[adamfargo]

So I'm new to bowhunting, and at dusk on Dec. 31 I shot a doe broadside from 20 yards away. My arrow did a complete passthrough, had a lot of thick blood on it, rage 3 blade broadhead used, blades were bent a bit and had some fat on them, and barely a blood trail at all. I came back the next morning, and I was able to track the blood about 100 yards but it took me like 2 hours crawling on my belly. I did circles in out to like 500 yards and couldn't find anything. I don't understand why it's so hard to find these animals, I wish snow was on the ground.

The last doe I shot was also a complete passthrough at dusk a couple weeks ago. I came back the next morning (although getting out of my stand 20 min later spooked the deer and heard her crashing through the woods). There was a lot of blood, and a pretty good blood trail, double lung shot, you could see the spray on both sides where she would stop. I tracked her for about a mile, through the woods across a field, across a street, into my neighbors field. He finally got his bird dog who led us to a pile of fur and blood and guts, I guess the coyotes got her.

I guess I'm just disappointed I have been putting in so much time, and taken advantage of my opportunities, and placed what I have considered to be good shots on these animals, and have yet to enjoy any backstraps or jerky this year. Here are pics of my arrow after its recovery, as well as the only blood about 50 yards from the shot. Any ideas as to why there was no blood trail?

 

[24hrsparkey]

kinda reminds me of gut shot sorry t hear about your luck or you could have shot through both shoulders and not hit any vitals

 

[lovetohunt93]

hmmmm.... thats weird. Theres great blood on that arrow too.

Maybe it was the broadheads fault?

lol somebody had too!
just kidding

 

[txcookie]

looks to me as though you got a low single lung hit. Those leave good blood on arrows but also fat and white hair and really long trails. JMO dear should be dead if its super cold and you can find it you may be able to salvage somthing I would go a lookin again if possible

 

[Noc-Buster]

Liver shot?

 

[lovetohunt93]

Liver shot?

I liver shot the deer in my avatar last year and he went 80 yards and then dropped. Great blood trail too. Lots of blood on arrow just like the OP. Very possible in this situation. I got lucky on my deer.

 

[mdnabors]

S double lung shot, you could see the spray on both sides where she would stop. I tracked her for about a mile, through the woods across a field, across a street, into my neighbors field.

Everyone new to bowhunting experiences these issues at sometime or another. Unfortunately it sounds like a liver or gut shot. Double-lung shots don't go much further than 100yds much less 1 mile. Also, pass thrus don't mean an easy track job. The further back in the body cavity you hit the longer you must wait. It's about giving the deer plenty of time to expire and not pushing it whatsoever. I'm not sure how far your shots were but it's a good idea to keep your shots within 25yds or so the first year or so until you are comfortable shooting further and make sure they are all broadside or barely quartering away at most. Just to keep your percentage and confidence high in the beginning of your bowhunting experience. Hope things get better for you! Good luck

 

[Jarocal]

if the deer is going a mile your not putting a good shot on it.

 

[txcookie]

Liver shot?

Dont think so that blood is the wrong color and the deer would not have gone to far before it bedded down. I have had several liver shots and they all died close and fairly quick

 

[txcookie]

Lookin at the pics again theres bubbles in the blood definatly a lung hit

 

[hunterjoemi]

Bubbles in the blood do not always mean a lung hit. Any muscle hit can have bubble in the blood. Frothy blood yes -bubbles no.

Lots of non vital area on deer. Lots of things can happen after the arrow is released. Arrows do not always hit where the archer thinks they do.

Deer are very tough to kill when hit poorly. Deer hit well in the chest cavity die quickly!

 

[safe cracker]

looks more like a brisket shot is that fat on the broadhead?? if so that why there is blood.....

 

[Tracker12]

So I'm new to bowhunting, and at dusk on Dec. 31 I shot a doe broadside from 20 yards away. My arrow did a complete passthrough, had a lot of thick blood on it, rage 3 blade broadhead used, blades were bent a bit and had some fat on them, and barely a blood trail at all. I came back the next morning, and I was able to track the blood about 100 yards but it took me like 2 hours crawling on my belly. I did circles in out to like 500 yards and couldn't find anything. I don't understand why it's so hard to find these animals, I wish snow was on the ground.

The last doe I shot was also a complete passthrough at dusk a couple weeks ago. I came back the next morning (although getting out of my stand 20 min later spooked the deer and heard her crashing through the woods). There was a lot of blood, and a pretty good blood trail, double lung shot, you could see the spray on both sides where she would stop. I tracked her for about a mile, through the woods across a field, across a street, into my neighbors field. He finally got his bird dog who led us to a pile of fur and blood and guts, I guess the coyotes got her.

Sorry it has been so tuff. Lost deer happen to the best of us. Bottom line is you have to make good clean shots in the vitals. A double lung hit will not go a mile. Not sure I have ever seen a true double lung even go 100 yards the same with a solid liver hit. The arrow on the last hit has a lot of fat on it from what I see on the pics. That would indicate a hit low in the chest if in fact the hit was near the area behind the front leg. The one thing that I have noticed with Rage BH hits is they do leave a lot of bood on non lethal hits since they cut a lot of skin as they go in and exit. Good luck!! Keep at it.

