Why wasn't this a lung shot?

[Core]

I mentioned this in my original post about this deer but it's bothering me, because this is not the first deer I've hit exactly where I was aiming and been shocked to see it not immediately keel over. I hit this earlier in the month with a Rage broadhead. Entry on the left obviously, and exit on the right. This deer ran approximately 150 yards before expiring and had a consistently light blood trail the whole way. Not a spec of blood in the mouth, which tells me both lungs were fine. Also I do recall checking the heart and I had not hit it. 

How could this shot have been better? 3" higher? Did I go just under the lungs? Or was it exhaling and the chest cavity down low is temporarily empty? 

[airedale]

A bit Low! You did not miss by much, still a good shot.

Al

Edited October 29, 2018 by airedale

[amerritt6993]

It’s a bit low on the exit, form the pics it looks also at an angle, were you in a stand when you shot it?

 

 

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[The_Real_TCIII]

Based on that entry I think it was. Lungs dont "deflate" per say, theyre stuck to the walls of the chest cavity

[land 1]

ive hit them in them lungs and had no blood in the mouth before, to me that looks like lung, the only way to tell is when you gut it

[Core]

It was from a stand. Can it have been a single lung shot on account of the downward angle so I missed the right lung?

[The_Real_TCIII]

Did you check? I still think you got both

[Nomad]

Yes. If it’s close to the stand you have to hit top of the close side lung,or you can miss the offside lung . I aim for the exit.

[NYBowhunter]

I took 2 does so far, both from a treestand, both were complete pass thrus, both were center punch heart shots. One went a little over 75 yards and other about 100 yards. Their will to survive is extraordinary, once they are hit it takes literally seconds for them to go 100 yards.  Even perfect  hits may require persistence on your part. If i didnt hear the arrow crush thru bone, ribcage and them running with front legs low you would think they were never hit. Even after many , many years of hunting i still shake my head in amazement. I have complete respect for these animals.

[moog5050]

Entrance looks great if its not a steep shot.  You may have hit nearside lung and not far.  I like Nomad's suggestion to aim for exit.  I also don't hunt 30' up because it does shrink the kill zone.

[NYBowhunter]

Looks like entry may have missed or clipped top of one lung, that exit looks like a heart shot especially with that forward down angle. Like i noted earlier, they can run far even with a centerpunch heart shot. Sometimes you have to take membrane off heart and wipe away blood to see the shot.

[NFA-ADK]

You are  a bit low on your shot from a stand.  On the ground this would be perfect but from a stand you need to pick your aim up about 3-4 inches.  

[Nomad]

10 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Entrance looks great if its not a steep shot.  You may have hit nearside lung and not far.  I like Nomad's suggestion to aim for exit.  I also don't hunt 30' up because it does shrink the kill zone.

That and there’s no Redwoods to hang stands on in Mendon .

[NYBowhunter]

Good lord who the hell would go 30' up in a tree to kill a deer? Thats insane, all my treestands are approx. 10" to 18' max. 

[moog5050]

6 minutes ago, NYBowhunter said:

Good lord who the hell would go 30' up in a tree to kill a deer? Thats insane, all my treestands are approx. 10" to 18' max. 

You should see some of the stands that were set on the property I bought.  Scared me just looking up at them.  lol  We usually use 14' ladder stands.

[BowmanMike]

9 minutes ago, NYBowhunter said:

Good lord who the hell would go 30' up in a tree to kill a deer? Thats insane, all my treestands are approx. 10" to 18' max. 

I forgot who it was,but last year i was talking with a guy here that loved his stands at 40'. i said he was crazy,i was working on scaffolding that height then,and the kill zone gets really small,unless you shoot no closer than 40'. 

[NYBowhunter]

16 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

I forgot who it was,but last year i was talking with a guy here that loved his stands at 40'. i said he was crazy,i was working on scaffolding that height then,and the kill zone gets really small,unless you shoot no closer than 40'. 

In all my years hunting there has be absolutely no need to go above 16". But thats me.

[The_Real_TCIII]

I try to get 20' in my climber but some of the trees I hunt dont have decent back drop. My stick and hang-ons are usually 18' so I have a couple feet of stick past them, makes me feel safer getting on and off

[NYBowhunter]

23 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

You should see some of the stands that were set on the property I bought.  Scared me just looking up at them.  lol  We usually use 14' ladder stands.

Same here most my ladders, tripods, box blinds are 10 -16'. I have one homemade  stand thats about 16' up in a tree but because it sits at the edge of a ditch its height is probably more like 22- 23'. Theres really no need that i can think of to be 30-40' up in a tree.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I am at a loss on this post. The deer was dead and had to have been gutted. What did you hit? The answer was right in front of you

[G-Man]

8 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

I am at a loss on this post. The deer was dead and had to have been gutted. What did you hit? The answer was right in front of you

some people do not know internal anatomy. ran. into a hunter near my.uncles in east otto who had hit a deer i helped them track it and we found a nice 1.5 basket rack dead.. i watched the hunter gut and place the lungs into a bag telling me how he loved to eat the liver and these would be dinner that night..thought he was joking but watched him drag deer and his bag of lung away leaving liver and heart in the gut pile... still smh thinking about it years later...

[moog5050]

11 minutes ago, G-Man said:

some people do not know internal anatomy. ran. into a hunter near my.uncles in east otto who had hit a deer i helped them track it and we found a nice 1.5 basket rack dead.. i watched the hunter gut and place the lungs into a bag telling me how he loved to eat the liver and these would be dinner that night..thought he was joking but watched him drag deer and his bag of lung away leaving liver and heart in the gut pile... still smh thinking about it years later...

Not overly sensitive to different foods but lungs sounds pretty darn disgusting.

[philoshop]

I don't mean to pile on here but Culver Creek is exactly right. Postmortem inspection will tell you what you did right and what you did wrong. It's important to know what you hit, and why you may have missed what thought you may have been aiming at. Elevation and angles and all that stuff.

The last buck I shot with a bow from a tree-stand was moving pretty quickly right under me and I was running out of room to swing the bow. I took the shot because he was twelve feet under me and I was confident I could hit his liver. Cut it right in half and watched him circle around and die right under my stand. Had I gone for a heart or lung shot it would have been a complete whiff. I know where the vital organs are. It's probably the most important thing I learned very early on.

[philoshop]

9 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Not overly sensitive to different foods but lungs sounds pretty darn disgusting.

My Grandmother used to pickle and can all of the organs from deer, cows, pigs, everything...It was never my favorite food, but it wasn't bad. Filling the pantry was the primary concern with subsistence living.

[Robhuntandfish]

40 minutes ago, G-Man said:

some people do not know internal anatomy. ran. into a hunter near my.uncles in east otto who had hit a deer i helped them track it and we found a nice 1.5 basket rack dead.. i watched the hunter gut and place the lungs into a bag telling me how he loved to eat the liver and these would be dinner that night..thought he was joking but watched him drag deer and his bag of lung away leaving liver and heart in the gut pile... still smh thinking about it years later...

Might have been my uncle on my Moms side.  He never did much deer hunting but always knew my Dad loved deer liver (my Dad was a Chef).  SO he told my Dad he got a deer and saved the liver for him.  So the families all got together and he gave my Dad the frozen liver.  Dad thawed it out to cook it and yeah ....... it was a lung.  Dont think he ever told him either.