new member looking for advice

[wiretowire4]

Hi, my name is Todd, i finally made a membership after looking at this site very often..haha ..So here is my story i shot a nice 8 pointer this morning broadside at 20yrds. i knew it was a little high(about 4inchs down back) . And also a little back towards liver area.. To be cautious i waited 2 hrs then slowly started tracking ...found arrow 20 yrds after impact site..then good blood trail for about 50 yrds.. then nothing. looked until about 6 pm then came out to regroup. found about 10 drops 100yards away from good blood trail and thats it found that just doing sweeps..Blood on arrow is deep red from flecthing to broadhead. no "gut" matter.. with blood trail is deep red spatter on both sides.so my question to everyone is do you have any suggestions on to where i might have hit him or had a similar hit cause i was convinced it was a liver shot.. i hate losing deer it really bothers me, so i called deer search people that track them with dogs and one guy told me if i hit him in the liver i would have guts too and i called 4 different trackers and none are around me.. im just confused. any info would be awesome or different things i could do. thanks

[SteveB]

4" down is a good possibility of above the spine thru the backstrap.

Will bleed a lot for a bit and quit as it is a muscle hit.

If it was lower and is liver, it will kill but the time varies from less then an hour to 4 or more.

[irish_redneck]

what kind of terrain ? any foorprints in mud? what was the deer heading into. Don't think if it's liver shot you must have gut matter, but it will live a while.

[13BVET]

I agree with SteveB on this. Definitely not a vital area hit. I had seen the same thing once before. That deer was still alive and kicking weeks later. It had hit the muscle.

[wiretowire4]

the terrain he was heading into was dense bush/golden rods along creek bed. I hope it was a non vital hit at this point. Thats what the tracker i called said too so a little relief. And with the seeking and chasing phase really heating up where i am maybe ill get another shot at him..thanks for the replies

[irish_redneck]

if he was bleeding well you should see it smeared on the goldenrod with a hit that high it will be dripping down the body, but on the flip side I've hit high and had them live and return later in the season before

Edited November 8, 2012 by irish_redneck

[irish_redneck]

they do head for water often with gut hits, but your arrow seems to indicate this wasn't the case... no funny smell or anything.. ?

[CVAC085]

Go back to where you last saw the blood trail, and try tracking from there as well. Don't give up just yet.

[wiretowire4]

No funny smell on the arrow or any green or brown in blood trail.. And im going out in the morning to continue searching not giving up just yet.

[irish_redneck]

if you don't mind spending the $10.00 , this might help...

maybe a local hunting store may carry it : http://www.wildgameinnovations.com/products/blood-trail-game-recovery/after-shottm.html

makes any blood flourescent blue in the dark, even after rain , like what blood spatter folks use

[wooly]

ANY definite hit from a broadhead tipped arrow is gonna cut some hair on it's way in. If it was a pass through, you'll also have cut hair from the exit hole.

Return to the EXACT spot of initial impact and find any hair. Deer have about 6 or 7 different hair colorations/length combinations on different areas of their bodies that will tell you almost exactly where you hit them.

If you're like me, and don't memmorize the color/length combinations by vital location you can probably find out through a google search OR better yet, call deer search armed with that information. Some of their trackers carry laminated "flash cards" of the different hairs and will be able to tell you about the hit with pretty good accuracy.

Edited November 8, 2012 by wooly

[irish_redneck]

If you are good at chemistry : http://hackaday.com/2011/10/17/making-luminol-from-household-chemicals/

not something I'd recommend unless you're pretty handy with chemicals / bunsen burners etc , it makes some toxic byproducts

[Five Seasons]

if you were high in the back there's a good chance he's still alive and will survive. I know a lot of people use hounds to track, might be worth a shot.

In the future, when you're not sure and may have hit liver I'd suggest waiting more 4 hours instead of 2. When in doubt, back out.

[First-light]

Was the blood deep red/purple looking? I hit a big buck in the liver. Same type of blood trail and my arrow was covered all the way with this blood. Shot was a pass through. Should of let the deer lay for 6 hrs. Shot my deer 7am and found him around 3pm. Lost blood after 50 yards. He bedded once then cut across a field. The only reason why we found him was:

1-The time we let him lay not being pushed.

2-We knew the general direction he headed

3-We did a long extensive search of a thicket where we thought he bedded

4-The crows alerted us to him. The were picking at the deer and we headed over to check it out

I think you liver shot him, take the day and look in the thickest areas around you. He bedded down at some point. Have patience and good luck.

[rong]

was this a tree stand shot with an angle downward or from the ground flat,flat shot 4 inches down could easily pass thru w/o hitting anything but muscle.tree stand can do the same but could also grab some vitals with more of an angle on exit