Hit and lost a beauty...

[studioandolina]

Friday about 1 pm I jumped a very nice three point from his clear cut bed, he walked toward me and stopped at 15yards. I was carrying my bow so I drew on him, he stared at me in the open at 15 yards face to face. I held my full draw for at least 5 minutes and had to let it down thinking he would bolt, he still just stared at me as we were both in the open at 15 yards..... 10-15 minutes more and he walked to my right, I drew aimed and hit him a bit high and a bit back. The arrow only penetrated about 3 inches and broke off as he ran away, I found the arrow with a little dark blood and hair only in the open hole. I am assuming I hit a big rib because of the lack of penetration at 15 yards in the total open.... I looked today for 3 hours with out any sign, blood, hair or deer, what a big bummer. I feel really bad and this has put me off bow hunting for the moment.
Any thoughts would be welcome.

[jrebel]

Never in all my years of archery hunting have I ever seen a deer rib stop an arrow (on the entrance side).  or exit for that matter.  My guess is you spined him.  Still would think a spine shot at that range would crump a deer. 

What kind of bow and arrow set up are you using? 

If indeed you spined him, he will like live to see another day.  Some lucky hunter will find a broadhead buried in bone one of these days. 

[studioandolina]

My thoughts too but a spine shot would drop him like a sack of potatoes. I am shooting a Mathews DXT 62lbs, G5 montec broadheads and IBC Hunter 340 arrows. I can not think of anything else in the area but rib or spine? As he ran away the full arrow was sticking out and as I said only 3" including the broadhead were missing.......

[jrebel]

Sounds like you hit him in the backbone (not severing the spinal cord).  No way that set up didn't get through a rib.  the only way a spine shot drops a deer in it's tracks is if you sever the spinal cord.....kinda semantics when refereeing to a spine shot, most likely never hit the spine just the boney portion of the vertebrae. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

  Not one of your best 3 posts  Sounds like it was hit in the butt ...high and a little back could only be a spinal shoot unless your under bowed ...rib bone is not going to stop an arrow ...did it have a broadhead on it 

[GEARHEAD]

are ya sure it only penetrated that far, it may have simply broke and worked its way out as the deer took off....im guessing ya didnt find a blood trail, sometimes that trail isnt that obvious for 20 or more yards after the hit....sometimes.  i lost a cow years ago to an arrow that looked perfectly placed. i suspected poor penetration (shoulder) but will never know....

[Easy-E]

The only thing a bit high and a bit back from the boiler room is rib.

[jrebel]

There is not a deer rib in the state that will stop that arrow......

[h2ofowlr]

High shoulder possibly.  Right in the shoulder blade.

[D-Rock425]

Something doesn't seem right to me .

[jrebel]

 

Something doesn't seem right to me .

 

I am not sure a shoulder at that range would stop that arrow.....We are talking a deer here not an elk.  I have personally seen arrows blow through deer destroying both shoulders and never slowing down. 

RP...Was the deer perfectly broadside or quartering?  If you hit the shoulder as it was quartering hard away I could see it maybe not penetrating, but that would not be back and up.  I am still going with the spine theory....many a deer have been found with arrows in the spine still alive. 

[Easy-E]

High shoulder possibly.  Right in the shoulder blade.

That's My guess too. Maybe shot at an angle?

[Easy-E]

Something doesn't seem right to me .

I just read back through the OP and I agree: something doesn't seem right.

[jason stevens]

I would search for more then three hours and call my buddies and spend the whole next day.

[Bigtine96]

I would search for more then three hours and call my buddies and spend the whole next day.

Exactly that's just lazy and not respectful to the animal, I don't know the dudes story but I would be out there every day until I figured out what happened.

[GEARHEAD]

go back..........look and listen for birds....maybe you can still claim your bone.

[pianoman9701]

He hsaid high and back. I bet he went way back and it hit the pelvis. That would explain lack of penetration. I agree he needs to get his butt back in the woods with some buddies, too.

[coachcw]

that set up should have crushed the spine , I'm pretty sure he hit pelvis as well . I'm not to sure i'd be off archery but missing that far at point blank sucks . maybe holding so long didn't help. I'd have looked allay for that deer .

[jrebel]

that set up should have crushed the spine , I'm pretty sure he hit pelvis as well . I'm not to sure i'd be off archery but missing that far at point blank sucks . maybe holding so long didn't help. I'd have looked allay for that deer .

That set up would crush any bone in a deer.....even the pelvis. 

