I was fortunate this weekend to take my first doe with a crossbow this weekend. Shot her with a NAP Hellrazors. Now I've take about 25 deer with a crossbow in the past. I shot her about 5:15pm Saturday and stayed in my blind until dark. I saw the bolt hit exactly where I was aiming tight behind the shoulder 1/3 of the way up and passthru and continue on about ten yards. When I recovered the arrow it had good blood. Went back to camp and got a couple of flashlights, toilet paper and another guy to help me track. We went back and started to track her only to find one of the weakest blood trails I would have imagined. Tiny little drops of blood that an average blood tracker would have never found. Luckily the rain the night before had the ground soft and I mostly just followed her tracks and found her about 120 yards away. I sighted in this crossbow to mainly shoot pigs and to let my friends use since we are an archery only lease. I only use large mechanicals in my compound and always have great blood trails on deer. Anyways the point of this post is about 50 yards into what I thought would be an easy track had me stressing that I may not find her. Guess I'm going mechanicals only from now on.

That’s a big hole. Unless the blood on the belly hair and hooves are from gutting, its hard to imagine a poor blood trail unless it exited through the gut.

Looks like a shot I would expect a lot of blood from before the distance you said she went. Were both lungs hit solid?

She was perfectly broadside. Exit hole was exact same spot on the other side. I didn't open up the guts and look at the lungs but it should have got both of them. The Hellrazor is almost the exact same as the G5 Montecs. They get great passthrus but I guess that 1 1/8" cutting diameter just doesn't do the same amount of damage as the broadheads I'm use to on deer. I've had good luck with these on hog though and usually get my broadhead back with minimal damage to the blades.

I meant to say 25 deer with a compound bow in the first post. I think spellcheck changed it.

I’ve killed 2 bull elks with 100 gr. G5 Stryker broadheads. A blind man could follow the blood trail.
I believe that the entry and exit angle, if there is one, along with what organs were hit dictates the amount of blood.
Any 1” hole is plenty big enough as long as it’s not clogged by stomach or intestines.

I have killed I guess a few with Montechs and like you say the hell razor is very similar. About 75 to 90 yards has been the distance for deer recovery with them. Were the blades still sharp. One I double lunged with about the same shot placement with a ram cat there was very little blood and she went about 120 yards through some very thick stuff. My dog found her, the arrow was lying on the grass about 5 yards from where she got hit, blood on the arrow but not much otherwise. Those blades were dulled so much they were just as sharp on the back as the front. Shot one oft the others in that pack into an 18-1 target and one shot dulled the hexk out of the blade, Lungs were more torn than cut. Think they had forgot to heat threat the blades or something

All of my archery kills have been with a smallish diameter 3 blade fixed and have produced plenty blood and short trails.

Looks like a good shot lots of blood on the deer, maybe you missed a lot of it due to lighting and damp dark ground hiding it?

Something else, lung shots differ in effectiveness depending on are the lungs full of air or has the animal exhaled and lungs more compressed and thus more dense when the broadhead or bullet goes through. Most of the time it is a matter of luck on that happening though.

Doe on my place we’re really fat this year, and I mean really fat. It’s possible the wound was fine (it looks fine) but fat surrounding the wound just kind of closed it up enough to where the blood didn’t flow through it.

That’s a big hole to
Have scant blood out of

I'm guessing the height and angle of the entry and exit wounds contributed more than anything. with higher holes I've seen many deer that don't leave a great blood trail because all of the blood is in the cavity instead of on the ground.

Not wanting to sound critical, but from the picture the shot looks a little high, it would take a little while for the cavity to fill.

Deer are tough critters, they can take a lot of trauma.

Not wanting to sound critical, but from the picture the shot looks a little high, it would take a little while for the cavity to fill.

Deer are tough critters, they can take a lot of trauma.