Tell me I did all I could....

[ApexerER]

So those of you that read my post this year I am just going to hunt....I did just that yesterday. It was turning out to be one of the best morning I have ever had in the stand. Had a deer come through the thick stuff just before 7am. Never could tell what it was....Not long after that, with the chipmunks making a racket I had a deer sneak in to my left. I don't know how it got to within 20 yds without me hearing it. Amazing how quiet the are. It was small so I just watched as it worked its way past my stand and up the hill to my right. A few minutes later a deer came down the hill to my right and I was thinking it was the same deer. When I realized it was a very large doe I slowly turned in my stand while bring up my bow. She looked right at me and we had a stare down. Finally she looked away and kept coming toward me and past my stand. When she got so she was just quartering away I drew. Told my self to aim small miss small, picked out the spot and thwack. She took off. Ran about 50 yds....I could just see her standing there thought he thick stuff. Then she disappeared. I was hoping she went down right there. Then as I am wondering what to do 5 more deer come down and I watch them mill around my stand for 30-45 minutes. When they work their way out of the area I go down and find my arrow....It is covered in dark red blood and there is blood on the ground. Use the range finder back to my stand and it is 17 yds. Figured I should have had a good shot with the 20 yd pin but this wasn't lung blood. Decided to back out and I went to Dunkin Donuts. While I was there my hunting buddy called and said he had a doe down so I went in and helped him. About 2 hrs had passed and my buddy and I went in....I left my arrow in the ground marking the blood trail and we started tracking. Tracked to where I could see her standing. Pretty good pool of blood on the ground. After that the blood was very spotty. We tracked it to within 10 yds of the power line on a game trail. After that we could not find a spec of blood. We spent hours on our hands and knees trying to find what direction the deer went when it went out on the power line. I check every game trail leaving the power line I could find up and down for 200 yds. I called deer search at about 2:00 and they said they didn't have anyone in my area at this time. The guy asked me a million questions and said he thinks I hit to high and went just under the spine but missed all the vitals and that the deer is going to be fine. I say thanks and call everyone I can think off. I meet 6  more buddies that don't even hunt. I take them back in the woods...show them what I am looking for....We spread out....I tell them we just need a spec to get a direction, make sure you look over the ground really well before you step etc. My hunting buddy and I lead two groups making circles on our hands an knees out from last blood...Never finding another spec. We split up and again check the game trails even farther in leaving the power lines. At around 5:30 or so we started a grid search and searched until dark. I have never lost a deer before...I am sick to my stomach.....I shot the doe around 7:45 and did everything I could to find it until dark  .Anything else I could do if I go back out there around 3. I don't mind looking more but I don't know what else I could possibly do that I haven't already done.....I just hope the deer is ok....

[Hock3y24]

Been there done that, it sucks but it sounds like you did more work looking for that deer than 90% of hunters. Don't let it beat you up and get back in the stand.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Hock3y24

[jjb4900]

Been there done that, it sucks but it sounds like you did more work looking for that deer than 90% of hunters. Don't let it beat you up and get back in the stand.

x2

[shawnhu]

You did what you could. A 3 yard difference in guesstimating the distance at that close of a range shouldn't make much of a difference in POI.

Go take a few shots with the broadhead to verify that your aiming and POI are true and get back out there and redeem yourself. It's all part of hunting. You're a responsible hunter in my book for going through all that to try to find that wounded deer.

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[SteveB]

Deer search guy was probably right about the high hit - but it would be above the spine thru the backstrap. There is no place in the chest cavity where you can go under the spine and miss lungs.

[First-light]

Covered in dark red blood……almost purple looking? That would be liver. Had the same thing happen with a liver shot buck. Arrow was coated with dark red blood tip to tip. Deer left blood in the beginning but it stopped after a while. Found the deer 7 hours later while watching the skies for crows. They were pecking at his wound making a hell of a commotion. Good luck and get back out there tomorrow for one last look. 

[philoshop]

Sorry to hear it my friend. I've lost 5 over the past 40 years and almost lost my own life looking for one of them.

It sucks and you'll never stop thinking about the ones you don't recover, but it happens. Sounds like you did your best.

Edited October 12, 2015 by philoshop

[monkeyman2269]

How did u almost lose your life ?

[outdoorstom]

My first thought was liver too. Where are you located? Not that it will do you any good now, but Luna and I will travel an hour and a half from Waddington.

[philoshop]

How did u almost lose your life ?

 

Waded into a swamp with a current channel running through it and took a ride.  The two mile walk back to my truck in frozen clothing was the dangerous part.

[Nomad]

You did more than most .

The only thing extra you could do is , some paragraphs ...

[monkeyman2269]

Waded into a swamp with a current channel running through it and took a ride. The two mile walk back to my truck in frozen clothing was the dangerous part.

I fell in a river once fishing in January scary for sure

[landtracdeerhunter]

Sounds like you hit the deer in " no man's land" to me. Right in the center between the spine and the vitals. Some say their's no such area. I know better.  We have had it happen.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Oh yes, the deer survives.