 

[Uncle Bucky]

So I'm new to bowhunting, and at dusk on Dec. 31 I shot a doe broadside from 20 yards away. My arrow did a complete passthrough, had a lot of thick blood on it, rage 3 blade broadhead used, blades were bent a bit and had some fat on them, and barely a blood trail at all. I came back the next morning, and I was able to track the blood about 100 yards but it took me like 2 hours crawling on my belly. I did circles in out to like 500 yards and couldn't find anything. I don't understand why it's so hard to find these animals, I wish snow was on the ground.

The last doe I shot was also a complete passthrough at dusk a couple weeks ago. I came back the next morning (although getting out of my stand 20 min later spooked the deer and heard her crashing through the woods). There was a lot of blood, and a pretty good blood trail, double lung shot, you could see the spray on both sides where she would stop. I tracked her for about a mile, through the woods across a field, across a street, into my neighbors field. He finally got his bird dog who led us to a pile of fur and blood and guts, I guess the coyotes got her.

Sorry it has been so tuff. Lost deer happen to the best of us. Bottom line is you have to make good clean shots in the vitals. A double lung hit will not go a mile. Not sure I have ever seen a true double lung even go 100 yards the same with a solid liver hit. The arrow on the last hit has a lot of fat on it from what I see on the pics. That would indicate a hit low in the chest if in fact the hit was near the area behind the front leg. The one thing that I have noticed with Rage BH hits is they do leave a lot of bood on non lethal hits since they cut a lot of skin as they go in and exit. Good luck!! Keep at it.

i used to think a double lung would not go any further then 75 yards, maybe 100 until October 3rd, 2009, hit a doe, she ran over 200 yards and on her feet for 29 seconds on a clean quartering away double lung shot, sprayed pink foam on top the beans both sides, when gutted her lungs looked like pink jello , watch this video, skip to 6:01 in the video, she ran zig-zag and went down 189 yards from where I shot her on a straight line, so i can imagine with all the ziggin she ran well over 250 yards
http://www.youtube.com/user/bowhunterjohn63?feature=mhum#p/u/29/pxWAGN7j7R0


The one you tracked over a mile, I wonder if you hit muscle or "greased" it and nicked the bottom of the heart ? I hit a big doe years ago, she was leaving pink bubble blood everwhere. She went into the thickest stuff possible, at ever turn we'd say, "she's gonna be around this corner" tracked about 250 yards and decided to leave her overnight , the coyotes got on her and ran her that night about 2 am. still wondered what happened with the shot.

Keep your head up, its good to see you concerned however, heard of some just shrug it off like the deer mean nothing.

 

[[email protected]]

Poor blood trail= shot went high, tell yourself to hold a low on a whitetail, and throw them rages in the swamp.

 

[G20]

That arrow sure does look like a lethal hit. Did you have help tracking? You say you are new to bowhunting so how is your tracking skills. I've shot two that were lethal hits but i probably wouldn't have found without getting hep despite both only going 100-120 yds. Two +people can make a huge difference.

What about tracking dog?

 

[ryan h]

if that deer went that far i don't think you hit some vitals man sorry, i shot a doe slightly quartered to me 2 weeks ago and got 1 lung and liver and my arrow was really dark red blood

 

[adamfargo]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I will continue to hunt and hold my shots a little lower so I put my arrow through their heart next time. And I consider myself to be a decent tracker, but the conditions I'm dealing with on my property are pretty tough, there is red grass and red berries, and leaves all over the ground, it's just tough to spot blood, especially when there's not much there to follow. Also the first doe may not have gone quite a mile, but we found her remains at least 1,000 yards away, so she ran for much longer than I thought she would have been able to.

So I found the doe this morning, she was decimated by coyotes though so there wasn't much left of her. The shot was a few inches high above the heart, and the blood trail didn't really even start for 300-400 yards. She did bolt and I don't think she slowed down until she hit the ground, so it probably took awhile for her body cavity to fill up with blood. I found her about 500 yards away next to a mess of hair and guts.

Here are a couple pics of the shot. Keep in mind I was about 15 feet up in my stand and the shot was broadside at about 25 yards with the shot angling down, so I would imagine that my arrow passed through just a few inches above her heart. I must have hit a rib which is what mangled my broadhead blade a bit and where the fat came from. At least I found her and saw that I had put a decent shot on her. I was starting to get a little bit discouraged. Plus I am starting to thin out the doe population a bit, if I keep it up the buck to doe ratio will be 1:1 soon lol.

 

[JeffB]

Frankly, sounds like just plain bad luck to me.

Usually double boiler them, and they are down within 100 yards, and IME, most often within 50-75 unless they were already seriously spooky.

One other thing, I'm not familiar with rages, but make sure the blades on them are so sharp you are scared to death of them, and keep them that way. Dull blades will complicate matters of bloodtrails, even on good hits.

 

[preyquester]

looks more like a brisket shot is that fat on the broadhead?? if so that why there is blood.....

bingo that would be my vote also.