My 2020 deer story.
Whitetail Deer
Been a while since I posted here, crazy year was supposed to be a fun year for hunting. 3 out of country trips canceled, eating tags in Utah and Colorado because of hurricanes, Covid and business commitments. I get a chance to hunt South Texas for whitetail, first morning in the blind a nice buck we’ve got tagged as a cull comes in. Buck finally presents a shot, I take it, feel good about everything from placement to his reaction and what we see on the arrow, complete pass-thru.
While giving him time a dry doe comes in, knowing I wouldn’t do much hunting this year I decide to take her as well. She busts me on the draw, I hold for over a minute, she’s not going to look away. 18 yards, full frontal I take the shot. I see the arrow sink deep, hear the load thud and she runs out of the area like her ass is in fire. 2 deer in less than a 2 hour sit, well that’s a great hunt in anyone’s book.
Waiting another hour just to be sure, I get out of the blind when friends come to help track/drag. We find the first arrow, as I said covered with good blood and the slick trick crewed up a bit, as you’d expect when going through bone. Not much blood, only drops, I figured we’d hit a good blood trail in short order. Never did, both deer unfortunately left on the same trail. We searched for the better part of 3 hours, nothing.
Calling back-up in of the 4 legged variety is not something anyone wants but necessary at times. The dogs find the doe in short order, seems she was faster than my arrow, ducked before it arrived! I hit her between the shoulders, I was in a grind blind!
We never found my buck, I took another cull buck and left with my coolers full. I was beating myself up for the entire ride home, poor shot placement but figured the buck was dead and the guys would call me anyway when they found him. Call never came.
The friend I took down returned 8 days later, while checking the trail cameras, I get this.
Buck was almost completely broadside, here’s the opposite side picture.
I’m hoping to get back down there and get a second chance, I really want to see how this Buck is still walking!
That’s amazing that deer lived. Glad you had a great hunt, but I’m perplexed that deer didn’t die!
I'm just as amazed that that is marked as a cull buck. Holy crap!
That's simply unbelievable. I've never seen an animal survive a hit like that.
Hard to believe and if not for the picture probably wouldn’t thanks for sharing Lewis
Same reaction as others on here. Extremely hard to believe that buck is till alive!
Good to see you back on here, Tim!
Looks like a straight up shoulder bone hit to me, or maybe just slightly behind it.
Those pics would be good ones to save for the next "V vs. Crease" shot placement thread. I've never been a fan of aiming at the "V". I think that shot would have been lethal 2" further back in the crease.
Matt
I killed a doe a few years back that when I was butchering her and was filleting the meat off the shoulders I found crinkled up fletching against the flat part of the blade right against the ridge. Arrow had obviously gone through the blade and stripped the fletching off the arrow. I pulled the other shoulder out of the ice and you could see the healed broadhead shape in that shoulder as well! No external sign of a wound and the fletching was completely healed over the top. Had to have been the previous year or even earlier. To this day I don’t know how she survived the hit. This was a South Georgia doe so probably 90 pounds on the hoof. These pictures reminded me of that doe! They can be amazingly tough.
Lee
Grey ghost....I'm with you on that!!!
That’s a dead dear in 99% of the cases. Hard to believe.
Too high for heart and too far forward for lungs ? That’s the only thing I can think of. They can be damn tough to kill on occasion.
Extremely lucky deer! Think it probably clipped front of lung but not enough damage done. In the crease, dead before you get out of blind!
Nice cull buck. Let's see the one you ended up killing. Also, tough beat on that deer. Surprised it didn't die.
I never used Slick Tricks...they seem a little on the fragile side. At least the ones I have looked at.
It is a surprise that buck didn't die at some point. Bummer ya didn't get it.
That said....I hit one just like that and it didn't leave much of a blood trail. It was found a week or so later inside some blow downs. That was when I was using Montec G5's. That deer and another high hit, G5 deer was the reason I went to Rage's. My 2c's.
BPM great to see your post and insane that deer is still alive!
Thanks for sharing Tim, welcome back. Hope you get to finish what you started next year. Good Luck!
Slick tricks look fragile, so you go to rage?! Been using standard tricks for years, toughest head I've used! That result wasn't because of the head.
The reason I don’t post here much more! ^^^
Thanks for posting BPman, hard to believe you didn't kill him. Screw idiots like wacker.
Wow! I cannot Believe that deer survived. Good luck when you go back down after him!
Didn't take long for him to pull those posts! Don't think he ever said he was aiming there. Just that he was happy with placement! If I saw that hit, it would be more forward than I wanted it to be but I'd be thinking"dead deer"!
Yep shot definitely wasn’t “perfect” or I’d be doing the hero pose. Just putting out info to hopefully help fellow bowhunters. No one has mentioned the doe, that shot equally blew my mind as I’ve killed several dozen animals with frontal shots as well.
