Sick to my stomache

[gator man]

keep looking. you will find him.

[Texas Tracker]

Man I hate to hear this. Stick with it. He might show up later on in the season. Now If I may suggest that next time you hit a deer like that you don't look that night With so many people. Some dogs will pick up the others peoples scent and get confused. A fresh blood trail with no other scent make it easer for a fast recovery. With a hit like that blood pools up inside the chest cavity and the dog has to track deer scent and not blood. Some dogs can do that some can't. Like some dogs only ground scent, some dogs ground and air scent. Always when in doubt back out.

[jp77]

Man I hate to hear this. Stick with it. He might show up later on in the season. Now If I may suggest that next time you hit a deer like that you don't look that night With so many people. Some dogs will pick up the others peoples scent and get confused. A fresh blood trail with no other scent make it easer for a fast recovery. With a hit like that blood pools up inside the chest cavity and the dog has to track deer scent and not blood. Some dogs can do that some can't. Like some dogs only ground scent, some dogs ground and air scent. Always when in doubt back out.

This was a hard lesson learned no doubt. I was 100% confident in my shot and in the fact that he was piled up 100yds in due to the sounds I heard and what I watched when he left out. I haven't given up on the search yet, we do a daily drive by to look for buzzards and have the cameras running again. I am praying at this point that he survived and will be seen again one day.

[JonBoy]

This was a hard lesson learned no doubt. I was 100% confident in my shot and in the fact that he was piled up 100yds in due to the sounds I heard and what I watched when he left out. I haven't given up on the search yet, we do a daily drive by to look for buzzards and have the cameras running again. I am praying at this point that he survived and will be seen again one day.

Keep watching the trail camera and you may be surprised at what you see. I've had deer crouch on me that I ended up shooting high in the void run off with my arrow only to show back up at the feeder a couple of weeks later with a healing hole in 'em.

[Throwin Darts]

I am confident in my shot, I hit exactly where I aimed. Hind sight I shouldn't have taken the quartering to shot. I know I hit my mark, and i know that deer is dead. It just sucks that he didn't bleed. Somehow he spit the arrow and didn't bleed.

I shot a buck quartering to me and hit him right where I was aiming as well. He didn't bleed a drop and I got a complete pass through. I maybe clipped one lung on the entry and due to the quartering to the exit was way back. There are a lot of scenarios with quartering to shots where you end up with a deer surviving.

[ar3731guy]

the arrow may have run up his ribs instead of going into the cavity. happended to me on the first quartering shot i took. i killed the deer 2 weeks later half a mile away. he had scars where the arrow went in and out on the skin but never broke a rib. crazy things happen bowhuning...

[quebow03]

it happens. sucks, but it happens.

[gingib]

keep us posted. He is a mature big buck

[Bisch]

I am confident in my shot, I hit exactly where I aimed. Hind sight I shouldn't have taken the quartering to shot. I know I hit my mark, and i know that deer is dead. It just sucks that he didn't bleed. Somehow he spit the arrow and didn't bleed.

I am not trying to come down on you, but, the quartering to shot is not a good one, especially if you hit him right behind the shoulder and in the crease. The arrow might have gone right where you were aiming, but you were not aiming in a good spot. If the entry you described was low, you could have gotten nothing but guts!

Many of the posts above have alluded to the fact that that was not s good shot to take, and I hope you learn from this and only take broadside or quartering away shots from here on out.

I lost a buck several years ago that I ended up finding 9 days later. I was pretty sick over the fact that the yotes got all the meat, but I was relieved to get that head back and know it was not gonna get chewed up by rats!

Sorry you lost him, hope you eventually find him, and good luck on your next one!

Bisch

[The Black Snipe]

That Sucks

[jp77]

I am not trying to come down on you, but, the quartering to shot is not a good one, especially if you hit him right behind the shoulder and in the crease. The arrow might have gone right where you were aiming, but you were not aiming in a good spot. If the entry you described was low, you could have gotten nothing but guts!

Many of the posts above have alluded to the fact that that was not s good shot to take, and I hope you learn from this and only take broadside or quartering away shots from here on out.

I lost a buck several years ago that I ended up finding 9 days later. I was pretty sick over the fact that the yotes got all the meat, but I was relieved to get that head back and know it was not gonna get chewed up by rats!

Sorry you lost him, hope you eventually find him, and good luck on your next one!

Bisch

This is another on the lessons leaned over the weekend, despite the confidence in my ability, next time out I will be waiting for the absolute PERFECT opportunity to shoot or I will let the animal pass with just a camera shot!! Today is the first day since Saturday that I even remotely feel like hunting again.
I understand that the shot wasn't the most ideal shot to take, but now I am led to question my equipment. Maybe I should try a different broadhead, what if the Grim Reaper didn't open? It is so hard for me to fathom that a animal shot with something like that DIDN'T BLEED!! Cut your finger tip with one and you will bleed like a stuck hog, but the entry wound didn't bleed enough to put blood on the branches he ran past??

[ar3731guy]

you wont always get the PERFECT opportunity, you just need to wait for better opportunities. rarely the perfect opportunity presents itself. this whole situation couldve been a fluke. i wouoldnt go questioning your equipment yet. im sure someone on here is using about the same equipment as you. ive always said bowhunting is a game of inches. an inch or 2 in either direction couldve had a different outcome.
keep your chin up and get back after it. trust me you aint the only one that has lost a deer on this forum.

[PEC]

Don't keep beating yourself up. Learn and move on. I will agree with the possibility if a broad head issue. I am a fan of fixed blade and have taken many quartering to shots. Maybe I have just been lucky but the 3 blade muzzy has never failed me.

[stinkbelly]

Sorry about the deer.

My first deer with a bow was a fawn. My second was a 120" buck. I shot a perfect broadside shot ( I thought). I had it all on camera. I tracked the blood for 1/2 mile, then nothing. I searched for 2 days and never found it. Never found buzzards. My next deer was later that season. I shot what I thought was a perfect shot. I couldn't find it for 25 hours. I almost quit bowhunting. Since then I have shot about a dozen good bucks and I have lost one more, but that one came back a year later with a cool scar. Luckily it was just a grazing sternum shot.

Keep at it. It is an awful feeling to loose one, but if you did everything you could to be an ethical bowhunter, you can't get down on yourself.

The next one will be worth twice as much.

[Chance Love]

I understand that the shot wasn't the most ideal shot to take, but now I am led to question my equipment. Maybe I should try a different broadhead, what if the Grim Reaper didn't open? It is so hard for me to fathom that a animal shot with something like that DIDN'T BLEED!! Cut your finger tip with one and you will bleed like a stuck hog, but the entry wound didn't bleed enough to put blood on the branches he ran past??

There is nothing wrong with that broadhead. But it has to be put in the right place...same as any other broadhead.

Hopefully that deer shows back up for ya!