This past weekend i got my first shot at a deer with my bow after 8 years of trying. Ive killed a few deer gun hunting but i truly enjoy the sport and skill needed to be a succesfull bowhunter. I shot a doe at about 25 yards and hit her. the shot was a little high but i thought i had clipped her lungs. my arrow didn't pass through and she took off with it. Me and my dad found a blood trail about 30 yards from where she was standing when i shot her. we followed it for about 300 yards, recovering my arrow intact along the way. the blood was dark red, no signs of a lung hit. the blood trail just stopped, it wasn't the greatest to begin with but at certain points it was good. we think she just stopped bleeding and kept going. we searched in a grid pattern from the end of the trail but couldn't locate her. we don't think it was a fatal hit, but obviously we cannot be 100% sure. I feel terrible that i was unable to fatally hit her and only wounded her. I know this is a part of bowhunting, but i never wanted it to happen to me. Can anyone give me their opinion on this? similar stories?
All you can really do is try your best to find her and if you don't then just chalk it up as a lesson learned and jump back in the saddle. I know it isn't that easy though. Just this past Saturday I shot at a nice 8 pointer and I watched as my arrow hit a limb and then hit him in the back ham. After following a few specks of blood here and there for a few hours I headed back to my brother in laws bow shop, which is a check station, to take a little break before heading out to look some more. Come to find out someone on a neighboring property shot the same buck I had shot earlier. I thought this may be the case because about 5 to 10 minutes after I shot at him, I heard gunshots from across the road (it was opening day of shotgun season here and I was still bowhunting). I still felt sick for the 5 hours that I didn't know what happened to him.
This has happened to me. The blood you describe sounds like a muscle hit. A fatally hit deer will definitly bed down and not move 300yds. your doe will be fine!