It was darn close to perfect. Thanks for posting.
Hmmm! The shoulder VOID.
Something else to consider.
We miss ya on here, Tim. That’s crazy that deer survived. By the way... before I finish my commuting to Houston, I need a pizza burger. ;)
Both of those are crazy! Maybe you need a faster bow?
I'm with Charlie --- looks damn near perfect!!!!!!!
Good shot. Bad luck. I’ve seen that before.
It's amazing that deer is still living. Animals are tough.
And you wonder why all the good guys have quit posting or left !
Tim, great to see you again my friend. Hope the Pizza business is doing well. Thank God you are down south, up North it's a nightmare on restaurants and small businesses.
I looked at that pic for five minutes and can't understand how that deer survived. A treestand angle would make more sense, but not a ground blind - dead broadside. I've seen freaky things like this before, the good news is the buck appears to be fine.
Sorry to hear about your season - it sucked for all of us. You still doing MMA stuff?
WOW. Thats insane. Hope you get back to get another chance at him. Sure does make a guy wonder on some other hits I've seen and animals lost. Game of inches. Thanks for the post/pics.
Which side is the entrance wound, the left?
Just a guess. If the leg was far forward at the shot, the arrow may have passed in front of or through the front of the ribcage. Even if that happened, amazing the arrow didn't cut the carotid arteries.
Damn Tim, that is insane!
I guess anything is possible...
Oh man, that is crazy indeed!! Also good to see you post Tim, I've always liked seeing your comments and feedback on threads here.
I would have never believed that a deer could survive that.
That's unreal, Tim! How that deer is still alive is a miracle.
You would darn near think that shot placement would result in a dead deer fairly quick even if shooting the smallest of broadheads. Unbelievable
Thanks for sharing
I don't think it's too far forward for lungs, I hit a doe when I was in my younger years, just in front of the leg and I got lungs. But I don't think there's an area above the heart that either doesn't catch lung, or enough of it. I also hit a doe in the same area as the OP and I never found her. I figured she died somewhere, but this has me wondering if she could've lived, at least for several days or more.
Funny thing is, you do an internet search on deer vitals and look at images, the positioning and size is all over the place. Even the autopsy ones leave a bit to the imagination since they don't take gravity into consideration.
Those both look like they would have died very quickly! Have heard of deer surviving double lungs if they don't fully deflate, agree with those who mentioned how tough they can be at times. Glad you recovered the doe and that the buck is OK, and will no doubt be wiser and tougher to kill now.
Just got one from a buddy that is very similar. He shot this buck with a 165 grain bullet out of a 30-06.
Five days later got this picture on a game camera.
How in the world can either of these deer still be alive?
Crazy, I've had a few I didn't find after what I thought was a good shot, never found the animal, or birds or anything, one was a giant moose, a black bear and a deer or two. I remember even celebrating as the moose ran away with my arrow stuck in its chest!
Tim, I wound have thought dead deer also but a good lesson in deer survival for sure.
Tavis, Maybe the bullet never expanded. Happen to me in South Dakota years back, shooting a 270, 130 gr bullet. Buck shot through the neck; little hole entrance and exit. A follow up shot brought him down later.
Looking closer at my buddy’s deer, he looks to be dragging that leg. Wonder if the bullet blew up on the shoulder and didn’t penetrate to the vitals.
Tim’s buck just blows me away.
Crazy, I hope you get back down there and get him.
Thanks for jumping back on and sharing with us Tim. That's unbelievable!
Sucks to lose the deer but the story is so cool Tim. Thanks for sharing!
Look at the ratio of positive and interested comments to garbage and you’ll realize there’s a lot of good here if you choose to focus on it. It sure is insane how some deer just keep plugging.
Some animals are anomalies. They could have smaller or larger organs. Some in weird situations somehow pull through. Buck I shot this year had a 1” thick shoulder blade. That’s an arrow killer!!! Only on one side.
I remember watching a documentary of Secretariat whom many consider the fastest race horse of all time and besides good structure genetics they found his heart to be like twice the size or way bigger than standard. Can’t remember exactly. But just like organs can be oversized they can also be under and suddenly there’s no vitals where we thought it should be.
I know my first elk was opposite. A cow that I cringed at the placement - high and back and she dropped in 40 - double lung. Who knew
Thanks Guys! Hoping to return this week, I’ll post pics if I’m able to get another arrow in him. Crazy busy now, who buys a Restaurant in the middle of a Pandemic!
Pat, I’m still training a bit and looking forward to January 23rd, Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor, I might be in the corner for that one!
Good luck Tim! Both in the restaurant business and with that buck!
