what happened

[tharris811]

about 7am yesterday I shot a 6 point.Waited about 45 min. got down found the arrow NO blood on arrow it was bent bad had a long dent on 1 side and the slick trick was broke..Thought I hit a tree was mad at the shot.But I looked and saw a small drop of blood on the ground..I had seen the deer beside my stand after the shot so I thought he might be down there..Got there no deer but blood trail like you would not believe..All the blood I just new it was close..Started looking the blood looked like someone was pouring it out of a can.. blood never let up went about 3-400 yards with this blood .I don't see how he could bleed so much.. Then then blood stop i was sure he was out of blood. He made it to the swamp I looked for a couple hours..Friend came to help but nothing..Went home got my dog put him on the trail back where it was thick.. He was able to track about 100 more yards past the last blood.I did find a couple drops of blood along the way.Then we got to all the water he lost the trail also..Looked couple more hours ..I just never seen that much blood and no deer..Any help as to what happened..

[Fred T]

Odd one.No blood would indicate no pass through so maybe a deflection off a tree resulted in glancing blow on an neck artery?With that much blood he will be down somewhere.

[Olmanstand]

I had a little 6pt come close, got a shot on him with my ibex & a 150gr xbow trick. Hit was slightly far back. He had a blood trail for about 400yds when I found the arrow intact, covered in blood, with no broadhead! It unscrewed !! Deer went another 300 yds approx. then we lost the trail. Never found him. Cleaned up the firebolt and reused it. I assume he died or still has that 150 !!

[mndoggie]

I'm curious. Maybe I'm missing something.

Why did you wait 45 min before your started to track?

[Kegbelly]

I'm curious. Maybe I'm missing something.

Why did you wait 45 min before your started to track?

To give the deer time to lay down and die. If you start tracking too soon and the deer is mortally wounded but still alive, you run the risk of it getting up and running off and you having to track it that much farther, or losing it altogether. It happens, the will to live is strong, and sometimes we don't get perfect hits.

[mr meat]

sounds like you did everything you could to recover it! it amazing how far they can travel wounded

[strum]

sorry to hear about he lost deer ..weird things happen sometimes.
another one lost to the water maybe?
is there any chance someone else found it?
don't give up man ..I know it can break a hunters spirit but you just have to get back out and put it behind you.
I very seldom here of a non recovery with slick tricks.

[MADMAX2]

Had the same thing happen to me after I shot a buck with a slug a few years back after we confirmed a good hit we backed out and came back after an hour had a great blood trail for 2-300 yds then nothing!!

I even went and got my dog to try to do everything I could to make sure this animal was recovered in the end after eight hunters and one dog tracking we never did find him.

[Waif]

Guessing game now.
When shock from trauma occurs in a deer, blood to extremities is reduced and used for maintaining internal organs.It takes little time for its effect but as we know a deer can cover alot of ground quickly, leaving what looks to be a fatal hit questionable.
Critical organs survive and blood stopped and replaced, a deer going to keep on as long as possible.
A low leg hit can leave a tracker bloody from loss a while, then blood quit when shock response kicks in and deer gets to struggle less in easier terrain or stops for a rest,on its feet or on the ground.
A cut backstrap similar maybe.Bright no bubbles blood can be flesh/meat,(muscle) cut, same as a leg,watery too.Pink bubble gum with bubbles lung tissue,bright red withbubbles leaking lungs blood. Hinting of black all most, dark blood from liver, not as dark as liver, arterial returning to heart. Lung ,liver and heart not likely on this deer unless single lung, leaving flesh or leg?
With trail you had ,height of blood,its color and consistency on any objects and where it landed in relation to deers tracks can clue a little,as well as hair that must happen at point of impact.
Getting water, and brain not deprived of oxygen killing it, put 6 point in a position to head towards a security area to bed ,or die trying.


He may prevail is my guess.

[mndoggie]

I'm curious. Maybe I'm missing something.

Why did you wait 45 min before your started to track?

To give the deer time to lay down and die. If you start tracking too soon and the deer is mortally wounded but still alive, you run the risk of it getting up and running off and you having to track it that much farther, or losing it altogether. It happens, the will to live is strong, and sometimes we don't get perfect hits.

