How far can a deer go on one lung.

[bae501]

Ok here is my story. I have shot quite a few deer with my bow. Purchased some hunting property 5 years ago and have shot one every year since, and always recovered every deer. Last saturday I had 2 bucks come in and I decided to shoot the leading buck. He was only 6 yards and I was about 12' up so the angle was a little steep but not horrible. My arrow past completly thru with a 2 1/2" rage broadhead.(it was 7:15pm) I watched the deer walk up a hill and waited about 20 minutes before I got down. I walked over and observed the arrow covered in blood from top to bottom. Went back to the house and waited for the wife to come in from hunting. About 8:30 we went out to recovered the deer.

The blood trail for the first 80 yards was like Chuck Adams says "it looked like I threw a hatchet through the deer" As fast as we could walk we could see blood everywhere. He stopped in several spots and the blood had air bubbles in it. So one lung for sure. By the time we got to the top of the hill he wasn't spraying blood like it had been, and was just dripping. We went about 40 more yards, then we reached one of my food plots and lost the trail. We got a couple more people to try and find the blood with no luck. We looked until after midnight.

Next morning we were back out there by 8 AM. Took us 45 minutes to find one more speck of blood in the middle of the food plot then nothing. After another hour I had walked about 150 yard away and found one more spec of blood on a birch branch that was on the ground. My hopes started to pick up, as again we picked up the blood trail and followed it as fast as we could walk down the trail. Then another 150 yards the trail stopped again. 3 of us then spent 2 more hours walking circles and making loops, and walking down every deer trail we could find. No more blood and no deer. How long can a deer go on one lung!!!! And how can a deer go from spraying blood everywhere to just nothing????

[musky hunter]

I heard a very similar story last week. Apparently they can go quite a long way. For this reason I wish it was legal to trail a wounded animal with a dog. Sorry you couldn't recover the animal. My suspicion it that the arrow narrowly missed major lung arteries as the blood flow diminished. Doesn't mean you made a bad shot, it was just an unlucky and unlikely outcome.

[pushbutton]

One day ended up hearing what was a deer getting hit by a car. After about five minutes saw something out of a horror show, back legs completely mangled, sure the lower back was broke, and lower stomach parts hanging out.....and this deer was going up the driveway at a pretty good clip on just two front legs. After getting Jr. inside and calling the CO, got two of the dogs and tried to find it to put it out of it's misery. It ended up going well over a half mile, on uneven ground before it finally bedded down. While the story/injury is not the same, it is amazing how tough they can be....I'm sure adrenaline can do some remarkable things!

[Grayfox]

My guess is it was a high,far side lung shot. When you skin a warm deer it's not hard to see the thick fat near the spine and half way down the sides which probably plugged up the exit hole. You never stated if the deer ever bedded down the night before but after you lost the blood trail I would have left the area quietly, instead of coming back with more people, which means more noise and tried agian in the morning. I know it's hard to do but backing out will really help recover deer that have had marginal hits put on them. Sounds like you looked hard the next day but all you really can do is keep looking in the thickest cover you can find. It's amazing how little cover a deer can hide in.

My dad hit one about 15 years ago and asked for my help in tracking it. We followed the good blood trail which had bubbles in it and jumped it several times,always thinking it was just about done. Long story short. We PUSHED IT over a mile and lost the trail and when we came back in the morning it had dried up and we never did find that deer. They can go a long way on one lung.

Rob

[goblueM]

yep if you push em, they can go a LONG way. I shot a nice 8 pt buck with a slug a few years ago, bedded down 3 times, great blood trail. we jumped it from the 3rd bed, and it ran for A MILE on a dead run, and the tracks ended in the lake. Never found it, needless to say

they are amazingly tough creatures...

[muskiemanAD]

I posted a picture of a buck that we hit with a muzzy last year. Would have bet my bottom dollar that he was dead and would have found him. Blood was good and looked bubbly. Well after following a awesome blood trail for a few hundred yards it went dry, we had the buck on camera 2 weeks later and he was looking better and this is him this year. You can see we hit him high in the picture and has some scars to boot!

[Bear55]

They can go a long long way on one lung and even potentially survive if you just nicked a lung.

Sometimes our eyes can deceive us when we shoot, did the shot look low or high at all? You didn't have a terrible angle from the sounds of things but if the shot was a little low or high you may have just grazed the lungs or got more hide/meat/brisket. Was the buck nervous at all or calm? Maybe this didn't happen but I have heard plenty of stories about them jumping the string at 10 yards. This may not be the case but I am just throwing ideas out there.

[muskiemanAD]

Here is the pic...

[sticknstring]

Looks like the top of his scapula protruding or possible infection that's since healed over. Tough critters. Hopefully he'll give your party a 2nd chance this fall!

Deer can/will travel a longs ways on a one lung hit, especially when pushed. Sounds like he lost of a lot of blood though. Tough call whether to leave him lay & hopefully stiffen up or to push him and keep him bleeding. Sounds like he's hurting pretty bad - I hope you find him!

[TruthWalleyes]

I've trailed a 1 lung shot deer for over 4 miles, with large splattering the whole way. My mistake was pushing the deer almost immediately after the shot, otherwise she would have laid down 80yds from the initial shot. Bummer of a learning experience for myself. Deer was never recovered as it went down a super steep bank about 200yds down to the river, and i know she crossed the river and entered a massive thicket.

[ERdeerhunter]

I would imagine a long ways if Tony Romo can finish an NFL game with one.

[Archerysniper]

My buck 2 years ago during the blackkpowder season was a single lung hit and he went 500 yards before dropping, blood was down to little specs at times and found chunks of fat that were plugging the holes then the blood would start again. Here is also a good question when your shooting a retractable broadhead are you sure that it opened and performed correctly. That is still my main concern with retractables not saying their bad heck I shot a deer with one tonight a 3 blade rage great easy blood trail, however just like taught in gun safety they are a mechanical devise and can malfunction.