Finally happened to me

[PHILLIP]

Well had a wonderful morning in the stand this morning seen a ton of deer my first one was 30mins before daylight and he decided to freshen a scrape right before my eyes and off he went ...Long story short seen 4 bucks and about 15 doe's this morning and finally got to pull on my first buck ever with my bow and it went downhill from there got him into my shooting lane controled myself lined the pin up and watched the luminok fly heard the thud and watched him mow the leaves for about 30 yds before he was outta site and I sat back down in my stand and waited about 30 mins and I couldnt stand it anymore got down me and a bud searched for blood and a arrow and could not find anything so we searched for hrs looking for the buck and could not find it ....something went wrong just wished I coulda found something arrow/blood/or deer ....this is the first deer I have every lost and to topp it off this woulda been my biggest buck on the wall...I read about it all the time on hear but boy it sure has tore me up losing this animal and I hope that it will never happen again I just wish I knew what went wrong I felt very good about the shot just dont no why the arrow didnt exit it was a 15yd shot max.

 

[LY]

Happened to me this year too. High shoulder shot, hit right where I aimed at 25 yds. Had some leaves covering where I wanted to hit him, didn't think it was too far forward but apparrantley it was. In addition to losing my first deer in 31 years of hunting, it was my first buck with a bow (a real nice basket 8), but my arrow cost a combined $34.

 

[rem270]

happened to me last week on a doe. didnt see where the arrow hit or anything but she kicked her backlegs like she was heart shot. kept hunting for 1.5 more hrs and then got down. found no arrow or blood where i shot her. got down to the creek where i last seen her and found blood for about 30 yards and that was it.

 

[fairchaser]

Sounds like a high shoulder shot. Same thing happened to me this year on a doe. No pass thru and watched her run off with my arrow. Good blood for 500 yards then nothing. See the thread on "how this doe survived". May-be you will find him. Look for buzzards. Good luck.

 

[bswarchery]

Man I hope you are able to find it today bro! good luck to ya!

 

[soshock1]

I killed a doe this year that my partner shot high in the shoulder opening weekend. It completely ruined her shoulder joint and she was limping badly 3 weeks later. She was otherwise in good condition and was feeding like a champ when I killed her. They are so tough.

 

[Outrigger]

You can do everything right and still loose one. Possibly you hit the deer perfectly with a very lethal shot, but hit the off shoulder preventing an exit wound. This could have resulted in the lack of a good blood trail. This in turn is why I think that an exit wound (preferably a complete pass thru) is so important. Especially when hunting from a treestand where the exit wound is lower than the entrance wound. I would much prefer to have an exit wound of moderate size rather than a huge entrance wound without an exit wound. You may never know exactly what happened, but I wanted to give you this very plausible possibility that I think frequently occurs, so don't get to down on yourself. A deer can go down for good very close to the hunter and still be very difficult, and some cases impossible, to find. Happens to the best of hunters.

 

[Crow Terminator]

Shot this deer a few weeks ago with a 270. Little high in the shoulder. Deer goes off and and I wait about 30 mins. I find no blood. I go where I last seen him and there he was looking at me...bedded down but alive and looking at me and gets up. I backed out...went to the house and got ready for church. Came back home afterwards and found him roughly 70 yds from where he got up. No blood. Not even where it had been bedded. Weird. During field dressing all vital organs intact...but entire body cavity full of blood...more so than any deer I think I've seen. I'm just amazed. Had this been in the woods and not a cut green field I might not have found it....found it by visually spotting white belly with the light.

 

[DWM]

If you didn't see where the arrow hit, you may have hit the thick part of the shoulder bone. Hard to get an arrow through that. How much poundage are you shooting at what draw length? What arrow weight and broadhead do you use?