Have you recovered a brisket shot animal
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Jasper
09-Oct-18
I have been on a few brisket shot blood trails and the animal bled well for awhile and then stopped to never be found. I waited on these animals like I would a liver shot but am thinking I should have taken up the trail right away in hopes of the blood not coagulating. Thoughts?
From: Bou'bound
09-Oct-18
No vitals
From: Mike Ukrainetz
09-Oct-18
I don't think it would have mattered, no vitals means no kill
From: Muskrat
09-Oct-18
I once shot a doe and had the arrow pass between the upper front leg and the ribcage, without entering the ribcage, and exit through the brisket. Deer dropped at about 80 yards with a heavy blood trail. Fortunately the arrow had sliced the major artery that serves the front leg. I imagine the same thing could happen with the arrow entering the brisket and exiting behind the front leg.
From: WB
09-Oct-18
I have not...
From: thedude
09-Oct-18
Seen it happen once 20 years ago. ML round ball hit the leg broke a rib but never entered the chest cavity and came out low between the front legs. We figured it sent a piece of bone to the heart or cut a major blood Highway. Probability isn’t on your side with those hits
From: Jpayne
09-Oct-18
One of the videos that JTV posted on deer anatomy showed a major artery in or near the brisket. The guy doing the videos has been studying deer anatomy for 40 years. Good videos, some are a little long but can help a new hunter out or refresh a more seasoned guy to get that "pin point perfect shot placement. Jeff
From: rgb
09-Oct-18
Unfortunately I have been on several such blood trails, with no recoveries. As Bou'bound noted, no vitals are damaged in these cases, so lethality is unlikely. I doubt that pushing the animal immediately to reduce coagulation would be enough to make one bleed out.
From: TD
10-Oct-18
No. Never recovered a true brisket hit. Lucky to get any kind of blood trail at all, much less anything that will bleed out an animal. Likely have better luck on a ham shot, or so I've been told.... A few I've found chips and chunks of bone and gristle at the impact site. I am aware of no major plumbing at the brisket. Just under spine yes, major stuff. But not the briskets that I have ever hit or am aware of.
From: bowhunter55
10-Oct-18
Had the same thing happen to me as Muskrat. The only time I ever tried a Rage, the arrow scraped the ribcage , and cut the artery going to the foreleg. Deer ran 100yds and bled out. Never went with a Rage again after that!
From: Charlie Rehor
10-Oct-18
Saw it happen with a bear but the hunter was using a Rage Extreme and it opened the bear right up. Never got in the cavity.
From: Beendare
10-Oct-18
Frontal through the brisket...I'm 100%.
but of course you are talking about Broadside Brisket. I've only seen one animal shot there...and lost.
Funny, I shot a bull in Arizona many years ago and took it to the butcher in Springerville. There was a 340ish bull on the table they were taking apart and there were 3 different BH's on the table next to the bull.
When I asked the butcher about them he was cussing up a blue streak....saying he almost got cut. They found all 3 BH's in the one bull...one was in the brisket. BTW, only one of those were the BH that killed the bull.
From: BigOzzie
10-Oct-18
Yes The next fall when I got another arrow in him. oz
From: Turkeyhunter
10-Oct-18
Tracked a deer hit in the lower brisket below the heart area this fall....waited 4 hours to track....lots of blood at the start then he bedded and got up and blood stopped. Been watching for crows for two weeks and nothing....I pretty sure he is still walking. TH
From: grossklw
10-Oct-18
Yes, about 300 yards away and 8 days later when I got another arrow in him in a different stand lol. High quartering away shot, just blew an easy one, entered behind shoulder blade and exited bottom of brisket. Wound channel looked pretty rough 8 days out, doubt he would've made it through winter.
From: backwoods54
10-Oct-18
I once took a deer during the gun season, only to find it sickly looking. Once I skinned it out ,it had a arrow hole in the lower brisket, the meat didn't look safe to eat . I also shot a deer in the same place with an arrow, moderate blood and the animal did bed down allowing me to collect that animal, I was lucky on this one.
From: bad karma
10-Oct-18
I helped a friend recover a brisket hit wild hog. We followed him for a half mile, until I was able to get a 2nd shot in the lungs. So, it can be done.
From: APauls
10-Oct-18
Only after shooting them again. By definition a brisket shot isn't going to pose a problem to a whitetail. If a huge broadhead hits the brisket but a blade nicks the heart and kills the buck, I'd call that a heart shot buck, or a heart/brisket shot buck.
From: Glunker
10-Oct-18
If a brisket hit cuts an artery you will know it relatively soon as there will be major blood. Unlikely to say the least.
From: StickFlicker
11-Oct-18
Years ago I shot a bedded bull elk that I hit low in the brisket. The arrow barely penetrated and actually dangled at a downward angle as the bull walked away. I gave him several hours and then took up the trail, and I did find him dead. As he bedded, he shoved the dangling arrow up into his vitals! I got lucky on that one.
From: wyobullshooter
11-Oct-18
I shot a moose that was low in the brisket. 25hrs later I was able to finish the job, but only because the Good Lord smiled on me. As stickflicker says, I got lucky...with alot of help from above!
