No blood trail

[First-light]

My Nephew was hunting alone last night. He shot a huge doe around 3:40. Deer was slightly quartering to him. Arrow hit just behind the shoulder. He said it went in pretty far. He said the impact sound was like a balloon loosing all its air. The deer ran off with the arrow in it. After searching for two hours he did not find one drop of blood. I think the arrow may of deflected off of bone and headed further back not catching any vitals. He is headed back this morning to look some more. Thoughts? This is a picture of the doe taken from his trail cam before the shot. Red dot is where he said he hit the deer. 

[outdoorstom]

Maybe caught liver.

[Lawdwaz]

7 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

Maybe caught liver.

Probably caught guts.....

[wolc123]

Has he called "deer search".?  A gut hit should be about the easiest type for the dog's to find, since it leaves the most scent.  If she was hit in the liver or guts, she should be dead by now and with the cold weather, the meat should still be good.

If the dog's cant find her, then it is more likely that the arrow hit a lot higher than that red dot, thru the thick back-strap area, above the spine.  Arrows often strike high on alert deer because they immediately react to the sound of the bow's release, dropping down, resulting in a high hit.   With a bow, deer often become alert when they catch a glimpse of the draw.  If she was struck above the spine, she should recover ok from the hit.  Good luck finding her.  A little prayer might help a bit also.   

[mlammerhirt]

Both above posts could be true.....Liver would be my guess. Quartering to is not a slam dunk with a bow.....Really need to bare down and concentrate or your arrow will fade from intended point of impact. My guess is liver....And by letting it lay you may be able to recover this morning. Good luck to your nerphew!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[doebuck1234]

Sounds like liver or guts.best of luck to him!

Edited December 17, 2016 by doebuck1234

[Core]

Too far back, which is why they say only broadside or quartering away with bow.

[fasteddie]

Looks like it would be a gut shot . Quartering to is a bad shot to take . Any news on deer recovery ? 

[grampy]

Bad news is, it's definitely a gut hit, using the red dot as a guide. 

Good news is, by now it's a dead deer. If she was not jumped last night, she should be laying within a couple hundred yards. Good luck with the recovery.

[wooly]

Made a similar (almost identical) shot on my archery doe this year.

The entrance side looked good at first, but she was obviously quartering towards me harder than I had thought.

I got the same balloon "pop" on impact which I believe was the arrow penetrating the diaphragm at such a steep angle completely missing the lungs. Hardly any blood at all from her either, I'm guessing due to loss of pressure in the body cavity to force it out at that point.

Arrow exited out the guts in front of the rear leg seen here when I flipped her over. Deer found the next day less than 50yds from impact sight. Walked right by her in the dark on my way out, so it must have got the job done pretty quick. Good luck with the recovery.

 

 

[growalot]

Yep ever cut a gut to see what they are eating...that's the sound he described...If arrow was in as she ran...chances are that it was a rotor rooter in her...may even poked through eventually for blood out a ways

Remember all the tracking posts...look ahead but also look directly to the sides from hit forward...they will sometimes double back or more often do a wide loop back around..remember the direction he saw her coming from...

Edited December 17, 2016 by growalot

[First-light]

Thanks everyone for your help. He was out this morning for 3 hours and could not locate her. We had 3 inches of snow overnight which did not help the situation. Poor kid is so upset about this. I'm drilling into him to let the quartering to shots pass. 

[grampy]

I agree with wooly's assessment 100%! That doe should be dead fairly close to where it was shot. Once the diaphragm is popped, the lungs  cannot function properly and death will result rather quickly. Good advice to just wait for a more broadside shot with the bow. But we've all been there. Again, good luck with the recovery efforts in the snow cover. That does up the difficulty a notch or two.

[bugsNbows]

I'd keep looking. If the temps are cold enough, it should still be ok. 

[DirtTime]

Looks a lot back. Agree that's a gut shot. Don't be to hard on him, most hunters make a bad shot now and then. Part of hunting. I would give a last ditch effort tomorrow.

[First-light]

Folks the deer was found this morning. It was about 125 yards from his stand. In the total opposite direction it ran after being hit. From the looks of the arrow in the back leg it entered where the red dot was but traveled down through guts and out the other side hitting the back leg. You can see the arrow sticking out of the back leg. I think this animal was gut shot circled back around and tried to get back where it was bedded for the day. What are your thoughts? 

[LET EM GROW]

Liver then guts.. Liver hit deer dont bleed much, especially if hit higher and the arrow did not pass through (fletchings and shaft plugging entry hole) Liver does not pump blood, so we dont get traillike the lung blood. and they typically do not go more than 50-100 yards before wanting to bed down. Ive hit a deer and a coyote once years before, that did the same thing, both liver/intestinal hit .. ran one way, found dead less that 100 yards from hit site the other way.  Been told gut shot deer can live more than 24 hours, liver hit deer shoudl be done within 6 hrs or less. Congrats to finding her! 

 

I wa sin the same shoes Saturday night Sunday morning. 

[First-light]

I'm having a hard time with him not finding a blood trail. That arrow is in the back leg and stuck up through the deer. It had to be twisting and turning as it ran? I guess the guts could plug up the hole.

[LET EM GROW]

I bet there is some blood, and it was probably walked by many times, hard to find a a few drops when its tough to even follow tracks. but the entry is high, especially for hitting an organ that doesnt "pump" blood. But i agree with what your saying. 

[Fletch]

Well at least he dose not have a yote problem.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

based on how the arrow exited I would bet the deer was ever quartering too even more that the camera pic shows. 

[dbHunterNY]

i had a similar hit angle but farther foward on one doe.  she was alert and spun at the shot making the angle much worse than i thought.  there was plenty of blood and didn't go far but may have been from the entry into a lung.  there's arteries in the hind quarter that will bleed though.  you guys may have missed a little blood along the way tracking but it's there.  how much of a blood trail you get seeing a particular hit doesn't always make sense.

[JRod 8G8H]

Glad you found her... I would've guessed liver to the guts via diaphragm and from what I've read liver shots may take several hours for the deer to expire. I'm very colorblind so i cannot comment on blood trails, i have to get friend's help to track deer!