hit a deer-very odd need some help

[Axis II]

So my buddy calls me tonight and says someone else he hunts with shot a nice buck with a crossbow and they were going to look for it. He calls me back and says they found the broad head still attached to the insert laying right where he shot the deer 35yards away but no arrow and no blood anywhere. He said the broad head has meat and hair in it but not bloody and heard a loud crack when he fired the bow.

IMO having meat means it passed through something like backstraps or brisquit but where did the arrow go? laws of physics says the broadhead and insert would be pushed backwards and into the arrow and not forwards so this isn't making sense.

your guys opinion?

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

One possibility is a poor hit in heavy muscle. The bolt could have stopped short of passing completely through. The head was apparently not well glued and fell out.
It isn't unusual for there to be very little blood if only muscle was hit.

 

[Axis II]

One possibility is a poor hit in heavy muscle. The bolt could have stopped short of passing completely through. The head was apparently not well glued and fell out.
It isn't unusual for there to be very little blood if only muscle was hit.

wouldn't the broadhead still be inside him? He said the insert had no glue on it and they are cam x factory bolts. They looked from 530 until 8pm. At first I figured the arrow was cracked and may have hit the deer like a blunt but when he said there was meat in the blades it had to of entered the deer but how its not still inside boggles me.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I was thinking the bolt have may exited the far side only part way.

 

[darkcloud]

Bolt exited the off side but most likely not a complete passthrough. Since the insert came loose a good chance the shaft cracked at the foot. Not securing with proper expoxy and preparations make it a weak point. Even poorly prepped shafts glued in will crack when the adhesion fails. Made arrows for 40 years from woodies to glass to ally to carbons.

 

[FL-NC]

1. - Just because he didn't find the arrow doesn't mean its not around. Whatever caused that head (which definitely hit the deer) to come off, I'm sure the event was "energetic" 2.- the arrow could have got damaged penetrating the deer, and when the head exited, it just fell off, maybe when the deer reacted or ran off- so the deer ran off with the shaft still in it, in which case said shaft won't be located until/unless the deer is found. A friend in Iowa processes deer for a living. He has a glass case on the wall, and in it is every object ever recovered from inside deer that were brought in. Along with the various bullets, slugs, etc. are pieces of arrows and bolts- heads, blades from heads, heads with pieces of shaft, nocks, fletch vanes, etc. They even found a 177 caliber airgun pellet in a deer!

 

[SoonerMedic]

Weird things happen even with the best quality of products. This was a Carbon Express Maxima red SD arrow that hit the humorous of a deer I shot a few weeks ago. Snapped the arrow on impact and he kicked it out. Huge blood trail, yet he managed to run about 400 yards or more before expiring IN a pond.

 

[BigBore44]

When it comes to crossbows, nothing surprises me. My guess would be the broadhed wasn’t screwed into the bolt till it was tight. I’d bet the bolt is still in the deer.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I’d bet the bolt is still in the deer

YEP...the bolt acted like a cork, and helped to reduce bleeding as well as preventing blood from exiting the animal's skin. I only assembled aluminum arrows as a part time job in the 90's, but I do respond to accidents both fatal and non-fatal, and I've seen dudes with rebar through their torso front to back, and the rebar was cut off from the structure, so the patient could be transported with it in place since it was helping to reduce blood loss, and much safer to let the doc take it out and control the bleeding as it came. Now not the same as having several razor blades shot through you with a broadhead with a shaft attached, so the crossbow head is going to do more damage than a blunt tipped round bar, BUT I'm supposin' that the same principle was at work.

LD

 

[buck460XVR]

Meat and hair with no blood, and a loud "crack" upon impact....... sounds like a low leg hit. Carbon arrow may have shattered at the tip on impact(ever hit a rock with carbon arrow?) and released the insert along with the broadhead. Any kind of heavy muscle is going to have blood in it, lower legs on a deer are a lot of bone and sinew/tendons, not much for bone.Color of hair may give a hint. Even a non-lethal heavy muscle hit like backstraps/brisket will bleed heavily for a while.

 

[buck460XVR]

........could be it was just a glancing hit, thus just a bit of hair and meat, and the "crack" was the bolt hitting a rock on the ground past the deer. This again, may have shattered the bolt causing the broadhead and the bolt to separate. Bolt could be off in the weeds ten yards or so in any direction.This also would have left zero blood to trail. Lots of other things to look for when trailing besides blood. Which way the deer went, whether or not it was going uphill or down, towards water or the open and if it was hitting the ground on all four legs equally. Leaves recently turned up, now brush broken off the main trail, etc.

