Unrecovered Deer Behind the Shoulder Shot

[jjaimes]

Yesterday I shot a deer perfectly broadside at 25 yards. I took my time, anchored, bent waist and nailed him perfectly behind the shoulder in the lung area. However, I noticed when he took off I didn't have at least half the arrow in him defiantly not a pass thru. I trailed him for 300 yards and didn't recover the deer. I shot him with a 65# bow with a 375 gr. arrow with an 1 1/4" Grim Reaper Fatal Steel Mechanical Broadhead. I'm thinking I probably got 1 lung due to lack of penetration. Have any of you experienced this or know what could've happened. It makes me want to go back to my 480 gr arrows with a fixed blade broad heads even if I lose some speed.

[MQ32Shooter]

Sorry to hear. I've got no explanation for ya. But in for the answers. You'll get lots of theories.

[Chance Love]

This won't help, but I have learned that most perfect shots are not perfect. And that goes for my own also.

[Traildust]

Is that an over-the-top opening mechanical?

[DRT]

That is a light arrow for your set up. However, without video or pics it's hard to tell. How steep was the shot angle?

[Deer Tracks]

Quartering away? May have been too tight in the shoulder for a quartering away shot.

[BolilloLoco]

Got any video?
This is purely speculation on my part but shot could be a little less than perfect. You could blame the lack of penetration on a light arrow and mechanical broad head. Maybe the arrow hit a rib. But hitting the onside shoulder is another possibility.
Keep looking for birds.

[ATX Tyler]

Maybe hit no man's land and buried in the opposite shoulder?

[breederbuck33]

What you thought was a perfect shot was not a perfect shot. Sounds to me like its high either in the shoulder or backstrap. I had the same deal happen on a 7 point a few years back. Had the shot on video, and confirmed I smoked him! Gave it 20 minutes and went to get my arrow, and he was 100 yards out high tailing it out of there! We let him lay overnight and found him 400 yards away at a pond. He had wheeled on me and what appeared to be a good shot ended up being high and back a little bit. I hit one lung and liver on a pass through. Once we saw what I hit we went back to the video and frame by frame figured out what happened. He was perfectly broad side but leaning forward, so when I shot he wheeled towards me. What seemed like a perfect shot was really high and angled down with him quartering to me on impact.

[meltingfeather]

It happens sometimes-- and it's probably not an equipment selection issue.
If the arrow didn't penetrate that means it his some pretty solid bone, which means it probably was not in the lung area.
My guess is the shot was high based on your description and the result.

[bloodtrailer28]

This won't help, but I have learned that most perfect shots are not perfect. And that goes for my own also.

This. Can't tell you how many tracks I have been on and heard that and upon recovery it turns out to be a different story. As you said I've done the same myself a few times. Although that is a pretty light arrow but should still do the trick.

[SaltwaterSlick]

light arrow, big wide opening broadhead could be a problem, but... more likely, arrow didn't hit where you thought... As far as you thinking about going back to fixed blade and heavier arrow, I don't know why you switch away from that set up... All things being equal the same hit with that heavier arrow, no matter where the actual hit was, you'd likely have punched 2 holes... Since you mentioned bending at the waist, I assume you were elevated off the ground... If you hit high and only got one hole, the chest cavity would have to fill with blood to make a good large droplet trail and if the deer took off like lightening, he could have run hundreds of yards before that happened. The secondary trail for a lung shot deer is out the nose/mouth, but often that is more of a "mist" of smaller droplets that are hard to see, very easy for a dog to smell however... Way to many unknowns about your particular situation to make an accurate call, but these are my thoughts on it in general...

[jjaimes]

That is a light arrow for your set up. However, without video or pics it's hard to tell. How steep was the shot angle?

It was steep but not much. I wish I would've recorded it but didn't get a chance to turn on the camera. The arrow was sticking out mid way up where the lungs are at behind the shoulder when he ran. However, as mentioned before the penetration really through me off maybe I hit a rib I have no idea what went wrong.

[CastAndBlast]

This is why I focus so much on KE. Most of the time, you would have had more penetration with that set-up (even though your KE has to be very low for a mechanical broadhead). Personally, I try to achieve as much KE as possible (sacrificing some speed) for those shots that I think are "perfect", but end up not being "perfect".

Knowing my luck, I will hit every bone in the body of the biggest buck of my lifetime when that chance presented itself. For that reason, I like to know that my set-up has the ability to still penetrate.

I am willing to bet that the deer turned after you drew or before impact. You could have also had deflection with a mechanical. Who knows without a dead deer. I have seen some crazy **** when finding a dead animal! Often, the shot is not where I thought it was, and sometimes the animal was not at the angle I thought it was.

[Grndchecker]

I happened to me a few weeks ago. Spike at 18 yards, broadside. Only difference was that my arrow with 100 grain Muzzy fixed passed through and was eight feet past where he was standing along with blood splattered that far.
Either my eyesight isn't that great or my arrow is moving that fast, but I usually can't see where I hit the deer until the recovery.
Four hours later and 300 yards and I never recovered.