Shot deer can’t find blood

[Deerme]

I shot a bolt at a deer with my xbow today. There were 3 deer in the area. All 3 took off on the shot. The one I shot at ran about 50 yards. Stopped. Looked back. Then walked out of downhill out of site. The other 2 ran a few hundred yards before stopping. I went to check blood about 20 minutes after the shot and couldn’t find any or the arrow.

Searched about 100 yards in the direction the deer went then backed out after searching for 20 minutes.

Do you think I missed? It’s weird it stopped running and walked out of site when the others kept running.

 

[George]

suspect.

G

 

[yoderjac]

I shot a bolt at a deer with my xbow today. There were 3 deer in the area. All 3 took off on the shot. The one I shot at ran about 50 yards. Stopped. Looked back. Then walked out of downhill out of site. The other 2 ran a few hundred yards before stopping. I went to check blood about 20 minutes after the shot and couldn’t find any or the arrow.

Searched about 100 yards in the direction the deer went then backed out after searching for 20 minutes.

Do you think I missed? It’s weird it stopped running and walked out of site when the others kept running.

Your description sounds like a paunch shot deer. I made the same mistake in my early on my bowhunting journey. When you shoot a deer in the paunch, depending on the angle, you may or may not get a pass-thru. Often, the deer's reaction to the shot will be to hump up it's back, but not always. It will run a short distance and then stop. Sometimes it will go back to feeding, but usually it will walk off slowly, go into cover, and lay down. The worst thing you can do is to go look for the deer too quickly. The correct procedure is to sit for 20 minutes. If you can see the arrow with your binoculars, then go only as far as the arrow. It will smell like paunch and confirm the bad shot. If you can't see it, don't even go to the arrow. You want to back out avoiding the area the deer ran. You do not want to spook or disturb the deer. Wait at least 4 hours, then return to look for the deer.

When paunch shot, the deer will not feel good and will usually lay down withing 100 yards of the impact site. If undisturbed, it will die there. If it is spooked, it will get up and try to evade the danger and lay down and die someplace else. The first time it laid down, debris and paunch will clog any entry or exit wounds. All bleeding will likely be internal. There will likely be no blood trail to follow, and your chances of finding the deer are slim. That is why we don't pursue the deer for 4 hours.

You didn't provide enough information to be sure this is a paunch shot deer, but it is likely. Things like shot distance, angle, entry point all come into play. I had a similar situation happen a few days ago. Here is what happened to me.

I shot a doe that was quartering away. She was 30 yards which is about the longest shot I would take with archery equipment (despite the hype the crossbow companies put out, too much can go wrong beyond 30 yards). Between the time my brain said "squeeze" and the arrow arrived, she took part of a step. It was enough that the entry point was in the paunch. She was in an open field and I was in an elevated stand. With a good shot, I would have had a nice low exit wound and a good blood trail. Instead, there was no arrow. She ran forward and then ran an arc into thick undergrowth. She was still running when she entered.

I was pretty happy with the angle as it looked like the arrow path would have gone through part of the chest cavity, but I was not 100% sure. There was no arrow to be seen. It was early enough when I shot here that I was confident the arrow was not in the field. I mentally marked the place she entered the undergrowth. I then walked across the field to her entry point and marked it. I then headed back to camp.

I changed out of my hunting clothes into my retrieval clothes (I only wear my hunting clothes to hunt for scent control). Because, I was pretty confident It was not a complete paunch shot and that the arrow path did enter the chest cavity, I did not wait the full 4 hours. After an hour, I headed back out. I search the field for the arrow and blood and found nothing. I then slowly entered the undergrowth and followed the trajectory I saw her enter on looking for blood. I don't nothing for about 30 yards. I then found one spot where they was blood and paunch particles. I slowly continued on that trajectory for another 50 yards looking for blood and found nothing. I decided to go back to the first blood and try again . I paralleled that trajectory about 15 yards off the line I had followed in. It was so thick, I almost tripped over her.

After dressing and skinning her I was able to do a post mortem and reconstruct what happened. I did get a pass-thru. The arrow entered through the paunch missing the liver but exiting through the chest and puncturing a lung. Because of her movement during impact, the exit wound was high in the chest, about the same height as the entry wound. That change in trajectory must have caused the arrow to sail across the field into the undergrowth which is why I did not find it. All of the blood was trapped in her chest cavity. When I first cut her to dress her, blood came pouring out. So, even with proper elevation in my stand, the arrow left the deer as if I shot it from the ground.

Strange things can happen when bowhunting. I learn from each harvest. Deer can survive a paunch shot if you don't hit the liver, but usually don't with larger diameter broadheads. If you hit the liver, it is usually a fatal shot, but it can take hours for the deer to die.

 

[swat1018]

How far was the shot? You couldn't hear or see the bolt hit the deer? The deer could be brisket shot, gut shot, you name it, it could be a miss. If you do think it's gut shot, 4 hours isn't near enough.....

 

[Drycreek]

Arrows and bolts ain’t bullets. I have bow killed (compound) many deer and a few antelope. I just never took an iffy shot after the first one. I was shooting at an undisturbed doe inside a feed pen. If you can stack arrows on top of one another so close that you are afraid to shoot more than three, shooting through a 6”x6” square is a cakewalk, right ? Evidently not ! I heard the ping of the broadhead clipping the cattle panel and saw the arrow enter her paunch. I never found that doe and I never took another iffy shot. Even when the shot is near perfect, clipping a rib will sometimes drastically alter the arrows trajectory. So unless you see it, you may be many yards off when looking for it. Bow hunting isn’t easy if you want to recover every animal. I don’t know if the arrow was deflected or she heard the ping and started forward. Makes no difference, the outcome was the same.

