Doe comes in this morning a feeds in to 23 yards. She’s quartering to me for a couple of minutes before opening up to nearly broadside when I settle my 20 yard pin in holding just a little high and tight to shoulder. Release the arrow and I can see it imbedded in her as she takes off on what I thought was a death sprint. She makes it to the tree line 60 yards away then stands for about 30 seconds before slowly walking off. I fully expected her to tip over at the tree line and was stumped and became unsure of things after seeing that. Waited two hours as I was still covered up in deer and felt that time was needed based on how she walked off. Found the front 3/4’s of my arrow shaft five yards from where she was standing at the shot. Bits of meat and fat, brown hair on head, no smell of guts, and very little blood. Found the last quarter of my arrow (fletching and 6-7 inches of shaft) 25 yards away and it did have some decent blood almost to the fletching, so I know I got some pretty good penetration. No blood trail to be found. The only thing I can think is that maybe I back strapped her or hit her too far forward. Searched for two hours to no avail.

Sounds like a high hit through muscle. I'll bet she recovers if it doesn't get infected.

My dad had a similar result with his first shot at a deer. He hit high either through the back strap somehow without disrupting the spine or just below the spine through the "void" or empty spot many talk about.

The deer ran about 20 yards and just stopped at the edge of the brush where he couldn't make another shot and looked at the stand. and walked off. Never found blood and saw the deer later that season with a mark from the arrow on her side. Far as I know we never shot her but she lived.

Doe's are kind of skittish to begin with. Often times, they will jump the string. I aim at the lower half, not the upper half. If they jump the string and you are aiming on the higher side, your hit is even higher than that. When she was standing there after the initial shot, where was the entrance or exit wound of the arrow? Could you tell where you hit?

She was facing away as she paused and partially obscured from my view as I strained to watch her through the foliage of the live oak my tripod was tucked into. It looked like the arrow was lodged in the shoulder immediately after the shot was made, but in the heat of the moment I may have mistaken that. I usually record video so I can look back at the shot, but setting up a camera tripod when hunting out of a tripod doesn’t really work too well with the lack of space.

Sounds like a high shot for sure! A broad head pass thru in the vitals would have resulted in a lot of blood. Another thing is, you said the broad head had fat on it! There is little to no fat on the sides of deer hear the vitals except on the back ! As stated above, that deer may live to fight another day !

Every set up is different but at 23 yards I'm aiming low for the heart. 23 is just far enough to start ducking. I'd bet you went just above the spine.

It was a low percentage shot. The angle will leave little blood trail. If you need to shot an angle shot,shoot rear to front.it will leave a much better trail .i have made the same mistake. I have killed about 137 white tais with a bow. Good hunting

My buddy hit a doe with a 150 grain 30.06 round. It went tight through "the void" she ran. The next weekend she was seen again. You can see right through her and she is doing fine except the extra hole.

At the recommendation of a good friend, I gave up on heart shots this season. Past season have seen some heart shot kills, but also some lost animals. A bit high can result in a clean pass thru missing heart and lungs. Switched to double-lung this season and arrowed a buck last weekend. Watched him run 40 yards and pile up. Huge amount of blood exited through his mouth. I'm sold.