After careful CSI type analysis of the scene, this is what we figure.

THE SHOT

After recovering what was left of the deer and finding the entrance and exit wounds, we saw that the shot was just about perfect height from the back of the shoulder. Now, I distinctly remember trying to hit a little lower, which with the blood, made me think I hit the heart or arteries (but you guys said arteries would spurt). Once we got out of the woods, we thought about the shot as we had looked at it in the morning before we started tracking.

After relooking at the spot where the deer bucked and ran off, we are guessing he took a step forward and down as I released. The ground here is wet from a torrential Friday rain, and it was obvious in that section there were some hoofprints and then his deeper JUMP prints. So, if he had not stepped down, I probably would have had good alignment and been in the bottom of the lung on the near side.
He was also slightly quartering towards me, which is was also shown both in the prints and in the entrance and exit. When I drew and was releasing he had been broadside, so we think he dropped his 'stand side' leg as he stepped forward, and the hoof prints show a little spread there as well.

RECOVERY:
Just before I started my tracking last night I jumped on the PSE board and read their Guide:Tracking wounded deer by Woody Williams, and tossed some toilet paper in my pack as my neighbor and I went to track. That toilet paper saved the day. This morning we were able to follow really obvious squares of toilet paper (and some scraps when I started to run out) right back to where we had left off the night before. I'm buying some flag tape soon. The rain would have ruined the TP, but it held off.

Once we got back to the last marking, we looked around a while for more blood and there was just none to be found. So, using the last 3 markers as a guide (each about 12 years apart), I started down the most obivious trail (which was not 'obvious' at all. But, I was trying to think like a deer. Dad went out ahead and using my voice as a guide, while I stilled squat walked looking for blood, he started doing half circles out in front of me checking the trail from side to side. About 50 yards from the last marker (about 150-200yds total), we found the deer. Coyotes has eaten just about every single part.

ARROW and BROADHEAD - Entrance and Exit
There was a pretty good entrance wound and a sizable exit.
The arrow went in the ribcage, and the exit was just behind the ribcage. There was no bile, or mucus on the arrow at all, and the blood was dark red.  It 'might' have clipped the stand side lung, but the material on my Montec has got to be Liver.

Tags: 2006 Deer Hunting Pse Diablo Montec Fall

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