This morning, I shot a doe in the vitals from 10yds - the arrow passed completely thru the deer, yet I found not one drop of blood. I shoot Thunderhead 100 brodheads with a Matthews Ovation compound bow set at 65lbs. The deer took off like a house afire and I watched her run (tail down) for approximately 100yds until she disappeared in the woods behind me. After 30 minutes of waiting, I got down to look for my arrow which I found about 20 feet from where she had been hit. Much to my amazement, there was very little blood on the arrow, but it was visible all the way thru the feathers, which were matted with red blood. Not one drop of blood was to be found on the leaves around the arrow, so I started a circular search for blood traces and found nothing. I cannot believe this deer didn't die shortly after being hit as well as she had been, yet not a trace as of now. I am going back out into the woods and resuming my search shortly. Another hunter in the area said he had seen 2 deer running thru behind him in the general area where my deer disappeared and around the same time, but he said neither deer looked in any way injured. Both were does he thought, but he had no shot as they were moving too fast. I don't give up easily, but am at a loss as to where to go from here. Any advice as to what happened?
if you think you made a good shot. you might have shot a couple inches back. more than likely its a liver shot with no sign of blood. it will take her a couple hundred yards before she might bed down. like dan said i would give her till mid afternoon. i had a one lung, liver shot on a doe this year. very little blood for the first 150 yards. the last 50 yards she really started bleeding
i had a low shot one time, and had very little blood but a ton of clear fluid which i took as plasma, saw the doe later that year with a scar on her underside. best of luck finding it!
I'm betting you hit high and through the straps. Sounds like that type of hit, even sounds good if you hit on of the spinous processes on the way through, but it a mere flesh wound that will leave you wondering "WTH?!?!?!" Just my $.02
With a close in shot, fat my be plugging the bottom hole. I shot a doe this year at 7 yds and the fat just about wiped the arrow clean. I was able to follow her tracks in the leaves for about 60 yds until I had drops of blood to follow. Good luck in your search
This is my thought process as well. On my buck in September, fat and some stomach matter plugged the exit and I had no blood trail to speak of either, even though it was a shot through the vitals and he only went 60 yards. Don't give up hope just yet!
Sounds to me like the arrow went through an area of a lot of fat. I think if the arrow went through a vital organ there would be better red blood on the arrow. Also sometimes the blood trail doesn't show up right away, but there should be something on the ground after a little distance. Give it some time and good luck!!
REF: Doe Shot in a.m. I did mark the spot where I found the arrow, also I thought I hit thru both lungs; I took the advice of several of you and gave her several hours. Weather here is warm 65+ today and windy. I just returned from the woods after another 2hr search and still have not been able to find one drop of blood. I am now second guessing myself again and wondering if I saw what I thought I saw. This deer was so close, standing broadside, I refuse to believe I didn't hit where I thought I did, but I suppose we tend to want to believe what we think to be true, oh the nature of 2nd guessing oneself!! In any event, no blood, no sign of any struggle, no sign of any deer. Will keep trying!
I shot right under the heart of a buck back in 06 and the arrow came out clean. At first he didn't even act as he was hit but shortly thereafter stumbled and died. Anyway, the arrow came out clean and I think the tallow or fat was the culprit. Good luck!
Same here. Earlier this year I shot a doe, found hardly any blood for the first 50-60 yards and the arrow was clean. It was weird, I knew it was a good shot, but the evidence I had to work with wasn't showing me that, I found her pretty easily once I found the first few drops of good blood.
I just knew you were going to say you used a Thunderhead. I used Thunderhead's for many years and killed dozens of deer with them, but I noticed that sometimes they do their job too well. I will tell you a story that made me decide to finally change heads and is what I believed may very well have happened to you. I made a perfect double lung shot on a buck, but there was no blood for about 35 yards and then it was only pin drops. Fortunately the best two trackers I have ever met happened to be my two best friends and were with me at the time. I have seen one of them spot a pin drop from 30'-40' at night using a gas lantern (best night tracking light there is IMO). Anyway, after hours and 300+ yards of tracking pin drops with an occasional eraser size drop of blood we finally found my deer and I had made a perfect double lung shot!! Upon further inspection I found that what happened was the Thunderhead hit exactly in the center of a rib on the way in and exited through the center of a rib. It sliced through each rib so well that there was no bone missing and the blades barely extended past the ribs so the surrounding connective tissue was almost entirely intact and simply pulled the rib bones back tight together making a tight seal. The deer was able to breath longer since his lungs didn't collapse due to this, which is why he made it so far. His chest was full of blood when we found him. If it wasn't for the two amazing trackers I had with me we never would have found him. I had similar problems with poor blood trails due to cleanly sliced bones a couple times before that so I finally decided to give them up, but they are very accurate and do great job of killing. I just wish they had a bone breaking tip. I hope you find your deer.
