I shot a nice 4yr-5yr old buck this morning with my bow. He was cruising fast and he didn't want to stop in my clear shooting lanes. He finally stopped almost broadside , just a few degrees quartering to me if that. I shot him at 32yd and he turned towards me more (slightly) at arrow impact. IMO, it looked no more than 10-20 degree quartering. The arrow hit about 1/3 of the way up in the middle of his shoulder meat. I thought he was drilled, heart shot. He ran about 80yd and stood for a min, I lost sight after that. I sat for about 3hrs and got down to look for him. Unfortunately the arrow only penetrated about 12" and backed out broad head and all. We followed good steady blood to where I saw him standing after the shot, there were pools of blood there. We found where he bedded about 10 yards farther, the blood then became kinda spotty. We looked for about 5 hrs and found another pool of blood about 75yd away but it didn't look like a bed, he was just standing still. I'm obviously going back tomorrow and expect to find him.

Is 12" enough to touch his heart? Or is it a single lung shot? The blood looked like good lung blood with bubbles, it was frozen solid. First time I've seen a blood trail freeze.

Kinda hard to tell where exactly the arrow hit, especially with him quartering towards. 12" should be enough to get vitals. I would guess that you got a lung lobe. From the blood it sounds like he is bleeding good which would lead me to believe his thoracic cavity is filling up with blood and will severely hinder heart and lung function. I would bet that he is dead somewhere, trouble is gonna be finding where. Sounds like you did a good job of not pushing him, so hopefully he is piled up not far from that last blood. Good luck.

12 inches is plenty to get the heart

Im going to say he's still alive. If he hasn't died in that 8 hours, he's probably not going to die.

I'd give a try looking for him then I'd probably call in a dog

If you found lung blood, he is dead. As you know with only an entrance hole blood trailing won't be easy.

Tracking dog

This. I recommend getting a dog. If you hit lung he is dead.

Single lung could take a while. Don't push him.

I bet he's dead. For him to feel weary enough to lay down, he's hurt pretty bad. Even if he got back up, he's still wounded and weak. If you got lung, he will die. Good luck!

Dr. B

If he was quartering to you and you hit midway up on his shoulder, I doubt seriously that you got any part of his heart. Sounds like you might have gotten one lung to me or at least hit a main artery. I am betting he his dead but he may be 300-400 from where you shot him. good luck.

Good Luck on finding him he should be dead coyotes may of got him over night hours

I did the same thing on a good one last year. Same penetration and all. Did same as you describe and he lived till December and a rifle got him. Keep looking but chances are if you don't find him he will heal up.

Put out trail markers on blood trail. Make small circles then larger circles around last blood. Check every thicket in between shot and beyond last blood. Could be right under your nose. Sometimes they will double back to bed and lay down and die a day or two later. Good luck.

My bro in law shot him this morning about 1 mile from where I shot him. He was sick, smelled like infection, and about 30lb lighter but still alive. My shot was an inch lower and a little closer to the brisket than what I thought. I aimed for the shoulder crease, about the same elevation, but he swirled around when i shot. It hit his leg shoulder socket and blew out his shoulder. I wish I had missed him entirely, but thrilled to death that my buddy shot him. I am thankful to have closure and know exactly where I hit and know he isn't suffering any more.

so what is he?

X2. Let's see a pic of his head gear!

Here he is...we looked for this deer for 4 days, we had tracking dogs and tons of man hours invested...I would've never thought he would come walking by my stand yesterday morning...glad me and bloodtrail could team up and finally take him down...I've been thinking it would only be fair if we split the taxidermy bill!!

Congratulations!!!

I'm glad y'all got to have some "closure" on him after all of the effort y'all put into it! That's icing on the cake that you killed him with a bow