Bowhunter's Nightmare

Only the second deer I've ever flung an arrow at, and it's now happened to me. Yesterday evening I had what seemed like a great hunt. While walking in, I jumped up a nice buck that I've had on camera. This is by far the nicest deer I've seen on public land. I love bow season because I'm the only one hunting this piece of public, it gets covered up in hunters come muzzleloader and rifle season. So I bumped this buck out of a bed while walking to a new spot that I thought he would be. He ran into a thicket so I decided to circle downwind, set up a makeshift blind, and sit for the evening. Sure enough, about 6:00 he came walking in from my right. He almost got behind me and spooked a little bit. Instead of running away, he circled in front of me. Went back to feeding, I drew back, he stepped into the gap. I let the arrow fly, the shot felt good, and he took off. A little bit later I got up and went to look at the shot sight and the good times came to a halt. No arrow, no blood, no hair. I searched the immediate area for my arrow and couldn't find it. I was confident that I hit him so I backed out to give him some time. Last night I called someone local who has a blood tracking dog and he agreed to meet me this morning. We went to the shot sight and searched on hands and knees and still couldn't find anything. He went ahead and let the dog work, and he picked up the trail. We went maybe 40 yards and found a good patch of blood, possibly where the deer bedded. Then another 1/3 of a mile with nothing. Then we started finding fresh blood. This was 14 hours after the shot and he still seemed to be moving good. We stopped for a little while but to no avail. When we got back on the trail there was no more blood. The trail crossed a creek and started back uphill and we finally got so far in that we decided to stop. Pretty sure that he was hit high shoulder. I'll probably go back tomorrow or Thursday and just do some walking, but I'm skeptical of finding anything. My only hope is that he lives and I get so see him later this year of next year. Just another reminder that hunting definitely has its low moments.

Been there. Only twice in my life. But I been there. Didnt have a tracking dog though...It was not legal then.

I sure don't take it lightly and it has happened to me and did to my daughter last year. It is a horribly sick feeling. If it didn't bother you then you shouldn't be hunting in my opinion, but my advice is nock another arrow, and get back out there. God will make more.

Someone once told me that if you hunt long enough it'll happen to you. Crappy spot to be in, but it sounds like you've done / continue to do anything you can to recover the deer. I'm with Muskeez on this one. Sucks now, but get back out there. You just might see him walking around again.

Would you mind telling us what draw weight? Range of shot? Type of broadhead? Broadside or quartering? Anything we can learn from your experience?

It is the worst part of hunting for sure.

COEngineer said:

Would you mind telling us what draw weight? Range of shot? Type of broadhead? Broadside or quartering? Anything we can learn from your experience?

It is the worst part of hunting for sure.

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60 lb draw, 20 yards, G5 Montec, extremely slightly quartering to. Only potential thing I could have done differently is lower my aim point a little in anticipation of string jump. Not 100% sure he jumped the string, I could have pulled the shot high, but he was already spooked and and alert, so the chance of him reacting is higher.

Between my two hunting friends and i, we arrowed three deer in two years that we thought would be killing shots. None of those bucks were recovered and that was enough for me reflect to then on, only carp and target shoot with the bow. Since those days i've lost two bucks hit with my rifle but that's covering over 80 big game animals. One was a bullet deflection off a rib cage on a quartering away shot and the other was my fault, human error, it weren't where it was supposed to be when the gun went off and from that, i no longer aim for neck shots.

Good luck finding your buck! Losing any big game animal is a terrible sick in the guts feeling.

Sounds like you put a good dog on it. That’s about all you can do. Put up a trail camera where you saw the deer. Maybe you’ll get a picture. Watch for buzzards.

np307 said:

60 lb draw, 20 yards, G5 Montec, extremely slightly quartering to. Only potential thing I could have done differently is lower my aim point a little in anticipation of string jump. Not 100% sure he jumped the string, I could have pulled the shot high, but he was already spooked and and alert, so the chance of him reacting is higher.

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Thanks for the reply. I don't see anything in your setup to criticize. I have never archery hunted deer...seems so much harder than elk (bigger target and rutting during archery season).

I hit a deer high in the chest like you are descending and looked for it over the next three days. Felt horrible. I shot it two weeks later while rifle hunting. Sometimes the arrow just doesn’t hit anything vital.

Sounds like you hit meat. It will heal and he'll live.

Going to be hunting on this piece of land again Monday and I'll put out a camera to see if he's still around or not. Would love to get another chance at him. Still another month before black powder starts, which is when the woods will be full of hunters.

Had a similar situation last year. I rushed/pulled the shot and ended up hitting the buck way forward. I gave him alot of time and put a good blood dog on the trail. The dog ended up jumping the buck and eventually bayed him up. At that point I was able to get another in him and finish him off. I was really upset with myself for the horrible shot, but thankful for the dog and the opportunity to recover the buck.

I had it happen once. Tried everything, even a last ditch effort with a buddies redbone coonhound. It sucks, plain and simple. Ge back out there though, I learned that sitting around sulking about it will never do any good

You might have hit what is called the "no zone" by a lot of guys.

Digging this thread up because I finally decided to go back to ground zero. Started walking the trail I had marked on OnX. Found the arrow about 20 yards from where the buck was. I'm assuming shoulder blade. The camera that I had put in this area got stolen about a week after I placed it and I haven't felt like going back in. Put another out today to see if by some crazy chance he's still around.

np307 said:

Digging this thread up because I finally decided to go back to ground zero. Started walking the trail I had marked on OnX. Found the arrow about 20 yards from where the buck was. I'm assuming shoulder blade. The camera that I had put in this area got stolen about a week after I placed it and I haven't felt like going back in. Put another out today to see if by some crazy chance he's still around.

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I hit a deer like that a few years ago and the recovered arrow was broken off about like yours. He was pictured on camera a week or so later with a scar on his shoulder, but looking no more worse for the wear. I agonized over it, too, but I suspect the deer will be okay. Good luck on your next outing.

With only that much arrow broken off I think you might have hit near the shoulder joint at the base of the shoulder blade or the ridge of bone along the bottom portion of the shoulder blade. I hit a buck like that, he spun around and broke my carbon arrow off on a tree right next to him so it looked just like your arrow does. There was some blood for a few hundred yards and then the trail dried up. Never found him.

Without knowing how much penetration you got, since no more blood on the arrow when you found it, it's hard to say what really happened.