stuck my first doe but no luck funding her

She was 15 yards broadside. Stuck her in the back of the lungs. I clearly seen my arrow hit the rear of the vitals so i know for a fact i made a good shot. The arrow only went in about 6 inches or so. Had a good dark blood trail about 30 yards out i find half my arrow. Keep following her blood trail. About 60 yards in i find the rest of my arrow with the blades broke off. (Mechanical) it was covered heavy in blood. Kepted going for 200 yards or so and the blood slowly stopped to a drip. Then nothing. Such a frustrating thing to happen. Btw im using a barnette youth bow set at 45 lbs. 27 in draw. Shooting 28 inch wolverine arrows. With nap mechanical broad heads. I know its a cheap set up but i am on a budget. But regret not getting a better bow. My guess is 45lbs aint strong enough to go through bone and maybe stopped at a rib or somethi. Anyone have any logic on this?

Sorry to hear this. Did you wait before going to look for her?

That sucks but don't let it get you down. Ditch the mechanicals and shoot ramcats or any other quality cut on contact broadhead

I highly recommend Slick Trick broadheads!!

About 30 minutes. I went back to camp. Waited on my father in law to get out of his blind and then we looked. The only reason i shot with mechanicals is because fixed throws my arrow in every which direction

Hopefully you waited some time before tracking??? By now though, you should have ageneral idea of direction of travel, I'd carry a roll of TP and start marking the blood trail. Then keep looking in her line of travel, you may stumble on more blood or find her. Don't just look on the gorund, but 24" high down or so on leaves, branches ect tra.

When you run out completely, start a search pattern in a circle getting further out as you go (mark it so you don't keep waling the same circumference.)

You haven't lost her until you give up, just my 2 cents

When i pacticed with the fixed it would thow my arrow off diffent everytime a few times i didnt even hit the target block. I switched to mechanical and i hit 3-5 inch group at 25 yards. The i have the small fletching on my arrows. Should i try the longer flecthing and try the fixed heads again

The first 100 yards was a good blood trail where we didint have to "search" for it. Then after that it slowly started to fade and last drop was about an 1/8 inch drop and then nothing. We did a circular sweep and then walked the whole side of the property i shot her on. We did jump a nice buck and a doe. But it was to far to tell if it was injured. She didnt seem to be when she took off.

The basic plan is to leave a sheet of tp at every blood sign, or every 10-15 feet. The trail should give you a good sense of the direction the animal is traveling. When you get to the final sign, start doing very slow outward concentric circles. Popular wisdom is that wounded animals prefer to move downhill and may head toward water; of course, your mileage may vary. Don't forget that it's possible to look directly at a dead animal from very short ranges and not see it, especially if there's any kind of brush. Go very slowly. You can't walk and see well at the same time.

Toilet paper is used because it's in convenient sections, it's easy to see, it's biodegradable and any rain makes it disintegrate.

We looked unitl we ran out of looking. Not trying to be funny about it but we looked for a while. I dont want this happening again so i need to know what to do. If yall think its the broadheads ill try a different brand. If not ill just wait till rifle season or i get a stronger bow

Go look for that deer today! It's not lost until you quit looking. IF you can't look for a down deer, don't need to hunt them. Just my 2 cents worth. I quit hunting with a bow for years after making a marginal hit, didn't find it until the next AM. Again just my opinion, and it has no $ value.

Sounds like a liver shot.
As far as fixed blades, which I would use in your situation with low poundage and short draw, it sounds like you may have problems with your bow or not using the correct arrow shaft with your set up. Or, you have some problems with your form when shooting. Or could be a combination of all.

Change broad heads. We can all give our opinions but after two lost deer with them, I will never use a mechanical broad head again. Montec are good if your on a budget. If you shoot them all you have to do is resharpen them and you are good to go. I've had this happen to me and the feeling is indescribable. But keep looking start over, what ever you have to do. If you found dark red blood if might be liver, pink oxygenated blood will be lung. Find water, you will find her. Find some folks in your area with a tracking dog. It's not crazy to pay a fee to find your deer! Good luck in your endeavors.....

There is a reason that mechs are illegal in some states for big game....just saying and that my opinion of them

Basspro lists that bow at 175 fps. If you're using heavy(ier) hunting arrows at more that 5gr per pound your speed is likely less. I'm guessing your actual speed is closer to 150 than 175. With some guesstimations to what your arrow weighs, I'm coming up with 18.48 ft lbs of kinetic energy which is low, especially for a mechanical head. Having said that, Tiffany Lakosky shoots a Rage Hypodermic and she shoots 24" draw @ 52ish lbs and kills all kinds of critters. You could try going to a cut on contact head, but you are still at a disadvantage with low arrow speeds. It can be difficult for a young hunter to be able to afford something like a high performance bow from any of the major manufacturers, but you would almost double your arrow speed. Even with the same arrow moving at 260fps, you'd be looking at 50ft lbs of kinetic energy which will zip right through any deer shot well. Furthermore, with low speeds your range estimation has to be dead on.

If your bow doesn't shoot fixed heads well, try tuning it. When I was 14 I used 85gr Thunderheads and they flew like darts. I did have a POI change but they grouped very well. Good luck!

Ill try a different fixed blade with the longer fletching. Ill see what happens

You still looking for the doe?

