Fatty/greasy arrow with little blood
Whitetail Deer
I shot a deer last night about 40 yards away slightly quartering away. I looked for the arrow and found a little bit of blood that wasn’t really runny but dried and meaty. I also found that a white greasy and fatty substance was on the arrow as well. The blood and fatty substance were only on one side of the arrow so I am guessing I hit low. When I found my arrow there was a patch of white hair and some of it had what appeared to be gut substance on the hair. Any idea where it was hit and how I should go about tracking?
Fatty/greasy for me has been brisket. Not promising. However if you have gut material then it's a maybe. I would wait 12 hours after shot to look. If brisket usually bright red blood for a while then peters out to nothing if guy should be dead in bed within 100 yards. From my experience anyway.
Agreed. Wait tell tomorrow. Been there. I have not recovered on that kind of hit. Sounds like this deer will live but hard to tell with info given.
Any bad smell to arrow? That should tell you whether or not you hit guts. If not then probably brisket and most likely a non lethal hit. If the arrow smells then wait 12 hours and track slow.
A lesson I learned in the last couple of years regarding blood and other stuff on the arrow: don't let the arrow evidence keep you from doing an exhaustive search unless you definitely saw a complete miss of a very marginal hit. From my past experience, most of the time the arrow evidence is very indicative of just what organs you penetrated.....but not always. In the last 4 years two of the deer I shot resulted in arrows with a very slight smear of blood on one or two blades, a hair or two on the broadhead, and virtually nothing else on the arrow, including no visible blood on fletching. Both were chest area pass-throughs. No, I'm not making this up and my multi-blade broadheads are very sharp. One deer traveled 80 yards in about 5 seconds and expired, the other ran 200 in a straight line and expired. Don't let the arrow evidence, by itself, keep you from doing an exhaustive search. Good luck, I hope you find a dead deer!
"A lesson I learned in the last couple of years regarding blood and other stuff on the arrow: don't let the arrow evidence keep you from doing an exhaustive search unless you definitely saw a complete miss of a very marginal hit. "
I couldn't emphasize that statement anymore !!!!!WAY,WAY,WAY too much credence is giving to what the arrow looks like or going to look at the arrow like this is some NCIS gig.How the animal behaved post shot is way more important and telling than all this "color of blood,bubbles,smell??etc." I've literally seen everything and the desire for bowhunters to entertain themselves with a quick recovery on a possible marginal hits continues to baffle me.Every year,the same ol,same ol of jumping deer because of what someone THOUGHT was on the arrow.Or the bloodtrail was"good blood" (all the time pushing the deer)
I've had double lungs barely bleed and gutshots have a bloodtrail a blind guy could follow.Now I'm not talking about losing meat,I'm talking about using every bit of time conceivable for table fare if need be.
Your recovery stats will go up,I promise.......I feel better now too.
That said.....certainly information can be gleened at some point in time but please do not hang your decision on when and how much time based on what the arrow looks like.
Should be some white hair around with that greasy arrow btw
Maybe it's regional... Around here, there tends to be very dark hair on the brisket - white means belly. And on a quartering-away angle, you would expect that, because unless it was a buck sucking in his gut to look good for the ladies, the belly hangs lower than the chest.
And based on the OP:
"a patch of white hair and some of it had what appeared to be gut substance on the hair."
There's really only one way for fresh "gut substance" to find its way onto freshly-shaved belly hair, isn't there? You had to have hit the gut farther back and that white hair was cut on the exit, meaning the exit was aft of the brisket area, meaning definitely gut-shot
So... Are you sure that was dried "meaty" blood, or might it be/have been bits of liver?
Somehow this one reminds me of one of the big-name outdoor writers - think it was Thomas McIntyre - who was up in AK and debating a shot at a caribou that he estimated at about 350 yards. So he turned to his guide, who was an old Native and asked him how far he thought it was. Guide looks at him and says "Don't know. Long G####mn shot"
JMO, 40 yards is a long damn shot, and it's even longer on a quarter-away angle. Margin-of-error-wise, you've got about half, or, MOA-wise, it's basically the same as an 80-yard broadside.