 

[Axis II]

........could be it was just a glancing hit, thus just a bit of hair and meat, and the "crack" was the bolt hitting a rock on the ground past the deer. This again, may have shattered the bolt causing the broadhead and the bolt to separate. Bolt could be off in the weeds ten yards or so in any direction.This also would have left zero blood to trail. Lots of other things to look for when trailing besides blood. Which way the deer went, whether or not it was going uphill or down, towards water or the open and if it was hitting the ground on all four legs equally. Leaves recently turned up, now brush broken off the main trail, etc.

He said the deer ran towards the creek/bedding area like my buck last year out of the same stand did. Said after the shot with a little light left he looked for arrow, I'm guessing they will be back today looking. My first question was does he use lighted nocks and was told no.

 

[redneck]

Best bet is to circle out and look for sign farther out. I shot a large buck with a compound bow several years ago with half an hour of legal light left and rain moving in. I waited 20 minutes, got down, went to where he was and found the arrow standing up vertically in the tall grass with the fletching pointed up.

It was covered in blood and hair, but no blood trail. I could see deep footprints where he had bolted and followed him for about 4 strides before I lost the trail. A friend showed up to help and we wasted what daylight we had and another 45 minutes in the rain with flashlights fixated on finding the trail again where I had lost it. Everybody I talked to said the way I found the arrow suggested a superficial wound.

I went back the next day at first opportunity and found the buck about 200 yards away dead as a stone. He had spun towards me as I shot, so the arrow went in above and behind his left shoulder and came out his belly and skinned the front of his back right leg. The exit wound was plugged with guts and didn't bleed, and the entrance was so high above the lungs that nothing came out of it til he fell over dead. The meat was spoiled, so I hauled it home, saved the head and buried the carcass.

It's my best buck and also my biggest hunting regret. The deer died in an open meadow off the edge of some woods. I would have found him and saved the meat if I had just gone out looking instead of trying to overthink a bloody arrow and fixating on a lost trail.

 

[desidog]

Was the crack noise on firing the bolt or on impact?

In my experience, deer always run towards water when hit.

 

[Axis II]

Was the crack noise on firing the bolt or on impact?

In my experience, deer always run towards water when hit.

he says he heard it hit the deer.

 

[MutinousDoug]

I shot two separate elk that brushed against a tree as they took off in what appeared to be an attempt to dislodge the arrow sticking out of them. The 65# compound bow I was shooting never got a complete pass through; usually sticking the broadhead in the ribs on the far side.
In the case described above, I can imagine a pass through with the broad head sticking out the far side and being broken off by the deer as he exited. Doesn't explain the "crack" that was heard. I shot another elk right in the elbow and that impact had a pretty good "crack!" He took another 3-4 steps and the arrow fell to the ground; mangled but in one piece. The arrow I mean, I saw that elk a week later, he acted fine and didn't offer me another shot.

 

[LoonWulf]

I can see just the head of the bolt getting thru, especially if the deer moved as the guy shot and the bolt got pinched or deflected off a bone. The initial shock of the broad head hitting could have cracked the shaft or lossened the connection on the insert if it wasnt glued, and after penetrating it just fell off when the animal jumped and ran.
Ive had a couple arrows partially exit and get snapped off on shots that were quartering away or towards. Ive also shot a goat with an arrow sticking about an inch out of its side after hitting ribs going in and out. It ran by me at about 30yds and it wasnt untill i had knocked it over that i noticed the other arrow.

 

[north east redneck]

1. - Just because he didn't find the arrow doesn't mean its not around. Whatever caused that head (which definitely hit the deer) to come off, I'm sure the event was "energetic" 2.- the arrow could have got damaged penetrating the deer, and when the head exited, it just fell off, maybe when the deer reacted or ran off- so the deer ran off with the shaft still in it, in which case said shaft won't be located until/unless the deer is found. A friend in Iowa processes deer for a living. He has a glass case on the wall, and in it is every object ever recovered from inside deer that were brought in. Along with the various bullets, slugs, etc. are pieces of arrows and bolts- heads, blades from heads, heads with pieces of shaft, nocks, fletch vanes, etc. They even found a 177 caliber airgun pellet in a deer!

