Tough deer?

[Ronin]

I got my third deer of the season this evening (a small 7 point) :highfive: . Sorry no pictures as of yet, wife out of town and took the camera with her, but the neighbor took some for me.

I shot the buck at about 15 yards and the shot looked good :) . But he ran 80 yards across the wood lot, 300 yards across an open field, up over some railroad tracks and 30 yards into another wood lot. I found my arrow about 30 yards in the brush from where he was hit. The broadhead and about 2" of shaft was broken off. The first 20" of the arrow was covered in blood, but there was white hair on the shaft. After tracking him with a flashlight over the railroad track to the edge of the wood lot, I decided that maybe I didn't hit him as well as I had thought :sbrug: . There was sprinkles of blood in all of his tracks, but not what I would call a lot. I went home and decided to pick up the search in the morning. After getting home and checking the weather and seeing it call for rain in the morning, I put my gear back on and went back out. I found him dead 30 yards in the wood lot. After field dressing him I examined the entrails. Guess what? Double lung shot with the broadhead buried in the off shoulder.

The first deer I shot this season I knew was a bad shot (stomach/liver/one lung) and I can understand him running a good distance still not 500 yards, but his one was a near perfect hit. The second deer of the season was a button buck that I shot at 15 yards with my 54#@29" warfer with Phantom broadheads, Beman ICS shafts (total weight 420 grains). He went maybe 60 yards and dropped (lung/heart shot).

I haven't shot a lot of deer with a bow (four total, one with a compound and three this year with a recurve). So can you guys tell me what gives? I always make sure my broadheads are very sharp and my bows are well tuned. Are the deer in my area just tough or what? By the way this deer was shot with my 54#@29" Sweptwing, Carbonwood 3000 shaft, Phantom broadhead (total weight 470 grains).

[BowDonkey]

Maybe it's bad mojo to shoot them with a metal handled bow? It's stories like this that keep us looking for the ultimate broadhead I guess. Good tracking job though, that to me always feels as satisfying as making a good shot.

[Bill Carlsen]

Ronin: I shot 3 bucks this year, as well. First 2 no problems. Lots of blood on #1 and a perfect heart shot on #2....watched him go down after 40 yards. #3 was a perfect double lunger that caught the offside shoulder. Shot him late and didn't find the arrow so came back the next day. He bled very little and it took a 4hour and 400 yard tracking job to get him. Some deer are just tough, it seems. I know some people who have lived thru things that probably would have done me in. I was shooting my 60# DAS, 29" Beman Max 4 shafts and Phantom heads.

Good work finding the deer.


:highfive:

[Cato]

Congratulations Ronin. You are having a great season; a reward for much practice.

That sounds like a long recovery for a double lung shot, but it is obviously possible based on your account. I wonder if it is possible to hit a lung out on the edge of the organ, and not deflate it or make it disfunctional. It seems impossible for a deer to go 400 yds plus without either lung, but yours is not the first story I've heard. You are right, these are remarkable creatures.

I lost a doe earlier this year to what I thought was a double lunger. I trailed her for over 550 yds, with the first 400 yds being an excellent trail. I have to assume, due to the shot angle, I must have only gotten one lung.

Congratulations.

Cato

[SubconsciousShooter]

Some deer are tough, other's aren't is true enough. But also consder that sometimes the arteries/veins to the heart / lungs are cut, other times not. I think this makes a difference.

Congrats on a good shot and on your deer! You did everything right! :shooting:

Sound like Michigan has a nice long bow season. Wish we had that in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania still has the highest number of vehical / deer accidents in the bottom forty eight, but there is a month between mid-November and the day after Christmas when there is absolutely no bowhunting. Does that make sense??

[Boho]

Was he broadside? You said you found white hair. If you don't get both lungs they can go an awful long way.

[Cueball]

Ronin, that is awesome. You are the man. What a great season you are having. Keep up the good work. Yea I still lurk around now and then.

.................................................R oby..................................

[Ronin]

Thanks guys for the support and the congrats. The recovery wasn't that bad. Snow makes tracking a lot easier. To be honest, there was just enough blood that even without the snow it was not an impossibly hard recovery.

Yeah, for me I am having a remarkable season. Before this season I never took a deer with a recurve and only one with a compound and now I have gotten three in one season with a recurve. I still have a public land antlerless tag to fill. This one will be hard because after gun season here, deer on public land are really wary and hard to get a shot at during shooting hours. I went out this evening and had 4 deer come in after shooting light. Next weekend I will try setting up closer to their travel route and try to get a shot while there is still shooting light.

