Had a doe come in broadside at 27 yds this evening. she was not alert and was not coming to me.. she eating acorns under a tree. Wide open shot not a thing in my way. I practice to the exact yardage every time I shoot and I am comfortable with that distance on an animal. Made the shot several times. anyways, when I released the arrow I watched it fly and drop right into her and pass through. she bolted about about 50 yds and stopped..she hunched over and tail flickering, she began to walk off very slowly out of the clear cut and back into the timber .. I waited about 35-40 mins, got down and checked my arrow. the front portion was (half) was dark blood, the back half was the sure tell sign of gut smell. I did a quick look in a 5 yard radius around the arrow and found dark red blood withing 3-4 yards of impact. I backed out and did not pick up the trail... I will go back in the morning. Im thinking I hit back too far and got her liver and some guts..Any thoughts?
They run a ways and start walking off it’s positively a gut shot. Go back in the morning well after light, few hours ....and hope the coyotes didn’t get her first.
Brett, she was abut as broadside as she could get. At least from my point of view. It was actually a great looking flight of the arrow and it looked like I hit her right where I should have, I really thought when she stopped she was going to tip over...I knew as soon as she didn't and when I saw her hunch up I knew it wasn't good. If anything it looked a little low but did not look too far back, but things happen so fast you really can never tell. As far as yotes, I hope I get to her before they do, we don't have a bunch of them here, but there are some..
the coyote-eaten buck I posted today; my buddy swore he was broadside. When we found him, the entry was about 4" behind the shoulder...the exit was in the paunch. We know b/c the arrow was still partially in him. Also using 2" Rage Hypos. Anyway, those big suckers hit bone on an angle and they shear pretty hard. Give her till the AM. Hopefully the yotes don't find her.
I believe you man. Maybe she spun slightly right at impact. Just a few inches of turn can make things go south. I bet youll find her bedded down and dead close bc you backed out.
It's very likely she did. I certainly didn't put it where it needed to go. From my angle she looked perfectly broadside but at the moment of truth it's hard to tell sometimes. I DID NOT make a good shot period. My hope is that in years past, if I had blood upon impact it usually turned out ok with me recovering the deer. And the fact that I was able to watch her after for about 45 seconds told me not to track her. So we shall see. If I find her, the entrance and exit will tell the whole story. Either way, I did not make a good shot broadside or not. It happens, but is sure is not good feeling.
Tough break, but as you know it happens to everyone eventually. Your did the doe justice by being smart and backing out. That's the most an experienced ethical hunter can do!
You made the right choice. Tail flicker is a good thing. You didn't push her. 200 yards she should lay up and be dead.
You'll probably find her in the morning. I've been there too. As long as she didn't get pushed she'll bed down and die.
Well 30 years of bowhunting has taught me some hard lessons. I was examining my rhinehart target with the anatomy side, looks like I shot a few inches too far back and possibly a little low. looks like the liver hangs down to about I think I hit.. and likely hit liver and definitely guts. The dark blood on impact leads me to some portion of the liver but the smell on the arrow is undeniable..guts. I hope there is a decent blood trail to follow. I will be surprised if there isn't a decent amount from where she stood still for a few seconds and then began walking slowly out of sight. That's also when the tail began the flickering. Typical reaction to a gut shot. In the past, I rarely if ever got much if any blood on straight intestinal shots. And certainly not blood within a few yards of the impact.
Quick track job led to us finding her about 65 yards from where I shot her. She only went about 10 yds more after I lost sight of her. The shot was low and about 3” too far back but it was lethal and I believe very quickly took her out. But it’s so easy to want to go after them right away but that never ends well.. always always back out when in doubt! (This was the exit side..)
Nice. Happy looking kid tagging along as well. All around awesome. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
