Buckeye's thread on them wounded buck pics got my mind going again on my deer. As some of you know I hit a good buck last Monday and didn't find It. The last 4 to 5 days Including today I've been hitting the practicing hard trying to get my confidence back where It was. When I was practicing today I went up 10 feet In a tree and placed my worn out target at about 10 to 12 yards to simulate what went on last Monday evening. The height of the stand Is the same as Is the distance of the shot from Monday evening. I went and put an arrow exactly where I "think" I saw my arrow go. I'd love to say I know for sure where the arrow went Into the buck but we all know sometimes that Isn't the case on what we think we see. Just for the hell of It, lets say I'm right and this Is where the arrow went. I can't make my mind up from looking at these pics. To be honest I thought I caught the top of the lung on this buck the second I saw that arrow hit. And yes I know I was a tad far back also. So, Is this arrow below or above the spine?
From that angle, you'd go below the spine. Just barely, but below it. I do know, all too well, that where you think you hit and where the arrow actually went are often two different things.
Steve watch this video, make sure you click on HD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q52u9ROoFnQ This is where i hit a buck, and he survived. The arrow came out after 30 yards and the blood went for about 100 or so and eventually thinned out. My arrow went below the spine i believe. This buck was shot by a shotgun 2 months later 3/4 of a mile away,
Did your arrow go through the deer? Complete pass through vs. hanging up in the deer? If the arrow got hung up, it's most likely because of the bones in the vertebrae. (too high) If it were below the spine the arrow would have passed completely through.
I didnt say the shots were exact, i didnt compare them at all actually. Just a visual on a "similar shot", thats all.
Never found the arrow Christine. To be honest the hit did sound a little more on the solid side but by no means was It a crack like sound either.
If indeed you shot him there and the arrow went below the spine, he's a dead deer. It's hunting though and the deer's desire to survive is as great as your desire to kill him- a variable everyone seems to forget about. Steve, I shot a cow elk a few years back from five feet away. The arrow blew through both sides right behind each shoulder. She ran away and I watch as my arrow bounced up and down-the fletchings were the only thing keeping the arrow from completely falling to the ground. Had you been standing next to me and said, "Will, I will bet you your house you won't find that elk", I would have been on that bet like flys on do-do. I would have lost...five days of looking yielded nothing. Buddy, you can do it perfectly or you can do it professionally. I can tell you this, the former seems to be beyond me. The "what ifs" and the second guessing won't get you anywhere. You have been tossed...get back on the horse. Get ready to be tossed again-professionally speaking!
IF your arrow went there Steve, I'd say it was below the spine and a dead deer. However, from videoing hunts I can tell you with certainty that the arrow often does NOT go exactly where we would bet all the money in the world it did. It very well could have been a few inches higher, passing above the spine like Caleb's video shows happening (IMO anyway). The first doe I shot last year, I hit high in the spine...I could have SWORN I was just rattled and botched the shot, pulling high. After watching the video, we see the deer clearly drops and turns almost the full height of a deers chest cavity, I placed my finger on her heart when the shot goes off, and the arrow hits almost exactly there only on screen the deer has ducked to where the heart crease is replaced with the deers spine/back. Neither I nor the cameraman picked up on this in real life, but none the less video proved what really happened. That is almost EXACTLY where I hit my buck last year (high and far back in the lungs), except mine was angled slightly quartered away where the arrow exited farther down and forward in the chest cavity. he went a pretty long way for a lung shot deer, but piled up about 250 yards later, the blood trail was VERY good for 200 yards, then petered out to nothing for the last 50-60 yards. We spotted him through the thicket luckily. Don't beat yourself up over it, just go find him again (if it went over the spine) or find one even bigger!
But he could be a LOOOOOOONG ways from where you shot him. A deer hit there could travel a long distance before he beds and dies.
I would agree that is probably true "most of the time", but I don't believe all of the time. That is exactly what I call no mans land. My buddy killed a nice 8pt with a gun a while back....it had broadhead scars on both sides and was very easy to tell that the shot went under the spine. It was pretty much right where Steve's is hit. Obviously it lived...it was perfectly healthy when he killed it and the shot appeared to be months earlier, it was all healed up. I have no clue why it wasn't dead from the arrow. ? I don't think all deer hit there live, but I do believe some do. They are so tough. I shot a doe and a buck right in that exact spot many years ago. Never found either deer, despite having 4-6 people looking both times. I have no clue if they lived, but we followed blood for hundreds of yards on one, and probably 150 on the other. A double lung "should" be dead by then. Like I said in the other thread....biologically speaking, its "impossible" to go under the spine there and not take out both lungs, however we hear about it happening every year. I remember on HNI a guy posting a deer he killed and when he gutted it there was a broadhead and peice of shaft that was stuck right in the heart area, and had scar tissue all grown around it. The pics were crazy, makes no sense how it could be possible. I'm hoping he shows on trail cam Steve....then you'll know for sure what happened. Or better yet...comes strolling by your stand again :D
Absolutely... I concur 100% John. In regards to the "No-zone or No man's land" it does exist... or "something" exists. However, if you hit a deer behind the diaphragm and below the spine, no void exists. And whether it be intestines, stomach, intestines, liver... whatever, it's a dead deer. The question is how long and how far will it go?
How could you miss with those lungs hanging out like a NY concubine?:D Just kidding Steve. I know that's not the deer you shot.:p I would say "if" that is where you hit, and you did not get a pass thru, that deer could go a long ways before dying. Especially if it just barely got the top of the offside lung. jmho
