So this evening I was out hunting a new piece of property in MN (public) and after a few hours I was fortunate enough to get a shot on a doe. She was only about 15 yards away and I was elevated roughly 12ft in my stand, I drew back as she passed a tree and when she cleared it I let my arrow fly. Upon flight my arrow appeared to hit a small twig but I could not tell if it affected the trajectory (I'm shooting grim reaper 1 3/8th broadheads). After the shot, which looked to be a little low but still in the vital area, the doe ran about 10 yards into the thick cover from which she came and I still had a visual on her. She stood in one spot for roughly 5 minutes then began to come back out of the thicket slowly. She came into a clearing about 35 yards from me and I thought it would be a good idea to maybe stick her again, I missed her high and she took off. After waiting till dark which was about 25mins I got down and began to look for my arrow and blood. I found my arrow which was a complete pass through and covered in blood. I then went to where she stopped in the thick and found two decent size pools of blood which appeared to be coming out of both sides. I began following her trail exiting the thick and the blood trail began to lighten up rather quickly.. By the time I got to where she was stand when I took the second shot I could only find splots of blood here and there, but where she turned and ran after my second shot is where I lost the trail. I would have kept going but I am not familiar with the area and I was an hour from campus still (yes I'm college) and had about a mile hike back to my vehicle. I plan to go back tomorrow and continue my search for her. The blood I found looked darker and didn't have bubbles in it just very dark rich looking blood, does this darker color come from a low shot possibly? Also if it was low would that mean the wound would begin to clott sooner? Please, any advise would be very much appreciated!
Colton, the best thing you did was wait until tomorrow. Was she slightly quartered to you? If so, you may have hit some guts/liver. Did the arrow have any food particles or smell funny, or was it just dark blood?
She was pretty much completely broadside but yes she was slightly quartering towards me. In the moment it was hard to pay close attention to those crucial details, I get so excited. The arrow did have a bit of an odd odor to it but didn't have any food particles on it. Also near the largest spot of blood I found there didn't look like anything but dark blood, but tomorrow when I return I will look closer to see if there is any evidence there! Does the darkness signify a further back hit? By the way, thank you! I'm a younger hunter and appreciate any help I can get
I am guessing liver. Take your time in the morning and follow the blood. Get on your hands and knees if you need to. You should find that deer.
Backing out was the right thing to do. Sounds like you may have gotten some liver. Was she kind of hunched up after the shot? Good luck!
We can't rule anything out at this point (other than a complete miss). Brisket hits usually leave a lot of fat on the arrow. Muscle hits usually leave rather bright red blood.
Would a liver shot clot faster because of the concentration of blood? Definitely will be doing some crawling on hands and knees in the morning! This may be a dumb question but will due in the morning wash away small amounts of blood? It isn't supposed to rain but I'm just curious if that could affect the tracking. I don't believe it was a brisket shot, just wasn't that low but a tricep or bicep could be possible. I wish I would have taken some pictures to help piece some more ideas together from the actual site. Also I couldn't tell if she was hunched up, the cover was pretty thick, but she was moving really slow until I shot the second time, then she bolted.
Liver hits are always fatal within 45 minutes. Dried blood will be harder to see. Bring a roll of tp and lay down a track sheet by sheet for direction.
Liver hits are not always fatal in 45 minutes. I've also seen liver hit deer die in less than a minute. It just depends on which/how much vascular structures in the liver your broadhead slices through. Liver hits are fatal because they cause the animal to bleed to death, not because of liver failure. I once hit a doe low in the liver and paunch with a 12 ga. slug and she was still going 4 hours later. Right up until we put another slug in her. If your doe was indeed a liver hit, the reduced blood on the ground may have more to do with tissue (guts/fat/muscle/etc.) plugging the wound than clotting.
Take your time in the morning good luck buddy! For being new to the sport you made some good decisions, backing out instead of pushing her and getting lost! Both good calls!!
If you got a pass thru, I don't think you really need to worry about if the blood will clot. When you get back in the a.m. you'll have a different mindset. You won't have the sense of panic, you won't be pressed for time. Just take a nice cup of coffee with you, take your time and you''ll find her. If you can recruit a buddy that'll certainly help. If not, take some toilet paper so you can mark the blood trail as you find spots. Just take your time, think logically, and you'll find her.
I'm thinking gut shot. You should find her, but she might be a ways from where you took the second shot.
Thank you all for the help and boosting my confidence on potentially finding her in the morning! It's going to be a long night. If I did happen to hit the guts, how badly will the affect the meat from being left over night? It's right at 32 degrees here temperature wise.
the meat will be fine unless it warms up to 44 or higher and it sits there for a little while in that heat
Sounds like a liver hit to me. Go back in the morning, and like others said bring a roll of TP and place a sheet by blood you find. Where in MN are you hunting?
