I'm sick....lost one

[Wade Joseph]

Shot a nice doe this evening. Good hit quartering down thru from near the neck but didn't go thru all the way. The hit knocked her down. I watched her get up and run off but she wasn't really running. Kinda loping. She rubbed against a tree and the arrow broke off, but no blood trail. About 20 inches of my 31" arrow is all I could find. I have searched over 20 acres. With no blood trail, I'm thinking she is lost. I'm just sick.

I think I am gonna try a gametracker string thing. Anyone ever used one?

[harvey lee]

Without a exit hole tracking is a very large task.Shot like the one you made will most always leave no exit hole and the result will be the same.Sometimes one is better to wait for a better killing shot.The deer will probably die but with no trail its going to be hard to find.

[Wade Joseph]

Kinda my thought too. Gonna try to refrain from those kinda shots and shoot quartering away or broadside only from now on.

[harvey lee]

Its a tough deal.Every once in awhile I catch myself trying to make a questionable shot because I think I can do it and it almost always ends up in a lost deer.I really try now to pass up on those shots.

[fishermn]

I'd give her til morning then get out and check the general area she was headed. Like mentioned in some of the other posts, check the thickets and any area near water. If she was hit hard she will probably bed down, but with a forward shot like that, she may have run quite a ways first. Like you said, broadside or quartering away are far better percentage shots, but sometimes even in perfct conditions things still can go wrong It's a lousy feeling to be sure...

[archerystud]

It happens....

I helped a guy track one that he hit on Friday night. After his description and blood trail I convinced him to back out and give it until the next morning. Like yours the arrow was still in her and I figured this one had a single lung hit.

We found her on Sat. morning at about 10AM. Deer was still good (thanks to the cold weather) and we had a couple of happy hunters.

[charliepete2]

Quote:

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Good hit quartering down thru from near the neck

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There is no such thing as a good quartering hit down from the neck. The neck has such a small kill area no ethical bowhunter should attempt it. The same goes for a quartering to shot, a full on frontal shot, and the Texas heart shot. People taking these types of shots on purpose is why bowhunters have the bad reputation for wounding animals. There is enough that go wrong on a broadside and quartering away shots, attempting anything more risky is just disrespectful to the animals.

I don't want to sound to preachy, when I was young and cocky I figured I could sneak one in there. I took a quartering to shot hoping to catch one lung, and caught all guts instead. I still remember tracking that doe, and having put it down in a style that was one part steer wrestling and two parts knife fight. It was possbily the ugliest thing I've ever done in the woods, and when it was finished I knew that I only had myself and my big old ego to blame. The only good that came out of it is that I taught myself a lesson about being respectful to the animals I hunt and only taking shots where the deck is heavily stacked in my favor. As far as I'm concerned nobody should ever shoot anything but broadside and quartering away.

You didn't say you intentionally went for a neck hit, but with all the newbies reading this site I figured I could do some good by getting on the soap box.

[harvey lee]

Very well said,I have also been there and done that and it doesnt happen anymore.

[Wade Joseph]

Wasn't going for a neck shot, thought I could get one lung and heart...my bad, never again.

[FarByondDrivn]

I feel your pain man. Was down in the promised land this weekend and my buddy had a similar shot on a huge doe. The shot was a little farther back than you mentioned and the arrow did exit but we didn't find a drop of blood in two hours. The arrow was in the ground at a different angle than it should have been. She ran across an open field to a fence crossing. We let her go for about three hours and then tried to find her again. No dice.

[Wade Joseph]

No luck last night looking for her either. Haven't heard any coyotes yet.