Should start by saying this is my second year bow hunting. I shot at a deer last year and hit it high and barely any blood was found. I have always gun hunted and never really had to trail a lot of deer that have been shot. Yesterday was hunting and shot at a little 4pt. I couldnt get it to stop so I took a shot at 23 yards as soon as it started to quarter away from me. I felt awesome about the shot, was aiming just back on the nearside shoulder to the front shoulder. I felt the shot was a good one and the buck ran a ways in a beam field and then into the woods. I got a clean pass through with the arrow covered in blood and hair. Started trailing over an hour later and only got small drops of blood here and there. It picked up at times a little bit and then would slack of at times. The blood was bright red and didnt smell bad like i would think if it was a gut shot. Any help here with understanding my bad shot would be great help.
Did you find him? Based on what you're saying I would expect a dead deer as long as you didn't push him too hard (can't say what "too hard" is for this situation)
no we never did find him... waited little over an hour and then trailed it...looked for almost 2 hours and then just walked around the woods awhile
Sounded like a good hit. A lot of guys dont believe in it, but theres a "void" in the upper chest cavity betweeen the top of the lungs and the spine. Sounds like you might have nailed the void. Always a shame to loose a wounded deer, but unfortunately, its part of bowhunting, and it happens at some point to just about everyone.
Hmm, well that sucks, but without knowing more about your shot I can't help... How high were you, how hard was it quartering. You may have hit high? Something I've been hearing a lot is how people's deer have been plugging up and not bleeding well... How did it run when you shot it? Did it flash it's tail, did it buckle/huntch up? What other info can you share? (even though tail up/down isn't an exact science, it can help hypotheses) Sorry you didn't find him, let's hope the shot wasn't lethal and you can get another shot at him later in the season.
well i was about 20 ft off the ground and took a 23 yard shot... deer was quartering less than a 45 away from me... after i shot it took off and ran an estimated 200 yards around the soy bean field and then into the woods... my buddy cud see it and he said it was hauling ass and didnt slow down but he thought he cud see a dark spot behind the shoulder where the entrance wudda been, but he cudnt be positive cuz the deer was moving quick... the blood trail started as drops grouped together, 2-5or 5 drops at a time and then it wud pick up a with bigger drops and then it wud die off.... after trailing it across the field and into the woods about 30 yards we cudnt find anything and we looked pretty hard. when i hit the deer it hunched a little bit and then that is all i saw... i was set up in timber and couldnt see the field very well at all
Hard to say based on the description of the shot. The doe I shot this year I hit high in the lungs and she didn't leave a real good blood trail I just happened to be on my hands and knees and could see her white belly about 75 yards ahead in the woods and I had already trailed her about 50-75 yards. Sometimes depending on the exit wound location lung hits(especially high ones) can leave spotty blood trails until the deer starts spewing blood from its mouth/nose, I tend to look for brushing blood rather than blood on the ground. By that I simply mean where the deer may have actually brushed the wound against tall brush, branches, etc. If I absolutely run out of blood sign (put some kind of visual markings on the last areas of blood you found) I will grid it out as best as I can and always search in the direction of the nearest water source too (if there is one nearby). Not saying that is what happened but maybe a possibility. If it is nighttime come look again in the daylight everything looks different in the day and you might catch something you missed under artificial light. On a sidenote I see you hunt in Southeast VA in the same area code as me, you from the Chesapeake/VA Beach area?
yeah we found a few places where it brushed up against a log, some branches, and a few small plants... only problem with the whole water situation is we were basically surrounded by swamp... yeah im in Chesapeake but dont really hunt in the area.... what parts you do your hunting?
Their is a base(Northwest Annex) on Ballahack Road and Fentress Airfield. Hunt in lots of other parts of VA/NC but around here I mainly hit those bases. I don't really love the early shotgun season here because the dogs and hunters can really change the patterns. Don't get me wrong though, I love shotgun hunting as well but I wish I could bowhunt these deer first before the pressure. Sorry about the deer, good luck the rest of the season.
