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You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Hunting/Shooting > Hunting > Bad shot
Expert: Keith Patton - 11/5/2009
Question
On Monday I shot a deer with a Muzzie small 3 blade. The shot placement was immediately left of his front leg towards his head, about two thirds up from the bottom of the deer. I know the best shot is the engine room right of the front leg but I messed up. The arrow stuck in his body and I never found it after tracking it. My arrow is 28 inches long and the deer had approximately 16 inches sticking out of its body while running back the way it came. I called two friends about the shot and within 45 minutes they were there ready to search. I had no blood trail at first. We looked for the deer sign for another 60 minutes. About 200 yards from the shot I found drops of blood. Followed the blood trail, drops only every 10 - 20 feet for another 200-300 yards taking another hour. Started smelling the rutting deer but my friends kept pushing and the deer got up from a lay down area and ran away, jumping a creek with no additional blood trail. While checking the blood trail to the lay down area, noticed small spray of blood from the deers nose. At the lay down area the blood, a rich red color (no bubbles) was about 18 inches round. When the deer got up to run, there was a couple of small 6 inch puddles, a little bit of meat or muscle. Checked the area all around for for 500 yards with no luck. I have one more area to search more than 500 yards away. Since there was blood coming from its nose, does this mean a lung was nicked? Do you think this deer will alive? This buck was probably 5.5 years old, minimum 250 pounds. Hitting a deer in a muscle will it die and how long will it take? Its seams like the arrow stuck in the other shoulder. The deer was broad side but 20 feet to my right, 20 yards away when I shot. Appreciate your input.
Answer
The lungs are a bit low for the arrow to have hit them. You may have knicked or cut a vein if the blood was dark. Veinous blood, going back to the heart then the lungs is darker than arterial blood that is loaded with oxygen coming from the heart and lungs. So it sounds like you hit something up near or just under the neck. You may even have shot through him, that is the broad head came out the far side of his lower neck, from the fact that there was muscle fragments on the ground. No other way for that to happen. Deer are not all that wide especially in the neck. So there is a good chance the broadhead came out the other side. Gvien enough time he'll probably lay down and bleed out. I would check the place you spoke about, then return to the other areas you already checked.
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