A doe came in tonight right at last light. I hit her right behind the shoulder, maybe a little high. The arrow went completely through and I found it 15 yds in the direction she took off. Blood was pretty thick, I'm thinking I must have got some liver. The problem is after I found the arrow the blood trail ended. I looked for about 2hrs trying to pick up on trail but not walk over it at the same time. I bumped a doe from a ditch not more then 30yds from where I found the arrow. I have no idea if it was her or not, it was dark at this point but she blew at me and I caught the tail in my flashlight. I backed out and will be on it first in the AM. With a decent shot, a full pass through arrow, this doe has got to expire right? Second, low tonight is 42. I am hoping she didn't expire for awhile so the meat will still be good. Thoughts? Pics of arrow attached
I had a similar situation last yr shot a doe last light me and a buddy looked for hrs in the dark no blood went back next morning in day light found her less than an hr it's terribly hard to blood trail in the dark she will be there in the morning I am sure oh and my shot was back a little as well liver shot she had expired about 150yds from where I shot her
In the second pic, that looks like white hair on the end of your arrow. Which means you might of hit her low instead of high. Whenever a deer is shot, it doesn't want to waste all its energy, so she will run downhill instead of uphill.
Assuming you didnt hit muscle (back strap) she should be dead. Good luck and keep us posted. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Went this morning with 2 other people, never picked up a blood trail and searched the entire property. No find. Much of this property is extremely thick CRP and pines. Maybe she hid somewhere but no find. Agree everything looked like a dead deer and I noticed the white hair today as well. Maybe I pushed her last night far away. Who knows. It's really disappointing and feel horrible for not doing my part in finding her. If she did die, this property needed extreme QDM, all I have get seen is does here but too bad I don't get to benefit from the meat.
I shot a doe 2 years ago - near perfect shot, not much in the way of blood, found her but never found my arrow. It was the darndest thing, had the lighted nock and could tell it was a money shot! Took me near 2 hours to find her.
I bumped the deer up about 40min or so... I bet it was her. It just amazes me how the arrow can have so much blood on it, but literally nothing on the ground.
It's always hard to wait after a shot, but unless you see the deer go down you have to wait at least an hour. I read, check facebook, read sports stories, anything to keep you off the ground for at least an hour.
Its not as exact a science as you would think. Ive tracked quite a few deer that didnt bleed much at all after lethal shots and we found em.
That's way too soon on a hit that you are not certain about. Especially if you suspect a liver hit. Several hours would have been more appropriate. I would guess that you did bump the deer.
The shot location You described is no where near the liver. A liver hit deer can not survive past 45 minutes. You also stated the deer you jumped blew at you which would also be unusual if it was badly wounded.
Fact is the deer wasn't found. I tracked the deer too soon. Was my first tracking experience, I am sure that is common with new hunters. There are plenty of deer around, so now I know next time to wait much longer. She probably vanished in the thousands of acres of corn that surround the property. I just gotta keep practicing and make better shots. A lot of season left.
Love you don't argue or get defensive on honest critiques...learn from the mistake, minimize chances of it re-occurring...and educate others. As you said long season ahead of us, put an arrow in one again...just wait longer for sure!!! I'm ridiculously anal about that, shot a buck in 2010...watched it die 15 yards from my stand...take it's last breath and it was still 50 minutes later before I headed down the tree
I know we have debated this before, but I can assure you that a liver hit animal can often live for several hours. I have seen it first hand on several occasions with both bow and gun. Don't take my word for it, do a search on the internet or even search liver hits on this site. If you hunt long enough you will experience it. Atlas had a deer that was one-lunged and the liver was hit solid and it was still alive 15 hours later. That is an extreme example, but I can guarantee that a liver hit animal will NOT always be dead in 45 minutes or less. Quite often, it can take hours. I have found them still alive after leaving all night. A liver hit deer will want to bed soon, but will often get up and change positions several times before expiring. But if bumped, it can cover a LOT of ground with little to no blood trail. Most authorities on deer will recommend at least a three hour wait on a liver hit and 5 or 6 hours on a gut-shot. I just have to stand up and shout out on this because I hate to see anyone chase after a liver hit deer after only 45 minutes and risk losing it. Unless you see it go down dead, back out and wait at least 3 or 4 hours.