I later killed two does from the same tripod, they were standing in almost the same spot. Both standing still, no idea I was 12 yards away. The aiming point was the same, right behind the left shoulder. The trajectory of the arrow should have been, in through the back of the left lung, through the area of the heart and all the big arteries, and catching the front of the right lung and exiting low in front of the right shoulder. Instead, the arrow entered high in the flank, through the liver and out low through the right lung, puncturing the diaphragm in the process. Both deer ran about 75/80 yards and keeled over, both died within 20’ of each other, not at the same time, but two weeks apart.

It just gives some perspective on how quickly they can move and how relatively slow an arrow is in comparison.

 

[yoderjac]

Arrows and bolts ain’t bullets. I have bow killed (compound) many deer and a few antelope. I just never took an iffy shot after the first one. I was shooting at an undisturbed doe inside a feed pen. If you can stack arrows on top of one another so close that you are afraid to shoot more than three, shooting through a 6”x6” square is a cakewalk, right ? Evidently not ! I heard the ping of the broadhead clipping the cattle panel and saw the arrow enter her paunch. I never found that doe and I never took another iffy shot. Even when the shot is near perfect, clipping a rib will sometimes drastically alter the arrows trajectory. So unless you see it, you may be many yards off when looking for it. Bow hunting isn’t easy if you want to recover every animal. I don’t know if the arrow was deflected or she heard the ping and started forward. Makes no difference, the outcome was the same.

I later killed two does from the same tripod, they were standing in almost the same spot. Both standing still, no idea I was 12 yards away. The aiming point was the same, right behind the left shoulder. The trajectory of the arrow should have been, in through the back of the left lung, through the area of the heart and all the big arteries, and catching the front of the right lung and exiting low in front of the right shoulder. Instead, the arrow entered high in the flank, through the liver and out low through the right lung, puncturing the diaphragm in the process. Both deer ran about 75/80 yards and keeled over, both died within 20’ of each other, not at the same time, but two weeks apart.

It just gives some perspective on how quickly they can move and how relatively slow an arrow is in comparison.

Great points! I don't know why the crossbow companies market on speed. I guess because guys fall for it. The only benefit of speed is slight compensation for ranging error. There are some many ways these days to get accurate ranging, speed doesn't buy much. More speed, generally means more energy is transferred from the string less efficiently. That energy needs to go somewhere and it usually results in vibration which equates to noise.

I've had crossbow company reps say their bows are so fast deer don't have time to jump the string. It is a ridiculous statement. When you do the math with he speed of sound and look at a deer's reaction time, and arrow would need to travel over 1,000 fps for that to be true.

In my opinion, one of the most important characteristics in a bow is quiet. Mathews was the first to market with that approach and some companies followed suit. There sister company, Mission, did the same for crossbows.

Deer sometimes do move between the time our brains say "pull the trigger" and our bodies and bows respond, so there can be small natural movement. At 20 yards or less that is generally inconsequential. At 30 yards, it can change great shot placement to poor but adequate impact. Reaction to sound is much faster. I have video of a doe completely ducking a 300fps arrow at 20 yards. When you analyze the video frame by frame, you can see the arrow would have been a perfect impact had the deer not moved. Instead, it files over her shoulder. Her drop from the time she reacts to the sound and the arrow arrives is 18"-22".

One more issue caused by fast bows is that the more violent transfer of energy can cause expandable broadheads to open in flight. So, anyone using expandable broadheads like me, needs to test accuracy the the actual arrow and broadhead at the range before hunting.

Of course, even when we do everything right, sometimes in bowhunting things just go wrong. It pays to do a post mortem after every hunt to ask yourself what you could have done better.

 

[Drycreek]

Great points! I don't know why the crossbow companies market on speed. I guess because guys fall for it. The only benefit of speed is slight compensation for ranging error. There are some many ways these days to get accurate ranging, speed doesn't buy much. More speed, generally means more energy is transferred from the string less efficiently. That energy needs to go somewhere and it usually results in vibration which equates to noise.

I've had crossbow company reps say their bows are so fast deer don't have time to jump the string. It is a ridiculous statement. When you do the math with he speed of sound and look at a deer's reaction time, and arrow would need to travel over 1,000 fps for that to be true.

In my opinion, one of the most important characteristics in a bow is quiet. Mathews was the first to market with that approach and some companies followed suit. There sister company, Mission, did the same for crossbows.

Deer sometimes do move between the time our brains say "pull the trigger" and our bodies and bows respond, so there can be small natural movement. At 20 yards or less that is generally inconsequential. At 30 yards, it can change great shot placement to poor but adequate impact. Reaction to sound is much faster. I have video of a doe completely ducking a 300fps arrow at 20 yards. When you analyze the video frame by frame, you can see the arrow would have been a perfect impact had the deer not moved. Instead, it files over her shoulder. Her drop from the time she reacts to the sound and the arrow arrives is 18"-22".

One more issue caused by fast bows is that the more violent transfer of energy can cause expandable broadheads to open in flight. So, anyone using expandable broadheads like me, needs to test accuracy the the actual arrow and broadhead at the range before hunting.

Of course, even when we do everything right, sometimes in bowhunting things just go wrong. It pays to do a post mortem after every hunt to ask yourself what you could have done better.

Ain’t but one answer and that is……CORRECT !