The first buck I killed had a .177 lead air gun pellet in him. Kids being kids I guess. Hunting partner found a calcified broadhead in deers spine.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I saw something interesting at a restaurant bar. The skull of a small buck that the owner found while mushroom hunting in the spring. There is a broad head right between its eyes. It's loose and rattles around but won't come out. The point protrudes into the brain cavity a inch or more. Around the penetration you can see where the bone healed around the broad head. The buck lived quite a while after hit.

 

[FL-NC]

I killed one years ago in Tn. with evidence of healed fractures in the ribs all down one side as well as one front leg- not new injuries. My guess is a vehicle was involved. But the deer seemed to be walking ok, until I shot him.

 

[buck460XVR]

I saw something interesting at a restaurant bar. The skull of a small buck that the owner found while mushroom hunting in the spring. There is a broad head right between its eyes. It's loose and rattles around but won't come out. The point protrudes into the brain cavity a inch or more. Around the penetration you can see where the bone healed around the broad head. The buck lived quite a while after hit.

I have skull like that of my own like that somewhere. First buck I ever took with bow. The year was 1966 and I was 14. Bow was a 55# Shakespeare Super Necedah shooting cedar arrows tipped with Fred Bear razorheads. Hit the spiker a tad back and hit kidney/liver, but not complete penetration. Luckily we had fresh snow that morning and was able to track him for several hours and a coupla miles. He finally wore down and I came up on him laying down, head up and looking at me. I tried to put one in his neck and hit him between the eyes.(remember, I was 14, shooting bare bow instinctively) He got up and took off only to run smack dab into a good size oak tree. I figured I may have blinded him with the shot, I dunno, but that's where he died. Saved the skull and hung it in a tree til spring(there was no such thing as European mounts and beetles back then) and it was a pretty cool keepsake with the Bear razorhead embedded right between the eyes.

We probably will never know what really happened to Ohihunter2014's buddies deer, unless by some very lucky chance they come across it, or someone else kills it during gun season. One thing I do know, regardless of how the broadhead was removed from the bolt, it did not penetrate the animal, thru anything vital. No way is it possible to get a pass thru a deer anywhere there are organs, or muscle, without getting blood on the broadhead. Even with no bloodtrail, you will still have blood on the broadhead. That's how broadheads work, they cut and make the animal bleed. You can hit hair, or ears, or horns, or way low on a deer's leg and not get blood, but that's about it. Period.

 

[illinoisburt]

These are the type of situations where tracking dogs can make a world of difference. It is likely too late now unless temps have been freezing but still it would be good to search.

 

[Axis II]

I have skull like that of my own like that somewhere. First buck I ever took with bow. The year was 1966 and I was 14. Bow was a 55# Shakespeare Super Necedah shooting cedar arrows tipped with Fred Bear razorheads. Hit the spiker a tad back and hit kidney/liver, but not complete penetration. Luckily we had fresh snow that morning and was able to track him for several hours and a coupla miles. He finally wore down and I came up on him laying down, head up and looking at me. I tried to put one in his neck and hit him between the eyes.(remember, I was 14, shooting bare bow instinctively) He got up and took off only to run smack dab into a good size oak tree. I figured I may have blinded him with the shot, I dunno, but that's where he died. Saved the skull and hung it in a tree til spring(there was no such thing as European mounts and beetles back then) and it was a pretty cool keepsake with the Bear razorhead embedded right between the eyes.

We probably will never know what really happened to Ohihunter2014's buddies deer, unless by some very lucky chance they come across it, or someone else kills it during gun season. One thing I do know, regardless of how the broadhead was removed from the bolt, it did not penetrate the animal, thru anything vital. No way is it possible to get a pass thru a deer anywhere there are organs, or muscle, without getting blood on the broadhead. Even with no bloodtrail, you will still have blood on the broadhead. That's how broadheads work, they cut and make the animal bleed. You can hit hair, or ears, or horns, or way low on a deer's leg and not get blood, but that's about it. Period.

they looked for 3hrs the next day during daylight and found no arrow, no blood, no deer.

 

[BigBore44]

Let this be a lesson to your buddy. The very first thing I do after pulling an arrow from my quiver is check the broadhead to make sure it’s tight to the arrow.

 

[buck460XVR]

they looked for 3hrs the next day during daylight and found no arrow, no blood, no deer.

Again....no blood on the broadhead means no blood coming outta the deer. Is not a mystery to me that they found no blood and no dead deer.