Thanks. I've never hunted with arrows before (always firearms).

Lots of stories here seem to make it sound like the deer travels about 50-100 yards and keels over dead. I never connected a wait time before tracking.

What you say makes sense.

Did a internet search after your post and some suggest waiting for 6-8 hours. In this area, the coyotes would win....

[Waif]

A known solid vitals hit,I.ll sneak to my arrow if deer left site, check it for confirmation and slowly,(I am slow anyway) pick up trail even though I marked mentally and with a landmark last sighting spot of deer.Plenty of time will elapse before a hundred yards is covered.
A questionable hit should be reacted to by staying put and quiet for a half hour or so before checking hit site. The dreaded gut shot gets left six hours or overnight as most deer will after a hit lay down when comfortably away from impact site and if pushed will go a very long ways when knowing they are being pursued,they now know whats going on once you enter the picture.. Non stomach arrow cuts are just a stab wound,no big tissue destruction like high powered weapons.
Again a wounded deer ,and attitude before shot is a factor,but a relaxed deer will most often lay down in cover close to shot site if injury severe,letting them expire saves a deer taking a final jump,or button hook or another action complicating tracking and dragging job..Some bucks die on there feet and a panicked deer too.(death run)
Vital hits can result in hearing deer fall.

[Kegbelly]

More good advice. Bow hunting is a little different, death is almost always caused by massive hemorrhage (blood loss) and deer are almost always going to run after a hit. How far depends on several factors, the size of the deer, where it was hit, etc. Bullets kill by causing extreme systemic shock and trauma, along with tissue/organ damage and simetimes massive blood loss. I've dropped a bunch of them in their tracks with guns, never done it with a bow. On average the deer I've taken with arrows have gone 40 - 60 yards.

[Tom]

By your description of the arrow, I would say that your arrow did not hit the deer, but had a glancing strike after it hit something in flight.

I have seen many animals hit in non vital areas which bleed a lot but keep going. I have seen a deer which was shot with a muzzle-loader (bruised heart) that would not stop. It was recovered the next morning, and was still alive. One moose had a leg wound (shot was just under the chest, but hit raised leg just above hoof). I tracked that animal for over 1 kilometer. The blood at the shot site would say that it was a perfect heart shot with trees covered so much it looked like the blood was thrown there from a pail. We recovered that moose later with a second kill shot, but that moose was dead on it's feet. And yes, as with what was said above, the blood track had dried up completely.

For some unknown reason, best intentions do not turn out the way we want them. All we can do is our best to recover the animal and it wounds like that you did an above average job in trying to do that.

Keep your spirits up, deer, like many other animals have a keen resource to live and do not count it out as surviving this.

Tom

[vixenmaster]

Its very hard to tell someone who shot the deer where it hit. When i hear storys of deer goin past 200 yds, then i feel its not a chest cavity hit in lungs/heart. Deer hit in legs or low brisket will bleed til it clots up. Then they usually heal up, they be tuff.

[Kegbelly]

Its very hard to tell someone who shot the deer where it hit. When i hear storys of deer goin past 200 yds, then i feel its not a chest cavity hit in lungs/heart. Deer hit in legs or low brisket will bleed til it clots up. Then they usually heal up, they be tuff.

^^This happened Monday. I shot a doe, 30 minutes later another guy shot one and it ran off. He called me for help tracking it. We had a decent blood trial, a few drops here and there, big spots at times, blood on saplings. We tracked that deer I know over 300 yards. Got down into the bottom all grown up with thickets and vines, blood trail ran out. We fanned out in circles, never could pick it back up. So we're standing there talking where the trail ran out, all at once a doe runs off from behind a thicket. I'm guessing it was his deer. Two bounds and into the thick stuff before either of us could get a shot off. Never saw it again, but it was moving fine. He went home, checked his gun, 8" low at 100 yds. So I think he grazed the brisket...lots of blood, but no deer to bring home, my guess is it's still on the hoof. Moral of the story is a blood trail doesnt always lead to a dead deer.