Author Topic: Half inch from perfect  (Read 11904 times)

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Offline JW_Halverson

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Half inch from perfect
« on: December 02, 2013, 09:07:39 pm »
I was heading out to hunt with my flintlock this morning when I saw a friend of mine beside the road.  I learned he had arrowed a small two point but it would not go down. He had moved back out of the area and was waiting.  Good enough I thought. 

We spent all morning watching the buck thru binoculars.  His breathing was very labored, foaming at the mouth, and obviously uncomfortable where he had bedded.  He would get up and move a little, limping badly.  At time his head would wobble and nod.  5 hours watching this buck and he was still up.

We were able to move up to one point where he had lain for several hours and could not find a drop of blood.  I asked again where the buck was hit.  I was told low in the left side of the chest, angling forward to the right shoulder. The arrow was found broken off and blood all the way to the nocks.  I looked at the arrow and there was blood all over it and in the fletching.  I made that arrow 5 years ago of tight grained douglas fir and had mounted Zwickey Eskimos on them. 

We decided to drive to my place and get my bow and some arrows with broadheads.  When we got back an hour later, the buck was gone.  We moved up slowly and fanned out.  No blood, no sign.  We quartered for some time before finding the buck uphill.  Dead.

The entry wound was a little farther back than I would have liked, but the right upper legbone was like a paper bag of Legos...all busted up. We carefully field dressed since no one could account for the broadhead.  We found that the arrow had nicked the front of the stomach, angled forward to pierce the very bottom 2 inches of the right lung, but did not exit the right side after shattering the bone. I pulled the heart from the gutpile and this was what we found:





Just another half inch, maybe less, and one of the bottom chambers of the heart would have been opened up.  As it was, the pericardium sac surrounding the heart was full of congealed blood.

The arrow was about 550 grains, shot from a osage bow with 55 lbs of draw weight, from a distance of a whopping 7 yards.  Never found a lick of blood outside the body, despite a ruined lung.  Likely the chest cavity was filling with air and the lungs were collapsing, causing the deer to pant deeply.  I examined the nostrils and inside the mouth and there was no trace of blood.  Sometimes even lung shot deer don't cough up any blood.  Thank God we didn't have to track this deer.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2013, 12:39:58 am »
I had a similar shot on a buck several years ago.  My shot was low and the broad head put a small slice in the bottom of the heart.  I shot it early in the morning and we didn't recover it until after dark that evening.  Luckily mine bled and we were able to follow the trail.  We almost lost it in a field where it bedded down.  It took a long time  before my Dad figured out it had backtracked the same trail on the way out of the field.  It went so far that we crossed an unmarked and unknown property line deep in the woods.  That mistake nearly caused me some legal trouble.  30 minutes in a CO's truck and an honest account of the event was enough to convince him of no wrongdoing.  The fact that we did not steal the trail camera that took our picture was helpful in his decision.
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline criveraville

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2013, 12:58:50 am »
Good story JW.. That would be tough to wait it out. Good pics and determination. Amazing that he held on for so long..

Cipriano
I was HECHO EN MEXICO, but assembled in Texas and I'm Texican as the day is long...  Psalm 127:4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Offline Pappy

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2013, 08:43:19 am »
Sometimes a 1/2 inch means a lot,way to stay with it. :)
  Pappy
Clarksville,Tennessee
TwinOaks Bowhunters
Life is Good

Offline seminolewind

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2013, 12:49:22 pm »
Interesting story and really cool to see the heart....pericardium hmmm you must have a little medical training !  ::)
"Those that beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who do not." Thomas Jefferson

Elijah,
Tampa, FL.

Offline RyanR

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2013, 06:23:59 pm »
Good job following up on that deer. It seems like you learn something new from each blood trail....or lack there of.

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2013, 12:10:31 pm »
Barry has been hunting since he was 14 yrs old, 51 years!  He still has no control of his buck fever, can't keep calm after the shot, and second guesses EVERYTHING from start to finish.  He also can't walk thru the forest without stepping on every pine cone within bowshot of himself.  Other than that, he's pretty good at it.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Postman

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Re: Half inch from perfect
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2013, 09:41:03 pm »
Barry has been hunting since he was 14 yrs old, 51 years!  He still has no control of his buck fever, can't keep calm after the shot, and second guesses EVERYTHING from start to finish.  He also can't walk thru the forest without stepping on every pine cone within bowshot of himself.  Other than that, he's pretty good at it.
Hahaha..Sounds like my buddy Rick. We call him "panzer".
"Leave the gun....Take the cannoli"

John Poster -  Western VA