Most like scenario is the bow is not set up and his arrow flight is gross.....(ie the miss at 15 yards).  Arrow was probably not stabilized and hit the deer at a crazy angle not allow for full energy transfer to the point of impact.  I have seen many a friend / acquaintance shooting at the range and their arrows are sticking in the target at all different angles at 20 yards.....needless to say their bow was so far out of tune that the arrow was leaving the bow sideways (not really).  This is the only thing I can think of......

Could also just be a fluke thing.....I have seen crazier stuff in the woods while hunting. 

First deer I ever shot (8 years old) with a  bow, I hit it in the pelvis and it crushed the deer.  40 yard shot, 40 lb browning bow, 125 grain broadhead on an aluminum 2413 arrow.  Deer never took a step and the arrow penetrated and broke both sides of the pelvis.  I didn't know if my dad was happy or mad (cause I hit so far back).....I had doe fever what can I say.  But the deer was dead and it was my first.  Moral of the story is that set up tuned properly will devastate any bone in a deer. 

[coachcw]

a 340 spine arrow should shoot out of a 62 lbs bow no matter the draw length. maybe some type of contact from clothing or rest. once I shot a bull in a severe side wind at ten yards and only got 15 inches of penetration with over 100lbs of ke. I'm curious if you have shoot the bow since .

[studioandolina]

In regards to many of your comments and thanks for the advice, I looked all day yesterday with no luck.....
The problem was not my bow or the arrow, these are finely tuned and professionally set up, I shoot a lot in my yard (28 yards) (at least 2-3 times a week) and my rig is sweet. The main problem is my lack of experience shooting at LIVE animals. This encounter was over 15 or 20 minutes, part of which I am holding a very long draw and standing face to face in the wide open with a LIVE animal. Even through all of that I stayed fairly calm but it took a toll on my nerves and the moment of truth came and I blew it with a bad shot.
 This can be the reality of hunting, you can shoot well at home all day long but the pressure of a LIVE animal can shake almost anyone, let alone someone who hardly even gets to see deer when in the field. This day I will feel sorry about for a long time and I wish I could change the outcome, but it did teach me many truths about hunting. It is not the easy shot wall hanger like on TV, it is a living moving and magnificent animal right in front of you. My two mistakes were: I failed to stop the walking deer for my one shot, (thus a shot a bit far back), (I failed to really pick a spot, thus the bit high aim). These are my fault but I can promise this will not happen again, these are the hard lessons of experience. I will not forget this animal and I hope he did live through this tragic day but the reality is I will never know....

[MLBowhunting]

Oh we could go looking some more

[coachcw]

sounds like the situation got the best of you . just part of hunting it happens both archery and rifle . typically rifle hunters give up there search sooner . If you can slip an arrow in just of center on that frontal angle it is deadly btw.

[splitshot]

  this is why I quit bow hunting.    mike w

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

my first question is why did you not kill it at 15 yrds? that shot is plenty deadly and if you can not hit the hair you want at that range you might as well grab a rifle.

[scout/sniper]

sounds like the situation got the best of you . just part of hunting it happens both archery and rifle . typically rifle hunters give up there search sooner . If you can slip an arrow in just of center on that frontal angle it is deadly btw.

This situation obviously rattled him a bit. It happens sometimes, and no hunter wants to leave a wounded animal in the woods (including us lazy, evil rifle hunters) Lessons learned and he will be better the next time around.

[bigjonv]

I am sorry to hear what happened.  I am hoping that your experience doesn't ruin bowhunting for you.  I am not going to list out my harvest reports but I have shot me some animals through the years.  Both with rifles and bows.  I have lost an animal and it was one of the toughest things to deal with.  It was some years back and it is a long painful story.  When ever I head out to the area, cause its also a great area to camp and hike, I still look for the animal (I do know it is gone but I still look).  I agree with some of the comments about looking longer than a few hours.  That is disrespectful to the animal and though we are trying to kill the animal, we also acknowledge how great of an opponent each animal is.  I am not going to beat that horse anymore.  One thing I would suggest is to get a 3D target and place it all over the place/yard and work on shooting at it in various conditions in odd angles and shoot everyday until it is burned in your brain.  1000's of rep's will make it so it is more automatic and you will be less likely to throw your shot when rattled a little bit.  Also study up on tracking and work on it.  Go out in the woods in the off season and work on following tracks all over the place.  It's not the same as following blood trails but sometimes it's all you got to follow for one reason or another.  OR you can take the easy route and go back to the rifle  .  Hope this helps a little.

[bigdave]

  this is why I quit bow hunting.    mike w

This is why I don't post anything about my hunts on H-W!