Archery Head Shot - Any Advice?

[fasteddie]

I shot a small racked 8 point buck with my muzzle loader about 3 weeks after bow season ended a couple years ago . When I picked up his head , there was a broke off arrow in it's jaw . When I gave it a slight push , you could see where the blade was in it's neck . It was healthy looking . When I removed the arrow , it had a "String Tracker Clip" attached to it (no string) .
 
 

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: JPH

I neck shot a doe several years ago and it was one of the most gastly blood trails I have ever followed. She bled out in 40 yds. I assume he followed up long enough to rule out a major artery, or you wouldn't be asking us. So I'll share the following.

I am at grave risk of being called a BSer here. Three years ago, a friend head shot a 130 class buck (extreem quartering away shot missed and hit in the turne dhead). He tracked good blood for a day and a half. Finally he lost the trail and gave up. Exactly one month later, he was rattling from a nearby stand. Suddenly, the same buck comes charging in with his arrow sticking out of the base of his jaw like a flag!!! My buddy ended up spine shooting the buck and killing him. The arrow was so badly lodged in this deer's lower jaw that he couldn't remove it. But the deer was healthy, well fed and willing to respond to rattling. And most amazing of all, this played out on a busy public hunting area near Des Moines!

I don't know how this story will help, but it make your buddy feel better.

Well...there goes my credability.

No BS! Not at all!  Deer are amazing animals, and can take unbelievable kinds of punishement that would KILL us mere mortals.
 
I have my own accounts of old archery terminal tackle and such that we've found in deer we've killed, but this one takes the cake....
 
The B&C whitetail I killed 3 years ago went to the taxidermist (well DUH!!!) after I caped it up to the head. The taxidermist did the rest. He found a .222 bullet lodged IN BETWEEN THE EYES in the skull of that animal. It had a bit of festered flesh around it, but when I shot him he was chasing does! 
 
If I had a bullet wedged in my skull, "recreation" would be the LAST thing I'd be thinking of...and that says a lot!  [:D]

[Squirrelhawker]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

ORIGINAL: JPH

I neck shot a doe several years ago and it was one of the most gastly blood trails I have ever followed. She bled out in 40 yds. I assume he followed up long enough to rule out a major artery, or you wouldn't be asking us. So I'll share the following.

I am at grave risk of being called a BSer here. Three years ago, a friend head shot a 130 class buck (extreem quartering away shot missed and hit in the turne dhead). He tracked good blood for a day and a half. Finally he lost the trail and gave up. Exactly one month later, he was rattling from a nearby stand. Suddenly, the same buck comes charging in with his arrow sticking out of the base of his jaw like a flag!!! My buddy ended up spine shooting the buck and killing him. The arrow was so badly lodged in this deer's lower jaw that he couldn't remove it. But the deer was healthy, well fed and willing to respond to rattling. And most amazing of all, this played out on a busy public hunting area near Des Moines!

I don't know how this story will help, but it make your buddy feel better.

Well...there goes my credability.

No BS! Not at all!  Deer are amazing animals, and can take unbelievable kinds of punishement that would KILL us mere mortals.
 
I have my own accounts of old archery terminal tackle and such that we've found in deer we've killed, but this one takes the cake....
 
The B&C whitetail I killed 3 years ago went to the taxidermist (well DUH!!!) after I caped it up to the head. The taxidermist did the rest. He found a .222 bullet lodged IN BETWEEN THE EYES in the skull of that animal. It had a bit of festered flesh around it, but when I shot him he was chasing does! 
 
If I had a bullet wedged in my skull, "recreation" would be the LAST thing I'd be thinking of...and that says a lot!  [:D]

 
It always brings to mind the time I shoved a sixpoint out of creek bottom to my (far too gleeful) brother-in-law. I heard his slug gun bark twice and I continued the sneak just to make sure. The tracks in the snow told the story of the buck tending a couple doe just as I came through.
 
He had dumped a small doe and the sixpoint from a high vantage point along the edge of the bottom. While butchering the buck his knife blade hit some metal just below the spine right above where he had shot the buck through the chest. Thinking it was the slug or part of it, he went to work on it out of curiosity. Ultimately he removed a six inch length of aluminum arrow tipped with a mechanical broadhead that never opened up. The shaft had passed just below the spine and just above the chest cavity. The buck was literally in the act of actively breeding the does, with an arrow in his withers.
 
What has always impressed me since:
 
Deer are without question some of the toughest animals ever created.
 
I will never shoot a deer with a mechanical broadhead.

[Patriot]

Unbelievable!

The beast is dead!  Long live the beast.

We found her!!!....about 200 yards down the trail.  This was his first ever bow kill.  What a story!

Thanks everyone for your help and input.

[JPH]

That is awesome! I assume he hit an artery. Was it a decent blood trail? It looks like it would have lodged in the sinus. Really cool that you were able to recover her. Congrats to your friend!
 
Hmmm...maybe I should consider taking head shots from now on?

[hunter480]

Outstanding news. Congrats to your buddy. Plus, you helped him learn the importance, and significance of perservering, and following up on the tracking process.
 
Fantastic.

[Goose]

Great job Patriot, that is awesome, tell your buddy congrats and way to stick with it. Thats a deer he will never forget. Thanks for the update. I too am curious about the blood trail. Did she bed down and die or on the run? Either way Im glad you found it !

[Patriot]

ORIGINAL: JPH

That is awesome! I assume he hit an artery. Was it a decent blood trail? It looks like it would have lodged in the sinus. Really cool that you were able to recover her. Congrats to your friend!

Hmmm...maybe I should consider taking head shots from now on?

 
We found absolutely zero blood at the site of the shot...and none on the trail.  We entered the woods at about 7:00am, and found her at 7:30.  We just followed the deer trail toward the bedding area she'd come from (and ran back to).  Fortunately, she died right on the trail.  If she would have veered off, we may have never found her.
 
My buddy is one lucky son of a gun.

[OHhunter]

Nice work on the recovery, and congrats to your buddy on his first bow kill.

[msbadger]

Congrats ...nice size doe...glad all worked out