Input needed

[jcox]

Hoping to get some solid input on this. I have been scouting a nice buck for a couple months. A few evenings ago, one of the guys I hunt with stuck the deer. It was about 10 minutes before legal shooting hours were up, and a crossbow shot at around 20 yards. Guy said the deer didn’t act hit, he thought that he missed. Said the deer walked to a tree line about 50 yards from the location of the shot. Deer stood there for about 10 minutes and then ran away when the ATV arrived to pick up him up. Said the deer never jumped or kicked or really did anything to make him think he hit it. The crossbow bolt was very clean. Had a couple pieces of hair (Not sure if it was white or brown) and very faint, almost not noticeable blood on the shaft and fletching. Basically the arrow was very clean and without really looking, you wouldn’t know it was a hit. Here is where I really get lost on this. We found a pool of bright red frothy blood near the tree line he ran to and stoped. It was about the size of a softball, little larger. I immediately though it was lung blood. However, all the blood we found after that was not frothy at all. It was also not constant, we would find small pools where he appeared to stop briefly and it was clearly hitting the ground straight down from the deer, not spurting out to either side. The blood was brighter red, not dark. In all, we did not find enough blood to assume he bled out. Also, the deer traveled at least 800 plus yards to exit our field. I believe he traveled onto another property where he beds. I say that because most the deer we see come from that heavily wooded property to our food source.

I have several questions, why did we find only one spot that looked like bubbled lung blood? If it were a lung shot, wouldn’t we see that throughout the track? Also, how could he travel that distance after a lung shot, even a single lung would have made travel difficult I would think. Additionally, why was the bolt so clean if it were a pass through shot? Needless to say, we didn’t find the deer and only found blood for about the first hundred yards of the track. I put a lot of work into this buck and hope the wound wasn’t fatal. I really want to shoot it myself, also I really really hate to lose one, especially a 17 point.

If anyone has an experience similar to this or any solid input, I am all ears.

[Bucknaked]

If you would have ran a moist white towel on that bolt I bet you would have seen a lot more blood.

[jcox]

Very likely so, it was dark by that point as well. Probably important to say the fixed broadhead was not damaged at all and did not appear to have hit bone.

[jcox]

The stand is about a 15ft tripod, and the deer was roughly 20 yards out.

[Hunter Todd]

I'll bet he's still alive and you'll probably pick him up on camera before too long. Hard to say where he was hit but I seriously doubt it was fatal with that kind of blood trail and that distance.

[jcox]

That’s what I am hoping for, but can’t get past the frothy bubbled blood. Not sure how you get that without a lung being hit.

[Briar Friar]

Sounds like liver shot. Frothy. Bright red. Ive seen that blood trail more times than I care to admit. And lost the critters. When pushed the trail went mounds of frothy deep red blood then became sporadic then nonexistent. I may be wrong in your Guys case.

I figure a crossbow bolt at 20 yards is hauling grass and gathered very little matter on the shaft and fletchings.

You might get more responses if you ask mods to move this to Campfire. Trad forum guys might shy away from sacreligeous crossbow talk.

Good luck MrCox. I hope to see the 17pt LDPs with you behind it.

[Hunter Todd]

That’s what I am hoping for, but can’t get past the frothy bubbled blood. Not sure how you get that without a lung being hit.

I shot one years back at a hard quartering away angle. The arrow entered right be behind the shoulder. Looked perfect. I said to myself "dead deer". I Blood trailed him about 500 yards. Several times I could see where he'd stood and bled and there were were bubbles in the puddle. I can't explain the bubbles, but it was not a lung hit. My brother in law killed him a week later within a 100 yards from where I'd shot him. My arrow had passed through between the shoulder and rib cage and exited the brisket. Maybe the deer running somehow created the bubbles? I hope you get a crack at him!

[jcox]

Sounds like liver shot. Frothy. Bright red. Ive seen that blood trail more times than I care to admit. And lost the critters. When pushed the trail went mounds of frothy deep red blood then became sporadic then nonexistent. I may be wrong in your Guys case.

I figure a crossbow bolt at 20 yards is hauling grass and gathered very little matter on the shaft and fletchings.

You might get more responses if you ask mods to move this to Campfire. Trad forum guys might shy away from sacreligeous crossbow talk.

Good luck MrCox. I hope to see the 17pt LDPs with you behind it.

Thank you sir, appreciate the input!!

[jcox]

I shot one years back at a hard quartering away angle. The arrow entered right be behind the shoulder. Looked perfect. I said to myself "dead deer". I Blood trailed him about 500 yards. Several times I could see where he'd stood and bled and there were were bubbles in the puddle. I can't explain the bubbles, but it was not a lung hit. My brother in law killed him a week later within a 100 yards from where I'd shot him. My arrow had passed through between the shoulder and rib cage and exited the brisket. Maybe the deer running somehow created the bubbles? I hope you get a crack at him!

Thanks buddy, appreciate it!!

[jcox]

Not sure why it’s sideways or how to fix that.

[DRT]

Dam that is not one you want to wound and lose.

Sent from my Nokia XR20 using Tapatalk

[Jon B]

Man that bites

[jonny_thunder]

The blood color intrigues me. Generally, dark colored blood is traveling in the veins on the way back to the heart/lungs and bright red blood is traveling from the lungs/heart to the body. IF it was bright red, then likely it was into an artery of some type. A few bubbles in a blood pool can happen from about any type of passthrough wound. When I see frothy lung blood, it always reminds me of my kid blowing bubbles in his milk. It has lots of bubbles, not just a few.

So based on your description, it sounds like a small arterial wound that was likely not a lung or a larger arterial wound that was doing most of the bleeding internally.

You might look around the closest water sources and see if he piled up there, but hopefully he is just holed up an healing in some heavy cover. Good luck!

[jcox]

The blood color intrigues me. Generally, dark colored blood is traveling in the veins on the way back to the heart/lungs and bright red blood is traveling from the lungs/heart to the body. IF it was bright red, then likely it was into an artery of some type. A few bubbles in a blood pool can happen from about any type of passthrough wound. When I see frothy lung blood, it always reminds me of my kid blowing bubbles in his milk. It has lots of bubbles, not just a few.

So based on your description, it sounds like a small arterial wound that was likely not a lung or a larger arterial wound that was doing most of the bleeding internally.

You might look around the closest water sources and see if he piled up there, but hopefully he is just holed up an healing in some heavy cover. Good luck!

Thank you, I am watching the cameras and holding my breath.