The arrows are woverines and i wanna say the have 3050 on them. I dont know wgat that means but it dont have a specific weight or anything listed on the arrow. The broad heads i used were a 100gr. Do you think it would help if i tried 125gr. It would slow the arrow down a bit more but give it more of a punch when it connects

No. We looked for 31/2 hours. I know that aint a long time and im sure yall will give me hell for not staying and looking. We are on our way home now. We live 3 hours away from the lease in san augustine.. the only reason we stopped looking for her is because we figured the arrow didnt penetrate very deep beings it managed to come out after breaking in half after i shot her. And then the blood slowed down and stopped. Not saying that dont mean shes ok. But it gives me a little hope ill see her again one day.

She could have managed to push the broad head all the way through, 6" in is just your guess and that is still almost half way through her. Doubt you will see that doe again..alive...

Trying to help, but not knowing what you need, you really shouldn't be bow hunting.
You need the correct spine for your arrows for what your bow is putting out. You just can't get a bow and buy just any arrow for it and expect it to perform. You really need to go to a pro shop and get help. I'm taking it since you're only pulling 45lbs., that you are a youth and it's good that you want to bow hunt, but there is a lot more to bow hunting than just picking up a bow, nocking a arrow, and expecting everything else to just fall into place.
Hope you get it all figured out. Lot of season left!!!

Cowboy9215 - whereabouts were you hunting? - maybe yours?: http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbth...doe_kill#UNREAD

Seriously? I bet there were hundreds of doe shot and not found this weekend. No need to pile on the kid.

I lost a doe on Friday in Oklahoma. Trailed her till she ran into a huge milo feild. Then it started raining! I feel your pain! Found her the next morning,but coyotes got her hams and partial backstaps. Nothing more we could have done.

It can happen again with a stronger bow.

I would stick with the 100gr, but I would use a different broadhead. Try Gravediggers broadheads. Gravediggers broadheads are hybrid...fixed and mechanical.

My advice after reading your post is to maybe put the bow down this season and pick up your rifle and redeem yourself and hopefully have a sucessful season. Meanwhile work on getting better equipment and getting more proficient with your shooting. 3 to 5 inch groups at 25 yrds is not what I would call ready to shoot at deer. You should also work to get your bow tuned properly where it is zeroed in with all and any broadheads you choose to shot. Not trying to discourage you from bowhunting, it is all I do anymore. But it can be very difficult yet rewarding. Also keep in mind timing while on the hunt. Sometimes I may pass on a shot because I know I may not have enough time to track an animal if I have to leave that same day. Always make every effort to find your deer before giving up. Good luck.

sounds like a liver shot which can take a little longer to kill. Back out next time and giver her some time. Don't get discouraged though.. it happens to the best of us. Me, several times before I got it right!

I agree with the liver shot verdict. It's hard to mistake a lung hit. I will almost always have bubbles in the blood on your arrow. The blood will seem frothy. I also agree that you need to tune your bow. Arrows with broadheads shouldn't fly crazy. I might also suggest that you need to upgrade your bow. Since you mentioned that your hunting partner was your father in law, I'm assuming you are married which makes you an adult. Don't shoot an undersized bow. Go to a good archery shop and they can tell you what the appropriate size, draw length, etc is for your frame. You can find some good used bows for reasonable $$ if that's the issue. I'm not poking fun and I hope you aren't taking it that way. You owe it to the game you hunt to hunt with adequate equipment. My 2 pennies.

Keith

I don't know too many kids with a father in law.

I realized that earlier today. Didn't click at first that he said father in law. I never figured a grown man would be shooting a youth bow.

Most the time its the shot and not the equipment... angles play a big roll in this and can be deceiving.. No reason to be down on yourself though even a youth crossbow has plenty of umf to get the job done and the blood dont lie.. you would have seen bright red and usually bubbles and spongey chunks if you had hit lungs. Something that most seem to be overlooking is someone new to bow hunting no matter what age is still learning.. we have all had it happen and the ones who deny it or say give up still have so much to learn no matter their age. i hit a doe a few years ago that I thought shoulda been dead within 50 yrds but i tracked her for 300 and lost blood... live and learn pick your head up figure out what you may have done wrong and adjust... best advice i can give you is stop thinking so much, relax, have fun, and practice.

Good Luck with your hunting. The highs of hunting when you have successis awrsome. However the lows from injuring an animal or not finding it can be very hard. Helpful hints, use lighted nocs so you can find your arrow. Once you find the arrow study the color of fluid on the arrow before you track. If you gut shoot a deer and cant find it go to the closest watering hole the next day and look. There is also a void in deer if you hit them high they will likely survive if nit for infection. The animals blood will clot after 100 yards so be careful not to push a deer before it dies. Pinkish blood is lungs, dark red can be liver, blood clear fluid and gunk is gut. There are several guides online to read that will help. If in doubt wait to track. I wish you the best of luck.

Just caught that myself too. Could explain A LOT!!! Like the draw length does not fit, etc. etc....
I know when I started, my bow was set at 52lbs. But it also had no let off. Wasn't a such thing back in 85!!! BUT, it was fitted to fit me and I could group arrows very well with it and that was shooting fingers, no release. Kilt a lot of deer with that bow.
But I hate liver shots. I've made 2 over the years. It is a lethal shot, but usually doesn't leave a very good blood trail and that was with a pass thru. On one, I was lucky enough to hear the deer fall. Found the deer, but not one drop of blood. The 2nd, went a long, long way. Waited over 3 hours before looking, found where it had laid down, but got back up, backed out for the night and found it 100 yds later the next morning.
So now, if I even expect a liver shot, I back out and wait till next day, that is, if the temps are on my side.