Absolutly! Go get some partner. Dont get sucked into the whole big hole thing. Better luck next time kyle happins to everyone at some point.
I am determined to not let this happen again frustration, anger, and guilt are the only words that come to mind right now.
WELL SAID!!! It happens, excitement and adreaneline take over and your not thinking clearly. lesson learned, you are now a smarter hunter. everyone is human and makes mistakes! as long as you learn from them! Switch BH's and get back out there!!!
We've all been there. Wait for broadside or slightly quartering away shots and it will reduce the number of times you will have to feel guilty. Compose yourself, aim small and gather as many details as possible in the half second it takes for that deer to bolt off. The more information you have on the shot the better you chances of recovery. Look for the deer one more time then move on and consider this a leason learned.
Typically a bow will shoot low at that close of a range, not high. The arrow is just beginning in its parabolic flight path and the arrow would hit low that close if it was off at all. Ive honestly never heard of a use for a 10yard pin since bows shoot plenty fast enough. Even my little brothers 45lb hoyt is sighted in starting at 20, and will only hit 1" low at 10.
Crank the lbs up a bit! Apparently there are no Rage fans here?! I happen to love my rage 2 blade chisel tips, but I'm shooting 70 lbs and am confident in the chisel tips ability. Definitely could have hit shoulder on a quarter to shot. Best of luck with your search and think of this as a learning experience! Keep your head up!
You don't need a fixed blade. Any expandable on the market will kill any deer hit in the vitals. If you miss the spot any broad head can wound, not kill. I only shoot Rage and I've never lost an animal period. I tag out every year and kill more hogs than I could ever count yearly and never lost one animal. I've even had so so hits and still found the animal. My wife shoots a Diamond Edge set a 39 lbs and uses Rages also and she has never lost an animal. Maybe I'm just lucky and only buy the working expandables. "Live Life at Full Draw"
Exactly! people need to understand the science of arrow flight, KE, and broadhead selection before hitting the woods. All of that information can be found within these forums if you look or ask. Not every broadhead, arrow, and bow setup are going to produce lethal results on a whitetail. It bugs me to hear about people making poor decisions in the woods, and wounding a whitetail than later blame their equipment. You bought the equipment, so its your responsibility to know the lethality of the setup before going after live game. I know I'm coming off harsh, but hopefully whats about to follow in this post will be corrected and you'll see better results next time you get in the tree. things to correct for next time (most have been mentioned): 1. Quartering to shot? thats a never with a bow regardless of KE. Even if you tuck it right behind the shoulder, where does your path of penetration lead the broadhead on a quartered away deer? thats right....away from the vitals, you may clip a lung if your lucky. But chances are you wont and you'll be tracking a liver or gut blood trail for the next 3 days. -Fix: Never shoot quartered to, stick to quartered away or broadside. 2. You chose to purchase A 2 inch rear deploying mechanical broadhead with known reliability issues on steep angle shots and shots on bone...at 55 lb pull weight. Then proceeded to take a steep angled shot on a quartered to whitetail and expected to get lethal penetration? I'll stop. -Fix: Get yourself a good fixed blade broadhead: i.e. Muzzy's, magnus stinger, G5 montecs, NAP thunderheads, Slick tricks. something tried and true to crush bone and penetrate with a moderate poundage setup. 3. Three hours of looking for a deer immediately after a questionable shot and youre already online claiming to have "lost a doe". That doesnt seem to me like youre putting forth much effort to recover this animal. She could be piled up for all you know. -Fix: Get out in the woods and off the forums. find your last blood and go slow and steady from there. make circles, form a grid, get buddies, get a dog (if legal) to help you track and find this deer. give it 100% and if at the end of exhausting all your efforts you cant find the deer then at least you can go home with your pride knowing that you gave it your all.
I shot my biggest buck at 20 yds, slightly quartered to. Got both lungs and liver, deer dropped within 75 yds. Although it's not an ideal shot, it can be made.
Congratulations to you on harvesting your biggest buck. I'm glad the shot worked for you. A lot depends on how hard the deer is quartered to you. For the most part I don't hear and see great results on quartered to shots. I personally will stick to broadside and quartered away. As bowhunters we are called to make the most ethical and high percentage lethal shot to gather our quarry quickly and cleanly. Broadside and quartered away provide that. A quartering to shot throws in a lot of variables and uncertainty and I'm sure it's a shot not many of us practice. In the field on a live deer is not the time for practice.
I would take a quartering to shot...with my current set up and a solid fixed blade head like G5. And of course if the angle isnt to crazy. But with the op set up...heck no. Heck even my set up with his BH is a no in my book. Just my 2 cents
Speaking from treestand hunting with a deer at close range and a steep downward angle, its the opposite. That's why you range a deer from a stand at 20 yards and the rangefinder says to aim at 18 yds. If you aim at 20, its probably going over his back.
If I shoot my 20 yd pin at a deer 18 Yds away, its a dead deer. There is almost 0 change in shot placement in those two Yds.
Lack of blood on the ground does not preclude heavy internal bleeding. At that distance, (even allowing for the lower poundage) a clean hit would have passed through. Likewise, if you if you hit strictly guts. At such a close distance you must have connected reasonably close to where you were aiming. If you punched the trigger, the arrow would have moved to the right of the target and clipped some shoulder bone and deflected to the rear. The fact that you saw most of the arrow sticking out from the far side likely means the deer will die. At the very least, try and walk a strait line from last blood.
There are tons of rage fans on this site...however most experienced bow hunters will state that if pulling 55lbs some (myself included) wouldn't with anything less than 60lbs. It takes more energy to open and force a mechanical through anything...to say otherwise fights science. A 40lb draw weight will kill deer easily, but not with a mechanical every time. I'm a huge advocate of fixed primarily because it teaches and shows hunters whether their bow is properly tuned or if they're merely compensating with their pin locations when shooting bhs instead of fieldpoints.
Jeffacarp this is exactly why just yesterday I posted on my site the 10 things a bowhunter should know, geared towards the novice and young bowhunters.
