Unrecovered Deer Behind the Shoulder Shot

[NoFence]

Even with a light arrow, a rib wouldn't give you problems like that. Sounds like you hit opposite shoulder and not much vitals. Any pictures of the arrow with blood on it?

[Briar Friar]

Did the arrow stink? 5.7 gpp mech vs 7.38 gpp fixed...no me gusta.

Stay after it. Good luck on the recovery.

[Hocks & horns]

I've seen multiple deer killed with a 40# bow and 380gr arrow shot behind the shoulder get a complete pass through.

I would guess that the deer turned slightly as you released and the arrow deflected up into the opposite shoulder and only got one lung. When that happens they can go a very long way.

Keep looking and hopefully you find him.

[ecallarman]

From personal experience, sometimes you do not hit where your eyes told you you hit. We video most of all of our shots and I can't tell you how many times I was absolutely sure I smoked them, but recovery took a bit longer than expected, because the POI and exit where different than I thought. Too many fast changing things at play- angle of deer, movement of deer at time of release, movement of deer after release, leg forward/backward, etc. Speaking of leg back, I shot a doe last year that I was convinced was great double lung shot. What I discovered while watching the video, was that she had her nearside front leg in the extreme back position. Although I stuck the arrow about 2" behind the leg shoulder, it ended up being a very back lung liver shot. It is amazing how much the front leg moves from forward to back position. Just something to think about.

[az2tx]

If he is broadside with his leg back behind the shoulder is to far back

[jjaimes]

To many variables with Bowhunting guys. I just have to accept, learn from it, and move on. Thanks for all the inputs keep them coming if any of you want to share a similar experience for all of us to take note.

[sqiggy]

All I can say is arrows on impact can be very deceiving. I don't know how many animals I've shot, that after the shot, if I could, to kick myself in the rear for making a bad shot. Only to recover the animal and find that it was a perfect shot and not a bad one at all.
But, you bow hunt long enough, it will happen.

[kyle1974]

This won't help, but I have learned that most perfect shots are not perfect. And that goes for my own also.

yep. perfect shots result in dead deer.

deer that get shot and don't die are from less than perfect shots. I believe you if you send an arrow through the heart with a field tip, it's going to be a dead deer

[breederbuck33]

I think another thing to be aware of is that a deer doesn't always duck straight down. They'll almost fall down on their side resulting in weird angles. You'll never have it all figured out as a bow hunter. I've been bow hunting sense I was 8 years old, and every year I'll see something that has me scratching my head. That's why I love it so much!

[rjtkdplus]

If he is broadside with his leg back behind the shoulder is to far back

Yes. Also, the spine, between the shoulders is lower than most of us realize. I've seen several (perfect) shots that went slightly over the spine through the shoulders. Usually a pretty good blood trail for 50-100 yards then it fades away. More than once we've killed the same deer later in the season.

[quackadikt]

This is why I focus so much on KE. Most of the time, you would have had more penetration with that set-up (even though your KE has to be very low for a mechanical broadhead). Personally, I try to achieve as much KE as possible (sacrificing some speed) for those shots that I think are "perfect", but end up not being "perfect".

Knowing my luck, I will hit every bone in the body of the biggest buck of my lifetime when that chance presented itself. For that reason, I like to know that my set-up has the ability to still penetrate.

I am willing to bet that the deer turned after you drew or before impact. You could have also had deflection with a mechanical. Who knows without a dead deer. I have seen some crazy **** when finding a dead animal! Often, the shot is not where I thought it was, and sometimes the animal was not at the angle I thought it was.

You're still looking at the wrong number. KE is NOT a good unit of measure for arrows...you need to focus on Momentum. I wish Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith could take their little pen thingy and wipe KE from every bowhunter's memory.

OP, just curious why you went away from the heavier arrow setup? Even with a mechanical, you'd have been A LOT better off. No matter how fast you're shooting, you can't shoot faster than the speed of sound. And the lighter your arrow, the louder your bow is going to be.

[Ruttin&Struttin]

Keep looking. He is either dead or will be soon. Good luck.

[Fishndude]

Probably didn’t hit where you think.

[RLB]

All this scientificness makes my head hurt.....I shoot a 10 year old Hoyt Vectrix at 260 FPS w/ Gold Tip arrows and RAZOR SHARP 100g Muzzy MX-4’s.....I don’t lose deer.

[DRT]

Lol. The old KE vs momentum discussion. Always makes me laugh.

Gary