How Far with a Mortal Wound?
Connecticut
After watching the Callie Chronicles tracking dog videos I am amazed at how far a lung shot deer can travel. I also watched videos where the arrow hit near vital organs but the deer continued to live. Amazing animals. So the next time you're certain the deer dropped, don't give up your search after going 200-300 yards. And little blood does not indicate a non lethal hit. Several times the blood was in the cavity, especially on high lung hits.
Bob, if someone, prior to last year (so that's close to 30yrs of hunting) had told me a double lunged deer could go over 150 I'd have said they were full of it, or that the hit was really single lung.
Then I killed a doe last year, entry top of the on side lung, exit center of the off side lung. I could see blood from the shot site in the snow in the direction she ran. I gave it an hour, and started tracking, as the shot looked 2 lung and blood on snow seemed to indicate as such based on color, and being on both sides of the deer, as well as spraying.
I keep going and going. Pretty open area she ran through, so as I'm scanning the woods up ahead for a dead deer, after a couple hundred yards I'm curious what happened. I go a ways further, then up on the hill ahead I see her bedded, head up looking at me. I back out and went back at 2PM (shot at about 7:30AM). She'd gone about 50yds further from where I saw her bedded, and the total distance based on OnX's trail feature (basically GPS) was something like 436 yds or so.
I tried to necropsy her to see where the arrow went.
It cut the on side lung and probably had partly deflated it, but some was still working, the off side lung was destroyed.
Had I not seen it myself, I'd have not believed the story I just wrote. Sometimes, I think, you just get lucky the wrong way...
Just think of how much ground a deer can travel in 10 to 15 seconds if it’s a clear lung pass thru 200 yards is not a lot. Every deer is different an I have found the big ones go farther and angling away that hit the off shoulder go the least ! Steve
I once read somewhere, by some expert I'm sure. A perfectly hit deer can go 100 yards at least. How fast they run times oxygen left etc...
The buck I double lunged this fall ran about 200 yards before it crashed. So yes, they can do a dead run to the next property.
I shot a doe about 10 years ago with a 12 gauge. Double lunged it and she still ran 100 yards, bedded down and lived for another 20 minutes before I walked up and ended it.
See if anyone can guess what organs were hit on this guy?? He ran about 175-200 yards. Entry was behind shoulder.
Top of on-side lung; never passed mid-line and unlikely that it so much as grazed the heart. But with that much blood, it looks like you probably got a carotid and/or a jugular on the way out.
Unless you never got into the chest cavity and you just got incredibly lucky with the brachials under that shoulder blade. That’s nearly as catastrophic as a femoral artery.
A friend of mine was a full-time professional deer hunter in the UK, and he fully expected an 80-100 yard dash on a deer that was perfectly hit just over the heart with a 150-grain .270 bullet at 2800 FPS MV. That’s based on shooting thousands of deer per year for a good number of years, so no issues with sample size. He also guided a lot of clients and saw plenty of bad hits play out.
Like somebody said - there are two kinds of luck, and you don't always know what flavor she’s serving on any given day until the arrow flies.
Judging by where the exit is, I think it ran under the shoulder and along the ribs, never got into the body.
Have to agree with bb. Just caught main artery in throat.
I just checked a video of a deer Dave shot it traveled 90 yards in 4 sec across the field before it dropped. Double lung into shoulder . Steve
Kyle,
Entry looks good to catch the front lobe of the near side lung; if the arrow continued on it's path it's a good likelihood that it either hit the ascending aorta and/or the superior vena cava. It is also possible, as some have offered that either the carotid artery or jugular vein (or possibly both) were clipped and it's not outside the realm of possibility that the brachial artery may have been hit.
From that exit you had a lot of possible interactions with some major plumbing....
Ok, so the buck moved slightly at release. 25 yard quartering away and I saw the arrow enter and go through. I knew immediately it wasn’t a good hit, but when the buck took off, blood was pouring out of him. Lost sight of him at about 100 yards and he never slowed down. I was worried because usually when you hit them quartering away they fall in sight.....so I knew something was not good. I waited about 45 mins to go start trailing.
The blood trail was very good the whole way and always makes you wonder how the heck they stay on their feet with that much blood loss. When I field dressed him.....not an ounce of blood inside his chest. The arrow ran along the ribs, under the shoulder blade and punched through a bunch of arteries and veins at the base of the neck. First time I ever had that happen. So stay on them until you find them.
The average human 150-180lbs has 1.2 -1.5 gallons.
So notme, you have about what?? 3-4 gallons? AND, you're not an average human being on top of that!
Don't forget the pickling agents..lol
Ah yes, we can't leave out pickling agents. I think I have a LOT of blood because everyone is always saying I'm full of it. That must be what they mean, right?
