Mechanical failure or ????

[Skerhunter]

Wondering if anyone here has experience with a mechanical not opening and can give in put on blood trail and tracking results. Or chime in if you have experience similar with fixed blades.

I shot a deer this week that really has me scratching my head on what went wrong. I’m not naming the head because I don’t know exactly what happened yet, but question it based on results.

Shot was “broad side” i suspect exit was slightly further back than entry due to angle of stand to trail. 30 yard shot from 18’ so off side should be slightly lower also. Yardage was perfect and hit mid body. Onside leg was way forward (deer stopped stretched out) and shot was behind shoulder (leg forward made it hard to tell exact entrance but appeared in front of diaphragm).

Arrow passed through and blades were deployed but it was buried in the dirt (not normal for my set up). Arrow is soaked in bright red blood and smells clean (no indication of bubbly lung blood, dark liver blood or gi tract). First thought was heart/artery and short blood trail.

Deer ran 50 yards and almost fell. He stopped and turned 90 degrees and slowly walked into timber.

Where he stumbled left minimal blood for 20 yards (bright red like on arrow).

Deer traveled ~150 yards and bedded immediately. There was 0 blood along this route. Deer laid in bed for ~15 hours until I bumped him. Bed had minimal blood and was bright red.

Hired a dog and he did not find anymore blood than I did.

Pics below of arrow, original first blood trail and bed.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

The only hit that makes sense of that to me would be a muscle hit... wether higher or lower than you realized. Or you happened to be the one that gets a super freaky deer that survives a hole in two lungs. Heard of that happening, but never seen it myself.

 

[Fowl Play]

I don’t think any deer survives a double lung, even if the blades didn’t open.

Single lung possible, but would expect pink foamy blood. How confident are you it was mid body?

 

[Skerhunter]

I don’t think any deer survives a double lung, even if the blades didn’t open.

Single lung possible, but would expect pink foamy blood. How confident are you it was mid body?

100% positive it was mid body. I saw zero indication of lung blood .

 

[Skerhunter]

The only hit that makes sense of that to me would be a muscle hit... whether higher or lower than you realized. Or you happened to be the one that gets a super freaky deer that survives a hole in two lungs. Heard of that happening, but never seen it myself.

I agree on the muscle hit characteristics of the blood trail and color of blood. But I’m confident it was not too high, low or forward. Also differed in that the muscle hits I have experience leave a good blood trail for 100-200 yards then abruptly stop. This one never even got started! Also animals typically just keep going and don’t bed up. The arrow was also soaked in blood, which usually doesn’t happen either (that’s the part im most confused about).

 

[AlphaK9]

Heartbreak. Friend of mine shot one 23 yards slightly quartering to... entered just behind the shoulder but he never found his arrow. He thinks it deflected internally and sat the full length in his ribcage or something. Decent blood within 30 yards of the shot, then about 6 drops before he hopped a fence. He had his tail tucked hard. They are incredibly tough and resilient animals- the mature bucks especially.

And yeah, he was shooting mechanicals...

 

[ddowning]

I would bet you got a deflection inside the animal that caused it to go around at least one lung. Last year, I bought an 80# RX8 Ultra after shooting a 70# Patriot since 2002. I tried to use the same arrows because I had close to 2 dozen. They would tune and group just fine. I shot 4 deer with that set-up. 2 of them had entrance holes in the correct place and deflected inside the cavity. On both of those I watched the arrow kick when it hit. The most egregious one was a doe fawn. When we finally found her, the exit hole was low in the guts. I flipped her over and the entrance was exactly mid height in the crease of the shoulder. The shot was spot and stalk on level ground, so it wasn't the angle from the stand.

I just shot the first deer this year a couple days ago with 250 spine Sonics and got the normal result. Arrow took the straight, expected path through and stuck in the dirt. The deer died in sight after traveling less than 40 yards. The blood trail was easy to find and follow at a fast walk in the dark even though we watched it fall.

There are all sorts of things that can cause deflections including animal movement while the arrow is in flight (which you really have no control over).

 

[nphunter]

If that arrow passed through both lungs you wouldn't be posting here. Could have been just under his chest in the leg meat, I've done this before with similar results and chased that back for another week and he just kept rutting. You can tell yourself whatever you want, but unless there is a dead deer or video footage you will never know exactly where the arrow hit, it could have been tail high and looked perfect but hit low or vice versa and passed through his back strap or just under his spine.