[grampy]

I too, want to comend you for doing all you could do. Doesn't sound like you rushed a bad shot. Sometimes things just don't turn out like we want them to. Unfortunately that is the part of hunting that is the hardest to deal with for an ethical hunter. But deal with it, you must. And then you must pick your self up and get back out there.

Good luck.

[wolc123]

There is a product called "bloodglow" that is supposed to work pretty good.  They say it is particularly effective at locating liver and gut-shot deer.   Google it.   It was developed for crime scene investigations and makes blood, that is not visible to the human eye, glow in the dark.  You mix a tablet with water and apply to the trail with a spray bottle.  Rain supposedly makes it work better.  You follow the glowing trail in the dark without a light.     

 

I ordered some last fall "just in case" but have yet to try it since both my subsequent hits (with crossbow and rifle) have expired within 40 yards of the shot.  I think it cost around $30 for enough to track 3 deer.   Even if it's too late for that one, it would be a good thing to have around in case it happens again.  

 

I know how you feel, as I also lost my first doe more than 30 years ago (hit her in the shoulder blade).   I also lost a couple other deer with the bow over the years including another shoulder blade on a nice buck, and a small buck that I hit too far back.  That last one was one of two deer that I am sure did not make it because of me, the other from a bad hit with my ML.  The shoulder blade hits with a bow usually recover just fine.  A friend got that big buck I hit there a few weeks later with a shotgun and it was all healed up. 

 

I never got back in the stand on those years I lost a deer, figuring I only deserved one deer a year with a bow, whether I was able to recover it or not.   With family and job responsibilities limiting my practice time, I hung up my bow for good after my last recovered kill, which just happened to strike the buck in the jugular vane when he ducked the shot.   

 

Maybe after my kids move out and I retire in a few years, I will have enough free time to get back into regular bow hunting.  Until then, I will stick with the crossbow, with which I am currently 1/1 on deer.   I ain't perfect with it though as my first shot at live game was a clean miss at a grouse's head.   I bought a range finder, and have it fine tuned now, so that I can hit within an inch of the point of aim to slightly beyond my effective range of 50 yards.  Here in the Southern zone, we still have to wait a while to legally hunt with it, but I am going to use it next week up in the Northern zone.

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

Deer search guy was probably right about the high hit - but it would be above the spine thru the backstrap. There is no place in the chest cavity where you can go under the spine and miss lungs.

thank you. Deer search guy oughta know that

[wolc123]

I killed an 8-point with my shotgun about 10 years ago that had taken somebody's arrow under the spine, thru the chest cavity. The mechanical broadhead and about 2" of shaft were stuck under the hide on the exit side. I suppose it's possible that the blades did not deploy properly on contact and it could have skimmed the lungs without cutting enough to kill the deer. The meat around the wound looked infected and I trimmed a good deal away including the front half or so of the backstraps.

The buck was healthy looking, and was with a smaller four point, hot on the trail of a doe I had just killed with my ML. Later, after having to trim off so much meat around that arrow wound, I wished I had shot the 4-pointer instead, which also would have been an easier shot. Meat means more to me than antlers, and I literally got "shafted" that time.

[SteveB]

Deer can occasionally survive a long hit.

They account for the "under the spine over the lung" stories.

But it is impossible for an arrow to do that.

And if the backstrap was infected, most likely the arrow went in there.

Hint - backstraps are above the spine.

[SteveB]

Sounds like you hit the deer in " no man's land" to me. Right in the center between the spine and the vitals. Some say their's no such area. I know better.  We have had it happen.

Center of what? Behind the lungs is liver - arrow is not going between them.

"No man's land" is above the spine thru the back straps.

[wolc123]

When you do your own butchering it is pretty easy to trace the arrows path. It definitely passed BELOW the spine. I threw away all the meat that was slightly discolored, and that extended well down onto the ribcage. The rear & front quarters, and neck were good however, so it wasn't a total loss, and the rack was a bit above average for me.

[SteveB]

It definitely passed BELOW the spine.

If it was in front of the diaphragm and under the spine, it passed thru the lungs.

A hit that occasionally is survived. There is no empty space there - easy for someone to see that butchers their own.

[pitweiler]

Sorry to hear that. Hope you better luck next time. Sounds like you did more than most would. Hope the doe makes it out ok. Maybe it just wasn't her time.

[The_Real_TCIII]

There are countless threads on this on other sights, many with cardio thoracic surgeons weighing in. It's not debatable, there is no under the spine above the lungs in the chest cavity. Can a deer survive a high lung hit, I guess it's possible they are pretty amazing animals

[Doc]

We have a deer anatomy thread that has a pretty good picture of what possibly is the "No Man's Land" that people talk about. I am referring specifically to the very first photograph in the thread at http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/6770-deer-anatomy/page-1

 

Or am I misinterpreting what I am seeing there. Aren't those vertical things above the lungs the upper parts of the ribs? Or are they the top vertical parts of the vertebrae? What do you all think?