Out of probably 80 Whitetails killed I never shot one OVER 20 yrds....most were in the 8-15 yrd range. Had standard round wheel compound with 1 pin sight set at 15 yrds. Personally would never consider that shot....I also agree about the "arrow sign" if the arrow went through vitals and exited the brisket that would have fat/grease and white hair present. Always proceed as if your looking for a dead deer...and do your best to FIND IT.....BY ANY MEANS necessary.
Brisket or low in the leg.
40 is a long shot at a deer, its like shooting a moose at 120 yards
Myself and my friend have both found arrows with the SAME EXACT white greasy matter and blood on one occasion each. Based on hair we recovered, the blood color and amount, the greasy matter we were over 90% certain we hit the brisket. I would say also with a 90% certainty you hit the deer's brisket. If so the deer should be all right.
It concerns me that it was quartering away. You could have hit vitals, exiting the brisket giving you that appearance. I arrowed a deer in October that entered near side lung, and because he was quartering toward, arrow exited paunch. Thus, leaving gut material on arrow. I feel arrow material reflects the exit side more than entry side and so on a quartering animal impact side could still be lung and not have "lung bubbles" on arrow. Good Luck if you're still looking.
I do an exhaustive search on every deer but my personal experience is that greasy arrows, lots of white hair, or bone fragments are present the recovery percentage plummets.
I once shot a deer perfectly broadside. My initial thought on the shot was perfect left and right but low. The arrow went through the deer. Upon inspection it sounded just like your arrow. Light strings of blood, with white fatty smears on it. We had good blood for 200 yards then it eventually petered out to nothing. The next day we did grid searches and found the deer. It was 10 degrees out and 18 hours after the shot and about 600 yards away. The deer was warm and pliable, it had just died. We did an autopsy on the deer, just like I thought the shot was perfect left and right but lower than I even thought. The arrow went through the sternum of the deer just cutting the chest cavity. The white fatty substance was chest cartilage, The broadhead missed the heart and barely touched lungs, Below all the goods. I don't know what the deer died of. It sure wasn't blood loss or pneumothorax. The only thing I could think is that the lungs although not cut, couldn't work properly, and he suffocated? Either way it took him probably 16 hours to die and the arrow did not look good
All a guy can do is try. Good luck, I would definitely wait. I for one do not agree with above comments about "because it was quartering that's like 80" etc. No it isn't it's still a 40 yard shot. Kill zone is still just as big if not bigger because the front nearside leg isn't an issue anymore. Arrow still takes the same time to get there, encounters the same amount of wind and obstructions as 40 yards. I don't think 40 yards is an outlandish shot at a deer in the right circumstances. Deer is wired? Wrong circumstances. Shot my buck last year at 45. There was some wind and a lot of leaves rustling so he wouldn't hear the shot. Standing in a field. He went about 60 yards and I watched him fall.
Keep looking for him. Gut shot hits can take days.
Dirt-simple illustration - a 4" line, when viewed from 45 degrees, presents as 30% narrower (2 13/16")
Dirt-simple illustration - a 4" line, when viewed from 45 degrees, presents as 30% narrower (2 13/16")
Adam - you 're right about everything else still being 40 yards, but it IS still a very much smaller target; at least when it comes to margin for error. And most people will hold too far forward....
Yes, GF, you'd be right if we were aiming at a 12" patch of skin on the near side of the deer. not to derail the thread, but picture the vitals inside a deer. Turn the deer 45 degrees, and you can still hit all the same stuff with a modern compound. It's not a linear target where you can only hit the same 12" patch of skin. That buck angles 45 degrees and now you can still hit vitals coming in at the last rib, whereas before that was too far back. I would hesitate to say that the kill zone actually gets bigger on a quartering away shot, not smaller. The onside leg bones are way out of the way. There are no bones to worry about.
