Cant Find My Damn Deer!!!

[Norton]

Climb back up into your stand and have another look at exactly where you think the deer was standing.
Is there a branch, twig that could have deflected your bolt.
Check the ground and trees again for your bolt, they can be very hard to find sometimes after a miss.
If the deer was hit there WILL be hair cut by the broadhead, look very carefully for any sign of hair.
Not much else you can do other than walk a planned zig-zag looking for a well camouflaged downed deer and listening for magpies/crows/ravens that have found it already.
Magpies can be your best friend in cases like this.

 

[Doug]

It has been over 24 hours since this happened. If the deer was fatally hit, the meat is no longer good because the body temp will have bloated the deer.

As I have said, and a couple others have said, look for hair. If there is no hair, you missed the deer. Go back to the shot, as several have mentioned:
did the deer LOOK like it was hit? If no, you did not hit it. And trust me, a missed deer is the BEST scenario in this case. I would spend an hour looking for hair. If you do not find any, you almost certainly missed the deer.

BTW I do not agree with the lad who said that your bow will punch that broadhead through the shoulder bone. I have not met the bow that can do that, and that includes a bunch of Excaliburs (which I shoot too).

As for the J-hook theory, yes I have also seen that, but I also had a blood trail. I think you either missed the deer or hit the near side shoulder. In both cases the deer is probably alive and well.

Doug

 

[brotherjack]

BTW I do not agree with the lad who said that your bow will punch that broadhead through the shoulder bone. I have not met the bow that can do that, and that includes a bunch of Excaliburs (which I shoot too).

I dunno - I've never tried it (nor do I intend to), but whitetail shoulder blades don't look all that thick to me. Given than I've watched arrows out of my Phoenix go through a deer like it wasn't even there after centerpunching ribs on both sides - I'd be kind of shocked actually, if a bolt out of an ExoMax wouldn't at least get enough penetration through a shoulder blade to monkey up the vitals. Though, if we're referring to the much heavier bone that lives down lower around the elbow joint, then I would tend to agree with you.

 

[Doug]

back to brotherjack...........I have had the misfortuneto track a bunch of deer that had been hit in the shoulder blade. I never found one. Every time the hunter reported hearing (and in most cases seeing) the arrow/bolt hit, and almost always they saw the deer take off with the arrow sticking out the side. I have never heard of a broadhead going though a shoulder blade eenough to cause damage on the far side. I reckon it has probably happened, all I am saying is I never heard of it myself. Generally, the broadhead lodges in the shoulder blade and stays there.

Doug

 

[brotherjack]

back to brotherjack...........I have had the misfortuneto track a bunch of deer that had been hit in the shoulder blade. I never found one. Every time the hunter reported hearing (and in most cases seeing) the arrow/bolt hit, and almost always they saw the deer take off with the arrow sticking out the side. I have never heard of a broadhead going though a shoulder blade eenough to cause damage on the far side. I reckon it has probably happened, all I am saying is I never heard of it myself. Generally, the broadhead lodges in the shoulder blade and stays there.

Doug

Given my lack of experience, I would certainly defer to yours - though I do ponder that an ExoMax produces almost twice the kenetic energy as most 'typical' hunting bows down around 60lbs of draw. Would it be enough? I guess I really have no idea, and should keep my mouth shut.

 

[LeePeterson]

Did you hear any cries from the deer? If not im guessing you reflected off a branch and the arrow went into the ground.

 

[Doug]

back to brotherjack...........I do not have all that much experience, but I have been bow-hunting white-tails for over 25 years. The shoulder blade of a white-tail deer is a pretty tough thing for a broadhead to penetrate. If it is going fast enough, it might get all of the way through, or maybe it will penetrate. I am only saying that I never saw this in my life yet, and I do not think it will happen. Including the exomag bows.

Doug

 

[watsknew]

355 FPS? how heavy are your arrows? 2 grains haha...sounds a wee bit high..and unless you saw your arrow hit the deer..and even if it looks like it hit you probably missed and hit something else...i've had shots where it looks like a solid hit but the arrow arced just under the deer...that's my guess.

 

[dinsdale]

355 FPS? how heavy are your arrows? 2 grains haha...sounds a wee bit high..and unless you saw your arrow hit the deer..and even if it looks like it hit you probably missed and hit something else...i've had shots where it looks like a solid hit but the arrow arced just under the deer...that's my guess.

I Chronied a buddies Exomax with Carbon Bolts,SlickTrick 125s and the Fast String. Came out at 325 consistently.

