Recovering a bolt

Don't assume that it was a clean pass through, it may have ridden for a short ways before falling out. Chances are it's right on top, but even that can be hard to spot. If it's slid beneath the forest floor, good luck!
 
rocklobster said:
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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This is what I'm thinking. If you got pass through, which I would expect if you didn't touch a rib...and that's not a wide heavy deer...you would be surprised how far they will burrow.
 
gregc said:
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.
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Carbon arrow/bolts will be harder to find than the aluminum shafts, especially if the broadheads are made entirely of steel. Many of the metal detectors on the market nowadays are designed for finding non-ferrous metals that coins and jewelry are (or were) made of. Even with the discrimination turned all the way down some of them do not detect steel well. But there are detectors for relic hunting that would work well for this. I used to be into metal detecting and found a few arrows. So it's worth a try if the OP has access to a detector.
 
No access to a detector, let alone for relic hunting. Also, the bolt is carbon fiber with a steel broad-head.

I'm thinking its a goner. I think I'll try to rake the area a bit, but other than that I'll just deal with it.

Thanks for all the input.
 
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If it were me, I wouldn't give a crap about the bolt. I would spend about 5 minutes looking for it, and if I didn't find it, oh well. You got your deer, thats what really matters.
 
bro--- what the heck.

stick a new "Bolt" up next to that deer.... who cares?

id say its about 5 inches underground in those needles...

good luck!

WL
 
I've been bowhunting for 40 years and have taken a lot of big game and searched for a lot of arrows... I didn't see where it was mentioned, but I assume you were on the ground and not in a treestand?

The arrow can be anywhere and it can travel much further than many on this thread think after a "pass through." I lung shot a few bull moose and found the arrows stuck in trees up to 50 yards away... and from the height and depth of penetration in the wood, they would have gone much further. My father once had a pass through on a buck with his crossbow and we found that bolt purely by accident, stuck in a tree 40 yards away PERPENDICULAR to the flight path of the shot. Arrows/bolts can be flighty after deflection... you may have to look considerably further out than you have.

P.S. - you may have a detector and don't know it... if you or a friend has a dog, the deer scent/blood on the arrow will make it recoverable... preferably a dog used to using its nose, a hunting breed or hound would be best... track him around the area and watch him closely... if it stops to sniff or scratch at the ground check that spot out.
 
PEKS said:
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.
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Spent a lot of time looking for arrows under similar circumstances. ;) If you're lucky, you spot the fletching.

Grizz
 
I've lost a few arrows. I recently ordered reflective arrow wraps. My plan is to use a flashlight after dark to hopefully locate a lost arrow.
 
Squadron303 said:
Yes, it was shot from the ground, level with the deer parallel, to the ground. Thanks again for all the input.
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Shot from the ground she could of went a long way plus it may of hit a small sapling after pass through and deflected off your shot path direction. I have had arrows deflect off the ground and bounce along the ground. We purchased a metal detector years ago and even with it some arrows were not found. I like to recover broad head arrows, a friend had one fall out of his quiver on the way into stand and found it on his way out in the dark in his knee.
 
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