we could not find a few years back, told the dude he shot it through the back strap, long story short he killed the deer the following year and it had a scar in the straps!

 

4 inches of meat and a little more hide and fat, maybe 5 inches on a large deer anyway. How high were you in the tree?

I have seen deer shot through the straps many times, not sure if the arrow gets deflected to keep it out of the body cavity or what?

Had a argument over a deer we could not find a few years back, told the dude he shot it through the back strap, long story short he killed the deer the following year and it had a scar in the straps!

I believe the stand is 30 foot or close to it and deer was in terrain lower than the base of tree so at a minimum deer was 30 foot below. So you're thinking potentially shooting "down" on it from that angle that in through the straps deflected by spine and out the other side? I can get behind that conclusion and makes sense. Still a little confused and surprised by deers calm demeanor after shot but I know shot reactions can vary widely. Interesting story, you think it's worth going back out to look or just hitting the stand again (After some range sessions of course)

 

Does your sight have a 3rd axis adjustability?

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Do you think this was your shot?

 

What is this from?


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I believe you should go back out and look, you may not find him but it is your responsibility to insure he is not laying a bit further down the trail. His reaction to me indicates you didn't hit bone solid, my experience is when bone is hit solid reaction is to run, sharp broadhead passing through quickly the reaction in most cases I have seen are a calmer deer walking off. Did you notice any spots were he may have started to stumble as he walked? What did the arrow look like, slimy fat, red meat, smell? Backing out was a great decision right off the bat.

 

I'd say that the person who eventually kills that deer will be short some back strap. Buddy of mine shot a deer with a 12 ga, went right through back strap. Deer jumped ran a few yards and went back to eating. he said he could see the missing meat.

 

I'm thinking guts liver. betting dead. I have back strapped a time or two. They don't stick around.

 

Walking away seems like stomach or guts. Hope you hit liver If not it may take awhile to die. Give it time. Liver runs out of blood quickly. What color was the blood? Anything in it?

 

You’ve got to track further than just 200 yards, regardless of what you think happened, and regardless of what strangers on the internet that have no clue what happened say to do.

 

Exactly. I’m trying to help figure out his shot with graphics so we can all help him and doesn’t even respond.🤔

 

Sounds like coyote bait at this point !

 

Either way, keep looking

...
Good luck , I hope you find him..

 

Not a good sign..........no follow up. I do like that app or whatever the problem with it is there is what you see and there is what happens and many times they are not the same.

Still neat though.

 

my friend shot this 8 pt buck this year. the arrow from left was a void hit from another hunter. the arrow from the right was his arrow which killed the buck. there was about 5" of backstrap ruined.

 

IMHO...the angle of pic doesnt help
The arrow from the left hit above the spine, in neck meat; too far forward.
The arrow from right must have hit esophagus and main arteries and got lucky.

Neither shot looks like it hit lungs or entered the body cavity

 

the hit from the right killed him. i think he got 1 lung he said. the deer went maybe 60 yards. the broadhead from the kill shot was a spitfire. that hole was much larger than the wound shot. it pays to use large cutting diameter broadheads IMO

 

There’s no “void” the initial shot was backstrap, which is above the thoracic cavity.

 

This is a decent illustration.....where do you think your arrow impacted. Several years ago I had a buck walk past at a steady pace (R toL) and stop about 27-28 yards to sniff an intersecting trail. I drew and aimed....just as I was releasing he turned away and I ended up hitting him high and back....top of the liver area but not as far as the kidneys. He obviously blew out and I sat silently until it got dark.....then backed out without even looking at my arrow. That deer was down within 150 yards, but was hard to find due to minimal sign. I trust you went back out and did more searching.

 

That’s a great graphic

 

It’s been almost 4 days now. I believe the OP has checked out, and that deer is either still walking or coyote poop.


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