How Far Deer Travel After The Shot

[nchunterkw]

First I would like to thank Horizontal Hunter and Summer4991, for sharing this data with me, many, many months ago. I promised to do some analysis on it and publish it here and finally had a few moments to finish it up.

Follow this link to a PDF document showing the analysis of how far deer travelled after being shot with a BH tipped arrow.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzVJR9 ... sp=sharing

There are 567 data records represented in this combined data set, and the data is broken down by BH Type, Number of Blades, Cutting Diameter and Total Cut.

I hope you all enjoy this and find it useful. I won't post my conclusions here yet...they are in the document.

[nchunterkw]

I see the PDF is a little blurry. If you want to see a better copy, PM me with your email and I can email you a better ODF file or a Word file.

[nchunterkw]

duplicate

[hankenhunter]

Good read! The biggest point I saw is Muzzy's bad all the rest good. Seriously, it confirms what I believed all along. A proficient hunter hitting the proper impact zone will not have far to go for recovery. Thanks for all your info and effort.
Hank

[Species8472]

This is a table that I use to track all my data.

Click the table to make it large enough to read:

[Kegbelly]

Good job Keith, I know that took some time! Very interesting results. My take from it is as long as you make a good shot, one broadhead is just about as lethal as another. Except Muzzy's

Now, can you whip me up a sheet that gives me 99% probability of seeing deer every time I hunt, and a 100% chance of killing one?

[ds762]

I've never had success with a Muzzy BH!

[nchunterkw]

That data doesn't necessarily say "Muzzy is bad".......just that in this data deer went a little further when shot with that BH. All of those deer shot with the Muzzy were recovered and enjoyed over a grill with a few side dishes and marinades.

A big take away for me was just how much the hunting industry revolves around hype/marketing BS. Bloodtrail this, bloodtrail that, wound channel blah blah blah. Put it in the boiler room and you have a short tracking job.

The Muzzy data point is interesting though. I have some MX-3's and they did not hold up well to passing through a deer. IMO a BH should have enough structural integrity to look as good when it comes out of a deer as when it went in, and you should be able to re-sharpen and re-use it. If it does that then it is cutting well all the way through. But if blades get damaged, or edges roll over, then it is not going to cut as well. Maybe that is what happened with the Muzzy - maybe not.

Anyway, thanks for looking at the data and for your comments.

[Kegbelly]

I was just kidding, I don't mean to knock Muzzy, or anyone's choice of broadhead for that matter. I've used Muzzy in the past and they did ok. I never was fond of the chisel tip type point on any broadhead though (for the average whitetail), too much like a field point IMO, I just prefer a COC head.

[cdn.redneck]

I have some muzzy MX-3 but only use them on small game. cheap and don't care if they break.

[Horizontal Hunter]

Kieth,

I am glad you were able to use the data and thanks for posting it.

I always felt that if you did your part and put the Broadhead in the right place any modern Broadhead will do the job. That's why I started collecting the data two years ago. I wanted to see if I was right and the data was interesting.

Collecting data Iike this always yields a few surprises. The biggest surprise for me is that the heart shots (avg 40 yards) followed by the liver shots ( avg 50 yards ) provided the shortest recoveries. In my personal experiences the double lung put them down faster for me yet the data showed that the average distance travelled for a double lung shot was 65 yards. No matter how you cut it though; if you put it in the boiler room it will put them down in short order.

Bob


Here is a link to my data for those interested:
http://www.cthuntingnshooting.com/vBfor ... post116065

[Hot Pepper Dude]

Whenever air to the lungs runs out or whenever the brain goes dead due to lack of nerve transmission. That yardage is not calculable. Every animal is unique. Part of the total hunt exhilaration!

Keep on hunting, and best wishes for a successful harvest too. Make your shot the best you can. The animals deserve nothing less.

Regards, H.D.P.

[xcaliber]

I have had just crazy stuff happen in the deer woods, and i think every hunter does. I hit a deer way back, and low, the deer bled out in 30 yards! I shot a big doe in the heart with a 12 gauge slug gun, 1 oz. Super X, blew her heart out in a chunk! She ran 70 yards with no heart! Like HPD said, it is what makes the moment magical!

[Horizontal Hunter]

I shot a big doe in the heart with a 12 gauge slug gun, 1 oz. Super X, blew her heart out in a chunk! She ran 70 yards with no heart! Like HPD said, it is what makes the moment magical!

I had exactly the same thing happen with a buck a few years back. When I field dressed him 2/3 of his heart was hamburg. He also went about 75 yards from where he was standing when I shot him. They are incredibly hardy animals that's for sure.

Bob

[nchunterkw]

Bob,
I debated about putting in the "Hit" data and opted to leave it out because I only had it for your stuff. Still, it is interesting as you pointed out. But, I think to get really meaningful stuff from that you would have to be very meticulous with what a "Hit" was. Arrows deflect off of ribs and do all sorts of weird things so every hit would have to be verified at field dress. I was thinking about this some today and came up with this idea......in case we wanted to collect more data

Instead of just 1 column of data with a "hit description", simply list separate columns for each organ/vital and check off each one that was verified forensically to be damaged.
Heart, Right Lung, Left Lung, Liver, Spine, Femoral Artery, Jugular, Other (with best description possible). I think breaking it down this way might put more sense to the data. Heart only versus Heart AND Clipped Right Lung might result in two very different distances. Just a thought.

And I too have seen what you and xcal describe with a gun. But that is a totally different animal (see what I did there) . A bullet primarily damages tissue with shock. So the animal's reaction is completely different. It also causes alot of tearing trauma to the tissue rather than the nice slice a BH does. The tearing causes platelets to start gathering right away where as the slice doesn't.

Species spreadsheet is awesome. One thing I like is the "bloodtrail" column. It is good data because he - and only he - did it, and even though it is subjective ("light", vs "heavy") it is only his subjectivity so comparisons made are valid. It also kind of bums me out because it shows rather poor bloodtrails from the Montec and I have several of those. I'll probably shoot them anyway this year and see what happens. They fly great and are as tough as a 2 dollar steak.