Today I shot the biggest buck of my life. There's a problem, I cant find the deer. The shot was 10 yards away. It happen so fast I shot high and back. The arrow went in but did not go in all the way. I'm thinking about 4 or 5 inches deep but I think I hit a rib. I saw a lot of blood coming out of him (dark red blood). I started looking for the blood trail at the last point I saw him. The blood trail started to disappear at about 100 yards. I called up my buddy to give me a hand because dark was coming fast. We looked for 2 hours and have not found the arrow but about 200 yards away we found my lighted nock off of a horse trail. We walked that and found nothing. I called it off and will be looking for him tomorrow. I'm still shacking my head for a bad shot.
You made the right call in backing out, but should have done so immediately, for future reference. Could easily be 1-lung at that short of yardage, but you should have gotten more penetration if that were the case.What is your set up? Did you take pics of the blood?
Good luck man go back to your last spot and start looking in the morning and then post some pictures when you find him
I can understand a bad shot and the deer will live but I haven't found the arrow and that's what is bothering me. The blood trail stopping too.
Liver shot. Deer will be dead. But you probably pushed him by tracking too soon which will make recovery difficult. Dark blood means you need to wait it out. Water over the dam. Get him tomorrow. He is dead somewhere. Go get him. Don't give up.
it happens to the best of us. i had that happen last year with a doe. i seen her in the field a week later she had a slight limp but other than that she seemed ok. good luck finding him i hope to see pics of him soon
Liver. No question. That is a wait 6 hour minimum type of hit. If not overnight. Can you get a trained tracking dog on him? That is the best thing you can do is make a call right now. https://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/find-a-tracker/?state=il
You should've had much more penetration if you indeed hit where you think you did. Sounds like a flesh wound hit to me with him bleeding good and then quitting 100 yards down the trail.
Interesting you found the nock and not the arrow. Good news is he'll keep for a while as cold as yawl have it back there. Keep looking; light will help considerably. Keep your spirits up though and hopefully we'll see some pics soon. Good luck!
good luck to you! I had a similar circumstance 2 weeks ago when I killed my first buck. He was only 20yds away from where I last found blood, but he was hidden in brush so never saw him. Hope this story has a good ending!
I don't know for sure because I didn't see it but if it was back and the blood dark red it's probably a liver shot so you would want to wait it out over night. You should find it tomorrow though, good luck I hope you find it.
Daylight will provide you with the clues you need. No exit wound means little blood trail. Look for tracks where you found your nock.
I had the same thing happen last year. Big buck at 30 yds. Shot was just too far back and it hit the liver. We didn't find enough blood to fill a teaspoon and it was a pass-through. Fat plugged the exit hole. The lack of penetration is my concern. Hopefully it went in further than you thought. Definitely did a good job backing out. The dog idea is a great way to go. Looking forward to the pic's. Best of luck
If that is where you hit then the only bone there is a rib which certainly should allow you to get more than 4-5 inches of penetration. My guess is you hit him through his back straps which can produce a lot of blood but probably not a dead deer. I hope I'm wrong and you find him today. Good luck
keep looking you'll find him... i hit liver once and barely any blood after about 150 yards... but he bedded down and there was a pool where he was and he got up went another 60 yard and expired just over this ridge... keep searching.... goodluck and post pics when you find him