Cato - I have one lunged them before as well and I know they can live a long time with one lung. The one I shot with a compound I one lunged. He went over 400 yards, blood trail stopped and I found him bedded down dead 3 hours later. The first one I got this year I nicked the liver and took out one lung. He lived most of the day. The one I shot Friday had a perfect X in the middle of his lower lobe of one lung and a perfect X in the middle of the other lung. He should have went maybe 100 yards tops.

Sub - Our bow season runs from October 1 - November 14 and then from December 1 to January 1. Gun season is November 15 - November 30 and I usually lay low during that time. Only problem is that due to my work hours and day light savings time, after the end of October I am reduced to being a weekend bowhunter.

Boho - I don't know where the white hair came from :bow2: . The deer was slightly quarting away. I was about 12 feet up in a tree. The arrow hit high and back in the kill zone on the left side, went through the ribcage and lodged low in the opposite shoulder. Took out both lungs and shouldn't have had any white hair on the shaft.

Cueball - Thanks you and I am glad to see that you are still checking in on us. One day I aspire to be able to increase my range close to yours. I'm still working on that aspect.

[OZ in MT]

Great season, Ronin. That white hair could have come from about anywhere on the deer, Ronin. In cold country this time of year, many mature bucks and even bull elk have some white hair mixed in all around their forward quarter. Also, they are constantly shedding and regrowing belly hair, so it gets all over them. When an arrow sticky with blood comes out, it picks up a lot of stuff on the way down. Like Sub says, some deer are just tougher or have more adrenalin than others, IMO. From time to time, you'll find one that will go farther on a double lung. About the only thing I know of that is a fairly, and I emphasize fairly, short stopper is a clean heart shot. I've been lucky enough to get a very few of those, but they are just too risky to go for unless you are that very exceptional shot. You've performed very well this season, don't second guess your shooting. Just keep relying on your tenacity and those obviously good tracking skills to keep waste at a minimum.

[Ronin]

Oz, thanks for the information. I had never heard that about the white hair before, but it makes sense for it to be there when an animal has a winter coat. If I had known that before I shot the deer I probaly wouldn't have seconded guessed my shot placement on it.

Thank you for the complement on my tracking skills. While I think I am a fair tracker I think it more like one part tenacity, one part luck, and one part prayer. :amen:

[testuser1]

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Message:

Ronin, that is awesome. You are the man. What a great
season you are having. Keep up the good work. Yea I still lurk around now and then.

.................................................R oby..................................

[OZ in MT]

Hey, Ronin, you just gave the perfect description of the "art" of tracking. LOL

[Pinelander]

Geez Ronin.... I can't believe I missed this report! Guess I haven't been watching over here very closely since I haven't been hunting lately, my bad.

Good stuff and a great season you've had! Love to hear about the hunt from start to finish with all the details.

I guess they're all tough deer when they go further then we expect. All I know is, they sure can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. How long do you think it took him from hit to the point where he laid down and called it quits?

Some years ago, I hit one real good just after he crossed a fence at about 12 yards. That buck ran full-bore at least 300 yards down the middle of a cut bean field, then turned right and bee-lined for another 100 yards over to the woods, and was down 20 yards inside. I think many times they lickety-split out of there and keep going until they hit some cover that feels good to them. I believe thay can cover well over 300 yards in less than 15 seconds.

Again, congratulations to you on such a fine hunting season!
:cheers:

[Ronin]

Thanks Pinelander. Man, your story sounds exactly like what happen to me! Where did you hit that buck? Did you get both lungs? Did the arrow pass through or was it stuck in the deer.

I couldn't see the deer after he ran the first 80 yards, but he covered that 80 yards in about 3 to 5 seconds. After that first 80 yards he ran through a line of pine trees and then hit 300 yards of cut down soybean field. Judging from his tracks he only slowed down when he went under fences.

[Lambow]

Good goin Ronin!! those deer in Michigan sure sound pretty tough to kill :sbrug: Good tracking though. :)

Lambow

[Pinelander]

Ronin, the deer I spoke of was walking at a good pace and very slight quarter away when I hit him. I was up about 14-15 feet and the arrow entered high on the near side lung and midway on the far side lung, exited below the arm pit with point just barely sticking him in the far side leg. He definitely felt that one and was off to the races! This was a cedar arrow, Zwickey head, and low 50's poundage.

[Ronin]

Pinelander, you and I hit those deer in almost the same exact spot. Based upon what I had occur this season, I am thinking that the deer maybe reacting to seeing or feeling the shaft stuck inside of it while it is fleeing. The button buck I shot only ran 60 yards and fell over, but the arrow was buried up to the fletching and sticking out in front of the shoulder and pulled out in the first few jumps. Maybe if we had missed the off shoulder, the deer would not have been so alarmed and not ran at such an all out haul.