Until you drink a gallon of colonoscopy juice..squeaky clean..lol
Been there, done that,...... twice. It was so good the first time I had to do it again.
Thanks Bloodtrail, enjoyed the analysis of the kill.
I know as bow hunters we are trained/encouraged to shoot for the lungs, but in reading Chuck Adams, he makes a case for some other kill zones, the neck being one of them. A second arrow on a spine shot deer below me passed through it's neck and it died in seconds. I hit the neck, because in the excitement, the bottom limb caught my calf and pitched the bow.
On the flip side, a couple of years back I lost a gorgeous 4.5 year old 10 point with what I thought was a perfect broadside shot. At the shot I saw my lighted nock in his fur in “the” perfect spot. It was lit up like a glowing tick at the bottom of the top third of the deer. When hit, he took off on a all out, track meet type run. He never let off the gas pedal until I lost sight of him some 120 yards out. Hmmm that was a weird reaction I thought to myself. Usually they don’t react like a scalded cat. At that particular stand location, I’ve hunted there for the past 10 - 12 years, I have been able to take 5 bucks and a couple of does. All have died within sight, Some as close as 20 yards from point of impact. After a bit of a wait, I got down and began the tracking job with my light. Within 50 yards I found 3/4 of my arrow with the business end attached. Unfortunately I could not find any blood whatsoever, so I backed out quickly. I returned the next morning and spent 2 hrs on my hands and knees without any success. I was about to leave because I had to get to work, when I decided to give it one more try looking and following this major deer Trail that looped around the swamp that I was near. Sure enough about 150 yards from where I found my arrow I found just a speck of blood on some ice, frozen on the side of a small stream crossing. From there I stayed on that deer Trail and over the next half mile or so I found maybe 5 to 8 other spots of blood, none bigger than the size of a quarter. Eventually I lost all sign and of course any chance at recovering that buck. I went back and walked that entire woods 4 or 5 times over the next 3 weeks looking for that deer. I thought for sure I would at least find a pile of fur where the coyotes had eventually devoured him, but no dice. I was devastated for obvious reasons, but I also had over 2 seasons of history and photos of this guy. Never saw him again! My point is even on a perfect shot there might not be any blood, or very little. Each situation is different.
Bloodtrail, what type of broad head were you using a fixed or mechanical? LB, same question. What type of broad head. Also why do you think there was so little blood? I know with the few deer that I've shot, the blood has stayed within the cavity with little exterior blood. I shoot a Muzzy fixed 3 blade off a xbow.
Exit hole on front leg from a buck in 2018. Love the star holes!
Exit hole on front leg from a buck in 2018. Love the star holes!
I’ve been shooting Slick Trick 125 magnums for a while. My blood trails have been very good. Pass through on almost every deer. The only time I haven’t gotten a pass through was when I hit the opposite leg bone on a quartering away shot....and even then, the arrow usually pops out the skin for two holes.
I certainly wouldn't recommend it on purpose, but I have made a couple of terrible shots back and high, that luckily caught the aortic artery, and brought them down as fast or faster than any double lung shot.
That’s because you really CAN’T hit that on purpose. Even if you had x-ray vision, that’s a target about the size of your index finger, and not much else worth hitting anywhere nearby...
It’s a bonus when you can clip it, no matter where you hit them front-to-rear... But you can’t a at it.
On the bright side, if you do happen to hit it, you’ll know REAL QUICK!
@longbeard - was that lost buck hit with a mechanical? Those things seem to scare the hell out of a deer when they get hit....
I know there is always the group out there that can’t wait to jump on a story like mine, waiting with baited breath to pounce and say ah ha. It was the MB you were using! I told you they suck! But not this time boys and girls. No, that particular season I was using Slick Trick Standard 100 gr. I used them for a couple of seasons and did kill with them. But over that period of time, I noticed how far/long it took SOME of the deer I shot, to drop. The biggest buck I ever killed, which was just a year after this buck, was also shot with the same brand and size Broadhead. I watched that deer run nearly 100 yards, stop and twitch his tail for nearly 5 minutes, lay down for a couple of minutes, get up and stagger to his death. Again another “perfect” looking shot. That was the last time I used those Broadheads.
I have no idea why there was no blood, especially when it was a complete pass through.
I used slick tricks for years they performed very well but I didn’t get the blood trail I was hoping for but at the end the deer was dead last three or four years I have switched to a mechanical which seems to produce a lot more blood
Even color blind guys can follow this.
Even color blind guys can follow this.
Same trail
Same trail
This one fell in sight.
This one fell in sight.
