Is My Deer Dead? Need help!

[dlg@gleasonvideo.com]

Yesterday I shot a deer with my bow. It was about 38-40 yards. He was broadside, maybe slightly quartered away. I had a clear shot. He was hot on a doe and I just got him that close finally after 20 minutes because I clicked my antlers together. He thought it was this other little buck under my tree, came closer to run him off, and when he looked like he was going to head back, I drew and shot. He bowed his back and kicked and sprinted off very fast and I soon lost him in the brush. I thought I may have hit him a tad high, but it was a complete pass through and I could see my lumenock. I waited an hour before pursuit. I came back with 6 other guys and when I found my arrow, it wasn't caked in blood but there was blood on the fletching and a few hairs on the arrow, but looked like it had some meat particles on it. I literally found 1 drop of blood about 10 feet from where he was hit. That's it! I'm afraid I hit him in the "Dead Zone". We had people looking for blood and a deer for a while but without blood and a lot of woods to cover that we didn't own, I had no idea where to start. Are any of you familiar with no blood trail on a complete pass though? Was this a backstrap hit? Could I have clipped the very top of lungs? But wouldn't the arrow be more covered in blood? Please, any help would be appreciative. It rained over night and I feel sick about it. I would have thought he piled up not far... could the doe have led him far far away? his urge to breed still strong although wounded? (I thought I may have seen him running after her a bit later but couldn't tell if it was him)nThe blood was dark, so maybe a liver shot? Then again I started to question if it was even blood because it had sprinkled a little bit and thought it might just be the brown spots on a leaf mixed with water... questioning everything at this point.

[Jon H.]

It's hard to tell. Can yal use a tracking dog. If not, get some friends and do a grid search. While your doing that look for buzzards. Good luck! We all been there! They have some good books on tracking, you might want to pick one up.

[kellory]

You didn't notice any jingle bells or maybe a red nose? If not, then that deer was walking on the ground, leaving prints just like footsteps in the sand. Find his prints, and track the DEER, not just his blood. It will be harder after the rain, and all the other people tramping about, but follow where he went. watch for pushed grasses, transfer on brush, wounded deer often run toward water, or hide. If he crosses a fence, his prints will be deeper from jumping and landing, watch for transfer of hair on fences. Follow his path and hang markers in plain sight to show direction (this will give you an idea where to look for more sign or destination) if you lose the trail mark the end with a pole or a light( a marker of some kind) and spiral out to see if he changed direction, or to pick up more sign. Have more than one tracker locking for different sign, tracks, blood, hair, grasses, because you may tunnel vision and miss some thing. Never accept only one type of tracking, but use them together. if you see blood, look for prints, hair ect , if you see prints look for more (An over view approach) and combine all you clues for a total picture. It will become more natural as you do it. Let us know how it pans out.

[Woods Walker]

1. What kind of head were you using.

2. How far did you look in the direction that the deer went before you stopped searching?

3. 40 yards. In the woods? Are you SURE it was a quartering away shot?

4. When you say that you hit him a tad high....did he duck at the sound of the shot? At 40 yards they have more time to do that.

5. A one hour wait is plenty of time for a deer hit in the vitals to die, usually if they live more than a minute or so that's unusual. If he was hit in the vitals then he's dead. Many times you won't find any blood at all until you get about 75 to 100 yatds from where you hit them and then there's blood all over the place. Liver hit? Not much blood, but definately a dead deer after several hours.

Answer as many of these as you can and then we can maybe help you more.

[JPH]

A little more about the bits of "meat" the arrow, please. Was there any odor? Was it slimy? Did the deer seem to run hunched up, like he had a cramp?

Did you see the arrow hit the deer? Did you hear it?

All vital questions in addition to the ones WW asked.

[dlg@gleasonvideo.com]

I used a Striker G5. I saw it and heard it hit... I walked close to a mile in the direction the next morning. It was more broadside than quartering away. After walking it off, I think it was closer to 32-34 yards, so that might be why I hit high. I thought I could have maybe hit top of lungs, but after doing a bunch of research... I think I might have hit the backstraps and somehow missed any arteries and spine. I'm pretty positive it wasn't a gut shot and the arrow wasn't slimy or smelly. The pieces of meat were small. more blood was on fletching than tip. More of my question is has anyone shot a buck like this and known him to live? Cuz I'm pretty convinced he's alive at this point...

[Woods Walker]

If you hit the backstraps the arrow most likely wouldn't have passed through as they ride right along the spine. You were most likely uder the spine/backstraps.

Many years ago I shot at a really nice buck from a treestand when he was almost right under me. The arrow was SLIGHTLY high but that's all that was needed to stick that arrowright in the spine. He just kept going. We never found him but much to my shame he was spotted a week or so later by some other hunters with my arrow still sticking out of him. That was a lesson I will never forget about shooting at deer from above that right right under you. Not good....NO room for error at all.

It sounds like your deer is s similar situation. If you hit no gut or stomach then he may very well survive if it's just a muscle wound. They are pretty darn tough, and he won't be the first deer that someone may shoot down the road that has your G5 still in him.

Learn from it.

[JPH]

I'm sorry to tell you that it is almost impossible to pass through the backstraps without hitting large bones. The "dead zone" is a debatable area of anatomy. It may exist but the odds of an arrow passing under the spine and above the plural space is very, very remote. There is no way to tell, but I would be surprised if your deer lived through the night.

Here's the deal. These things do happen. They happen to all of us. Most really good hunters and trackers have been born of situations like yours. In my opinion, you are far better off in the long run accepting that the deer was most likely killed. Not that I want you to feel bad, but because I think it will make you a better hunter.

[dlg@gleasonvideo.com]

So I looked to no avail. There is a lot of woods in that area... I inspected my arrow again... sticky meat particles up and down... Even a meat flake on the fletching... I had to have hit the backstrap and somehow passed it through the spinal bones. The G5 is only a 1.25" diameter. What else is there to think? A high lung shot would have produced more blood... Even a liver shot.

[Woods Walker]

You don't pass through spinal bones with an arrow, and the only way you can hit a backstrap and not hit any bone is if you either shot way over it or you shot from below and up and glaced off the side. And even then that would be tricky. Have you ever boned out a backstrap? If you have just think of how that muscle sits in the spinal structure.

I know you are pretty sure about where you think you hit him, but in the woods at 40-ish yards it can be difficult to tell especially under the adrenelin charged moment of the shot. Just go back and look at your posts, first you thought it was 38-40 yards, and quartering away, and then later you changed that and said 32-34 yards and it was broadside. My point is, is that you're NOT SURE. Don'tget me wrong, I'm not criticizing you....I've done the same thing many times before, second guessing myself. What I saying is that at the moment of the shot there's a LOT going on, and what the eye sees and how the brain interperates while under an adrenelin load can many times not be all that accurate.