How Is This Deer Not Fazed?

[Ben Sobieck]

On a recent episode of Moultrie's The Hit List, a buck in a food plot was clearly arrowed. Here's a still from the episode (used with permission):

Picture 2.jpg (97.1 KiB) Viewed 7817 times

Here's the weird thing. The buck ran off for a bit, then returned to the food plot. It resumed feeding as if nothing ever happened. In this photo, you can see the wound from where it was hit:

Picture 3.jpg (92.33 KiB) Viewed 7818 times

What do you think happened?

For those of you with the Deer & Deer Hunting Shot Simulator program or app, this would be the perfect scenario to simulate.

[Ohio farms]

Since I'm pretty sure that deer don't smoke crack, I have no idea what was going through that buck's mind. Deer never stop making me wonder. I'll be following to see what the rest of group thinks.

[jonny5buck]

High hit is the most obvious...almost a spine shot...and far forward...the other thing is there appears to be no exit wound...which is rarely a good thing...from that angle i think its possible to hit scapula or shoulder bone....that shoulder is big and if hyperflexed it could rotate in the way of hitting lung.....so high hit /too far forward/bad penetration....the other possibilaty is the hunter accidentaly shot a practice tip.....that hole looks way small ...there is fur missing but the hole that i see looks like a practice tip rather than a field tip--

Let me know how i did--

[charlie 01]

Maybe it's just the picture angles, but in the top pic. #2 the arrow seems to be higher up than in pic #3. In pic #2 it looks like the arrow is so close to the spine. But pic #3 looks to be a high shoulder hit with bone stopping the arrow. That's a pretty sizeable hole, it had to be a broadhead. If it were a target tip you would not see the wound for all the hair. A broadhead cuts the hair a field tip would not. I'm guessing he pulled the arrow out. Do we know if it is a bow shot, or a cross bow shot? There are other questions, like what kind of broadhead, how sharp was it? I hate to say it ,but there are some people who do not realize the importance of a good sharp broadhead. Out of the box does not work for me. The deer was not hit in any way to faze it. I once saw a doe feeding out in a field with an arrow sticking out of her and going along as if nothing was wrong.

[wannabehuntin]

Defintiely a broadhead shot. Looks like it might not have been a pass thru as you can see the fletchings in the top photo, but I am sure there is an exit wound on the other side for so little of the arrow shaft to be sticking out. Hit high for sure. How it didn't hit the spine I don't know. Interesting for sure would like to see more of the video for the shot angle.

[rodrow]

I bet he hit the dead space just under the spine and with it not being a pass through shot. It is either due to low bow poundage or the arrow hit a bone. I hope whoever was taking the picture got another shot off after he returned to the field. Looking forward to finding out what the out come was on this deer.

[powerhawk_11]

I've had the exact same thing happen to me that happened on this deer. I shot a nice buck and saw the deer kick, a sure sign of a hit. I found my arrow and there was nothing on it. No blood. I looked all around for blood and didn't find any. So i went back to the house and put peroxide on my arrow to see if may have missed, but the arrow foamed confirming a hit. What had happened was a tiny limb deflected my arrow and the arrow hit a 3"- 4" gap between the spine and the vitals and I never found the buck.

[MZS]

High hit that misses everything, even for a pass-through shot. Been there! The "No Kill, Little Blood, Zone". This is why I do not aim near this area anymore! Rather, I shoot lower and a bit toward back a little for a mid-lung shot. A gut shot is even better than the shot shown in the pictures.

[peevedog]

I saw this episode last week, high hit with nothing vital and the deer didn't seem to know anything was up. By the way I'm sure there was a exit wound as the hunter was using a full length arrow looking to be 30" long with plenty of penetration to reach the other side. I had a similar hit a lot of years ago with same results, I saw that deer 2 more times over the next 2 weeks and he didn't look any worse for wear.

[ddbearpaw]

I had the same thing happen to me 3 years ago. I got enough blood to track the buck 200 yds to a river. There I decided to wait until the following day to continue tracking. We found blood on the other side of the river and put him up in a corn field with another buck and doe. He seemed fine. That was the last we was of him. My arrow penetrated about 3/4 through. This is the first time I've heard of someone else doing the same thing. The shot on my buck looked exactly like this one. I figured I must have only hit meat and not any vitals. I continued to look for him for a couple weeks to no avail.