hind quarter shot

[lawdog]

on nov 8th, my dad called at 7:40am and said he hit a buck in the front of its back leg and possibly got intestines, but the arrow didn't exit.  he said it ran away clattering the arrow through the woods.  my dad, brother, bro-in-law, a friend, and i all tracked the buck.  it was shot on the far side of my dad's 60 acres, went through the entire parcel, through a neighbor's 50, then another 20, made a loop through another 80, and a quarter mile into a corn field - estimated at over one mile.  though there was snow, there was no visible blood for the first 150 yards.  we lost the blood trail multiple times and spent considerable time picking it back up each time.  i ended up being the first to walk up on it still alive in the corn at 1:30pm.  my dad had gone into another stand in the event we pushed the deer out of the corn to him.  my brother took an observation stand, but they were both called out of their stands when we found him (my dad had the only bow that day).  he had to lace him a second time and the buck exploded out of its bed and died 80 yards later - only about 150 yards from where he had first been arrowed.  if it had not been for the snow, he may not have been recovered until the combine dismantled him.  jsut thought i'd pass this experience on.  it was hit in the front of the hind quarter missing the femoral aorta, had no exit hole, and the arrow stayed in him.  hopefully you can see the wound location after the photo loads.

[8uck5nort]

Nice buck and great job sticking with the trailing.
 
Earlier this season I hit a doe in the hind quarters, but got lucky and did get both femoral arteries on both sides of her hind quarters. It was the only time I have ever seen a deer running from where I shot where I could see the blood gushing from the wound. The arrow was sticking out both sides.

[Goose]

Thanks for sharing and tell your dad congrats! Buddy hit a buck back a little further and lower. Looked for 2 days and never found it. i think JPH had a hit similar to this one and recovered it as well.

[DeanoZ]

Had a similar hit early in the season...found good blood trail for about 300 yrds...after that nothing, spend the next week looking.  Never found him   Glad your ending turned out better and congrats!

[lawdog]

goose and deanoz
 
i absolutely couldn't believe what i was hearing when my brother-in-law called me and described where he hit a buck and its behavior after the shot...the day after my dad's!!  (completely different woods)  he's a teacher and couldn't track until after 3pm the following day, so the buck had almost 24 hours to sit.  anyhow...same blood trail, same behavior throughout the track, even headed into a corn field like the former.  he said it was likely a 3-1/2 yr old, only this one had no happy ending. 

[DeanoZ]

Lawdog I thought the same thing about mine...I figured ok the shot may not have been great but at least since I was using the rage's I'd have a good blood trail and eventually he'd expire...NOPE!!!  And now after reading what happened in your case it sorta makes sense.  If it was a non-leathal shot he's probably going to carry-on as if nothing happened for the most part...but yeah thats just crazy that ya found him not far from where you first shot him...wish mine had done that!  All this talk makes me want to go back out there and find my buck again!!!  Grrrrrrrr!!!!

[Squirrelhawker]

ORIGINAL: DeanoZ

Lawdog I thought the same thing about mine...I figured ok the shot may not have been great but at least since I was using the rage's I'd have a good blood trail and eventually he'd expire...NOPE!!!  And now after reading what happened in your case it sorta makes sense.  If it was a non-leathal shot he's probably going to carry-on as if nothing happened for the most part...but yeah thats just crazy that ya found him not far from where you first shot him...wish mine had done that!  All this talk makes me want to go back out there and find my buck again!!!  Grrrrrrrr!!!!

 
My Brother in-law shot a fat little 5pt a couple weeks ago with his TC Omega. He hit the buck square on top of the right shoulder and he went 30 yards before going down. When field dressing he grabbed ahold of a fixed blade broadhead floating loose in the chest cavity. Perplexed and not believing that a deer could survive with something like that loose among his lungs, he carefully took the buck apart during the butchering.
 
He found that the arrow had penetrated the shoulder blade but for some reason had gone no further and that there was extensive scarring and fibrous deposits under the shoulder blade where the buck had walled off the broadhead and was living with it. He was trailing two doe when he was shot. Now as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story. How did the broadhead end up loose in the chest cavitry of an otherwise healthy buck?
 
Upon examination of the short stub of aluminim shaft attached to the broadhead, there was revealed a half circle roughly .50 cal size punched out of it. The entrance hole made by the slug was practically dead center of the fibrin deposits holding the broadhead at bay. This 5pt has to go near the top of the list as one of the unluckiest bucks in history. First he get shot with a broadhead and has to endure it until his body isolates it. Then, in the middle trying to get a little female attention he gets shot with a muzzleloader that not only take his lungs out but drives that broadhead right into his chest where it was intended to go in the first place.
 
Broadheads fascinate me in their ability to kill, and in the little things that can go wrong sometimes.

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: Goose

Thanks for sharing and tell your dad congrats! Buddy hit a buck back a little further and lower. Looked for 2 days and never found it. i think JPH had a hit similar to this one and recovered it as well.

 
Yep. Mine passed just behind the femor bone, exited the leg and opened the belly. It was an ugly situation but I was able to recover the deer within 8 hours. I give a lot of credit to the Rage-2 broadhead.
 
I hate that our shots sometimes go astray, but it does not relieve us of the mandate to follow that blood trail and not give up.
 
Congrats to your whole party on sticking with it and recovering your deer!

[lawdog]

squirrelhawher, interesting to say the least!!
 
jph, i agree - it's the 'never give up' attitude that finds marginally hit deer.  occassionally we strike, and never recover, but the effort put forth will speak for the type of hunter you are.