Recovering a bolt

Squadron303

Squadron303

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I'm hoping for some help here. I just shot a buck with a crossbow at 20 yards. Square through both lungs. It even travelled straight through the entire rib age without hitting a rib. Clean kill, buck was dead after about a 40 yard dash.
After the field dressing and skinning, I went back to look for the bolt. My buddy and I were unable to find itafter searching for over one hour. How far can I expect it to travel after a lung shot straight through a rib cage without hitting a rib? It's a 100gr fixed broad head traveling at approx 325 fps.
I've recovered a bolt before, about 10' past where it hit the deer. What am I missing here? Btw, absolutely zero evidence of the bolt disintegrating inside the deer. It really did penetrate straight through.
 
Bolts can be like a 'needle in the hay stack'..
Thick ground covering of leaves, twigs, branches, snow, Bolts disappear quick.
Most likely in the arc you fired, buried in the top soil.
Some you find, some you don't.
 
I found one a basically beside the buck and my other two hits I'm still looking for. Then I switched to buckshot cause i can use that here too.
 
They can slither a long way. Fastest I've found is get a decent metal detector from somewhere and use that. Test it on another bolt buried in the duff before you look for yours. Grid the heck out of the area with overlapping sweeps.

That, or if you're somewhere making a mess won't matter, grab a rake and grid the heck out of the area... I'd recommend the detector.
 
im not Bow hunter or Cross bow man however..... is this the Norm? your Bolt goes flying with the Arrow? an you're expected to find Your bolt before your next shot?

damn, buy a rifle mate :)
 
WhelanLad said:
...your Bolt goes flying with the Arrow?
Click to expand...

The bolt IS the arrow. I don't know why crossbow projectiles are called bolts instead of arrows but I think they always have been for hundreds of years. I suspect that Squadron303 either wants the bolt as a souvenir to display with the rack or maybe to see if the shaft and/or broadhead can be reused.
 
I've never looked for a bolt but have for hundreds of arrows. They all seem to stay a pretty straight course and usually don't travel as far as you think. Mark where you were and where the deer was and search in a cone shaped grid. Getting wider as you get further away. A hockey stick with the blade cut off and a metal hook inserted works great to root around under grass and hook your arrow. Metal detectors work well too.
 
Even "Judo" point bolts after going through a grouse will bury themselves under leaves and grass and they are not designed to do that........Harold
 
Might want to check the path the deer ran after it was hit. I've seen deer get arrowed and the bolt or arrow just about goes all the way through but it gets hung up on the last 4-6" or so of arrow shaft, eventually working its way out as the animal runs away.
 
I've found arrows in odd places after shooting a deer......lost a few too. Check the ground, and in the brush at his chest level all along the trail that he ran away on just in case the arrows was hung up on the fletches at the exit wound, and shed it as he ran. Arrows often deflect in strange directions when exiting but generally don't go too far so search a broad area and not just on the ground.
 
Thanks for the help. The deer took off and ran almost straight away from me, so that would narrow the search area. It's a wooden opening, thick with pines, if that makes sense. The ground is covered in pine needles and leaves blown in - pretty nasty stuff for a bolt to burry into. By that I mean the ground cover is about 6" thick with this stuff before you get to the soil. I wasn't sure if anyone had a trick in finding a bolt.. I guess a metal detector would work best. I'll upload some pictures later.

Oh yeah, and birdinator is correct. I'd like it for a display.
 
Good luck with the search. It's always bothered me when I wasn't able to recover the arrow. Few years go I shot one at 25 yds. It turned and ran 20 yds before stopping and falling over on the exit side. When I recovered the deer 6 inches of the arrow was still in the chest cavity. I assumed the arrow was hanging out and broke off when he fell over. I searched the area and came back 3 or 4 times with a rake and tried everything but never found the arrow, in spite of knowing exactly where he ran and the ground being relatively sparsely covered. Lighted nocks can sometimes help with arrow recovery.
 
Bolts/arrows don't disintegrate inside of animals.... if you were on the ground when you shot and the ground is frozen your bolt could have traveled a good distance under the ground cover.
No rib hit would leave energy after pass through. I would expect it went farther than you expect under the circumstances I outlined.

Good luck with your search.
 
Maybe this is bothering me more than it should, but I really would like to find it. Is it possible it travelled up to 50 yards? Anyways, I'll keep you updated.
 
don't know if you will find your bolt. i have lost several over the past years. they get burrowed a fair ways under the grass/soil and then it gets almost impossible to find them. even with a good quality metal detector. ..ask me how i know this.

good luck in your search
 
Shooting lane. Thick ground cover with the pine needles.
90DE38D0-6EF1-4DEA-84A8-B4215947202B_zpstonjdoxf.png

At recovery site.
B8BC94D2-0DA0-4153-B214-51CED1AFD609_zpsyfbbwxqt.jpg

I was hoping for an 8-pointer in the same bush, but he never came out for me. He'll be around next year.
 
I've had luck by searching just after a light skiff of snow on the ground. The snow seemed to be enough to highlight the fetching sticking out of the ground.

Another time I lost a bolt while practise shooting in my yard, I found it a few years later in the spring when the ground was soggy. That bolt had sliced in perfectly parallel to the ground and was buried under the grass. Anyway congrats on the buck, don't sweat it if you loose the momento; keep the memory.
 
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