So help me understand how my buck ran 700 yards with both lungs shredded

i, have high lunged two deer and both took off running as hard as they could go. lucklily, one ran across a open field and i watched him pile up in mid stride. the other ran through the woods to where a bowhunter was sitting, and when i tracked him through the snow to where i found him, the other hunter told me that he saw the buck coming as hard as he could run and actually ran into a small sapling,fell down and expired. BOTH bucks ran WELL past 150 yds. doesn't take long for a deer running full throttle to cover that yardage,and both bucks ran flat out till they died!

 

My 1st gut reaction when I looked at the pics was that there was some type of blade deployment issue before the broad-head fully passed-through the main body cavity and especially the lungs.. Result being not as much damage done as the arrow passed through the lungs, which enabled him to make it that far...

What did the BH look like after you took it out of the deer? All blades intact and fairly straight?

 

Yessir .... they are fine ... when I pulled it out, they were closed as they will, but there was no doubt they opened by that wound ... I agree with you, Bro ... and Christine ... I really think the blade caught the ribs up top causing the tip to swing up and hit the bottom of the backbone .....

For those of you who think it wasn't a double lung ... if I would have known to take a pic of the lungs, I would have ... I do believe the right lung was not nearly as damaged as the left one ... but it was definitely cut .. I dunno ... like I said, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes ...

 

I wish I had a pic of the lungs from the doe...entry side it passed through the top 3rd and opposite side it was about dead center. Measured of the aerial photo from point of shot to crossing of old R.R. grade, and then angled to where she expired. The minimum distance she ran is 170m or 185yards but she was curving and weaving through the trees so it would be further even. This was with a 125gr Muzzy Mx3 knockoff(made by Allen I think). She was not alarmed at all when I shot her so...I think some deer just have more will to live.

 

Anyone that doesn't believe a double lung deer or any animal for the matter won't go any further then 200 yards hasn't been on enough blood trails. Wild animals have a will to live. It's absolutely nuts what these animals can handle and endure. I know of a good handful of double lung shot deer (not all were high lung hits) go In that 500 yard range. The next one gets hit In the same exact spot and goes 70 yards. You just never know. All to often on these forums you here people say double lung deer never go far. I cringe every time I read that. The latest double lung deer that went a long ways was my brothers 1.5 year old buck he shot In 2008. He caught the top 1/3 of the near lung and went through the middle of the far lung. That buck flew when he hit It he said. Ran faster then any animal he's ever seen that he's shot. We had 2 feet of snow on the ground. This buck went almost 600 yards. 100 yards of that was up hill. Without the 2 feet of snow that buck would've went farther I'm sure.

This thread Is really a great thread. It just goes to show there's NEVER absolutes In bow hunting or hunting In general and not every hit will yield the same results.

Great thread and topic Tony. I also agree with Christine and SouthdakotaHunter. That BH definitely deflected.

 

I think this is an important topic as some folks give up too easy when they shoot a deer ...I mean if I didn't hear the contact and see the arrow sticking out behind the shoulder, ......

 

Man so many things can go into it. Like everyone said, they will fight as long as they can to live. I think the switch to fixed blades is a good move for anyone...so hopefully you find that true. But the important thing is that people do read what happened here and know to not give up...dont think because blood is low and youve good 100 yards or so that its a bad hit. Gotta stick on the trail as long as you can..and you did good PT! Hope we all can do the same when it happens to us.

 

Glad you shared the experience, Tony. I was always under the impression a double lung shot deer wouldn't go any further than a 100 yards or so.

 

Ever heard of Elmer Keith?
In "Big Game Hunting," (written 1954,) Keith tells the story of a bull elk he killed with a .270 rifle. Upon examining the carcass, he observed a scar on one side of the chest cavity, and a large scar and mass of odd tissue on the opposite side. It turned out that in some year prior, some other hunter had shot the elk through and through the chest cavity, a double lung rifle shot- and the elk had survived. The mass on the exit wound side opposite the entry wound was exposed lung tissue which had grown outside the body cavity.

