Crossbow Kill

[Bucks & Beards]

I killed a 1.5 y.o. doe with my crossbow last Friday. I am posting because of the unusual find regarding the bolt after the shot. Three does were coming right straight to my stand through a thicket. The first two never would turn broadside and finally stopped at the base of my tree. The third one finally turned mostly broadside to me at 25 yrds, she was slightly quartering. The two does directly under me were getting antsy, so I took the shot on the third one. I aimed just behind the shoulder and pulled the trigger. I heard the arrow hit. All three ran off back into the thicket. They stopped, I guess at 50-60 yard, it was so thick that I couldn't tell for sure. After about, 10 minutes I could barely see deer moving off but I couldn't tell how many. I waited an hour, then got down. I found by bolt and it was covered with stomach contents like she had been gut shot and there was no blood trail. My heart sunk thinking I had gut shot her and knowing what that meant. But I also knew that something did not make sense. I knew that my xbow was shooting accurately. I walked 20-30 yards in the direction she ran, looked and saw her white belly, she had not ran 50-60 yards. I had hit exactly where I aimed, but due to the angle (I was 25 foot up the tree and she was slightly quartering), the bolt had gone through one lung, part of the second, went through the diaphragm and exited the belly on the other side - thus giving the appearance of the gut shot. Any way, it was just an interesting recovery going from thinking that I had really messed up to finding that the deer had not ran 60 yards after the shot.

 

[bigtex]

Yeah Xbows have a lot of power. I've never failed to get a complete pass thru even on some angles such as you had.
Congrats on your kill!

 

[Atchman2]

Yeah, the first time I shot at my bow target, the danged bolt went through and hit the wood fence behind it! Congrats on the doe! I've only had one shot with mine this year and it was head on and left handed (I'm right handed).

 

[TNGunhunter]

I lost the first deer I shot with my xbow last year. It was a 45 yard shot and he jumped the string. Found the bolt, complete pass through, was covered in blood end to end. Tracked blood for 1/2 mile, then nothing. I was totally sick, I'd never lost a deer. Turned out, it was the last deer I took with my rifle at the end of the season. Didn't realize this until I was skinning him. He was a spike, so couldn't really tell by the antlers, but when I pulled the skin back from his flank, there was the tell-tale sign of a broad head wound. What happened? He jumped forward, so the arrow hit him in the flank area. Being it was 45 yards, arrow was angled down and came out the bottom giving him a bit of a circumcision. I won't shoot one beyond 35 yards again, unless I upgrade my bow, which I don't plan on doing any time soon.