Why is this not a killing shot?

[tbgascorer]

Just after Christmas last year, I took my BIL on a bowhunt for doe on our place. We sat in a tent together so I could video the shot. Shortly after the feeder went off, deer starting pouring in. We picked out a doe, got the camera on her, and he released. We could tell the shot was high, but we were sure he got high lung as he was below the backbone. It was a complete pass through. We gave her several hours and started the track after dark. Blood trail was very spotty, but we managed to follow for several hundred yards. Late that night we gave up until morning. Morning came and we hit the trail again. Not long after starting, the trail went completely cold. We decided it must not be a lethal hit so we had to head home. In mid January I went back to service cameras and got this picture. The doe on the right clearly has a "breather hole", but appears to be otherwise healthy. The pictured side is the entry hole, but the exit hole is same place on other side because we were ground level when shot. She obviously survived because we continued to get pictures of her until the hole healed up. My BIL was shooting a Mathews Drenalin LD, 65 lbs., and Rocky Mountain Titanium broadheads. My question is this, why is this not a killing shot? It is clearly in the chest cavity, albeit high. IMO, it is not above the backbone/spinal cord where she'd be backstrapped with a non-lethal hit. Your thoughts?

[ken]

How much penetration did he get? He could have hit the shoulder blade and not penetrated the chest cavity.

[tbgascorer]

How much penetration did he get? He could have hit the shoulder blade and not penetrated the chest cavity.

It was broadside and a complete pass through...arrow was laying 10 yards behind her.

[LostHawg]

Too high. When the deer ducked so did the lungs, opening up the dreaded "void".

Aim low.

[red]

[QUOTE=tbgascorer;1667782] It was a complete pass through. The pictured side is the entry hole, but the exit hole is same place on other side because we were ground level when shot. [QUOTE]

my guess would be it must have just cleared the top of the lungs but below the spine.

[MountainMan]

Too high. When the deer ducked so did the lungs, opening up the dreaded "void".

Aim low.

Bingo. That's my bet too

[DrenalinJunkie]

Sounds like he hit the "void" to me as well. Alot of folks don't realize that the lungs do not go all the way up to the spine. There is a section of about 5 inches where there are no vital goodies. Sounds like where your buddy hit the deer.

[Texastaxi]

It's hard to tell where the hole actually is. Can you mark it on the picture?

I'm betting that it was just too high.

[D C]

He shot through the VOID area above the lungs and below the spine. like stated above aim low so when they duck it will hit perfectly

[zcole04]

Looks high but sure would think it would have done some damage. Are the broadheads he used mechanical or fixed?

[kck]

Yep. The "VOID" area is basically just a section of some meat and some body cavity and that's it, no vital area.

[MooseontheLoose]

I hit a doe almost exactly like that last year and did not find her either. I started a thread about it with still shots and video of the impact. It went to 3 pages and a consensus was still not reached on what happened. I'll be watching for the responses of this thread.

[Big Spec]

it is amazing they can survive when you put a hole thru them like that. I would think that would be a kill shot but there is that area that hits no vitals. I recently hit a pig that I thought sure would expire but got her on camera 2 months after.

[Mike Javi Cooper]

If you had been in a treestand that would have caught the off side lung...

[Hawkins]

Is that tan colored stuff feed?