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Arrow Covered With Fat

Last night my buddy shot a really big 8 point. It was only about 15 yards and broadside. The deer ran a short distance and laid down. It got up when the farmer started picking corn about 200 yards away. He told me what happened and we gave the deer about 2 hours and we set out to track it. When we found his arrow, it was smeared with a thin layer of fat from the broad head to the nock. We found where it had laid down in several locations. The last bed we found had quite a bit of blood but when we tried to pick up the trail we could find no more blood. Where do you think this deer was hit? The reason why we didn't let it set over night was we had one eaten totally by coyotes last year. Got any suggestions? Thanks for your help. Alan

what did the blood look like where he laid down?? Did it look like he was bleeding on his lower belly or did it look like it just ran down his fur and puddled. Did it appear he had laid on the blood or off did it run off his side..My guess is a high hit above the spine..the fat that`s left on an arrow on a high hit will be kind of gritty, chunkie sticky stuff if ya scrape it with your finger nail it`ll roll up in little balls...there really aren`t alot of places on a deer that will leave fat on an arrow in my opinion..it`s either got to be low brisket, or above the spine(including rump)..sounds to me like he will survive the hit

Years ago, I shot a doe in the morning and thought I shot her in the heart. She ran about 70 yards and laid down in some damp cool mud. I kept waiting for her to tip over, but an hour later she was looking around and alert as ever with her button buck fawn standing nearby. She finally got up and walked away like nothing had happened. When I got down, the arrow had blood and fat smeared on it and there was good blood right up to where she laid down. I watched exactly where she walked and there wasn't another drop. I saw her and her fawn the next morning about 100 yards from the same trail and you couldn't tell she had been hit. I am sure that I hit her low in the brisket and she laid down right away to put pressure on the wound to close it up. Maybe the buck your buddy hit did the same if it was hit in the brisket.

A friend of mine hit a doe witch was quartering toward him. He had a pass threw and the arrow had fat from the broadhead to the nock. When we found the deer it was hit tight behind the shoulder mid hieght. he got 1 lung and the liver.

Alan- more than likely your buddy hit the deer too low and went through the brisket. There's a layer of fat there (unless the animal is emaciated) and being a low hit, will usually leave a pretty decent blood trail for a short while. Muscle and even skin wounds will bleed a bit until they clot which could explain why the bloodtrail petered out on you. Usually with a muscle hit such as above the spine or in the shoulder or hindquarters, you will find some blood and perhaps even traces of muscle on the arrow (usually just in front of the fletches/vanes) like Travis described above. Did you rule out the possibility of the animal being gutshot by smelling the arrow? The fact that it bedded soon after being hit may be an indication that it was hit in the stomach, although you would most likely feel stomach contents on the arrow shaft in addition to the odor and there would most likely not be any fat on the arrow. How close to where the deer was shot did he find blood? How far did the deer travel to where you found last blood? Did you find any visible bubbles in any of the blood at all? If it was hit in the brisket he most likely found blood pretty quick (a high hit would take a while for the blood to run down the deer's side and then drip or rub off), then it would have quickly faded to small drops as it began to clot leaving blood only where it stopped or bedded and he would have found no bubbles in it. If this is the case, then unless the wound gets infected or is warm enough for myiasis the deer will most likely survive.

-Cheryl Napper

hey shorty,

I had almost the same thing happen a week ago. I listed it under the thread "greasy arrow". got a lot of good advice and thoughts.

look back and read it...it may help you too.

The deer started to bleed right away. We tracked it for about 200 yards. The blood was drops with no bubbles. It laid down several times in those 200 yards. I looked all over today and couldn't find it. Even took my miniature dachshund "Shorty" out to see if he could pick up the trail. But, he's a squirrel dog and kept looking for that dang deer in the trees. Thanks for you help. Alan

That deer will live. Sleep easy; you gave a great effort here, I feel.

leap

Personally it sounds to me like a brisket hit.

High or low, not in the chest. He'll be chasing does in a week. Go get him.

Deer are obligatary fat depositers which mean they will deposit fat on brisket and back in all but the most extreme cases of malnutrition.

Some differentials of Backstrap vs Brisket.

Backstrap dark difficult to find hair vs. White easy to find Brisket hair.

Backstrap blood takes 30 or more yards to start showing up vs. Brisket almost immediately

Several more can't type now.

I shot at a small doe last year and had a bad shot. She eas lined up perfectly in the sights, the arrow flew perfectly for about 5 yards where it met up with a twig I didn't see. The arrow hit high, just above the spine. When I recovered my arrow it was covered with fat, b/h to hock. I felt terrible about the bad hit but knowing it was only a superficial wound helped.

Knowing where your shot hit, reading the arrow and understanding animal reaction are all mpart of putting it together.

I'd bet brisket and great chance he makes it.....don't ask me how I know :(

Deer is dead, not because shot but because thread is 12 years old :)

haha!

Ditto Hawkeye

Brisket.

Pretty old deer if he survived, I think tobywon is right!lol

I hit a smaller buck very low one year right behind the shoulder. He left plenty of blood and went more than 400 yards before we found him. My arrow hit low enough that it didn't enter the rib cage so a major artery must have been hit in the arm pit area. I couldn't believe I got that deer. Usually a fatty arrow means gut shot and they need to be left alone for 10 hours or more before tracking. We usually find them within 200 yards.

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