Strangest Thing Happened ?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Arrowhead
15-Oct-17
So a good buck is coming my way and he stop's in a good shooting lane for the perfect shot. Slightly quartering away. I hold on the buck and release the arrow and it fly's to the mark. The buck bolt's away crashing into a small tree leaving out and runs about a 100 yards and makes a terrible crashing sound and then all is quite. (Sound Familiar) NOW it gets strange! No arrow to be found, No blood to be found and No deer to be found where I heard it crash. I cant even find scuff marks where the buck ran hard down the hill. I and two other hunter's looked till midnight. We all pride ourselves on our tracking ability and have found deer with little, to no blood left for sign many times. I will be going back this evening after Church to look for buzzards I guess. Very humbling experience. (And Just Crazy)
From: spike78
15-Oct-17
Almost sounds like a shoulder hit and the arrow got little penetration.
From: Owl
15-Oct-17
Yup. Never take crashing for flopping without visual evidence.
From: Bou'bound
15-Oct-17
Nothin is found until It is found
From: GF
15-Oct-17
Did you find any hair or blood on the tree that it crashed into? That would be the first place I’d look.
What kind of head?
From: scentman
15-Oct-17
Oh yea, sounds very familiar to me... You'll probably see him chasing does in a few days.
From: Shaft
15-Oct-17
Sounds like a clean miss to me. I'd spend more time looking for the arrow. Seems to me either it's a clean miss or your missing something.
From: ryanrc
15-Oct-17
Zombie deer. Sucks.
From: Arrowhead
15-Oct-17
GF, I looked at all the trees, trying to see which one he hit. No sign left ? Shaft, I have it on video but it is a bow mounted camera and the shot itself is blurred upon release. I have play it back many times trying to see the impact. It looks like a good hit in one frame but in another frame it looks like it may be low and forward possible hitting the leg bone on the other side. It made a loud crack on impact so I thought it hit the leg or shoulder on the other side. No scuff marks to follow like a three legged deer would leave behind ? No arrow no blood and no deer. I'm missing all that ? ryanrc , Zombie deer is right.!
From: Habitat for Wildlife
15-Oct-17
Hope you find him.
From: WV Mountaineer
15-Oct-17
If he plowed out of there low in the front end, you likely hit him to far forward or through the shoulder. One thing for almost sure is you didn't hit him where you think you did. God Bless
From: Arrowhead
15-Oct-17
WV Mountaineer, Yeah I agree. The shot looked good and the blast out of there indicated a hit and the crashing to the ground sound was all too good. None of it was true and my mind lied to me. Still no deer today. I'm beginning to think if the coyotes don't get him he'll survive. Maybe someone reading this can understand that it ain't over till it's over. Deer are tough animals to take down sometimes. I think older the buck the harder to kill. A marginal shot may take down most deer but not an older buck. Hopefully I'll get another chance at him.
From: Franklin
15-Oct-17
Had the EXACT thing happen to me....what I figured out is my stand is high I shot quartering away. My arrow penetrated high on the cavity heading down and "pinned" his far shoulder. The buck actually fell, skidded down the hill...got up....hobbled off....stopped.....made a total racket I assume figuring the arrow thing out....even grunt balling. Hours later found some blood but it stopped. Grid searched for days and never recovered the buck. That`s why I SWEAR by 2 holes in a deer.
From: Bowriter
16-Oct-17
Did I post this already???
Last Tuesday, shot a doe at 32-yards. I have two stands, 40-yards apart for reasons I shall not bother with, now. My shot from #1, was directly toward, #2. Perfect, double lung shot, complete pass through, heard loud crack, saw her fall. Getting dusky-dark so did not bother to look for arrow, knew where I shot, figured I'd look for next time I was i woods in daylight. Went straight to deer and started gutting. Three days later, in stand #2, remind myself to look for arrow when I get down. Comes good light, I look down. This is my view from stand #2 . As an aside, I have four stands, nearly in a straight line, all within 100-yards. Have killed at least two deer from each stand. Hunt them, depending on wind direction and time of year. It is a double extra thick, thicket. This picture was shot out of stand #2, can still see a tad of blood on the vanes, after a light rain.
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
2011 my buddy hit a nice buck and thought he'd made a good shot. We tracked it that evening/night. Went back in the morning, trailed and ended up doing a big grid search. The next evening when walking to my stand, I found a chewed off leg in an area. So plan was to grid search that area after the next mornings hunt. Three of us met up, but before we started I had my son check the trail camera that was nearby. We did not have to do the grid search.
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
I know this buck survived for another year, because I shot it.
From: GF
16-Oct-17
Is that an arrow wound, or just a “bummer of a birth mark”?
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
Here he is a couple weeks later-healing
Here he is a couple weeks later-healing
That is where my buddy hit that deer. Here's another shot of him
From: APauls
16-Oct-17
KC9 that's crazy! Was there a weird angle? Looks like a two-blade. COC? The infamous Rage bounce? Good daytime movement on that buck
From: smurph
16-Oct-17
I agree with Apauls! something looks weird to me, if that were a normal broadside shot it should have easily killed that deer. In my opinion.
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
Slick trick broadheads, Bowtech(not sure of make) 56 #. 30 yard shot, broadside. All we can think of was his leg was way back.
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
Smurph, We have and are still stumped to this day. My buddy was positive his shot was good, he kept describing where he hit. I is probably a hair high, but how he didn't get penetration, we don't know.
From: APauls
16-Oct-17
I remember a story on video where Ted Nugent double lungs a deer and he can't find it. Shoots the thing like 3 weeks later and they pull the lungs out and it's got holes through both lungs, but the thing was all gangrene inside and would have died soon. But sometimes there simply is no explaining what happened.
KC9 ya maybe his arrow deflected or something so that it wasn't flying perfectly true and at that time the leg was way back and he hit the "ridge" in the scapula and never penetrated. Who knows, man whitetails will never cease to amaze.
From: Arrowhead
16-Oct-17
I went back to the spot this morning to look and I saw two does and I think the same buck I shot. He did not have an arrow sticking out of him and he did not look hurt. I covered the ground good looking for a dead deer and I didn't see any buzzards which will get on a dead deer quick here in Alabama with the heat. I did not smell one so I'm convinced he is still alive. In the video he turns very hard to his left and he was already quartering away so I think I pretty much went through a shoulder. The video is blurry but you can still see the arrow with the deer as he runs off if you frame by frame it. Strange things happen. But I feel like I have gave this scenario my best efforts. I may get another shot at him. Who knows?
From: ryanrc
16-Oct-17
KC9. On the 11-06-2011 08:19:46 pic, it looks like the exit wound is a few inches below the entrance. My guess is he was high up and shot through the hide on the same side. Or the arrow deflected and turned straight down . Zoom in on the pic and you can imagine an arrow go in and out like a piercing.
From: KC9
16-Oct-17
ryanrc I saw that before also. Its the only pic out of 6 that has that mark, so I'm guessing that it is not a wound, but a mark from his standing position. The stand he was in was a 15' stand, and a 30 yard shot, on flat ground. Not much down to the shot.
