130 inch deer busted me at 35 yards...then I shoot a 160 inch deer, it falls down rolls around, gets up wobbley and staggers off, awesome right!!!! but then I check my arrow.....No blood anywhere, not more then a spec on the blade, no hair anywhere, no trail, and no deer after 3 hours of searching...anyone have a deer act like that after what I am assuming was a miss low?
That's the best worst day ever, Must be something in the water as for the deers reaction to a miss, sounds like it was not a miss to me tho, I'd still be suspect and looking for more evidence or a deer. Best of luck
Why were you looking for the deer for three hours after seeing the arrow like that and knowing it wasn't a great hit?
It just makes no sense to me that it would react the way it did...and then not have but one needle tip size drop of blood on the broadhead....hell one of the blades didnt even open! I am really baffled and lost on what to do
Why didn't you give the deer overnight before you started looking? I'm not trying to be condescending, but I'm not sure if you know that giving a poorly hit several hours to overnight is almost always the best option.
Is there any snapshot memory of where that arrow might have hit? You said low miss, but try to play it back in your mind to try to figure out exactly where that arrow went. You said it fell over and wobbled, that definitely means it was hit. Did you smell the arrow? I've seen deer stagger and wobble after a liver/gut shot. OR, the other possibility is that you shot it high under the spine near the liver or guts. High entry and exit wounds dont allow the blood to pool and spill like you would normally expect on a mid to low level exit wound. I shot a buck last year at 14 yards quartering away. the arrow entered high, took out one lunch, clipped the other, and hit the far side shoulder, no exit hole. No blood for the first 40 yards until he started to breath and spit out his own lung blood, then I had a solid trail. That was a lung shot though. Sounds like you definitely didnt hit anything vascular. Get up early tomorrow morning and look for him in the daylight. I would be willing to bet that you probably bumped him while looking for him today. You'll find blood tomorrow in his bed(s)
Its quite ok and a very good idea to leave them for a few hours or even more on a bad hit. When in doubt, back out.
Sounds like you shot horns to me.. or hit a front leg. How did the tip of the broad head look? bent or flattened?
Sounds like you might need to get back out there in good daylight and look some more. If the deer was hit and rolled around, he could have wipes some of the blood off the arrow. That could have also caused a blade to close again. Look at the point of impact again. If theres no sign there, then slowly start a grid search in the direction you saw him run off. Pay close attention to areas near water and thick brush.
Sounds like you hit his spine and shocked it pretty good. But, not likely a lethal hit. Just stunned the nervous system enough to make him drop and roll around a little. That is not terribly uncommon. Anyone that has been around hunting for enough years has heard or seen something similar.
What everyone is leading to, get back out there and keep looking! Hope you find it, either walking around or laying there waiting for you.
That happened once when I shot at a doe right under my stand and shot high, so the arrow went over the spine and thru the farside backstrap. That deer went down like a spine shot, rolled over and got up running. Never found her, but my buddy said he saw her walking across the road a few days later with the wound on her back.
Couldn't find any sign this morning...Searched all over the bean field and all over the dirt trail he crossed to go into the woods, found nothing...I think he'll be fine, I have a friend checking there this afternoon to see if he can find anything and to see if he sees and buzzards circling anywhere....Hopefully he survives and I get another crack at him