If an animal could survive the hydrostatic shock trauma of a rifle shot through both lungs, then it's sure as heck possible that a VERY lucky animal could survive an arrow through both lungs so long as it miraculously missed an artery.

Of course, I say this but still swear by lung shots. No matter the weapon, I always try for the lungs. By and large, a lung shot animal will drop way before a heart shot animal. But there's exceptions to every rule.

 

sure you want a couple slick tricks
?

 

try the killzones they truly work 2 deer down with them so far one dropped i its tracks as if i shot it with a gun and no it wasnt a spine shot it was heart and the other ran 20 yards double lung

 

My thoughts exactly... the 50-100 yard tracking jobs we hear of are normally because deer lay down instead of running wide open across an open field. I have made almost identical shots on several bucks that always seem to make it across the pasture before collapsing in the thicket on the other side.

Picture it this way, they run til the air runs out... My son swims... those kids hardly breathe on the first fifty of a race. That's about 25 seconds and they don't collapse... they then do a flip turn and do the next fifty.

If the heart is taken out, the oxygen to the brain is immediately stopped and the deer goes down though they still often make it the 50-100 yards.

Nothing wrong with your BH if you are making shots like that... however you would have had way more blood with an exit wound.

 

By reading your description of the hunt and seeing the pics of the entry wound and arrow penetration, I'd say you hit both lungs. Maybe you only glanced the far lung, but you did take a pretty good shot. I'd have to agree with most of these posts and just say that it was pure adrenaline that kept that buck moving for so long. All animals are capable of incredible things when faced with life or death situations, including humans. Had that buck decided to lay down, he would have been dead within a matter of 10 to 20 minutes.

 

Guys, this is great, real life stuff I am reading ... I do think a fixed blade would have led to an exit wound and at least a blood trail....

My other thought was the deer dropping .... looking at the deer before skinning, shot from the ground ... that looks like a center punched double lunger....but it wasn't ... it was....my guess is as the deer dropped and angled to his right he was tilting for the.turn and that is why the arrow caught those top ribs (short ribs) and only took out the top of the opposite lung ...

Lets do it, Rudi....

 

Here's my thoughts without reading anybody else's comments.

It was not a true double lung. THe high hit & stopped arrow caught the near lung & spine, but obviously not enough to drop him with a CNS hit. There may have been cuts or a tiny hole in the far lung, but not full penetration.

 

My take on it (not sure if anyone has mentioned it) is that he probably ran that far because he was in the open. They are going to be able to cover a lot more ground if they are in a field rather than timber, and they can cover 700 yds. in a pretty short amount of time.

 

First off Tony Congrats job well done


Like some others have said, i dont believe it was a true double lung hit. However i believe you what you have written. I would like to look at the body cavity and the gut pile. I know i can't thou.

that will to survive is great and 700 yards is a long way WOW!!!!!!!!

Glad you got him. Got me rethinking on shot placement now as well as everyone else


Great read everyone thanks

 

One other note... blood was 3/4 up the arrow....I will shoot a pic when I get home...

 

Same happened to me last season, shot a buck quartering away at 35yds, good hit with a clean pass thru, looked like for sure a double lung. Waited about 2 hrs for a friend to show up to help track him. Jumped him about 200yds from where I shot him, then found him again at about 600yds from where I shot him. He got up again and started to run, but I was able to put another one in him and stop the madness. When I dressed him out, he was completely bled out, he was going on just adrenaline at the end...

 

Good Thread!!

This is
along the lines of where my head was, though I was thinking about the distance covered as distancing 'the threat'. Once the deer zeroed in on Tony, in the open, he remained more of a visible threat, and the deer runs for closest/best cover, direction its oriented, something. Where, in the woods, or with good cover the deer might not spot the threat, so they may run until they think they are safe. If not spotting they react to the pain and apparent threat that just hit them. Edges of fields may be dense and afford good cover as do the woods, briers, brush, swamps; they lay down till expired, feeling better, pushed, need water/food, etc.

Thoughts?