Feedback on Whitetail Shot

[veres1210]

Hello all,

New to this forum but looking for advice/thoughts. I hit my biggest whitetail ever last night and lost blood in the rain. The shot was 20 yards slightly quartering to from a 16ft tree stand. I'm shooting a Matthew's Halon 7 at 62 pounds with fixed 2 blade broadheads (Stingers). I've dropped a 6 bucks in the last 7 years with this setup and never had an issue, always double lunging them.

This most recent buck I hit right where I wanted to, midway up, right behind the shoulder. We lost blood in the rain and called in a thermal drone, to all our surprise, the buck was alive with the arrow still in him. The arrow looks to be right through both lungs and is buried up the fletching with the broadhead sticking out the other side. My fletching is orange.

I'll attach images but my question is will this deer die from this and how is he still alive after that shot?

Thank you

 

[veres1210]

Additional context, the drone spotting him alive after 12 hours.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

It's a total gut shot. He will die, hopefully soon because you need to go shoot him again.

 

[Ron.C]

12 hours, no way you double lunged him.

Since it was quartering away, my guess is you might have clipped one lung "maybe" and paunch hit him.

 

[Rich M]

He’s dead, just needs to die.

Give another 12 hours and sneak in. Hope nothing spooks him. If nothing spooks him he’ll die right there.

 

[veres1210]

I have the drone pilot coming back tomorrow at 5am. At that point it will be roughly 36 hours since the shot. I appreciate all the feedback everyone. If we recover him I'll make sure to do an autopsy and see where exactly I hit. Thanks all!

 

[N2TRKYS]

Quartered to and shot behind the shoulder screams gut shot all day long. He’ll probably die, but he’ll suffer for awhile before he does.

 

[gentleman4561]

Based on photos and added angle from a tree stand it looks like you maybe clipped a lung, but primarily a gut shot. I bet he will be dead in the AM if the coyotes don’t get to him sooner.

 

[Wworker]

I agree with the comments above.

The good news is you got that drone and located him right away without pushing him.

It's also a good reminder that our shots don't always hit where we think they did.

Good luck with the recovery.

 

[PaHunter86]

I doubt if you walked right up to him that he would get up. I tracked one I hit in the guts 8hrs prior but he wouldn't get up. When I put another one in him from 5ft away he tried hard to get on his feet but couldn't.

 

[Yoder]

I agree with the gut shot. Only thing I would worry about is the legality of using the drone to finish off the deer. A Game Warden could see it as using a drone to hunt or some nonsense. Do what you gotta do and then it "just died".

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Deer can take over 2-3 days to die from sepsis from a broad head gut shot. Hopefully you caught some lung as well.

I’d recommend sneaking in and trying to kill him or see if he’s since passed.

 

[Jethro]

Left/Right doesn't look terrible to me. Shot looks low though, especially if from a tree. I bet he's dead this morning.

 

[veres1210]

We went out this morning and he's still alive. The arrow has shifted in him and he's looking really rough, tongue out, shaking when he take a breath, and legs not curled up to his body but awkwardly laying out. He moved a little bit downhill maybe 100 yards. Once involving a drone I can't legally go in and shoot him again until 24 hours after the drone spots him so I'm stuck in a weird spot right now. The drone pilot said he has an loose legal obligation to continue to check on the deer if he believes it will die. We're headed out again tonight to see if he finally expires.

It sucks to see the buck like this and it's likely I'm just going to end up with a shitty story and some antlers since I bet the meat is bad. It's making me reconsider my bow setup, arrows, and broadheads. Thanks for the responses and I'll keep everyone updated on what happens.

 

[Tod osier]

We went out this morning and he's still alive. The arrow has shifted in him and he's looking really rough, tongue out, shaking when he take a breath, and legs not curled up to his body but awkwardly laying out. He moved a little bit downhill maybe 100 yards. Once involving a drone I can't legally go in and shoot him again until 24 hours after the drone spots him so I'm stuck in a weird spot right now. The drone pilot said he has an loose legal obligation to continue to check on the deer if he believes it will die. We're headed out again tonight to see if he finally expires.

It sucks to see the buck like this and it's likely I'm just going to end up with a shitty story and some antlers since I bet the meat is bad. It's making me reconsider my bow setup, arrows, and broadheads. Thanks for the responses and I'll keep everyone updated on what happens.

Maybe it is just me, but in the last photo it looks like paunch hanging out (under the green text, rimmed by white belly hair), like your broadhead split its belly skin open and paunch is hanging out.

Arrow also looks like it is pointing very strongly to the rear. I wonder why it didn't pass through. I'd think it seems like it must of hit some bone, like entered at or behind the ribs and hit the off side rear leg bone.

Sucks, sorry to hear it, I've made my share of bad hits.

 

[voltage]

I wouldn’t worry about your set up. However, I would recommend hitting them in the lungs if you want the double lung shot to work.

 

[Coveyleader]

At this point, he's going to die, just keep having the drone come back and find him in a day or two.

 

[CMF]

I wouldn’t worry about your set up. However, I would recommend hitting them in the lungs if you want the double lung shot to work.

Agree, It just didn't hit the spot.
I shot one quartering away once and hit too far forward, mainly front shoulder. Put dogs on him, ran him a mile and dogs came back. Handler said he ain't dead. A youth hunter shot him a few weeks later. Still had a pretty nasty wound in that front shoulder.
Hope you get him.

 

[S-3 ranch]

Agree, It just didn't hit the spot.
I shot one quartering away once and hit too far forward, mainly front shoulder. Put dogs on him, ran him a mile and dogs came back. Handler said he ain't dead. A youth hunter shot him a few weeks later. Still had a pretty nasty wound in that front shoulder.
Hope you get him.

My neighbor shot a monster buck with a bow , asked me if he could have the dog handler find him, handler said his dog couldn’t find him
Two weeks later I saw him close to a stock lake , a 180gr .300wm killed him
Arrow was still inside him

 

[Binz17]

Did you recover him?