 

[Wrong Way]

thanks for the info guys im going out in 10 to give it a shot. it was about a 20 degree angle and i put the 40 yard dot about 1/3 up from her chest figuring id get a high lung it on the close side and a low one on the opposite. this bow shoots like a laser so it should have been a good hit.

As others have said: You likely missed. A 20% down angle means your bow is going to shoot more like it's 20...add to that the tendency of a 40 yard dear to either drop or jump at the string (At 40 yards, the arrow is only about 1/8th of the way there before the sound gets there), and I'd bet you shot over her back.

Easy solution: Take your target out there and shoot it from your tree stand, setting up the shot exactly the same.
Add to your results that a deer can squat 8-10" when they hear the bow, and re-do the math.

While you are there, you might as well re-zero your bow from the stand as well.

WW

 

[hat]

My Guess is a deflecion. I Had same situation with a beauty 12pter. Took the shot 15yrds with my excal exocet - heard the smack. Assumed I had hit him... only to find the smallest brach had deflected my bolt. Found it stuck in a cedar tree 45 degree off from intended kill zone!

 

[canadian hunter312]

355 FPS? how heavy are your arrows? 2 grains haha...sounds a wee bit high..and unless you saw your arrow hit the deer..and even if it looks like it hit you probably missed and hit something else...i've had shots where it looks like a solid hit but the arrow arced just under the deer...that's my guess.

360gr with 4 blade slick tricks. recommended by the guys on the excalibur forum. a bunch of people have chronographed speeds from 340-358 (i think) with the same setup.

 

[coltfan]

Shooting down on an angle is harder than what many may think.

I believe you missed your mark and may have hit the deer in the shoulder blade...deer is likely still living

 

[INTIMIDATOR]

I have to agree with the water idea. I have heard that over and over, deer will almost always run to water after being hit in the boiler room. Because of the lack of blood that gets to the brain they think they are thirsty, thus heading to the watering hole. I have shot a 6 point buck with my Excalibur Vixen through the shoulder blade at 10 yards and my arrow passed right through one shoulder blade and out between the ribs on the other side.
I wish you the best in finding your deer. Maybe for the future you should look into buying one of those infared heat detectors for finding your game after it has been shot. Good Luck.

 

[dinsdale]

360gr with 4 blade slick tricks. recommended by the guys on the excalibur forum. a bunch of people have chronographed speeds from 340-358 (i think) with the same setup.

Bet it's much closer to 310-325.

I chronied 2 buddies Exomaxes with Carbon Bolts and SlickTricks.
310 for one with normal String and 325 for one with Fast strings.

 

[Doug]

This has been a very interesting thread, and probably added to the education of a few folks.

dinsdale, I agree with your estimate of speed, FWIW.

To all the folks that posted about deer going to water, that MAY be true, but I have tracked dozens of deer (used to do it for a couple very large hunts, like 80 to 100 hunters), and I cannot recall any instance of a deer heading to water when it was hit, UNLESS the water was in the path it was already taking. Most of the time, a deer that was mortally hit ran more or less straight until it died.

I have shared my private thoughts with the original poster, but I believe that this deer is still alive.

Doug

 

[CROWCA]

Gut shot deer will go to water if they can, you can find them laying in the water.Reasons not sure.

 

[Doug]

back to CROWCA.............most of the badly hit deer I have tracked were gut shot. I do not recall any of them going to water, but I have certainly heard this many times before. I think it might be "folk lore" wisdom with some truth, but not universally true. Same as the tail up, tail down observation. It has been my experience that MOST white-tailed deer take off with their tail down when they are mortally hit, but not always. Sometimes the flag is up, they bounce away, and a hundred yards later they pile up.

Doug

 

[rlg]

Very simple technique.

Place a small target (about eight to ten inches in diameter, vital size for a small deer) where the deer was standing. Go back to the tree stand and shoot at the target using the same position and sighting you used the first time. If you make a kill shot, then your deer is likely to be within 100 meters of where he entered the bush. If you miss the vital area or missed the deer all together, stop looking.

If you refuse to stop looking, find a friend that has a good blood hound and put the dog on the trail.

Good luck
Robert

 

[senior]

Gut shot deer will go to water if they can, you can find them laying in the water.Reasons not sure.

I tend to agree with Doug, your right as well thou, a gut shot deer or any wounded will sometimes head to water but I think it's because quite often they can't move as fast & deer use water as an escape. Same as a buck with fast dogs almost instantly heads to water!