I’d rather watch them fall in sight when you hit them perfect. Pass throughs helps with blood trails, no doubt. Two holes = better than one, especially if the entry is high and exit is low. Blood sprays out, or at least pours out from gravity. I always think about where that arrow is going to come out. It helps when aiming.
And if you’re gonna hit them back, hit them high. They go down fast. Like Toonces said, lots of “stuff” up there....arteries, veins, kidneys. Nighty night.
That’s a beautiful blood trail Kyle. Nothing like that came from my Slick Trick wounds.
Just goes to show you how crazy this deal can get.... There are plenty of very happy SlickTrick users out there.
No accounting for it sometimes. Just gotta keep ‘em as sharp as you can and choose your shots wisely..... Geee.... Neverwouldathoughtathat!!
Can’t say I didn’t choose my shot wisely. All my shots are broadside. Won’t take them otherwise
Good policy. Though if you think about it, that angle actually minimizes the length of the wound channel... but offers the largest target.
Maximum length of wound channel would be from high back of the lungs exiting low in front of the foreleg... but that’s a small target and if you misread it, you can end up hitting only one side.... I guess that’s why 1/4-away is popular - nice compromise if you trust your set-up to break 2 or more ribs on the way in and the way out.
Is it just me, or did heart-shots run harder and farther than lung-shots? My friend the Deerstalker always said the heart-shots ran hardest, but hard to know if that’s just a bullet thing.
GF, boy oh boy did you just remind me of the first buck I harvested. Came right below my stand and the arrow struck just to the side of the spine and exited the opposite side armpit. Dropped in 30 yards and he ran forward, same direction as my first doe.
The doe was struck double lung and ran 100 yards with blood pumping out of both holes.
Gotta love these hits.
Gotta love these hits.
I’ve had most heart shots die within yards. Two to three jumps. Stop....wobble....crab walk....crash. When you destroy the pumper, you can literally hear the blood pouring onto the leaves.
Now that's a humane, quick kill
I had a heart shot go about 80 yards… But it only took him about 5 seconds…
One of my heart shots the deer ran 20 yard right in to a big tree, flipped and was dead .
That’s one sign of a good hit that rarely gets mentioned, but when they crash into something they’d normally avoid, it’s a pretty good sign that they’re already graying out...
That's why I like heart shots...they really start pumping the blood out ....
I watch the Callie Chronicles all the time and it amazes me how far they go sometimes.
one year I hit an 8 point low front shoulder ish...hit the bottom of the heart....the deer ran 40 yards and piled up.....he flipped around 3 times at the kill spot for 5 mins....I heard him from the stand but could not see. there was a steep hill right where he fell so I wonder if the hill caused it..i was using a rage x bow 2 inch cut
I considered this a bad shot but i'll take 40 yard pile up...
The first deer I ever got was a small doe and it ran about a hundred yards and in mid-stride went head-on into a tree and scraped the fur off under one eye. I had it mounted because it was my first and I still see that bear skin under the eye as a reminder.
What’s Callie Chronicles?
And then you have the other end of the spectrum. I shot a doe once that flinched, hopped twice to about five yards, looked around while blood just poured out like a pulled drain plug. Got tipsy and fell onto her side. I think there are many variables that determine reaction. Hitting a bone, even a rib is probably most likely to get them hauling the furthest.
GF, the Callie Chronicles is a YouTube site where a tracker takes you on deer retrieval hunts. It's quite interesting to see where the deer go after they are shot. It also shows shot placement and what possible internal damage was done. It's very interesting and he does a great job explaining what he's doing.
Tracked and shot a running deer .308 soft point, 20- 30yd shot . No hair or blood and snow tracked deer 100yds and found it piled up. Assumed I was so close the bullet couldn't expand to do its work due to close range, ya think?
No. Expansion at a closer range should have been larger because of the higher velocity. Were there two bullet holes and where did you hit the deer?
It was years ago in central Vt. but as I remember it was high lung. Can't remember if there was an exit but I think not. Wild Bill, you ask the right questions. My son was 12yrs old and with me.I told him to get ready and he didn't believe me !
Good answer, Bill! Amazing to me how many wives’ tales just refuse to die....
Again - my friend who was hunting UK deer both as a guide/gamekeeper and for Market has shot literally thousands of deer, and with a well-placed, high-velocity expanding bullet (he’s quite a fan of the Hornady Interlock 150 gr in .270Win @ 2800 FPS)... He FULLY EXPECTS every deer to go 80-100 yards.
I think we bowmen may have an advantage because if we use a COC head, we can slip a perfect shot through the ribs and the animals don’t much more than flinch. Those big mechanicals that sounds many people use in hopes of a short death run may well be exactly the opposite of what they ought to be using. It’s not a matter of how quickly they tip over as much as how far they can run before they do!
